Under the Gold Dome: Setzler and Anulewicz look back on 2023 session

Mar. 31—MARIETTA — On Wednesday, state lawmakers marked the end of the 2023 legislative session in the customary ways — last-minute deals, a flurry of votes and the throwing of papers into the air around midnight.

A day after Sine Die at the Gold Dome, two of Cobb's legislators — state Rep. Teri Anulewicz, D-Smyrna, and state Sen. Ed Setzler, R-west Cobb — sat down with the MDJ to discuss what did and didn't pass this year.

Passport fees

A proposal from state Sen. Kay Kirkpatrick, R-east Cobb would have limited county court clerks from retaining personal income from processing passports. It passed the Senate but never received a full vote in the House.

Kirkpatrick authored the bill in the wake of media reports that Cobb Superior Court Clerk Connie Taylor, who receives a salary of $170,000, had received some $425,000 in additional income from passport fees. Subsequent reports spotlighted the income of other metro Atlanta clerks.

(Taylor's personal income was only made public following open records requests from media. She is facing a Georgia Bureau of Investigation probe over allegations she ordered a subordinate to destroy records of her income.)

"That honestly did not necessarily surprise me," Anulewicz said of the bill getting tied up. "I adore Kay. And I have a tremendous amount of respect for her. But the reality is that there was one clerk that there was an issue with, but there are 158 others."

Anulewicz said in many rural counties with smaller budgets, the passport fee income is viewed as "almost part of the compensation package."

It's important, she added, to attract qualified people to seek the court clerk job.

Setzler said the court clerks have a lot of "emotional attachment" to that money, but he believes it's an unjustifiable source of personal income.

Anulewicz added that it's unusual for legislation to be drafted, introduced, passed and signed in one session.

"I think it'll get done," Setzler said. "This is an indicator that across the state, court clerks are quite connected and popular in their communities."

Local money

Included in the final state budget were $34.3 million in 20-year bonds for Kennesaw State University. The university will use the money to build a Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) building on its Marietta campus.

The funding allocations came from a combination of the House, Senate and governor's office, Setzler said.

"The delegation actually sent a letter to the conferees and I think every single member of the delegation signed that letter of support," Anulewicz said.

Another bill with hyperlocal implications was a $25,000 pay raise approved for Cobb County Sheriff Craig Owens. Owens is now the highest-paid sheriff in metro Atlanta's four most populous counties, with a salary of $195,000. State Sen. Michael "Doc" Rhett, D-Marietta, initially proposed a $50,000 raise for Owens in Senate Bill 104. After Cobb Republican legislators raised questions about the size of the proposed raise, a revised bill passed with the smaller raise.

Owens previously said the raise would bring his pay in line with other top Cobb public safety officials, who earn between $190,000 and $195,000.

"I think we got the sheriff where he needed to be," Setzler said.

Added Anulewicz, who chairs the Cobb County Legislative Delegation, "I think there was unanimity among the delegation that he was underpaid."

Lost Mountain

In the waning days of the session, a group which has advocated for a new city of Lost Mountain in west Cobb announced that it was pursuing, for the second time, to put the question of incorporation to voters.

A previous cityhood referendum in May 2022 failed 58% to 42%, but the group, Preserve West Cobb, said it had listened to feedback and changed the city's boundaries and charter.

Setzler had said he would introduce a bill on Monday, March 27 to authorize a second Lost Mountain referendum. The bill, in theory, would receive a vote next session. But he ended up changing his mind.

Setzler said he wanted the group to further consider, "how can we formulate this in a way that's going to get broad public support?"

Anulewicz said when creating a city, the process needs to be thoughtful and deliberate.

"I just asked them to consider, is the timing right?" Setzler said. "We could do this, but should we? And I think there was just kind of a sense of 'Hey, let's give ourselves another year to do this.'"

Mableton de-annexation

Ever since last November, when voters in south Cobb narrowly chose to create a new city of Mableton, an impassioned group of residents has been pushing to be cleaved off from the new city.

De-annexation can be achieved through acts of the legislature or by the city's mayor and City Council.

A bill to de-annex certain areas in the northern parts of the city was discussed but never filed by Cobb's legislators.

Anulewicz, whose district includes a small portion of the new city, said it was complicated because census tracts, typically used when drawing lines, don't line up with neighborhoods. She said Rep. Terry Cummings, D-Mableton, didn't want to divide neighborhoods.

"People were like, 'Whoa, if we mess this up, this is going to have some repercussions,'" Anulewicz said.

Carving off individual parcels, Anulewicz and Setzler said, is difficult to get right, and rarely done in the legislature.

Ultimately, a deadline to file the bill passed, and nothing more could be done.

Anulewicz said she also had philosophical issues with the chance that a newly elected council member could be drawn out of the city by the legislature. She said it's in the interest of the new mayor and council, once seated, to work with the de-annexation movement so they aren't being constantly undermined.

