Category Archives: Newsletters

April 2023 Newsletter

Posted on by

Georgia Legislative Session Ended March 29th with Mixed Results
Passed: Georgia Gender Dysphoria Law

S.B. 140 Gender Dysphoria Act prohibits using the following medical procedures on minors:

“Section 2: Sex reassignment surgeries, or any other surgical procedures, that are performed for the purpose of altering primary or secondary sexual characteristics; or
“hormone-replacement therapies.”

Section 3 Lists Exceptions “Deemed Medically Necessary”
“Section 3(b) (1) Treatments for medical conditions other than gender dysphoria or for the purpose of sex reassignment where such treatments are deemed medically necessary;
“(2) Treatments for individuals born with a medically verifiable disorder of sex development, including individuals born with a medically verifiable disorder of sex development, including individuals born with ambiguous genitalia or chromosomal abnormalities resulting in ambiguity regarding the individual’s biological sex;
“(3) Treatment for individuals with partial androgen insensitivity syndrome; and
“4) continued treatment of minors who are, prior to July 1, 2023, being treated with irreversible hormone replacement therapies.”

The Georgia Composite Medical Board will issue rules/regulations to govern the above.

Question: Will doctors and institutions be held liable for damages caused by such treatment?

Question: Will parents of minors be arrested/fined/lose custody for opposing such treatment?

  • To read the entire newsletter, click here.

March 2023 Newsletter

Posted on by

“They” Want Drastic Culture Change!
What do “They” want changed?

S. R. 109 Marriage, the Union of Two Adult Persons by Senator Gloria Butler (D-55), proposes the following amendment to the Constitution of the State of Georgia:
“Paragraph 1. Recognition of marriage.

(a) This state shall recognize as marriage any union between two adult persons, regardless of race, gender, or biological sex, who are of sound mind, who have no living spouse from a previously undissolved marriage, and who are not related to their prospective spouse by blood or marriage within the prohibited degrees.”

(b) Georgia would give effect to any public act, record, or judicial proceeding of any other state or jurisdiction respecting a relationship between interracial persons or persons of the same gender or biological sex that is treated as marriage under the law of the other state or jurisdiction. The courts of this state shall have jurisdiction to grant a divorce or separate maintenance and to consider or rule on any of the parties’ respective rights arising from interracial or same-sex marriage unions.” If this passes voters would decide the following:

“Shall the Constitution of Georgia be amended so as to recognize marriage as any union between two adult persons eligible to marry under Georgia law regardless of race, gender, or biological sex?”

ACTION – Oppose. Contact Judiciary Committee Senators Strickland, Ch., 404 463-6598; Cowsert, V-Ch., 463-1366; Hodges, Sec.,463-1309; Gooch, Ex-Officio, 656-9221; Hatchett, 656-7454; Jones II, 656-0036; Kennedy, 656-6578; Parent, 656-5109; Rhett, 656-0054; Setzler, 656-0256; Watson, 656-7880.

  • To read the entire newsletter, click here.

February 2023 Newsletter

Posted on by

Georgia General Assembly Convenes January 9th for 40 Days

In the first week of the General Assembly legislators passed S.R. 6 to set the 40-day legislative schedule, which is set to end Wednesday, March 29th, but that could change. Interestingly, S.R. 6, also, contains a four-paragraph Part II directing the General Assembly to move from the Capitol if an emergency or disaster makes it impossible to work there. Part II, also, directs the re-convening of the General Assembly in the Capitol after the emergency ends.

Officials Overseeing the Legislative Process

I. Secretary of the Senate: David A. Cook is a former senator, whose career as Secretary of the Senate began on July 2, 2013 when his peers first elected him. He has been continually re-elected since, and was re-elected this year. In 1789 the office was created to provide a Secretary to serve concurrently with the senators. He (a) manages and oversees the Office of the Secretary of the Senate and (b) all data1 and subsequent information published therein. In addition, he (c) assists in producing and updating the Senate Rules (d) while serving on the Senate Administrative Affairs Commission and the Legislative Services Committee.

II. Lieutenant Governor Presides as President of the Senate. Burt Jones, elected as the 13th Lieutenant Governor of Georgia in the 2022 election, presides over the Senate and participates in other actions. (a) On January 12th, he and other members of the Assignments Committee (SAC) announced committee chairs for this first year of the current two-year term. (b) Before the session convenes every morning, he and other SAC members meet to decide committee assignments for bills and resolutions being introduced that day. Members of SAC are the Lieutenant Governor, President Pro Tem, Majority Leader and two members appointed by the Lieutenant Governor, who, also, determines the duties of the SAC.

  • To read the entire newsletter, click here.

January 2023 Newsletter

Posted on by

Georgia General Assembly Convenes January 9th for 40 Days

Four State-wide Questions Passed November 8th

Of Georgia’s 6,961,423 active voters, only 56.9% voted in the General Election. They passed two constitutional amendments and two state-wide referenda. All concern money as follows:

  • Amends State Constitution: The State salary will be withheld from the Governor, Lt. Governor, Secretary of State, Attorney General, State School Superintendent, Commissioner of Insurance, Commissioner of Agriculture, Commissioner of Labor, or any legislator that is indicted for a felony. Currently, they are paid until the case is concluded.
  • Amends State Constitution: Local governments and school boards are now authorized to give tax relief for local properties that are severely damaged or destroyed by a disaster.
  • Amends current law: Dairy products and unfertilized eggs are added to existing agricultural tax exemptions, effective January 1, 2023.
  • Amends current law: A state-wide tax exemption is approved for certain equipment timber producers use to produce or harvest timber, effective January 1, 2023.

H.B. 1 Aims to Punish Georgia for its “Pro-Birth” Heartbeat Law
In mid-November 2022, a Fulton County Superior Court Judge invalidated two abortion restriction sections of Georgia’s Heartbeat Law. After the Georgia Supreme Court reenacted the Heartbeat Law November 23, 2022, H.B. 1 was pre-filed for the 2023 legislative session.

H.B. 1 Georgia Pro-Birth Accountability Act, a November pre-filed bill by Representative Dar’shun Kendrick (D-93), punishes “Pro-Birth” Georgia for disallowing abortions to pregnant women who want to terminate a pregnancy. If this passes, the State’s “punishment” for failing to provide abortions would require Georgia to pay for carrying a baby to term, rearing the child until age 18, and provide continual financial and nutritional help for both mother and child.

H.B. 1 begins with this: “A pregnant woman who would be legally [federally] allowed to choose to terminate her pregnancy, but for a [Georgia] law prohibiting an abortion upon a detectable human heartbeat of an embryo or fetus, and who is accordingly compelled by the state to carry the pregnancy to term and give birth to a child is entitled to be compensated by the state as provided in Code Section 31-9C-2,” which would be new law contained in 36 lines of this bill.

Following that are 20 lines explaining the plan for the Department of Human Services to process a compensation claim for delivering a baby she wanted to abort. The last five lines in the bill require the General Assembly to establish a separate annual appropriations fund to provide the proposed compensation and fund the Department’s operational costs.

  • To read more of the pre-filed bills, click here.