Crossover Day marked the beginning of the end of this year’s legislative session. Beyond being the point when bills must pass out of their respective chambers to remain alive, last Thursday further clarified this legislature’s priorities. By the end of last year, one topic emerged as the frontrunner as the session’s central issue: tort reform.
Reforming Georgia’s legal landscape is a top priority for Gov. Brian Kemp and many key lawmakers. Over the past few years, Georgia’s tort system gained infamy for its numerous high-profile frivolous lawsuits, nuclear verdicts and exploitations of unfair or predatory litigation practices. This is not to mention the economic costs that lawsuit abuse places on Georgians, a phenomenon documented by the Foundation and many others.
The effort to reform Georgia’s legal environment led to the passage of two Senate bills that now head to the House. Senate Bill 68 includes a wide range of changes, including limiting premises liability – liability placed on property owners for crimes committed on their property that they had nothing to do with – and eliminating “phantom damages” by requiring a truthful calculation of damages incurred instead of what a patient was billed for medical care. The bill amends procedures with fairer outcomes in mind, such as allowing for trials to be more easily split into stages for the separate determination of liability and damages, and allowing jurors to know whether a plaintiff was wearing his or her seatbelt in an auto accident.
The Senate’s other tort bill, Senate Bill 69, passes the Senate unanimously. Senate Bill 69 is more specific in scope as it seeks to limit third-party litigation financing. The Foundation has also covered the various issues brought about by outside funding of tort lawsuits,like a lack of transparency, predatory lending practices and the threat of interference from foreign actors. While Senate Bill 69 was passed unanimously in its original chamber, Senate Bill 69 is likely to face a contentious fight in the House.
The wide scope of this legislative effort indicates a landscape of problems throughout Georgia’s tort system, which reform advocates consistently rate among the worst in the country. Where do these bills stand as they head to the House, and what other key issues are still alive? We look at that in this week’s commentary. We also have the latest news and analysis from the last week, including:
- February tax revenues up 4.6%; adjusted YTD down 0.4%
- U.S. Ag secretary vows Hurricane Helene relief during visit to Georgia
- State House OKs $37.7 billion fiscal ’26 budget
- Georgia ranks 6th in the nation in highway performance and cost-effectiveness
Have a great weekend,
– Kyle Wingfield
Friday’s Freshest
Georgia Promise Scholarship applications open
The Peach State made history this week by opening applications for the new Georgia Promise Scholarship. Launched on March 1, the first application window runs until April 15. This is Georgia’s first state-funded education savings account for K-12 students, empowering parents with direct control over a portion of state education funding. Families eager to participate can visit MyGeorgiaPromise.org to apply online.
Georgia’s ‘Jackpot Justice Juries’ prompt calls for tort reform
When criminals commit violent acts on the private properties of business owners, Georgia’s premises liability laws make those property owners civilly liable for those acts even if those business owners didn’t participate in those crimes. Trial attorneys pounce upon these opportunities and take property owners to court. And the headaches for these businessmen have only just begun.
Markets shift but bureaucracy only grows
Why doesn’t the public sector follow the market? Consider suburban malls of the 1980s and 1990s: Town Center at Cobb has reopened, for now. But it is hard not to view these incidents as part of the decline of suburban malls. North DeKalb Mall was closed and razed, and a largely vacant Gwinnett Place Mall has bounced from one redevelopment plan to another. In a broad sense, this is the market at work.
Georgia landlords say they provide security, but still face legal peril
In Georgia, you can be held civilly liable if a criminal harms another person in your place of business and a court rules that you didn’t implement adequate measures for security. This was established by the Georgia Supreme Court when a shooting victim filed a case against CVS after being shot on their property. Nevertheless, three people who hold high-ranking positions in Georgia’s corporate real estate industry said that taking reasonable security measures on their property still isn’t enough to shield them from a costly lawsuit.
Georgia’s legislative push for regulatory reform
A central problem with regulations is that they tend to grow perpetually absent deliberate efforts to review them. This buildup creates a burden for workers and established businesses and raises the barrier to entry for potential startups. Some states have taken steps in recent years to combat the inertia of regulatory expansion.
How much does each school district have in reserves?
Across Georgia, public school districts are refusing to go along with a reduction in property taxes that was approved by voters last fall – all while raking in taxpayer dollars like never before. Cumulatively, Georgia’s 180 city and county school districts have more than doubled their reserves to a staggering $6.5 billion.
The Latest
Economy
February tax revenues up 4.6%; adjusted YTD down 0.4%
The State of Georgia’s net tax collections in the month of February approached $2.13 billion, for an increase of $94.2 million, or 4.6%, compared to February 2024, when net tax collections totaled $2.03 billion for the month. Adjusting for the motor fuel tax changes, year-to-date net tax revenue collections for the period ending Feb. 28 were down $82.7 million, or 0.4%.
State House OKs $37.7 billion fiscal ’26 budget
The Georgia House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed Gov. Brian Kemp’s $37.7 billion fiscal 2026 state budget Tuesday, a spending plan that prioritizes prisons and education. The budget, which cleared the House 171-4, is smaller than the record $40.5 billion fiscal 2025 mid-year budget lawmakers passed last week, which used $2.7 billion of the state’s $16 billion surplus.
U.S. Ag secretary stops by Georgia Capitol and vows Hurricane Helene relief coming for farmers
U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins said federal disaster relief will soon be on the way for farmers left struggling to move forward in the wake of Hurricane Helene. Rollins, who was confirmed last month, told reporters that her agency would beat the March 21 deadline set by Congress to distribute aid packed into a $100 billion disaster relief package passed late last year.