"When you have a faction of folks who aren't happy with what you're doing in the city, it's going to impact every single thing you're trying to do as a city," she said.

Setzler said the new mayor and council will have a chance to address de-annexation, and that doing it legislatively is "the nuclear option."

"It may be something that has to happen," he said. "But the ideal option would be that the City Council gets in place and says, 'Hey, listen, we get this issue.'"

Jerica-mandered

Setzler during the session tried to pass a pair of bills aimed at squashing the county commission's attempt to assert their own district map, instead of the map passed in legislature during the 2021 session and signed into law by Gov. Brian Kemp.

The commission's effort is aimed at redrawing the district boundaries to keep Commissioner Jerica Richardson, who was drawn out of her district by Kemp's map, in office.

But Setzler's legislation did not receive a vote in either chamber before the crucial Crossover Day deadline. Setzler said the Senate ran out of time.

"We had 74 bills scheduled for Crossover Day," Setzler said. "We passed 55."

"Which is pretty impressive," Anulewicz added.

Setzler got his legislation tacked onto a different House bill, but that didn't pass either.

The home rule dispute is currently being litigated in Cobb Superior Court.

Setzler said the House leadership told him, "we don't want to be in the habit of enacting legislation for ongoing litigation."

"So, can we let the litigation play out? If there's no clear and present danger, there's no danger to public safety, let the litigation play out."

Cognia comeuppance

A bill that passed both chambers with broad support would regulate school accreditation agencies, such as Cognia. The bill limits the standards by which accrediting firms can evaluate districts and schools, and passed about a year after Cognia retracted its findings of a controversial review of the Cobb County School District, saying it was flawed work produced by volunteers.

All but one of Cobb's legislators voted for the bill.

"I don't think any (school) board members should be able to weaponize accreditation," Anulewicz said.

"Agreed," said Setzler.

Sponsored by Sen. Greg Dolezal, R-Alpharetta, the bill was championed in the House by Rep. Ginny Ehrhart, R-west Cobb.

Setzler said the bill was about "to what extent should we let private organizations come in and overrule the work of professional educators and elected school boards?"

Anulewicz said she hasn't heard from constituents about the bill, though. She thinks some people are worn out by the headlines the Cobb school board has generated.

"I think they want the school board to focus on ensuring that our kids have a quality education," she said. "I think that there is a weariness among a lot of folks. I think that there is an understanding, whether or not it's accurate, with a lot of parents ... that sort of feel like our schools are successful, in spite of the board, not because of the board."

Elections board

Setzler at one point in the session filed a notice that he might file a bill related to the composition of the Cobb Board of Elections. Such a bill was never filed, but he said he wants to reexamine the appointment of board members by political parties.

"We're going to need to address that issue based on case law across the state," he said.

The board has one member each appointed by the Cobb GOP and the Cobb Democrats. One member is appointed by Chairwoman Lisa Cupid, and two are appointed by the Cobb Legislative Delegation.

'Zuckerbucks'

A bill Setzler spoke in favor of on the Senate floor, which passed both chambers, bans local elections offices from receiving private donations to help run their operations.

The bill was sparked by complaints from Republicans that private donations have flowed into elections offices in Democratic counties, including a $350 million contribution by Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg to the nonprofit Center for Technology and Civic Life.

Setzler said he supported the so-called "Zuckerbucks" ban because, "wealthy outside billionaires should not be able to support expanding access to voting in counties of their choice."

The legislation centralizes the distribution of private donations to local elections offices by authorizing the State Election Board to distribute the money.

Democrats opposed the measure. Anulewicz said she found it overly punitive, saying that if an election worker makes a mistake, they could be arrested and charged. The bill includes a minimum $10,000 fine and one year in prison upon conviction.

"We know we're having a hard time getting the poll workers, who are basically volunteers, to help make sure that we have enough actual people in these polling places to have our elections run in the secure and efficient way that we know we're all entitled to," she said.

School vouchers

Republicans were unable to get a private school vouchers bill over the finish line. The Senate passed the legislation in early March, voting along party lines. But it fell short by six votes in the House on the last day of the session when a handful of rural Republicans joined Democrats opposed to diverting funds from public schools in voting against it.

The bill would have created $6,500 vouchers for Georgia students to use for private-school or home-schooling expenses if they were assigned to attend a public school in the lowest-performing quartile of public schools in the state.

Anulewicz said students in Cobb would not qualify for the vouchers even if the bill passed, since they don't attend the low-performing schools.

Setzler said that's because the bill was watered down.

"The bill was intended and should have covered all kids," he said.

Anulewicz, who opposed the bill, also said there's no guarantee private schools would accept students who apply.

"I think it's notable that these were not new folks or backbenchers. These were high-ranking folks," she said of the Republicans who voted against the bill.

Setzler said even kids zoned for high-performing schools may need to be in a private school for special reasons. He attributed the bill's failure to the influence of school districts, which are the largest employers in many counties.

