Author: Emily Leonard

By: Sen. Larry Walker (R – Perry)

With only nine legislative days remaining until the Georgia General Assembly will stand adjourned Sine Die, the previous weeks have been extremely busy yet productive for the Senate. Monday. March 6, 2023, signified Crossover Day, a pivotal moment in each legislative session. The Senate worked late into the evening debating and voting on 51 measures with 50 receiving passage on the floor. The pace has surely ramped up in recent days. I am eager to provide you with an update on a few bills of note that now travel across the hall for further consideration.

Last week, I brought Senate Bill 195 to your attention. Known as the “Freedom to Work Act,” SB 195 is a product of the combined efforts of the Georgia Joint Defense Commission, the 21^st Century Partnership and other service member advocates and seeks to address the ongoing concern of occupational licensing for military spouses. I am happy to report that SB 195 passed with unanimous bipartisan support. Veterans, military spouses, and others moving to this state who could fill jobs in high demand fields often face challenges satisfying licensing requirements. Therefore, it is my hope that with this legislation, service members and their spouses will experience fewer hurdles when it comes to obtaining an occupational license in Georgia.

While SB 195 is a step in the right direction, occupational licensing in Georgia remains a growing concern that is shared by a number of my colleagues, including Lt. Governor Burt Jones. As a result, I am excited to announce my recent appointment to chair the Senate Occupational Licensing Study Committee. Established pursuant to Senate Resolution 85, the Senate Occupational Licensing Study Committee will examine our current occupational licensing laws and requirements to determine if they should be modified, replaced or eliminated to encourage, promote, and foster employment and healthy business growth in Georgia. I am honored to serve as chair of this study committee. It is timely, given our current and projected workforce needs, that we examine and review how other states have responsibly reformed occupational licensing to streamline processes, reduce barriers to work, and eliminate unnecessary rules and regulations in order to establish best practices in Georgia. I am thankful to Lt. Gov. Jones for placing his trust in me to spearhead this endeavor and I look forward to working alongside my Senate colleagues to address this issue in the interim.

Speaking of study committees, Majority Leader Sen. Steve Gooch brought Senate Bill 146 to the floor for a vote on Crossover Day. SB 146 is a product of the Joint Study Committee on Electrification of Transportation and seeks to establish the framework for the electric vehicle industry in Georgia. The electric vehicle industry is rapidly growing in Georgia with 30% of consumers already considering purchasing an electric vehicle for their next automobile. Governor Kemp has made it a goal of his second term for Georgia to become an electric mobility hub and Senate Bill 146 will work to achieve that goal. I was proud to support this legislation and see it pass with bipartisan support.

I would also like to take the time to provide you with a brief update on the progression of my sponsored legislation in the House. Senate Bill 106, the “Healthy Babies Act,” has been assigned to the House Committee on Public Health and Senate Bill 110, the “Back the Blue Act,” has been assigned to the House Committee on Insurance. I anticipate both bills will be brought before their respective House committees in the near future. I look forward to providing you with additional updates on the progression of each piece of legislation in the coming weeks.

Each week the Senate welcomes various distinguished guests to the chamber for special presentations. This week, I was joined by President Pro Tempore, Sen. John F. Kennedy, and Chairman of the Senate Committee on Public Safety, Sen. John Albers, as we honored the Georgia Firefighter Standards and Training Council (GFSTC) in the Senate chamber. The GFSTC was recently awarded with the Chief V. Kenneth Elmore Memorial Award from the National Board on Fire Service Professional Qualifications, an award that is presented annually to an accredited agency that has demonstrated outstanding success in promoting professional qualifications for fire and emergency services. I was honored to present the Executive Director of GFSTC and former Mayor of the City of Warner Robins, Randy Toms, with Senate Resolution 108 to acknowledge the council’s good work and receipt of this nationally acclaimed award.

On a similar note, I took a point of personal privilege from the Well in the Senate chamber on Thursday, March 9, to recognize a very important man to me on the occasion of his 81^st birthday. My dad, Larry Walker, Jr., is a loving husband, father, grandfather, and great-grandfather. A native of Houston County, he practiced law in Perry for 57 years, served in the Georgia House of Representatives for 32 years, 16 of those years as House Majority Leader, and went on to serve on the Georgia Department of Transportation Board and then the Board of Regents of USG. Still active in the community and on his farm, my father is a remarkable man and I was proud to take a moment to celebrate him in the Senate chamber on his birthday.

With each passing day, the Georgia General Assembly inches closer to Legislative Day 40, and we have much more work to be done, to include finalizing the FY ’24 Budget.  The coming weeks will be extremely hectic, but I will remain diligent in my advocacy for responsible public policy and conservative stewardship of taxpayer dollars until the very end. As always, please do not hesitate to reach out to my office, if we can be of help to you or your community.

