Frenetic action in the Capitol today, as both chambers raced to finish up as many bills as they can on the last day of the session.

Good evening and welcome to the final Lawmakers of this year as the Georgia General Assembly wraps up the 158th session.

I'm Donna Lowry in Atlanta tonight.

Our show is live from the Capitol and packed with interviews with legislators.

Governor Brian Kemp will join us also, and we have analysis from our guests in the studio.

So let's get started and join our correspondent Sarah Kallis at the Capitol for a look at what's happened so far.

Hi, Sarah.

Donna, it's sine die at the Capitol, where we spent the day on the edge of our seats, waiting to see if legislators would fulfill their constitutional duty.

The Senate started the last day of the session with a warning to the House.

I'm not in leadership.

But my suggestion would be.

In order to get that appropriations bill done.

Is that we had to lock down.

We don't pass any House bills until we get a budget.

The budget is the only thing that the legislature is required to pass each year.

Lucas indicated that the two chambers are over $100 million apart in their vision of the FY 2027 appropriations.

HB 14 0-9 would revise the method of mandatory child abuse reporting and add new groups like firefighters and animal control agents that would be required to report it.

But it too was amended, this time with something referred to as the Epstein amendment that would allow open records requests for legislators who have had sexual harassment lawsuits settled with taxpayer money.

We were able to reach a tentative agreement with the House on language they felt comfortable with.

They would be okay with the Epstein amendment if we would move it out of title 50 and put it in title 28 instead.

The language that the House felt comfortable with still opens up the legislature to open records concerning sexual harassment, settlements of members.

It does put a finite date going back.

The original Epstein amendment that you've seen from these chambers.

This chamber had no date going backwards.

You could open.

We would reveal any claim that had ever been made against a member of the House, felt that was somewhat impractical and needed a drop dead date.

The amendment was added in HB 14 0-9 passed unanimously.

HB 295 would give property owners the ability to sue local governments for loss of property value for the non enforcement of certain laws like homelessness, panhandling and illegal immigration, to name a few.

House Bill 295 creates a straightforward process.

A property owner files a claim.

The local government has 30 days to act.

If it refuses, the property owner may seek relief in the courts.

All we want is for local governments to enforce the law.

This is measured, responsible and accountable.

At the end of the day, this bill says something very simple enforce the law, cooperate with immigration enforcement and protect property rights.

Democrats had one simple response.

It is the meanest, most senseless, least practical legislation on immigration that we will see in this building, maybe ever.

This is actually insane.

Public policy.

Despite passionate debate, the bill was passed along party lines 30-22 in the House.

Members gave final approval to a bill aiming to curb surprise medical billing for ambulance rides.

House Bill five 0-6 would require health insurance companies to cover necessary ambulance transports, even if the provider is out of network.

Is that same language you have in front of you has already passed this house twice already, most recently with a vote of 160 7-0 House Bill 506 passed 160 8-2 The House also gave final approval to HB 12 83, or the Family Justice Center Act.

This body passed an amazing bill to bring forward how we treat survivors of domestic violence and sexual assaults.

The Senate added a fantastic amendment, which was authored by Representative Lupton.

It would require that rape kits be kept for ten years so that testing can continue to be done, and that the actual evidence is preserved.

The bill passed unanimously and the penny is dead, at least for cash transactions.

House Bill 11 12 received final passage in the House, which rounds cash transactions to the nearest nickel.

After lunch break, the House took up SB 513, which aims to crack down on chronic absenteeism or when a student misses 10% of the school year.

Legislation requires that every local school district has at least one attendance review team available to develop a written attendance intervention plan with the student and Guardian.

This legislation makes chronically absent students ineligible to participate in extracurricular and interscholastic activities until the student and his or her parent or guardian have met with the local school systems.

Attendance Review team to develop or modify an intervention plan.

It also prevents students from being issued a driver's license or learner's permit if they do not comply with an intervention plan.

Up to 20% of Georgia students are chronically absent.

Some Democrats opposed SB 513 and said penalties will not work to solve the problem.

Students are missing school because of barriers like poverty, health issues, transportation challenges and instability at home.

This is not primarily a discipline problem.

It is a barrier problem and that matters.

Taking things away can increase disengagement by removing the very connections that keep students in school and the driver's license provision raises the same concern.

After a passionate debate, SB 513 failed with 80 votes and 90 no votes.

Representatives then voted to reconsider the bill later tonight.

The joint committee negotiating the budget is unveiling their plan as we speak, and both chambers are expected to vote and pass it in the next few hours.

The $38 billion budget took days of negotiation and the funding for many bills already passed is tied to it.

That's my Sine die Capitol report.

Donna.

Thanks, Sarah.

I know we will be returning to you throughout the evening.

So thanks so much.

First, I want to introduce our guests in the studio and familiar faces to many of you.

Bill Crane is the owner of CSI Crane, a corporate communications firm.

He has a syndicated column called One Man's Opinion, and he's a political analyst and commentator for SB TV.

And Martha Zoller is a columnist, author, and host of the Martha Zoller Show on WGN radio.

In 2010, she ran for the US House in the ninth Congressional District.

Welcome back to both of you.

Thank you.

We did cross over and here we are back here.

It went so fast.

I want to get to something serious first before we go any further.

So there was a resolution on the House floor because of your heart journey.

So tell us what you've been going through.

Yes.

So I had a heart attack on February the fifth and I'm in great shape right now.

But I was so honored.

Thank you.

I was so honored that Representative Patti Stinson and a group of bipartisan women got together to I was I was joking with her, saying to be happy that I'm still living, which is good, but also that I have a, a new, a new attitude about talking about women's heart health because there are different syndromes related to women in their heart health.

And I'm going to be spending a lot of time and effort on that.