"The outsized political impact that schools have in rural Georgia, it's hard to imagine for people in the metro ... Across the country, it's rural Republican legislators that kill school choice," Setzler said.

Transgender health care

Perhaps the most divisive fight in this year's session was over a law which has already passed the legislature and been signed by Gov. Brian Kemp. The law prevents Georgians under 18 from obtaining gender-affirming hormone replacement therapy or surgery.

"The bill that passed said that kids can't go through transgender surgery, they can't go through a sex change, before they're age 18," Setzler said.

Anulewicz said Republicans are being hypocritical by codifying parental rights regarding vaccinations, face masks and school books, but not health care.

"The Georgia Supreme Court has held for almost 40 years that the parents have the final authority in their child's health care decisions. Full stop," she said.

Parents and doctors, Anulewicz said, are trying to navigate a difficult and confusing situation, and the legislature has stepped in a punitive way. Doctors who provide the banned health care could be held criminally liable.

"These surgeries aren't a thing that's really happening in Georgia. So it's a little bit of a ... legislative snipe hunt," she said. "... I'm a little baffled that we spent this much time on this issue as a General Assembly, when we did have some of the other things that I felt might need to be higher priority."

At one point, Setzler said, "we don't, for example, let kids under the age of 18 get tattoos."

"Well, they actually can, with parental consent," Anulewicz cut in.

The point is, Setzler said, "there's certain things ... that rise to such a level, it's just not lawful.

"The idea of having surgery that takes off body parts in irreparable ways ... That's where we draw the line," he said.

Kemp's wins and losses

In other action this session, the General Assembly approved Gov. Kemp's $1 billion state income tax rebate and $950 million in property tax relief, promises he made on the campaign trail last year.

Lawmakers also enacted the governor's tough-on-crime legislation cracking down on street gangs.

But other Kemp-backed legislation fell short, including a second year of mental health reform that enjoyed bipartisan support and legislation banning no-cash bail for criminal suspects.

The mental health bill was a follow-up to reform legislation the General Assembly passed unanimously last year after the late House Speaker David Ralston made it a top priority. This year's bill aimed to increase the size of the mental-health workforce in Georgia and make it easier for people who cycle between the streets, emergency rooms and jails to get the help they need.

But the only piece of House Bill 520 that made it through the Senate was a provision related to data collection senators attached to a separate piece of legislation.

Senators expressed concerns over the cost of the mental health bill when it got to their side of the Capitol. Lt. Gov. Burt Jones, who presides over the Senate, put the price tag at $72 million.

House Speaker Jon Burns said he was disappointed with the Senate over that outcome.

"HB 520 was a bipartisan measure in this House with only three 'no' votes," said Burns, R-Newington. "We've always focused on people who need help and their family members. I'm sorry they will be kept waiting another year."

Anulewicz and Setzler were pleased that at least one piece of the mental health bill passed.

"If it had to be sort of sliced and diced, I think that was a really key component of it, because we can't efficiently and effectively address the mental health issues if we're not entirely sure what it is we're trying to address.

The House mental health bill also got caught up in negotiations with the Senate over legislation creating an exemption for rural hospitals from Georgia's certificate of need law, which requires applicants to demonstrate new health-care facilities or services are needed in the community they plan to locate.

Senate Bill 99 was statewide in implication but was prompted by plans to build a new hospital in Jones' hometown of Jackson. The Senate passed the bill easily, but it failed to even get a committee vote in the House.

Odds and ends

The legislature made progress on education during this year's session, passing two bipartisan bills aimed at improving literacy. While the ambitious goal of overhauling the decades-old Quality Basic Education (QBE) K-12 student funding formula failed to gain traction, lawmakers supported Kemp's recommendation to fully fund QBE for the second year in a row.

The General Assembly also agreed to restore full tuition coverage to the HOPE Scholarships program, which had fallen to as low as 80% in the aftermath of the Great Recession.

Republicans and Democrats did see eye to eye on legislation aimed at accommodating the growth of electric vehicles in Georgia. After some controversy erupted over how much senators wanted to tax EVs to replace the revenue the state stands to lose as motorists move away from gasoline-powered care, the proposed tax rate was reduced somewhat and Senate Bill 146 passed overwhelmingly on the next-to-last day of the session.

Supporters of legalized gambling weren't so fortunate. Sports betting was the vehicle of choice for this year's push to legalize gambling in Georgia. But a proposed constitutional amendment asking Georgia voters to decide the issue couldn't muster the two-thirds vote needed to pass the Senate.

Senate supporters went back to the drawing board and passed a bill in committee allowing sports betting to come under the oversight of the Georgia Lottery Commission without the need for a constitutional change. But it, too, was defeated.

In the frenzy of the session's final day, other legislation that fell by the wayside included a tenants' bill of rights, a bill targeting antisemitism, and a proposal to overhaul the system the state uses to financially compensate the wrongfully convicted.

— Dave Williams of Capitol Beat News Service contributed to this report