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Sen. Larry Walker serves as Secretary of the Senate Majority Caucus. He also serves as Chairman of the Insurance and Labor Committee.  He represents the 20th Senate District, which includes Bleckley, Dodge, Dooly, Houston, Laurens, Pulaski, Treutlen and Wilcox counties.  He may be reached by phone at 404.656.0095 or by email at larry.walker@senate.ga.gov.   

By: Sen. Larry Walker (R – Perry)

Monday, March 6 marks Legislative Day 28, also known as Crossover Day. As the Senate closes its doors on week eight of the 2023 Legislative Session, my fellow colleagues and I continue to remain steadfast in our efforts to pass effective and beneficial legislation as we gear up for the start of next week. With over 70 measures eligible for consideration on the floor on Monday, we have officially entered the home stretch towards Sine Die. With such an eventful week ahead of us, here is a recap of legislation of note that received passage this week.

Senate Bill 106, legislation I brought to your attention last week, passed in the Senate on Thursday with unanimous bipartisan support. As previously reported, SB 106 seeks to establish a three-year pilot program administered through the Georgia Department of Community Health (DCH) aimed at providing remote patient monitoring for expectant mothers under Medicaid. Known as the “Healthy Babies Act,” SB 106 seeks to address our ongoing concern with maternal and infant mortality in Georgia. 53% of Georgia’s 159 counties have little or no local access to adequate maternity care and 78 Georgia counties don’t have a licensed OBGYN. I am grateful to receive such overwhelming support from my Senate colleagues as we explore the use of technology, telehealth, mobile sonagram services and in-home nurse visits to address the issue of limited maternal healthcare availability in rural communities across Georgia. I am eager to provide you with additional updates on this legislation as it now makes its way to the House for consideration.

Continuing on the subject of rural communities, many of us have become concerned with the growing trend of foreign adversaries of the United States purchasing our countries farmland and land near our military installations. To address this, Sen. Brandon Beach (R – Alpharetta) brought Senate Bill 132 to the floor for a vote this week. Aimed at maintaining national security, which includes food security, and protecting Georgia’s agriculture industry, SB 132 prohibits any organization or entity that is not a registered U.S. citizen who is a subject of a foreign government designated by the United States Secretary of State as a Country of Particular Concern from buying or owning Georgia farmland or Georgia land within a 25-mile radius of any military base. As you well know, Agriculture is Georgia’s number one industry and in 2010, the U.S. Department of Agriculture estimated roughly 12,000 acres of U.S. farmland was owned by a foreign government. Today, that figure has increased to over 260,000 acres. It is imperative that we protect our number one industry and its farmers. I was pleased to support this measure with hopes that these efforts will provide tightened security for our state and nation and protect our leading industry.

Looking ahead to next week, I am eager to bring Senate Bill 195 to the floor for a vote. SB 195, known as the “Freedom to Work Act,” has been assigned to the Senate Rules calendar for Crossover Day. SB 195 is a product of the combined efforts of the Georgia Joint Defense Commission and seeks to address the issue of occupational licensing for military spouses. Specifically, military spouses who were issued an occupational license from another state. While Georgia continues to excel in workforce development, it is inevitable that in order to maintain that standard, a large percentage of Georgia’s workforce will include out of state licensees. Currently, Georgia is ranked by the Institute for Justice as having the 12^th most burdensome occupational licensing regimen for blue collar trades and essential workers such as first responders, medical specialists, and nurses. SB 195 would allow service members and their spouses to utilize their military certification, work experience, or licenses acquired in another state to get an expedited license in Georgia. It is my hope that with this legislation, we will be able to properly equip Georgia’s growing workforce and supply our working professionals with increase accessibility to continue their employment endeavors, without unnecessary bureaucratic delay, and bolster Georgia’s economy. I look forward to bringing this measure to the Senate floor on Monday and will be ready to provide you with updates on the bill in the near future.

I anticipate the next week of legislative days will continue to be extremely busy as we move closer to the adjournment of the 2023 Legislative Session. As always, if you ever have any questions or concerns regarding legislation, please do not hesitate to reach out to my office. It is an honor to continue to serve you under the Gold Dome.

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Sen. Larry Walker serves as Secretary of the Senate Majority Caucus. He also serves as Chairman of the Insurance and Labor Committee.  He represents the 20th Senate District, which includes Bleckley, Dodge, Dooly, Houston, Laurens, Pulaski, Treutlen and Wilcox counties.  He may be reached by phone at 404.656.0095 or by email at larry.walker@senate.ga.gov

By: Sen. Larry Walker (R – Perry)

As the Senate comes to a close this week, there is only one full week of legislative days remaining before we arrive at Legislative Day 28, known as Crossover Day. This significant milestone in the legislative session marks the final day for bills to pass in their respective chamber in order to be considered for final passage on Legislative Day 40. Senators have been extremely busy working to advance their legislation before this deadline and committees have met at rapid pace this week to hear and act on as many bills as possible. A total of 11 bills passed out of the Rules Committee and were brought to the Senate floor for a vote this week, and I am pleased to provide you with updates on a few of them.