In fact, on the morning of my heart attack, I was interviewing a doctor, a thoracic surgeon, about Women's Heart Health Month.

So it was one of those things.

But also next week is going to be my grandson's tenth birthday, Benji.

And because I had a good outcome, I'm going to be there.

Oh, that is wonderful.

And it's great that you have a microphone to be able to talk about that.

Yes.

Thank you.

And we have to mention you've you've had some health challenges too, and we're glad your.

Cancer journey that began a year ago and I'm now eight months without any evidence of disease.

And, you know, don't have some body parts that I used to have, but everything's working and all the plumbing is back on the inside.

And like Martha, I think it's been critical that I've had so many friends and listeners and people walking up to me on the street at Kroger and hugging me.

Um, thank you.

Georgia.

Yes.

Well, I'm glad you're both here and we're going to have a good time tonight talking about a lot of things that have happened during this 40 day session.

There's so much.

So let's start with how long you think this night is going to go with any predictions?

I'm thinking, uh, 1:00 A.M.

It'll go to midnight and then everybody will be out by 1:00 A.M.. Yeah.

And the speaker's office has already said they're going to stay there until.

Well, I'll say this.

The Senate is not going to leave at 9:00 this.

Year.

But I would say somewhere 10-11.

I think the Senate's ready to go home, and everybody's ready to hit the trail with the campaign's okay.

Well, we're going to find out more about what's going on now, because Sarah has her first guest of the night and it's Speaker Jon Burns.

Hi, Sarah.

Hi, Donna.

And we're here with speaker of the House Jon Burns.

Thank you for being here.

Speaker Burns.

Glad to be here.

Sarah, thank you for being with us.. And one of your priority bills, the literacy bill passed this year.

Tell me a little bit about it.

Oh, we're excited about literacy because it's going to be so important to people of our state, young people of our state passed out on Tuesday.

We were excited about it.

Um, Senate and House came together, really pass this important legislation that will be transformational change in our state.

And we prepare our young people to read so they can have a quality of life improves.

Uh, the workforce in Georgia improves, but it's just really, really important.

And we're excited about it.

We've worked hard at it.

Lots of good ideas in it.

We look forward to coming and making a huge difference in Georgia.

And another really important bill passed this year.

Well, it's supposed to pass this year, which is the budget.

And so we know that the negotiated version is being unveiled.

Are there any highlights you can tell me about?

I sure can.

So back to literacy.

$70 million investment in literacy to make a huge difference in our state, $100 million for our ERS.

Employees in the state are retired employees making a big difference in their lives.

But it's also $48 million in Medicaid for for our young people, our families across the state to make a difference in their lives as well.

All right.

And another one of your priorities, the property tax bill is clear.

The House already.

We're waiting for a final vote in the Senate.

Can you tell me a little bit about the bill and how you're feeling right now?

Yeah, we're feeling really good about property tax and income tax, but we feel good about property tax.

Um, it's been a trying session to get property tax here.

But we're we're proud of where we are.

And it's going to make a difference.

A 3% cap on the rate of increase in our assessed values in the state.

A 3% cap on revenue.

We really believe that's going to make a huge difference for homeowners and all property owners in our state.

Affordability is the key to what we've worked on this session.

Just another part of our of our affordability effort.

All right.

Well, thank you for being here.

Are you expecting a late night?

Hey, we'll see where it goes.

Hey, we're here to do the people's work.

We'll be here until it's done.

All right.

Well, thank you so much again for being here.

And we're excited to see what the House gets up to.

Donna.

Will be there until it's done.

Thanks so much, Sarah.

And the speaker too.

So the speaker came in with big priorities, and it's been a fight until the end.

So we know that the, um, the literacy bill passed that will have the reading coaches, but even that was a little bit of a struggle.

It's not cheap to put a literacy coach at every elementary school in Georgia, and neither the House or the Senate got their big tax cut right.

The state Senate was proposing a multi-year elimination of the state income tax, and the state House was proposing.

And the speaker was key in this, uh, eliminating homestead property taxes over again, I think a six year period.

And instead they got a cap, um, a lot of pushback.

I think they weren't entirely expecting from school boards, cities and counties because that's where their revenue is made.

And I'm surprised that they didn't expect that.

What do you think they I mean, because that's they tried to give them opt outs and most did not opt out of it.

Well, I mean, this is the cleanup.

The property tax side is the cleanup from the bill they passed a couple of years ago.

And that nobody understood.

I mean, I did at least ten interviews on it and I still don't understand it.

So I think this is going in the right direction if they get it passed, because I don't think they have a final passage on the property tax bill yet.

But as far as the schools, because, you know, I serve on the State Board of Education and we passed a literacy bill three years ago, and I think it has been entirely too bureaucratized in the last three years.

And what we saw with what happened in Arkansas, Alabama, Mississippi and other places is that you can turn things around a lot faster with less money than you might think you need to spend.

And I think that's what I heard over and over again from legislators I talked to today, is they went and talked, they found things out.

And this literacy coach is an important part because if a child cannot read, they cannot do anything.

And it's really important.

And I really kind of look at these literacy coaches.

I had a listener ask me if it was, you know, if it was a waste of money.

I said, no, it's really like looking I put a speech therapist on these children and making sure they learn to read a screener is not going to do it.

A screen's not going to do it.

It may help you, you know, screen a kid and figure out what they need.

But the person that's going to teach a child to read is a good teacher.

Yeah.

And the other thing about it is knowing whether or not they can read before they are passed on.

And I believe they can keep them back in first grade now.

And, and that was shocked a lot of people.

Into a fast paced reading program.

Exactly.

That has proven to work.

That's how I learn.

That's how Martha learned.

Yeah.

Me too.

You know that's it works.

So why?

