Sen. Ben Watson

State senator

Since the General Assembly has now adjourned Sine Die for our regularly scheduled legislative session, the balance of power for governance of Georgia shifts to the Governor. As we know, the Governor has the power of the pen and his ability to sign the legislation passed by the General Assembly into law or veto the legislation. In the budget bills, the Governor has the ability to eliminate spending initiatives by using his line-item veto.

I have included this week some of the most important legislation passed by General Assembly, and now waits for the Governor to review and utilize his options.

The governor, House of Representatives and Senate all agreed that to maintain our ability to attract and retain businesses in our state, we had to address frivolous lawsuits and egregious rules allowing for huge lawsuit payouts. With the leadership of Governor Kemp, Senate Republicans initiated a sweeping lawsuit reform package with the passage of Senate Bills 68 and 69. The goal of this legislation is to help stabilize insurance rates for small businesses and employers by curbing frivolous lawsuits that are driving up costs which are ultimately paid by everyday Georgians.

We also addressed school safety. This year’s budget includes another round of robust school safety grants, with the General Assembly augmenting this funding with three critical bills: S.B. 17 “Ricky and Alyssa’s Law,” S.B. 61 regarding terroristic threats, and S.B. 179 which helps ensure timely and accurate transfer of documents when a troubled student changes schools. All three bills were included in omnibus school safety legislation, H.B. 268.

The Senate and House have made improving literacy rates a multi-year priority. This year’s budget includes over $10 million for literacy coaches. We also included a bipartisan effort to require evidence-based reading instruction aligning with the science of reading which was included in S.B. 93.

With the advent of biological men playing in women’s sports, we initiated an effort to protect girls’ sports. Senate Bill 1 bans biological males from participating in women’s sports across Georgia’s middle schools, high schools, and colleges.

We also addressed the disaster left in the wake of several hurricanes in 2024 with disaster relief funding and tax relief. In addition to the $850 million in disaster aid included in the amended Fiscal Year 2024-2025 budget, we also passed Senate Bill 52, which provided relief to timber owners as part of H.B. 223, and S.B. 201, which enhances protections for consumers dealing with property damage in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene.

Legislative delegations that represent counties or municipalities have the authority to craft legislation that affecting only that specific local county or municipality.

This type of legislation is referred to as “local legislation.”

In local news, while it is clear that taxpayers want tax relief from the Bryan and Chatham County school boards, more action is needed to be taken. The legislative delegations representing those counties worked to pass H.B. 741 for Bryan County and H.B. 782 for Chatham County, enabling an election referendum in each county. This legislation provides for a referendum this November in each county to update the formula for the homestead exemption from county school district ad valorem tax and to eliminate the consumer price index adjustment. This will allow the tax assessment fixed at the price the home was purchased, which lowers property taxes for nearly all homeowners.

Thank you for your continued interest in the work of our General Assembly. As your public servant, feel free to visit me at the Capitol or to reach out by phone or email.

I am in 325A Coverdell Legislative Office Building.

My office number is (404) 6567880 and my email is ben.watson@senate.ga.gov. I look forward to continuing to serve you.