Senate Bill 110, known as the “Back the Blue Act,” legislation I was proud to sponsor, passed in the Senate with unanimous bipartisan support. As I have previously mentioned, SB 110 would provide financial support for Georgia’s sheriff’s departments by establishing a voluntary “check off” on auto insurance premium invoices to allow Georgians to conveniently donate $3 to enhance law enforcement compensation and benefits. Theses donations would be collected by insurance companies and remitted to the Georgia Department of Insurance, where the Insurance Commissioner would annually distribute the donations, equally, to the Sheriff of each county to be used for deputy and jailer compensation. Keeping Georgians safe is a priority of my Caucus, and Georgia’s Sheriffs, as each county’s chief law enforcement officer, have a Constitutional duty to protect our citizens. It was an honor to work alongside Lt. Governor Burt Jones to successfully pass this legislation out of the Senate, and I will keep you updated as to our progress with his bill as it has now moved across the hall to be considered in the House.

I am also pleased to report the passage of House Bill 18, the Amended Budget for the remainder of the 2023 Fiscal Year. Each legislative session, the Georgia General Assembly is tasked with the constitutional obligation to pass a balanced budget. While the Amended Budget only accounts for adjustments to our appropriations for the remainder of this fiscal year, HB 18 contains significant changes reflecting major priorities of which I want to make you aware. Specifically, the amended budget recognizes a revenue surplus of $2 billion that we want to return to hard working Georgians.  The Amended Budget accomplishes this return of taxes in two ways, $1 billion in homeowner property tax relief grants and $1 billion in state income tax rebates. A Senate priority for the past several years has been an end of “hoteling” of foster kids by the Georgia Division of Family and Children Services (DFCS), and we included additional funding in the Amended Budget to enable DFCS to fulfill this priority.  Upon its passage in the Senate, HB 18 was immediately transmitted back to the House for consideration of the Senate’s revisions to the bill. I intend to provide you with updates as the amended budget moves closer towards the Governor’s desk to be signed into law.

I would also like to take the time to provide you with a few updates on additional pieces of legislation that I am sponsoring this session. Senate Bill 106 seeks to establish a three-year pilot program administered through the Georgia Department of Community Health (DCH) aimed at providing remote patient monitoring for expectant mothers under Medicaid. Known as the “Healthy Babies Act,” SB 106 aims to address the growing concern of maternal and infant mortality across the nation, and more specifically, in Georgia. 53% of counties in Georgia have little or no access to maternity care with roughly 60 counties operating without a licensed OBGYN. It is my hope that with this legislation, we will be able to give expectant mothers living in rural parts of the state access to the necessary care and assistance they need. As a new grandfather, ensuring this legislation is properly vetted and perfected to best serve Georgia’s mothers has become a personal goal of mine. I am pleased that SB 106 was favorably reported out of the Senate Committee on Health and Human Services with a unanimous vote and now awaits Rules selection for a vote on the Senate floor. I look forward to providing you with additional updates on this critical legislation as we progress through the legislative process.

Each week, we continue to welcome more visitors under the Gold Dome. This week, I had the pleasure of welcoming a group of students with the Future Farmers of America (FFA) Organization to the Senate Chamber. With more than 700,000 students engaged in the FFA program on the local, state, and national level, I was honored to present the Georgia FFA State Officers with Senate Resolution 18, which recognized February 21, 2023 as “FFA Day” at the State Capitol. Agriculture continues to lead Georgia’s economy serving as the fabric that allows Georgia to uphold the standard as the number one state in the nation to live, work, and raise a family. These young Georgians are the face of the future of the agriculture industry. It was a pleasure to welcome them to the Senate alongside my colleagues, Sen. Russ Goodman (R – Cogdell), Sen. Freddie Powell Sims (D – Dawson), and Sen. Lee Anderson (R – Grovetown).

Next week, the Senate will convene for Legislative Days 24 through 27. Crossover Day will fall on the following Monday, March 6. We have a full week of committee meetings and floor sessions ahead of us. I look forward to continuing to work alongside my fellow Senators as we quickly approach the home stretch to Sine Die. As always, if I can ever be of assistance to you, please do not hesitate to reach out. It is an honor to serve you here in Atlanta.

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Sen. Larry Walker serves as Secretary of the Senate Majority Caucus. He also serves as Chairman of the Insurance and Labor Committee.  He represents the 20th Senate District, which includes Bleckley, Dodge, Dooly, Houston, Laurens, Pulaski, Treutlen and Wilcox counties.  He may be reached by phone at 404.656.0095 or by email at larry.walker@senate.ga.gov.