Well, I don't want to get into the whole new math.

I think that to be fair to educators, is that in general, people that are drawn to education, like new ideas.

Okay.

And there are times, though, where the old tried and true things you need to stay with, you know, but I think that they try new things.

But phonics is the best way to go.

Schoolhouse Rock turned 50 this year, and I would crank that stuff back out there in the schools.

50 years, huh?

I want to talk about something else.

The Senate really wanted to put something in the retirement fund, and it sounds like they got it.

They got it.

And it's not bad.

I mean, when you talk about the state employees getting one time bonus Governor Kemp giving all of the promised educator bonuses and salary increases and state employees, state employees have been well considered and taken care of by this administration, both of its terms and the legislatures have followed through on that.

Yeah.

And they'll get cost of living.

Yes.

And I think that it's a catch up really.

I mean, they've done a lot for these folks, but there were years where they didn't.

And there was a lot of catching up that needed to be done.

Yeah.

And so I think overall it took them a while, but they got there.

At one point we heard $100 million difference.

That may have been the, um, the retirees.

It sounds like that may have been it.

Well, he referred to 43 million in the speaker's interview.

So he may have gotten half of what they were asking.

Yeah.

Well, and I think what's so difficult in this particular session, I know you're going to talk about it later on in the program about how different things are going to look next year because of all the people that were running for other offices.

This has been a unique session as far as the back and forth that's gone on, and the people talking about one person or another.

It's been interesting.

Yeah, I had a legislator tell me today who he former legislator.

He's now a lobbyist, but he said this was the this was the strangest session.

He's he can ever remember.

I will.

Agree, because it was different.

And, you know, I've been doing this for seven years down here on a regular basis, but it just felt different from the beginning.

The Senate's leadership, both the dean of the delegation and the Senate's Democrat.

And he's been there 34 years.

He's leaving on the Republican side, I believe Senator Frank Ginn will be the senior member.

And it's it's the lieutenant governor's race is basically clearing the bench.

Yeah.

Um, in the state Senate among the Republican leadership.

So it's going to be a very different group when we come out of these.

Okay.

Going into the generals in the fall.

I want to talk about more about this in a minute.

But let's go back to the Capitol where Sarah has the Senate minority leader, Harold Jones the second of Augusta.

Hi, Sarah.

Hi, Donna.

And thank you for being here today.

So just to start off, we saw some new resistance tactics from Senate Democrats this session.

I'd like to hear a little bit more about those.

Absolutely.

That's one of the things we want to make sure we did is actually be more proactive.

As far as resisting, as you said.

And that was really key to our strategy.

We know we can't pass a lot of legislation, but the key thing is to actually present what we want to do if we were in charge.

And that was the key, actually resist a lot of bad bills that are out there, trying to improve some bills, if possible, and of course, still get some other legislation across the finish line to.

And are there any more tricks up your sleeve for the rest of the night tonight?

I want to give that away.

But right now it's been kind of uneventful.

But I will tell you this.

We have a couple of tax bills that may be coming over.

So that would be kind of interesting to see how they kind of go.

And we have some other bills dealing with Greta, for instance, that may be coming back up.

So we'll see how that goes too.

So they'll be they'll be tricky, but certainly maybe the fight.

All right.

Well thank you.

And you know we still have tax bills dealing with income tax and property tax still out there tonight.

Thank you for being here.

Thank you Donna.

All right.

Thanks so much, Sarah.

So at one point in the session, the Senate Democrats and led by Jones really stuck their heels in.

They held a mini filibuster kind of thing.

Um, they wanted to force compromise.

Did it work?

You know, I think that to some degree it does.

But you heard from the leader that, um, that, you know, fight, fight is the term that Democrats are using for everything right now.

That's kind of what they're talking about.

And I kind of agree with Representative Lucas earlier in the program where he said we ought to pass the budget in the first week.

I've used to I've said on my show 1 million times that I would love for them to just come in the first week and pass the budget and then just adjourn and go.

And would Georgia be a better place?

Maybe.

Yeah.

Well, they got the little budget done quick.

Yes they did, but the big budget has been creeping further and further, and it's been at least the last five or six years being finished on the final day.

But I, you know, I don't can't say I agree with David Lucas a lot, but I agree with him on this, that it should be something because it's the one thing they have to do that most of the heavy lifting should be done a week or two, ten days before the session's over, so that they can focus on the local legislation and all these tug of war battles.

But what it tends to be is what we're seeing tonight is they're deciding the final budget and they're doing the horse trading on the bills that are still out.

And you do have to worry that when you wait till the last minute like this, what do you miss?

What do you miss?

So they're going to supposedly bring out the bill and let sit on their desk for 2.5 hours while there have been while they're voting on all kinds of other things, how can they really be up to date on it?

Yeah, well.

Over that.

Yeah.

Overall, how did the Democrats do this session?

I think?

Well, I mean, as a party, I think they've got some momentum out stating they've had some surprise elections like the two PSC seats.

And they're very energized about the midterms.

It's got to be frustrating.

And I've watched it.

When it was reversed, the minority party in Georgia because of the structure of the General Assembly.

If it's not a close split and it's not, um, gets to sit on their hands a lot, they can make noise, they can hold caucuses, they can introduce bills, but a lot of their stuff doesn't move.

And sometimes you remember when Stacey Abrams was a minority leader, she would pick one or two words that she would change in a bill to really change the intent, but she didn't believe in a lot of the floor fights because she knew if you build up bad will, you're not going to get your bills passed at all.

Yeah, you feel the same way.

Yeah, I. Kind of agree with that, that what they've got to work on a little more is less of the press conferences and more of the working together.

Whoever the minority party is.

Johnny Isaacson, when he and Paul Coverdale were in the house, there were, I think, six Republicans in the House back then, and they had to learn that they couldn't have their name on anything, you know what I mean?

