Listed below are the bills we are tracking in 2019 in the Georgia General Assembly. Keep in mind, a bill must be introduced in one chamber (either House or Senate), be heard in a Committee from that chamber, and if passes must go to the other chamber by Crossover Day and go through the process again. If it passes both chambers it must then be signed by the governor to become law.

House Bill 481 — Defines a person as someone with a heartbeat, which will prevent abortions when an unborn infant has a heartbeat. Status: Passed the House on Crossover Day (3/7/19), and had a floor vote in the full Senate on March 22 passing 34-18. As of 3/27 the House has not yet voted “to agree” to the changes the Senate made. They must do that before the final day of the session on April 2. Once that happens, Gov. Kemp has promised to sign it.

Senate Bill 221 — Georgia version of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA). This legislation prohibits the government from substantially burdening a person’s free exercise of religion. Status: The Committee did not take up this bill as planned on Monday, March 4, as the bill sponsor asked for more time for a fair hearing. If your Senator is a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, please contact him/her and ask for a “yes” vote on RFRA.

House Resolution 327 —  A resolution (not a bill) to change the Georgia constitution to allow casino gambling. Click here to read GA Rep. Wes Cantrell’s Facebook post about the problems with casino gambling in Georgia (you may have to login to Facebook to see it – not sure). Status: Reported favorably out of Committee on March 1, but did not get a vote in the full House before Crossover Day.

House Bill 426 — So-called “Hate Crimes” legislation will enhance the punishment for crimes involving bias or prejudice. Presumes that law enforcement will know the motivation of any crime. Status: Passed out of Committee on Feb. 26, and passed the full House on Crossover Day (3/7/19) and is now in the Senate. Click here for an article about the Senate action on this bill.
See additional information below regarding problems with this legislation:

• Violates equal protection by treating some victims as more worthy of protection than others.
• Punishes thoughts, not actions. “Hate crime” bills ignore that the act is already a crime; instead, they ramp up punishment because the perpetrator was thinking something the government disapproves of. Empowering the government to assess and approve/disapprove thoughts is a very totalitarian concept.
• Injects identity politics into Georgia criminal law.
• Will inevitably be used against Christians, as has happened in Canada and the UK (see below).
• For the first time in Georgia Code, enshrines “sexual orientation” as worthy of special protection.
• Does not define “sexual orientation,” leaving that term open to expansion. The American Psychological Association and other LGBT activists are already pushing to have pedophilia reclassified as a sexual orientation (see this article for a good explanation: https://thefederalist.com/2019/02/21/pedophile-project-7-year-old-next-sexual-revolutions-hit-parade/). When that happens (and it will), and if the hate crimes bill passes, Georgia criminal law will give special protection to pedophiles.
• NOT NECESSARY. The burden should be on the proponents to show that victims who fall into these special categories are currently not being protected. The proponents have made no effort to do so. In fact, because true “hate crimes” are so rare, they are the most widely faked episodes in American criminal law. As someone has said, when it comes to hate crimes, demand greatly exceeds supply. See https://www.fakehatecrimes.org/.
• See also: https://www.christianpost.com/news/canada-anti-transgender-speech-hate-crime-prison-fine.html
• https://www.christian.org.uk/news/christians-unfairly-targeted-for-hate-crime-prosecutions/

Senate Bill 15 — “Keeping Georgia’s Schools Safe Act” has the intention of preventing, discovering, responding to, and recovering from threats, warnings, and developing situations regarding any public or private school. We spoke to the bill sponsor about concerns regarding the autonomy of private, Christian schools. Status: Private schools were removed from this version of the bill before it was presented in Committee. It was voted on in the full Senate on Feb. 27, and passed out of the House Education Committee on March 27. Now goes to the full House for a vote.

Senate Bill 45 — Creates the Georgia Horse Racing Commission that will regulate pari-mutuel betting on horse racing. Click here for the testimony Citizen Impact gave at the Committee hearing for this bill. Our good friend, Mike Griffin, wrote this article about it: https://christianindex.org/horse-racing-proposed-again/. Status: Senate Economic Development and Tourism Committee hearing held on Feb. 13 where testimony was given for and against. It was voted out of Committee, but did not get a vote in the full Senate by Crossover Day.

Senate Resolution 184 — Proposes an amendment to the Georgia Constitution to allow casino gambling. Status: Introduced on Feb. 15.

House Bill 530 — While this bill may have had good intentions, it initially burdened home school families with unnecessary regulations. However, references to home schooling was removed in House Committee. Status: Bill was amended in Committee to remove all references to home schooling. Passed the House on Crossover Day and is now in the Senate. Passed Senate Committee on March 21, and now goes to full Senate for a vote.

Senate Bill 163 — Allows a home school student to be eligible to participate in extracurricular and interscholastic activities sponsored by his or her resident school. Status: Passed the full Senate on 2/25/19, and is now in the House for consideration. Received a Hearing Only in Committee on March 26.

House Bill 580 — Would ban so-called “conversion therapy” for anyone under 18. This pernicious legislation will outlaw any effort to help young people who struggle with same-sex attraction, even if they come to their pastor for help. In some places where this was enacted there was an exemption for pastors; however, they can always remove that exemption later. Status: Introduced on March 5, but did not get a hearing in Committee before Crossover Day. It should be dead for this year, but could be added to another bill that did cross over.

Senate Bill 83 — Provides public schools students with expanded opportunity to receive credit for elective courses in “History and Literature of the Old and New Testament Eras.” Status: Favorable Reported out of Senate Education and Youth Committee on Feb. 28, passed the full Senate on 3/4/19, and passed the full House on March 26. Now goes to Gov. Kemp for signature.