By: Sen. Mike Dugan (R – Carrollton)
Earlier this session, my fellow Majority Caucus members and I laid out our vision for a productive legislative session. Our priorities, as you recall, were reflections of the needs and desires of Georgians all across Georgia. They were not targeted at one political ideology or another, one geographic location or another, or those of one socio-economic background or another. These were priorities designed for Georgians, by Georgians to solve very complex Georgia-specific issues. Several of these measures made it across the finish line before our final day of session on April 4, some with bipartisan support. Others, meanwhile, failed to gain the traction necessary to advance this year, but will remain at the top of our list once the legislative session resumes in January.
Among the priorities we saw pass this year were a few of the most consequential pieces of legislation we have considered since my time serving in the Senate. House Bill 1013 represents a massive overhaul in how mental health cases are treated in our state, both by healthcare professionals and by law enforcement. Essentially, HB 1013 creates parity in the insurance landscape to better ensure that mental health care (including substance abuse disorders) are treated on par with more visible physical illnesses. There is likely not one Georgian who has not been affected in one way or another by mental health and, often, the stigma and lack of options present significant hurdles for these individuals to overcome. While this bill does not solve Georgia’s mental health crisis overnight, it is a significant step to help provide care for those who have been suffering in silence for much too long.
We also successfully passed an expanse of apprenticeship opportunities in our state to better connect students wishing to learn a trade skill with companies who are in dire need of help in those industries. Senate Bill 378 would create the High-demand Career Program within the Technical College System of Georgia to oversee a grant program where qualified businesses can take on student apprentices to receive valuable on the job skills training, culminating in a certificate and potential employment. Participating businesses, too, are rewarded for their participation with a tax credit of up to $10,000 for each apprentice who successfully completes the program. Innovative win-win policy solutions such as this will ensure that Georgia remains the best state in the nation in which to do business for years to come.
We also advanced several bills to grant our parents greater oversight of their child’s education. After hearing concerns from parents regarding some potentially inappropriate content being taught to their children, we passed House Bill 1084, which would prohibit an educator or their school from espousing or promoting divisive concepts. These divisive concepts are issues any Georgian can agree upon, such as teaching that one individual bears sole responsibility for any past wrongdoings of those of the same race or teachings that one race or ethnicity is inherently superior to another. These teachings only serve to divide our students and train them on what to think, rather than how to think. This bill will continue to encourage robust discussions on sensitive topics, such as slavery, racial discrimination and prejudice, but simply prohibits the ability of educators to assign blame to an innocent student for wrongdoings of the past. In a further effort to ensure that parents are granted the proper oversight over the upbringing of their child, we passed a Parents Bill of Rights to essentially give parents the ability to review materials to be taught to their students and determine if they feel it is appropriate. No one knows what is better for our kids than their parents and this bill simply recognizes that fact and gives them the oversight they deserve.
This session, we also fought or Georgia’s Constitutional rights, by passing legislation to strike the existing permitting process from carrying a weapon. Under Senate Bill 319, any lawful weapons carrier in Georgia would be permitted to carry their firearm without having to first going through the permitting process, which often consists of a fingerprint check, as well as a requirement to pay a fee. This bill does very little else to change existing law and does not open the door to carry a weapon in any place not currently allowed under law. Rather, it removes the burdensome regulatory requirements that currently stand in a citizen’s way from exercising their Second Amendment right guaranteed under the Constitution.
Our state’s rural communities also scored a number of victories, including additional protections added to Georgia’s farm operations to limit the instances in which a farmer must engage in costly nuisance lawsuits brought against them, often for frivolous reasons. We also expanded the cap on Georgia’s popular rural hospital tax credit program to give more Georgians the opportunity to donate to rural hospitals in their area so they can continue to provide lifesaving care to those in their communities.
While this is only a short overview of all that the General Assembly passed this session, they represent some of the items that were brought to us as being the most important to you. These ideas were not designed in a vacuum. They were the result of constant two-way communication between you and your lawmakers. I look forward to going into more depth on these issues as more of these measures officially become law throughout the summer.
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Sen. Mike Dugan serves as the Senate Majority Leader. He represents the 30th Senate District, which includes portions of Carroll, Douglas and Paulding counties. He can be reached at 404.463.2478 or by email at mike.dugan@senate.ga.gov