It was just one of those things that either they wanted to get the good policy through and didn't care about the credit, or they wanted to get the credit.

And I think they need to do a little more of that.

Yeah.

Let's talk a little bit about the fight between the two chambers this session.

I mean, that was more evident than we've seen in the past, right.

Well, I think the state Senate going in, it's Republican membership had largely aligned itself with Burt Jones candidacy for governor.

That's not obviously the case in every member on the House side.

The governor has stayed neutral in the governor's race, but very involved in the Senate race.

And so the party had within it factions.

And then in February, surprise, surprise action, Rich Jackson drops in, you know, parachutes into the race, completely turns it on its side.

And several House members, because of Rick Jackson's kind of self-stated similarity to Donald Trump, have now endorsed Rick Jackson.

And none of those bills are moving.

Of those members, at least, is.

That's the accusation.

So it tended to polarize things.

There's always a little bit of friction between the two chambers.

Oh, absolutely.

But I got to tell you, when I was there last week, talking with the ladies, getting back there, there was some floor conversations I heard.

I won't say who with that were extremely animated and a lot of things being said.

This was on the House side about the Senate side and what was going on, especially as it related to the literacy bill, and they felt a little blindsided about that.

And they want to work together better.

And I think they sort of felt, you know, that after last year with the Senate getting out so early that maybe they would work a little differently this year, but they didn't.

Yeah.

Somebody said to me today, I think it began with the beginning of the session because of what happened last year, that the even though to everybody else, the House, you know, we're we're all, you know, it's kind of kumbaya, but the House was really upset about what happened when the Senate left early.

Enough to remember when it was Zell Miller's lieutenant governor and Tom Murphy speak.

And if you want to talk about intraparty fireworks and the last week, back in the day, those were some.

But there was no social media.

And you could unplug the clock so you could stay in as long as you wanted to.

There may be a reason to do that today.

What do you think?

I don't know.

I don't know, it doesn't look like the budget's going to hold them up.

But I do think the Senate really wants that election bill to get to the governor's desk, even though I'm not sure.

And you can ask the governor if he's going to sign it or not.

Yeah, that's the big push.

And I think that there was some horse trading over.

And you know, I'm so against that just because even though they say some of the things wouldn't go in place until 2028, I just think the uncertainty that it has, if you're going to deal with an election bill, bill, it ought to be in an off year, not in an election year.

And fund it.

And fund it.

That's right.

Well, they they dealt with it two years ago and they didn't.

They didn't.

They didn't fund it.

So they didn't carry it out.

And we expected things by now.

You know, two years ago they thought we would no longer have the QR codes.

Yeah, I understand the concern of technology.

And I know a lot of people who don't like scanners on the UPC code of the grocery store, but that's where technology is.

And so if you don't trust the QR code for voting, do you trust it for banking?

Do you trust it for buying tickets?

Do you?

So as long as we've been able to see that, print out the receipt, if you will, of who you voted for.

To me, that makes a whole lot more sense than a hand-marked paper ballot.

That could be ten or 15 pages long that all have to be individually scanned.

All of those pages have to be retained.

If it rains and you've got wet hands and your ballot is wet, it's going to tear up the scanner.

They don't have those scanners in place.

They don't have the software to not read the QR codes.

It just will be a cluster.

If they try to force that in time for the certainly for the primaries.

But it'd be impossible that for that.

But for the general election in the fall, I just don't think the rush is worth it.

And the counties have a lot that they're going to have to do right before, you know what, May 19, the.

Primary I mean, early voting starts April 27.

Yeah.

So we're in the month.

Okay.

So we're we got a lot more to, to see with all of that.

I think we're just about ready to see if the, the governor is ready.

He's, he's not ready yet.

So we can talk a little bit more about that.

And one of the main things we got to talk about with him is also, this is it for him.

And so do you think that knowing that this was going to be a new governor factored in at all with all of this, in what way?

The governor, you know, puts forth his budget first and the House budget very much aligned with the governor's budget, which I thought was an early statement of kind of where they were trying to drive this.

Um, but in that it is his last year and he's lame.

Duck.

The governor doesn't have quite as much weight as when he can still appoint everyone to positions and control the budget next year.

So it's not the voice from on high that a typical governor is certainly the first year of his second term, so he didn't have any big agenda items that he was pushing that were new and different.

He wasn't trying to control the legislative process.

And I think that's been his style historically.

Okay, we're going to hold off now because I know you have something to say.

We remember it because joining us now from the Capitol is Governor Brian Kemp.

Hello, governor.

Hey.

Good evening.

How are you?

Great.

Now this is your last signee die.

How many times have you actually been through a signee?

Die?

If you count your years in the Senate and Secretary of state, governor.

I probably wasn't prepared for that question.

Let's say I had four years in the Senate.

I think eight is secretary of state and then eight is governor.

So quite a few.

Yeah, quite a few.

So you always talk to both chambers.

Do you give us an idea of what you may talk with them about tonight?

Well, I think really just be thanking everybody tonight.

You know, this is not while I'm the chief executive for the state, it's we have a great team.

We have great leaders that our executive branch agencies, a lot of staff, folks at the budget office.

And then obviously the legislators, their staff and a lot of other people that work in the Capitol, that people watching the television will never get to see, that really help us drive policy here, drive the budget here.

And really, I'll just be thanking them for serving with me and our team over the last, you know, 7.5 years.

We're not done yet.

I got to finish the drill, as they say, but really thanking them for some great legislative sessions.

And as you all remember, through some very difficult times in our state.

Yeah, absolutely.

Let's talk about a few things.

You led with fiscal conservatism during your seven years.

And why was that so important to you, and how do you think it's turned out ?

