The new year brings a new legislative session and a new crop of issues to be debated in the General Assembly over the next three months. After the November elections, the state House will welcome 20 new representatives, including eight Republicans and 12 Democrats, among their 180 members. While the Democrats won a net gain of two seats, Republicans retained their majority in the House. Republicans maintained their 33-23 majority in the state Senate, which will welcome three Democrats and one Republican in 2025.
While there is almost always an element of uncertainty in the lead up to any session, a few issues have been gaining attention for months and figure to be key points of contention once the session kicks off on Jan. 13. Some of these policy topics will be holdovers or next steps from recent sessions, while others may see the spotlight for the first time.
Last year, the General Assembly made progress in several important areas. Notable reforms included the passage of Promise Scholarship Accounts, a revision of Georgia’s certificate of need laws, cuts to the state income tax and other efforts to maintain Georgia’s business-friendly status. With the start of a new two-year cycle, and as some current officeholders prepare for the 2026 elections, expect to see new issues on the table.
The highest profile of these is tort reform, or reducing plaintiffs’ ability to bring forth liability litigation or to reduce the amount of damages they can receive. While lawmakers continue to tout Georgia as the best state for business, frivolous lawsuits and nuclear verdicts hurt the state’s economy, result in job loss, increase costs for consumers and create a volatile judicial environment in which certain industries are faced with disproportionate risks.
What would tort reform look like? And what other issues will come up this session? We preview the 2025 legislative session in this week’s commentary. We also have the latest news and analysis from the last week, including:
- Georgia named No. 1 for best business climate by site selectors
- Amazon Web Services announces plans to invest $11 billion in Georgia
- Trump promises reversal of Biden’s energy policies
- 35% of Atlanta Public Schools students chronically absent
Have a great weekend,
– Kyle Wingfield
Friday’s Freshest
Use the Promise Scholarship to homeschool, if you want
There has long been a belief in the homeschool community that you should never accept government funds of any kind. The thinking was that if you are willing to accept government funds, you open your doors to government intrusion. It was essentially a “we won’t bother you if you don’t bother us” mentality. But why should families consider using the Promise Scholarship to homeschool?
Legislature has a number of education issues to tackle in 2025
Getting K-12 education right is one of the most important tasks for the General Assembly. That’s why lawmakers devote the largest chunk of the budget – $13.25 billion out of the state’s $36.14 billion in general funds, or more than a third of the total – to K-12 education. But simply spending more money won’t guarantee success. The money needs to be spent wisely, with priorities informed by current best practices about student needs and sharpened by a healthy sense of competition.
With 2024’s close, a quarter of the years beginning with “20” are now complete. For those of us who remember the flip from the 1900s to the 2000s, it’s hard to believe so much time has passed. America’s a vastly different place in many ways. Georgia is different, too. It’s worth recalling a few of the notable changes.
A big bet on government efficiency
The announcement of plans for a Department of Government Efficiency by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy is nothing short of audacious, pairing two of the country’s most outspoken entrepreneurs in a bid to reshape the federal bureaucracy. They have laid out a sweeping vision: cut waste, streamline agencies and leverage recent Supreme Court rulings to yank back regulatory overreach. Yet, the question looms: Can they deliver?
How does our state stack up against others? The annual Economic Freedom of North America report published by Canada’s Fraser Institute attempts to answer that question for each American state, Mexican state and Canadian province. The latest edition was published this past week, and Georgia fares quite well, placing sixth-highest. But while we have improved, other states have improved faster.
The Latest
Economy
Georgia named No. 1 for best business climate by site selectors
Gov. Brian Kemp announced this week that Georgia’s business climate has been named No. 1 in the nation by Site Selection Magazine, an internationally circulated business publication covering corporate real estate and economic development, for the seventh year in a row. Georgia is the only state that has received the distinction seven consecutive times in the history of Site Selection’s rankings.
Amazon to invest $11 billion in Georgia for AI expansion
Amazon announced on Tuesday that it plans on building two new facilities in Douglas and Butts counties that will bring 550 new jobs to Georgia. The $11 billion investment will “expand its infrastructure in Georgia to support cloud computing and AI technologies, underscoring the state’s continued rise as a technology powerhouse.”
