January 2023 Newsletter

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.

November 2022 Ballot Newsletter

On the Ballot November 8th
Two Proposed Constitutional Amendments

Since 2022 is the second year of the current Georgia legislative term, constitutional amendments proposed and passed in 2021 and 2022 will be decided by voters this November.

1. S.R. 134, introduced February 22, 2021 by Senator Larry Walker, III, authorizes the suspension of compensation of certain State officers and members of the General Assembly if they are indicted for a felony. Representative Chuck Efstration sponsored it in the House, where it passed March 23, 2021 with the required two-thirds vote of 169-0, and the Senate 51-1 on March 8, 2021. Final passage or defeat will be decided by a majority of voters.

What will change, if it gets a majority vote November 8th? Currently, public officials that are indicted for a felony are suspended with pay, until the case is finalized. However, S.R. 134 would require loss of salary if the official is indicted. This is the question on the ballot:

“Shall the Constitution of Georgia be amended so as to suspend the compensation of the Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Secretary of State, Attorney General, State School Superintendent, Commissioner of Insurance, Commissioner of Agriculture, Commissioner of Labor, or any member of the General Assembly while such individual is suspended from office following indictment for a felony?”

ACTION – Oppose, presumes guilt. (a) Indictment doesn’t prove guilt. Should salary be withheld before guilt is proven? (b) If salary were stopped, would back-pay and reinstatement be forthcoming if there were no conviction?

  • To read more about the November 2022 ballot, click here.

June 2022 Newsletter

What is a Woman?

“So God created man in His own image, in the image of God created He him;
male and female created He them.”
– The Holy Bible, KJV, Genesis 1:27
“And the rib, which the Lord God had taken from man, made He a woman,
and brought her to the man.
– The Holy Bible, KJV, Genesis 2:22
“Woman. An adult female human being. God‟s gift.”
“Female. One of the sex that bears offspring. State v. Hemm, 82 Iowa 609 47 NW 971.”
– Ballentine’s Law Dictionary
“Woman. 1 (a) An adult female person.”
“Female. 1 (a) of, relating to, or being the sex that bears young or produces eggs.”
– Merriam Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, Eleventh Edition

Whether the source of information is the Holy Bible or Ballentine’s Law Dictionary or Merriam Webster‟s Collegiate Dictionary, each defines woman as a female. Mr. Ballentine added that the woman was God‟s gift, and defines female as “the sex that bears offspring.”

While these definitions are indisputable for those searching for TRUTH, true definitions are currently cast aside to accommodate allegations that human males may choose to be females and human females may choose to be males, despite biological sexual identity.

When Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson responded to Senator Marsha Blackburn‟s request to define “woman,” Judge Jackson responded, “I‟m not a biologist.” Subsequently, resolutions clarifying the definitions of sex have been introduced in Congress.

S. RES. 644, “Women‟s Bill of Rights to reaffirm legal protections afforded to women under Federal law,” was introduced May 19, 2022 by Senators Hyde-Smith, Lummis and Cruz.
H. RES. 1136, “Women‟s Bill of Rights to reaffirm legal protections afforded to women under Federal law, ” was introduced May 19, 2022, by U.S. Representatives Lesko, Banks, Miller, Harshbarger, Tenney, Hartzler, Lamborn, Jackson, LaMalfa, Spartz, Norman and Moore.

Both resolutions have six “Whereas” statements, number six of which states: “Whereas recent misguided court rulings relating to the definition of „sex‟ have led to the endangerment of spaces and resources dedicated to women, thereby necessitating clarification of certain terms.”

For the purpose of Federal law, both resolutions state:

  • The sex of an individual means his or her biological sex (either male or female) at birth.
  • The terms woman and girl refer to human females; the terms man and boy refer to human males; the word mother means a female parent and the word father means a male parent.
  • State and local government must collect or report data based on biological sex at birth.

ACTION – Support. Call 1 877 762-8762 and ask to speak with your congressman. District Number 1 Earl Carter; 2 Sanford Bishop; 3 Drew Ferguson; 4 Hank Johnson; 5 Nikema Williams; 6 Lucy McBath; 7 Carolyn Bourdeaux; 8 Austin Scott; 9 Andrew Clyde; 10 Jody Hice; 11 Barry Loudermilk; 12 Rick Allen; 13 David Scott; and 14 Marjorie Taylor Greene.

  • To read the entire newsletter, click here.

May 2022 Newsletter

Georgia General Primary Election May 24th

The General Primary Election will be May 24, 2022. Advance voting begins May 2nd and ends May 20th. An absentee ballot may be requested by mail through May 13th.

NONPARTISAN Ballot – Statewide Candidates
Nonpartisan ballots do not list candidates for governor, Congress or the State Legislature.
Justice of the Supreme Court – SHAWN ELLEN LAGRUA, INC.
Justice of the Supreme Court – CARLA MCMILLIAN, Incumbent
Justice of the Supreme Court – VERONICA BRINSON or VERDA M. COLVIN-Incumbent
Judge of the Court of Appeals – ANNE ELIZABETH BARNES-Incumbent
Judge of the Court of Appeals – CHRIS MCFADDEN-Incumbent
Judge of the Court of Appeals – TREA PIPKIN-Incumbent

  • To view the remainder of the candidates in both the Republican and Democrat races and other legislative wrap-us, click here.