Well, I think it's turned out great.

If you remember, there was a lot of people that were upset when I had a budget cut in my first budget, because I had promised to give teachers and state employees a pay raise, and we ended up doing that even more so than I promised when I was campaigning, because I felt like that was very important.

I felt like we could streamline state government, make it more efficient, use the savings for that to give teachers and hard working law enforcement and other people in state government a pay raise.

And, you know, thankfully, we had that mindset coming in because when the pandemic hit us, we were going through something that was unprecedented, really hard to figure out how to budget there.

And so us being conservative on the budget, but also keeping our economy open and really leading the country in the great American comeback, positioned us very well to do generational things.

We did that again this year with our fourth tax rebate.

So right now, the Department of Revenue is cutting checks or sending money back to folks that paid taxes last year to help them fight the tough environment that we're in with the high cost because of the 40 year high inflation and other things during the previous administration, the tax cuts we've been able to do, the historic investments that we made in transportation and infrastructure to keep goods and services and our people moving, but also to keep people working in our state.

That's what I've really focused on.

And I think, quite honestly, that's what the people wanted.

You leave with a large surplus for the state.

Do you think that your successor can continue that, and what would it mean to Georgia if it isn't continued?

Well, I think we're leaving the state in great fiscal shape.

That's the one thing I've really tried to press on the legislature, especially the last seven years, where we did have historic rainy day funds.

We've used a lot of those to make generational projects.

One of them this year is fixing the I-75 South corridor, going down through Henry County, almost $2 billion of cash.

You our bond package the last two years, we paid cash for it.

That's going to save the taxpayers 120 to $150 million a year every year for the next 20 years.

Those kind of things are really keep our state in a good fiscal position.

But we have spent down some of those one time reserves that we have.

But I felt like it was important for us in these times as our budget has gotten bigger, for us to also have a bigger reserve fund.

I'm very thankful that Governor Diehl left a good rainy day fund for me when I got there, after Governor Perdue had to really govern, do some during some tough times.

And I wanted to do the same thing.

And, you know, regardless of whoever the next governor is, it's going to be very important because, you know, we will go through tough times.

Again, you can see right now with what we have going on in Iran and other things, what can happen to your economy very quickly?

Hopefully that's going to be short lived.

I believe the president thinks that.

And he said that last night.

But you have to be ready for those things.

When you're a leader and in positions like this.

And I hope that the you know, my predecessor will do that or my successor will do that.

The one thing I want to ask you about, because you were secretary of state, they're going to look at a an election bill we expect tonight.

And if it passes, will you be in favor of it or will you veto it?

Well, it depends on what's in it.

Uh, you know, we've been working with the General Assembly in that regards.

Um, you know, we got to make sure that we have secure accessible, fair elections in our state.

Uh, as you all know, we were on the front lines of passing one of the strongest elections integrity acts in the country, but also that bill made it easy to vote and hard to cheat.

And if the bill does that, then I'll sign it.

But if it creates problems and chaos in our elections, then I'll have to take a hard look at it.

But we're working with the General Assembly on that as the as the night goes on.

Well, I have to ask you, what do you consider your legacy at this point?

Well, I'll let others decide my legacy.

I get up every day working hard for this state.

I'm going to do that till the last day in office, and I'll let history be the judge of that.

Okay, then.

Well, thank you so much, Governor Kemp, for always giving us time on Lawmakers, especially on Sine die.

We really appreciate it.

Thank you sir.

It's been an honor.

Thank you.

All right.

Thoughts.

I'm going to start with you, Martha.

Well, you know, I want to talk a little bit about what Bill said about the budget, because what we heard was, is the governor put his budget forward.

The House pretty much aligned it.

And the Senate did not.

And look, I'm not saying you got to agree with the governor on everything he's done, but he just gave a nice list of things.

He helped state employees, he helped teachers, he helped, uh, the roads as far as putting money into getting those better.

He helped Georgians up and down the line.

He helped the constituents of these folks, the House, I think more reflects what Georgians are really thinking in the Senate.

I think this year they were more concerned about their next jobs than the job they were in.

Yeah.

And he certainly got criticized during the pandemic for some of his moves.

But in the end.

He was right.

I mean, look what happened.

Like a needs based Hope scholarship.

Who would have thought that one, that the Republican Party would have taken the lead on that?

And as well funded, in addition to the 350 million they're putting in the lotteries, had a really good year.

So it's going to start.

It's going to come out the gate strong.

And we've needed that in Georgia for at least ten or 15 years.

And now we have it.

And again that didn't that wasn't a big dip into those reserves.

Yeah he really does.

I mean I think he's right.

Other people have to look at his legacy.

But he has a lot of good things to talk about.

Oh absolutely.

And I'm biased when it comes to Governor Kemp.

I mean, he stuck his neck out for me when I ran for Congress back in 2012 when he didn't have to.

And, and I appreciate that very much.

And I worked hard for him.

And I think that he has been a very good governor, a fiscally responsible governor.

Now, our budget may have grown a little more than I would have liked it to, but I think he did a balanced budget every year, and he's got a big surplus.

So he's done a good job.

I would put him at the top with Zell Miller as the most impactful governors this state has had in modern times.

Okay, then.

Well, I hear he just went into the house.

So we'll hear what they have to say later on.

But coming up, more on this final day of the Georgia Legislature for this year.

As we look at, we were trying to show you a little bit of what's going on, but we they're in recess, so we can't.

But we'll be right back.

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Welcome back to Lawmakers.

I'm Donna Lowry here in the studio with Bill Crane and Martha Zoller.

But we're going to head back to the Capitol right now, where Sarah has Senator John of Smyrna.

Hi, Sarah.

We can't.

Okay, Sarah, we cannot hear you.