Small brewers fight against distribution monopoly
A bill designed to modernize and update rules for Georgia’s small breweries failed to advance in the state Senate last week. Senate Bill 122, the Craft Beer and Local Economy Revitalization Act, failed to move out of committee in time to receive a vote by the Crossover Day deadline.
Education
Open enrollment is a school choice policy that both blue and red states can embrace
One potential opportunity to expand school choice is to strengthen and expand K-12 open enrollment, which allows students to attend public schools outside their residential zones as long as space is available. The latest national polling from EdChoice showed that 79% of Democrats, 75% of Republicans, and 73% of independents with school-aged children support open enrollment.
Homeschooling, homesteading and the renewal of American citizenship
From the normalization of remote work to the rapid growth of both homeschooling and homesteading, Americans of all ages are recovering the centrality of the home in rising numbers. Since the COVID pandemic, homeschooling has become one of the fastest growing forms of education. At the same time, more households are embracing other aspects of homesteading to sustain and support themselves.
The last days of public school
For generations, America’s K–12 public schools have been largely immune from the disruptive forces that have roiled retail, travel, entertainment, health care and many other sectors of the economy and culture, but the reckoning has finally come. Public education is on the verge of an unprecedented crack-up. In fact, it’s already underway.
Energy
Plans to build gas plants respond to increased power demand
Rising power demand, led by the buildout of data centers for artificial intelligence, is leading to an increase in natural gas power plant construction. Increasing power demand will require significant new power capacity. This is a substantial change after years of stagnant growth in demand and will require large-scale problem solving. Like most big problems, this is best solved by individual actors driven by the profit motives set out in free markets.
Data center bill stalls in Senate
Sen. Chuck Hufstetler, R-Rome, said he’s still trying to get a vote on his data center bill, although it’s not looking good this year. Senate Bill 34 — which would prevent Georgia Power from passing on the costs of providing electricity to heavy users such as data centers — failed to be taken up by the Senate by Crossover Day. He said there is a chance that his bill can get attached to another bill that crossed over from its initiating chamber and still get passed this year.
Lawsuit to stop lithium battery energy plant in College Park dismissed
A Fulton County Superior Court judge has dismissed a lawsuit brought by three residents who are fighting the building of a lithium-ion battery storage facility project that abuts their neighborhood. The residents are considering an appeal. They and their neighbors worry that such battery energy storage facilities are dangerous and point to uncontrollable fires at similar facilities.
Whitfield County commissioners approve rezoning for data center
The members of the Whitfield County Board of Commissioners voted this week to approve a request by Core Scientific to rezone from general agriculture and rural residential to heavy manufacturing on 173.3 acres in Dalton for an AIdata center. The decision was greeted with loud and sustained jeers from the sometimes rowdy crowd that packed the commissioners’ meeting room in the courthouse.
Transportation
Georgia ranks 6th in the nation in highway performance and cost-effectiveness
Georgia’s highway system ranks 6th in the nation in overall cost-effectiveness and condition. According to the Annual Highway Report by Reason Foundation, this is a two-spot worsening from Georgia’s ranking of 4th overall in the last evaluation of the condition, safety and costs of roads and bridges in all 50 states.
DABC sees need, opportunity for new airport
Last year, local officials announced the city of Richmond Hill, Bryan County and its Development Authority would each contribute $62,000 for an airport study. Now, the project has taken the next step as the county approved the establishment of an airport authority. Ultimately, the authority would have to be approved by the Georgia General Assembly.
Addressing the transit productivity crisis
Following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, public transit systems throughout the United States experienced an unprecedented ridership collapse as people stayed home and avoided crowded public spaces. The impact of the pandemic continues to be felt in a variety of ways, including persistent changes in travel behavior.
Bonus
Atlanta Dream to hold opener against Caitlin Clark’s Indiana Fever in bigger arena
The Dream typically plays their games at the Gateway Center Arena at College Park, which holds only about 3,500. With Caitlin Clark in town, you can sell a lot more tickets than that, so it would make sense to move the game to a much bigger arena. State Farm Arena — home to the Atlanta Hawks — will do the trick, with a basketball capacity of well over 16,000. But according to the team’s owner, that’s not why the game is being moved.
Senate committee backs Georgia tourism study
A Senate committee greenlighted a study committee on Georgia’s tourism industry as upcoming events put a spotlight on the Peach State. Atlanta will host eight World Cup games in 2026, and the Super Bowl returns in 2028. The World Cup is predicted to generate $4.6 million in global media exposure for the state, according to Senate Resolution 323, sponsored by Sen. Drew Echols, R-Alto.
Chavez-DeRemer exemplifies Trump’s complicated relationship with unions
Lori Chavez-DeRemer’s confirmation is a microcosm of Trump’s own complicated relationship with unions and labor policy in general. Many in the free-market movement opposed her because of her co-sponsoring the ill-named Protecting the Right to Organize Act as well as the Public Service Freedom to Negotiate Act. Both bills would give union leaders more power to force workers to fall in line and support unions.
Quotes of Note
“You will never understand bureaucracies until you understand that for bureaucrats procedure is everything and outcomes are nothing.” – Thomas Sowell
“I like to see a man proud of the place in which he lives. I like to see a man live so that his place will be proud of him.” – Abraham Lincoln
“One advantage of talking to yourself is that you know at least somebody’s listening.” – Franklin Jones
