The 2020 Georgia General Assembly session wrapped up their 40 day session on June 26. Here is a recap of the legislation we tracked.

Senate Bill 359 — Provides some protection from liability from potential lawsuits brought by people who contract COVID-19. It applies to small businesses and religious or educational organization, as well as hospitals and doctors’ offices. Status: Passed both the House and Senate on June 26.

Senate Bill 430 — This allows a student to physically attend a college and career academy (unlike Georgia Virtual which is all online), “which is geographically located within the student’s resident school system, so long as space is available in such course or courses.” Status: signed into law by Gov. Kemp on June 29, 2020.

House Resolution 378/841 — proposes an amendment to the Georgia Constitution to allow all forms of betting, bingo games, raffles, and gambling. This includes sports betting, pari-mutuel betting on horse racing, and casinos. Status: Passed House Regulation Industries Committee on March 11, and failed to even get a vote in the House. However, in a “procedural move” the House Regulated Industries Committee amended SR 841, which had noting to do with gambling, removing its original language and adding the gambling language of HR 378. It passed out of this Committee, but never was taken up in the full House. It will have to be re-introduced in 2021. Casino gambling would mean changing the Georgia Constitution, which requires a 2/3 vote of the House and Senate, and then must be put on the ballot to be voted on by Georgia voters. Now that the General Assembly is over it must be introduced again in 2021.

House Bill 426 — “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 the House on March 7, 2019 and the Senate on June 23, 2020. Gov. Kemp signed this into law on June 26. Effective July 1, 2020.

See additional information below regarding problems with this legislation:

• There is already a federal Hate Crimes law on the books.
• 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.
• 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 318 — FORUM Act would public forums at public institutions of higher education and prevent the creation of “free speech zones” at public institutions of higher education. Status: Passed Senate on March 9. Had a Hearing in House Committee. Now that the General Assembly is over it must be introduced again in 2021.

Senate Bill 357 — This would update Georgia law protecting houses of worship which allow firearms, treating the facilities as more like private property. Status: 2/28/20 — Voted favorable out of Committee. Now that the General Assembly is over it must be introduced again in 2021.

Senate Bill 403 — Would create sports betting under the lottery commission. This would permit betting on sports, including using a cell phone to make bets. Status: Only had a hearing in Senate Regulated Industries and Utilities on 3/3/20. Now that the General Assembly is over it must be introduced again in 2021.

HB 1060 — Vulnerable Child Protection Act would make it a felony to administer harmful medical interventions to make a minor child appear the opposite sex. These include: puberty-blocking drugs and mega doses of Cross-sex hormones that stop normal development and cause sterilization; and mutilating surgeries that remove healthy breasts and sex organs, resulting in permanent sterility and life-long sexual dysfunction. Status: Introduced in the House on 2/27/2020, but no action taken.

Senate Bill 368 — This provides for nondiscrimination of religious child-placing agencies by entities of state and local government.

Senate Bill 386 — This revises Georgia Special Needs Scholarship Act, updating the program is make significant improvements. Status: Passed full Senate on 3/10/2020. Now that the General Assembly is over it must be introduced again in 2021.

Senate Bill 331 — Would amend Georgia law to make it unlawful for any person to knowingly possess or control or produce any material or medium which contains images that depict a naked or nearly naked, suggestively posed, and inappropriately sexualized child or children with the intent to arouse or satisfy the sexual desire of such person or the person viewing such images. Status: Will likely to have to be re-written and tried again in 2021.

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. Similar bill in House is HB 1055 scheduled for House Education Committee on 3/5/20.

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. It is still an active bill for the 2020 session.

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.

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. On April 2nd the full House voted 110-56 in favor. Gov. Kemp vetoed this bill.

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 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.