So we're going to we're going to go back to Sarah if we can.

So we've talked about a lot of things.

We were talking about the governor and that he looks relaxed.

I thought he looked relaxed.

I mean, when you get to this point, we're like, it's been a lot.

But he's got six more months on the job.

But the stress once the circus and I'm not being critical.

I love many members of the General Assembly.

Once they move out of the Capitol building, it is a much quieter place to work.

It is.

For the remainder of the year, and this is his last session.

So, you know, they'll put the agenda in place.

And then he and the executive agencies will implement.

Yeah.

And they had a really wonderful 250th anniversary for the United States event at the Capitol.

I used to love when I worked at the Capitol for my short period of time there.

I loved those kinds of events they had after everything was cleared out and they would be in the atrium there, and they'd bring in really interesting people.

So I think he's going to be able to do a lot of that, because who wouldn't want to be there?

Yeah, I think it'll be it'll be a different atmosphere as he moves on and tries to figure in.

The race and look in the race, races heat up.

We've got the primary in May, depending on how Derek Dooley does, it may.

I don't think it's going to affect him.

He's going to be fine, but he's going to be much happier if Derek Dooley wins or gets in the runoff than he would be if he didn't.

And as far as I know, he hasn't really endorsed anybody else.

Right.

He stayed out of most I mean, some local races.

Obviously he got engaged in the 14th Congressional District.

He endorsed Clay Fuller, who has a runoff early voting stop today.

The elections next Tuesday for Marjorie Taylor Greene seat.

But unless it was one of those special elections that have been around the state, he's largely stayed on the sidelines.

And that keeps things a little, you calmer when you're not doing a whole lot to to push things.

So we're going to go back to Sarah.

Sarah, I think you may have your guests and we can we hear you.

Can hear the.

Thank you.

Donna, we're here again with Senator Howard of of Smyrna.

So, Senator Howard, this is your first legislative session and your first Sine die tell me how you're feeling.

Feeling fantastic, folks in Cobb County and Fulton County.

I'm really happy that they elected me to be here because we're exactly where we're supposed to be.

Moving with purpose, with integrity, and moving with urgency.

And are there any lessons that you've learned your first session here under the Gold Dome?

Absolutely.

At the end of the day, God prepares you for the next thing.

And so all of the ups and downs in my political journey has helped me during this whole session, having the confidence to speak up and fight for the people in district 35 and for folks all across Georgia.

I'm happy to be here and walking in purpose.

And is there any words of advice you have from anyone who's running for office now and hoping to be here next year?

Your voice matters no matter your path and no matter your upbringing.

This is the people's house and we need all perspectives here.

So if anyone's even thinking about running for office, let's go through the process.

Let's do it.

We need to have their name on the ballot and let's see what happens.

All we can do is, you know, win or lose.

But we got to try.

All right.

Well, thank you so much for the words of advice.

I'm excited to be a good day.

Donna.

Thanks, Sarah.

So this is short for him in terms of election because he he was filling estevez's.

Um seat and now he's going to have to run again.

So everybody is in that mode right now.

We talked earlier about what's happening in the Senate.

So we've got at least four people running for lieutenant governor.

Then we've got um we've got a couple of people leaving.

Um, Freddie Powell Sims is leaving.

Ed Harbison is leaving.

We've got, we've got Elena Parent going.

We've got Nabila Parkes running for, I think right now.

She switched from insurance commissioner to also lieutenant governor.

So it's going to be like the Senate itself is going to be very, very.

Very different.

Yeah.

So I think it's going to be interesting to watch.

And I love seeing a young person like that running.

Uh, and I tell you what, in our area, we've got a Democrat contested contested primary in the ninth district.

We've got a Democrat contested primary in other House seats.

There have not been this many Democrats running.

Since Nathan Deal was a Democrat.

Since Nathan Deal was a Democrat.

Back in 93.

Absolutely.

So it's very interesting.

And I think it's going to be hit the ground running.

I mean, they're going to get through.

And I don't know, they may not even say goodbye to anybody on the way out the door.

It'll be just sine die and they'll be gone.

They're feeling really hopeful about things from the ones the Democrats I've spoken to.

Well, this is this is not a federal political show.

But if you look at any of the polling numbers, what you've got to be concerned about from the White House down is independent voters in droves have moved away from the Republican Party, which they helped deliver Donald Trump to the White House this most recent time, part of the coalition that he assembled Hispanic voters.

Um, and the open ballot for congressional races between just Republican and Democrat blank ballot, which had been decidedly Republican for the last four or five years, is not now looking into these midterms.

So they've got reason for optimism now, whether they turn that into results or not, I don't know.

But they've certainly got an opportunity.

Well, they're hoping to you know all the way down on this whole coattails of what always happens in midterms.

You know, for the other party.

Our old friend Bobby Khan, who used to run the Democratic Party, had 2026 circled on his calendar as being the year that things might change.

Back.

When did he do this?

Oh, gosh, it was years ago.

It was years ago.

And, and I have always thought that this would be the year that one of the constitutional offices would be Democrat again.

And we've already seen that as far as with the two PSC seats.

But, you know, I think that what's got to happen here is it's going to be really interesting up and down the ballot.

And I hear your point about independent voters.

I don't deny the polling.

But at the same time, I just think it's not as much whether they agree with President Trump or not or what, but whether they like who's running in their own area.

They know a lot more question.

And the president, you know, isn't on the ballot.

So the other thing that's going to be different in 2026 is for Georgia.

Brian Kemp is not on the ballot and Donald Trump is not on the ballot.

And those two drive whole new constituencies into the Republican Party, as well as first time in non-prime voters.

That may not be as enthused without either one of those on on the top of the ticket.

Right.

All right.