Unemployed office workers are having a harder time finding new jobs
The U.S. economy has added more than two million jobs over the past year. But more people who are out of work are having a hard time getting back in. As of November, more than seven million Americans were unemployed, meaning they didn’t have work and were trying to find it. More than 1.6 million of those jobless workers have been job hunting for at least six months.
Education
Long the star pupils, girls are losing ground to boys
Girls have lost ground in reading, math and science at a troubling rate, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis of student test scores across the country. Since 2019, girls’ test scores have dropped sharply, often to the lowest point in decades. Boys’ scores have also fallen during that time, but the decline among girls has been more severe.
Metro Atlanta students chronically absent
According to data from the Georgia Department of Education, 19,888 of APS students missed more than 15 days of class in 2023. A child is considered chronically absent when they’ve missed 10% of their school year. An analysis by Atlanta News First Investigates revealed APS saw metro Atlanta’s highest rate of absenteeism at 35%.
Energy
State lawmakers to explore industrial energy usage in Georgia
The Georgia House will form a special committee this year to try to get a handle on the growing demand for energy among power-dependent industries moving into the state, House Speaker Jon Burns said. While the effort will not specifically target data centers, it will be comprehensive, Burns told reporters outside the House chamber during a briefing ahead of the start of the 2025 General Assembly session next week.
Trump promises day 1 reversal of energy policies
President-elect Donald Trump railed against environmental regulations enacted by President Biden on his way out of office, vowing on Tuesday to reverse those policies when he assumes office later this month. On Monday, Biden placed a permanent ban on new oil and gas drilling across U.S. coastal and offshore waters in an area that spans about 625 million acres.
Government accountability
Kemp recommends raises for correctional officers
Gov. Brian Kemp is recommending an additional $372 million for the Department of Corrections, which includes a 4% pay raise for correctional officers. State behavioral counselors will see an 8% pay bump. Meanwhile, salaries for education, chaplain, food service, and maintenance positions will increase by 4% if approved by the General Assembly, according to a release.
Tax credits, public safety on Atlanta’s legislative agenda
New tax credits for local businesses are being sought by the Atlanta City Council from the Georgia General Assembly. The request is part of the city’s 2025 legislative package, which was approved by the council this week. The goal of the credit is to “increase access to capital for Atlanta’s entrepreneurs, aiming to retain and grow local businesses.”
Charting a glide path to overturn Biden regulations in the 119th Congress
As the new Congress and incoming Trump administration prepare to govern, expect a flurry of so-called resolutions of disapproval aimed at costly Biden administration regulations that, fortunately for the over-regulated, fall within this window of the Congressional Review Act of 1996. Older rules, however, will require rewrites, court challenges, or strategic non-enforcement by the Trump administration.
Bonus
Zuckerberg fires Facebook fact-checkers
A new era is dawning at Meta. CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced on Tuesday that third-party fact-checking organizations would no longer have the power to suppress disfavored speech on Facebook—a major, positive step toward restoring free expression and robust debate on the platform.
A tax-cutting new year in the states
Republicans in Congress may struggle this year to extend the expiring 2017 national tax rates, but states run by Republicans are way ahead of them. Tax changes that took effect on Jan. 1 are widening the tax divide between these states and high-tax progressive states. After the changes on Jan. 1, 22 states now have a flat or zero income-tax rate.
Longshoremen reach tentative agreement with ports, shippers, averting a potential strike
U.S. longshoremen reached a contract agreement with ports and shippers Wednesday, averting a potential strike that could have damaged the American economy. The International Longshoremen’s Association union and the U.S. Maritime Alliance of ports and shipping companies said they had reached a tentative agreement for a six-year contract, a week ahead of a Jan. 15 deadline.
Quotes of Note
“Georgia’s recognition as the No. 1 state for Best Business Climate by Site Selection is a testament to our partnership approach to job creation and economic growth. Our world-class workforce, strategic investments in infrastructure, and business-friendly policies continue to attract companies from around the world and create opportunities for hardworking Georgians in every community.” – Gov. Brian Kemp
“I just told them, what they went through this year and what they played and how they played, the resiliency, the injuries that we’ve had, and to win an SEC Championship, and to win some of the comeback games they won and never quit, even in this game, never quit, that’s the attitude you’ve got to have to get better as a football program.” – Kirby Smart, following loss to Notre Dame in the Sugar Bowl
“What you know today can affect what you do tomorrow. But what you know today cannot affect what you did yesterday.”- Condoleezza Rice
