Gold Dome Update

While the 2022 legislative session has been adjourned for several months, the measures adopted by the General Assembly deserve a more detailed examination. This past session, I supported several initiatives aimed at promoting education, economic development, public safety, and passing surplus dollars back to the taxpayer.

Many of our accomplishments related to protecting students and strengthening parental oversight in their child's education. Recently, there has been an unsettling rise in the content taught to our students as well as the materials that are available to them in school. To curtail any effort to indoctrinate students rather than educate them, we passed legislation prohibiting the promotion of divisive concepts in our schools. Any attempt to single out a specific race, gender, or religion and make a student assume blame for that group's actions is not just morally wrong, it's academically false. Additionally, many parents shared examples of material taught in their children's schools that should remain out of reach until approved by the child's parent.

Due to these issues and more, Georgia parents wanted additional input in their child's education. To support this, we passed the Parent's Bill of Rights to allow parents greater access to each school's curriculum, so they can determine what is appropriate for their child.

As COVID cases diminish, legislation was also passed to ensure that no public school enacts a student mask mandate.

Another priority was promoting fairness in high school athletics by ensuring that no gender would have an unfair advantage by competing in events against the opposite gender. This legislation levels the playing field and safeguards opportunities for female athletes to earn scholarship opportunities.

We were able to restore the austerity cuts made to education during the pandemic and recognize teachers for their exceptional work by bringing their total pay raise over the last few years to $5,000, as well as passing a measure to permit retired teachers to return to the classroom while still collecting their retirement benefits.

I also sponsored legislation to adjust the charter school funding formula and refine their programs to ensure that students can transfer to a charter school during the school year. A constituent brought another issue to my attention, and I authored a bill to clarify that the GNPSEC would only have governing authority over institutions that grant degrees and would not have jurisdiction of what equates to tutoring centers.

The Protecting Georgia Businesses and Workers Act grants businesses the flexibility to schedule employee work hours based on need rather than rely on government mandates. Another measure to bring flexibility to Georgia's small businesses would permit food trucks to operate in multiple counties.

To streamline the land survey and engineer process, I sponsored legislation that transitions the Board of Registration for Professional Engineers and Land Surveyors to the Georgia Professional Engineers and Land Surveyors Board. This ensures that dedicated staff will be in place to reduce delays when issuing licenses and to address issues in an expedited manner.

While government needs money to function, it should not tax any more than necessary. This year, we passed a historic income tax reduction, decreasing Georgia's income tax rate annually to 4.99%.

As far as veterans are concerned, legislation passed this year allows up to $35,000 in military retirement income to be exempt each year from individual state income taxes.

These measures represent not just my own priorities, but those of the General Assembly and of the entire state. I am excited to pick up where we left off next year to continue to make Georgia the best state to live, work, and raise a family.