We're going to go back to the Capitol, where Sarah has Republican Representative Beth Camp of Concord.

Thank you, Donna, and thank you, Representative Camp, for being here.

So just to start off, you have a bill that passed the Senate.

It's waiting for a final approval in the House dealing with access to contraception.

Can you tell me a little bit about why that bill is so important?

Of course.

Thank you for asking.

HB 11 38 is a bill that gives pharmacists the ability to prescribe contraception.

In our state.

We have 82 counties that do not have an Ob-Gyn.

So by having access to the pharmacist, every community has a pharmacy.

They have a pharmacist who has a doctorate in pharmacy, and they'll be able to prescribe contraception, whether it's oral contraception, whether it's, um, injectables, a lot of different choices.

So it's more options for women in our state.

Definitely something that will increase access, especially for those rural counties.

And that that isn't the only bill you have dealing with families and family planning.

Can you tell me a little bit more about some of your other family bills?

Of course.

I have a bill, HB 14 0-9 We're waiting for it to come back over to you and agree as well.

And this bill changes mandated reporting in our state for firefighters, police officers, schools.

So there's more transparency of children being abused and neglected.

I'm very excited about this one as well.

And is there anything else that you're hoping to see cross the finish line before the end of the night tonight?

Well, we had another bill.

It was SB 431.

It was Kay Kirkpatrick bill.

I carried it in the House and it dealt with foster children being able to start school in a timely manner within three school business days.

We codified that because we had some kids who were waiting up to 30 days to get in school, so that was another bill, but we're done with that one.

So the two I mentioned are the only ones I'm waiting on tonight.

All right.

Well, thank you so much.

And we'll definitely keep an eye on those two bills.

Thank you Donna.

Thanks so much, Sarah.

So one of the things we saw happen is that the the Republican women united on a bunch of bills specifically geared toward women, women's issues.

Yeah.

And I tell you what, I always get nervous about, um, in cases like this contraceptive bill, which looks like it's going to pass, I think.

But when you take the prescribing out of the doctor's hands, I'm married to a primary care doctor.

Okay.

And and then who is who has the liability?

That was always the concern that if the, if the.

Drug knowledge base of the patient.

Yeah.

And if the patient like how well does the pharmacist know the patient and who's liable if if we change who prescribes.

So I that's what I'm always looking for when I look at bills like that.

But a bill of mine, it's not my bill.

It's something I've championed for a long time that is not going to make it this year, but we're going to bring it back again next year.

Is that with the abortion cocktail that they take for the chemical abortions right now, you can get that through the mail and you don't have to see a doctor.

And that was done during Covid, um, because they were afraid that people wouldn't have access.

And when they did that, along with opioids, and then when they went back after Covid, all the opioids went back to where you had to see a doctor.

But this particular concoction did not.

And the problem I have with that is there's a 7% complication rate on that, which today's FDA would never approve, a 7% complication rate.

So what we're saying is that you just need to see a doctor as a follow up, because there are you are inducing a particular you're inducing a miscarriage.

And so you need to be sure that people are safe.

When you see that women have problems with that.

And all you need to know that it's the right medical thing to do is planned Parenthood requires that when they give out this prescription, this prescription that you need to come back the next day and be checked.

Why do I think we'll hear about it next year?

I think you will.

Okay.

I mean, what the, the, the point I was trying to make is the women we've seen women, more and more women come into the.

Body and.

And they, they are really showing that they have some power now, don't you think?

Yes.

Yeah.

They really are.

There are.

People like.

Sharon Cooper who've been in the body for decades, but there are Republican and Democratic women who are not backbenchers anymore, who are, you know, not all, not as many chairing committees as perhaps there should be, but that are carrying bills vocally, not unwilling to challenge leadership when something they're passionate about hasn't been given attention or hasn't been given docket on the rules calendars.

And I think that's all for the good of the state.

And I think they're working together in a partisan way on some things related especially to women's health and and women's mortality.

Yeah.

So there's some really, really good things going on.

Are we ready to return to the Capitol?

Yeah.

Okay.

Sarah has House Minority Leader Carolyn Hugley of Columbus with her.

Hi, ladies.

Thank you.

Thank you, Donna and Leader Hughley, can you just start off by walking me through some of the highlights for Democrats this session?

This session has been all about affordability.

As we started from the beginning, but we've missed some opportunities on affordability as we went through.

What turned out was we have a session that's been about taxes and politics, taxes and politics over and over again.

As you see, we have had several property tax bills.

It started with a CA and now it's been several bills.

And we've we have one still on our desk.

Uh, also there have been many changes to income taxes that we've had this particular session.

So we've gone around and around.

And two things keep coming up.

Taxes, property taxes, income taxes, because our friends on the other side of the aisle feel that that's the only way to bring affordability to Georgians.

So there are other things that we could have done.

We could have expanded Medicaid and made medical expenses more affordable for Georgians.

We could have stepped in when the ACA, did not pass to make sure that we did not leave 200,000 Georgians without coverage.

So those are some of the things that we could have done.

We're happy that it is Sine die though.

And there was some excitement from Democrats about a bill that didn't pass yesterday dealing with protecting certain monuments.

Can you tell me a little bit about that bill and the Democrats opposition to it?

I'm so very proud of my caucus.

The bill was about protecting monuments, the author said all monuments, but particularly they were interested in Confederate monuments.

And Georgia has more than most states.

And it was all about, from our perspective, making sure that we didn't burden our cities and counties with, uh, continuing lawsuits because the bill said anybody had standing, anybody from anywhere could come to your particular community and say, oh, I have standing.

I don't want that monument to be removed.

And so we know that most of those monuments were erected during the Jim Crow era, and it's time for Georgians to move on.

We shouldn't hold our cities and counties hostage when they're looking forward to a bright future.

