The Georgia Public Policy Foundation has released its 2024 “Guide to the Issues,” in which we summarize the policy areas most central to our work and most important to the people of Georgia. Each issue page offers a policy summary and gives the Foundation’s recommendations for effective solutions.
In publishing Guide to the Issues, we hope to provide Georgia’s candidates and elected officials with a policy platform that is based on research, facts and common sense. Candidates are often motivated to run for office based on a single issue or cause. If a candidate is a teacher, for example, and primarily focuses his or her platform on education issues, Guide provides that candidate with background information on issues like tax policy, healthcare and housing.
Guide to the Issues also provides a helpful and timely summary for Georgia’s citizens. With elections and a new legislative session just around the corner, it is important for voters to be informed on how these issues affect their lives.
Since our last Guide was published in 2022, we have seen advances in several policy areas. Lawmakers and private sector citizens have worked hard toward growth and prosperity, but Georgia still faces several unique challenges.
Notably on the education front, the passage of Promise Scholarship Accounts was a huge win for Georgia students and families. Beginning in 2025, this new program will expand choice and access to Georgia students, but that work is far from over. Lawmakers and administrators must oversee accountability from the new Georgia Education Savings Authority and ensure that the program is fully funded. Policymakers should also work toward expanding the program to help all Georgia families. Issues also remain concerning Georgia’s Quality Basic Education funding formula, which will turn 40 years old next year, and the equitable funding of charter schools.
Georgia lawmakers also took measures to improve access to healthcare by repealing certain certificate of need requirements, but they could have gone further. Healthcare access continues to be an issue for Georgia, in both rural and urban parts of the state. Expanding scope of practice to allow medical professionals to practice to the full extent of their training and curbing licensing restrictions would help to address provider shortages and expand access to patients. Despite progress, Georgia still has plenty of work to do to encourage a competitive and transparent healthcare marketplace.
Many issues within education and healthcare should be familiar to our audiences and will likely see more debate beyond the coming legislative session. In addition, however, we have added new issue pages due to their increasing political relevance in Georgia.
One of these is tech policy. Just like the tech industry, tech policy is in a constant state of change and rapid innovation. Artificial intelligence will continue to affect how we work, how we drive our cars, the provision of healthcare, agriculture and scientific research, just to name a few areas. While sensible guardrails are important, Georgia lawmakers should ultimately adopt an optimistic approach to AI as Atlanta continues to emerge as one of the country’s top tech hubs. Tech policy by nature frequently sees new and unfamiliar challenges, and Georgia should not jettison free market and growth principles in its context.
Another new issue entry is tort reform. Georgia has become one of the worst judicial environments in the country due to its being a haven for lawsuit abuse and excessive tort costs. Exorbitant damage awards in “nuclear verdicts,” phantom damages and litigation tourism are issues that add to tort costs. Premises liability also unfairly punishes business owners and limits their ability to operate. Lawmakers should work to reform Georgia’s tort system to create a fairer legal environment.
Georgia also has many opportunities to reduce burdens and provide freedom for its workforce. Freedom to work means freedom from overly restrictive licensing practices, union demands and regulatory infringements on individual prosperity. The state should review and repeal unnecessary occupational licensing restrictions that frequently go beyond simply ensuring safety and quality. In addition, Georgia should follow the example of other states and the federal government in reducing the size of its regulatory code. Provisions that trigger an automatic review of proposed regulations if they exceed certain cost thresholds, or at a certain point after their enactment, would help to eliminate a wide range of burdens to prosperity.
Guide to the Issues has been a staple of the Georgia Public Policy Foundation’s output since its founding in 1991. Many of its entries have been co-opted and codified by Georgia lawmakers. We believe that in order to fulfill our mission to improve the lives of Georgians, we must maintain the principles of growth and liberty that have served us since then.