And as the night gets later, you know, we're seeing some bills get passed and some get held up.

Sometimes there's a little tension between the two chambers.

Are you sensing anything between the House and the Senate today?

It's always that case because, you know, this is the last day and this is the last opportunity for bills to, to pass.

Uh, and we're seeing bills that are tacked on to others.

The title of the bill and the substance of the bill are two different things.

And that's what you always see on day 40.

So the House and Senate always has a little bit of tension, but I think it's a little bit more this year because this is an election year.

And is there anything else you're hoping to see passed this year?

We've got to pass the budget.

We still don't have the budget, and I think the budget is the most important thing that we do is the only constitutionally mandated thing that we have to do.

And so we're looking forward to seeing the final version of the budget, because that tells Georgians where our values are.

Well, all eyes are on the budget for sure this evening.

Thank you for being here.

Thank you.

Thanks so much, Sarah.

So let's talk about that that bill dealing with granting the legal, giving people legal standing to sue over what some consider the improper removal of an historic monument.

That was a first of all, I don't think a lot of people saw that with that one coming, but it was soundly rejected.

Alan Powell, who sort of carrying the water on that, has been a supporter.

He's from north east west Georgia.

Hartwell area, Hartwell Lake Hartwell area.

Um, has found disagreement in some communities when there's no public debate, there's no public forum and a long standing monument on the courthouse grounds is removed, relocated.

Sometimes I can think of a situation in Athens where a statement was made that it would be relocated to another prominent location, and that particular monument is laying in a ditch in a fallow field of grass about that high.

So I understand people being, in some cases, feeling like they weren't heard, but creating a class and basically saying anyone can come forward would basically be carte blanche and giving a credit card to the Sons of Confederate veterans to come forward and sue.

There are upwards of 130 Confederate monuments around the state.

And so you would basically, I could see a circumstance where they would be funding their operations of the sons of Confederate Sons and daughters of the Confederacy by suing cities and counties over the removal or relocation of monuments.

And Georgia has more than any other state in terms of these Confederate monuments.

You know, I think it's a local issue, and I think that the state shouldn't be involved in it, I think.

But I do agree that there ought to be discussion about it.

You can't be afraid to talk about it if you're going to make a change on something.

I think what they've done on the Capitol grounds, quite frankly, of of the Gold Dome, where they've moved some of the more controversial statues to other places, to the free speech square.. When they took Tom Watson away, there was no debate or discussion.

He just vanished.

He just vanished one day.

That is true.

And and, you know, I just think that that it needs to be more of a local situation.

That's what we've done, you know, in Gainesville.

That's what we've done in other areas.

And then we find other places to put them.

Yeah.

Republicans, there were a few a couple Republicans who went along with the Democrats on that one.

So it was it was soundly rejected.

So we're at the final thoughts.

Part of the show.

So on the 2026, session, what do you think?

I can't believe.

It's over.

I think that the, uh, particularly on the state Senate side, election matters were the focus inordinately, uh, some personal politics and some personal egos got involved.

Uh, I think the state House with the, with the literacy bill and other things demonstrated, as Martha said earlier, they were doing more about the business of the people.

Uh, and with, with the governor having not only his last session, but some other focuses, I mean, his he's pushed hard for his Senate candidate and he has some supporters in the body, but not a lot.

And, uh, Mr.

Dooley is not here in the polls.

He's here in the polls.

So I think all of that contributed to a little bit less collegiality and camaraderie.

And when that happens and you've got a resurgent Democratic Party, they're going to be a few more bumps in the road.

Okay.

And you.

Yeah.

And I think that especially when they're talking about affordability, which is the word of the day, I think that reducing property taxes and reducing taxes is an affordability measure because it gives you the money back to be able to spend the way you would like to spend it.

And that's kind of the bit one of the big differences between Democrats and Republicans.

Democrats think, let's get a new program, you know, and we'll go through that.

Republicans think that give the money to the other person to spend.

So all in all, it's been a more cantankerous, uh, session on the Senate side and we'll see how it goes.

I can't wait for May 19.

We're going to have a lot of new faces.

We're going to look at the House right now.

I guess the governor has gone into the House.

He's being greeted in there.

And so, uh, we'll be able to talk about this tomorrow.

We'll find out what he had to say to them.

He gave us a glimpse though.

So we love that.

We appreciate that.

So next year, whole new look, right?

Uh, we've, we've got new people coming in.

Some people are being unopposed, but everybody is up for reelection.

And then we'll have new state officers.

So.

.

And as Martha alluded, there's the possibility that we'll have some Democratic constitutional officers by this time next year.

There's the possibility, slight, that, uh, based on where the House seats up that are vulnerable and they only have a ten vote majority that the Republicans could lose leadership or the majority status.

I don't think that's going to happen, but it is within mathematic possibility.

Your thoughts?

Yeah, I think I think we hold on to the House and the Senate.

But, uh, you know, I think it's going to be very interesting to watch all these races and it's going to get real nasty between now and May, the may the 19th and then during the runoff period, it'll be interesting.

I want to see if Rick Jackson can pull a Sonny Perdue and win the runoff.

I mean, win the primary without a runoff because Sonny Perdue did that against six candidates.

Yeah.

It'll be interesting to see what that there's there's a lot to a lot more we may be ending this session, but there's a lot more political.

GPB.

We can do.

Yeah, we're going to do that.

I want to thank you both for being here.

You're always wonderful.

Yes.

And and you know, I'm already asking you for next year.

Okay.

All righty.

Well, that does it for Lawmakers for this legislative session.

It takes a dedicated team to bring you this program each night.

And our spans two locations from our crew under the gold dome at the Capitol and to the team here in the studio, as we say, good night to the to another session.

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So please take a look at these wonderful people.

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