Georgia's 2024 legislative session begins: What you need to know

ATLANTA - It's back to work at the state Capitol.

Georgia's lawmakers will gather under the Gold Dome on Monday morning to kick off this year's legislative session.

The hot-button bills involving everything from armed teachers in schools to sports betting are sure to fuel heated debate.

Because 2024's session is the second year of the two-year legislative term, all the measures that didn’t pass last year are still alive. That means things can happen fast, especially for bills that were close to passing.

THESE NEW LAWS WENT INTO EFFECT IN GEORGIA ON JAN. 1, 2024

This is also an election year for the 180 representatives and 56 senators, although not for Gov. Brian Kemp or Lt. Gov. Burt Jones. Lawmakers may look toward measures that will please their supporters or win them votes. With state coffers bulging, further pay increases for public employees and teachers appear likely. Republicans are also pushing a further income tax cut.

Here are a few of the big issues that may be debated during the session.

Medicaid expansion in Georgia

One of the biggest questions this session is whether Republicans will agree to expand Medicaid across the state.

Last week, Georgia House Speaker Jon Burns said he wants lawmakers to consider more health coverage in the state as their session begins. 

"The speaker is committed to lowering costs and increasing access to healthcare across the state, and will be working closely with members over the coming weeks to develop sound policy to do just that," Stephen Lawson, a spokesperson for the Newington Republican, said Thursday.

Georgia is one of the 10 remaining states that don't cover people with incomes up to 138% of the federal poverty line.

Georgia Republicans long resisted participating. Lawmakers in 2014 even passed a law saying the governor couldn’t expand Medicaid without their approval.

Opposition to broader expansion in Georgia began publicly wavering in November when state House members held a hearing on how Arkansas uses Medicaid money to buy private coverage for residents. Like traditional Medicaid, the plan requires copayments of $5 or less for most services while paying medical providers more than Arkansas’ traditional Medicaid program.

Limiting lawsuits

Kemp has said he wants to make it harder for people to file lawsuits and win big legal judgments. He has said Georgia’s high insurance rates are among the harms of such lawsuits.

Georgia lawmakers capped noneconomic damages including pain and suffering in a 2005 tort reform law, but the state Supreme Court overturned such caps as unconstitutional in 2010.

Owners of commercial properties and apartments have been some of the biggest supporters of limits, saying they are getting unfairly sued when unrelated parties do wrong on their property. Another big backer is the trucking industry, which wants to end the right of people to sue insurers directly.

Georgia election law changes

Fighting about elections and the laws that govern them has rarely paused since 2018 in Georgia, and more measures could be debated in 2024.

Some partisans may seek a measure clarifying that the State Election Board has legal authority to investigate Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, seeking an inquiry into the Republican’s handling of post-election audits following Joe Biden’s 2020 victory in Georgia.

Those who question Biden’s victory also want a bill allowing them to review paper ballots, pursuing claims of counterfeit ballots.

Raffensperger is asking for $4.7 million to be appropriated for machines to allow voters to check the computer codes printed on their ballots. Those who distrust Georgia’s electronic balloting system could counter with bills to outlaw the codes or to let voters mark ballots by hand.

Some lawmakers are unhappy that Raffensperger won’t update software on voting machines before the 2024 presidential election. The secretary says there is not enough time to install updates

Raffensperger has renewed his call to eliminate runoffs after general elections when no candidate wins a majority.

Defining antisemitism

A bill to define antisemitism in Georgia law stalled in 2023 in a debate over how the measure should be worded. The measure already was supported by many lawmakers and the pressure to act has only grown with strong Republican support for Israel in its war with Hamas.

Sponsors say a definition would help prosecutors and other officials identify hate crimes and illegal discrimination targeting Jewish people. But some critics warn it would limit free speech, especially in criticizing the actions of Israel. Others don’t oppose a law, but object to the measure defining antisemitism by referring to a definition adopted by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance.

A group of prominent evangelical Christians, including Pastor John Hagee of Christians United for Israel, Ralph Reed of the Faith and Freedom Coalition and Jentezen Franklin of megachurch Free Chapel, wrote to Georgia lawmakers in December urging them to adopt the IHRA definition.

Improving mental health

House members made a big push in 2023 for a bill that would recruit more mental health workers, help people who bounce between hospitals, jails and homelessness, and study other needs. That measure faltered in a broader House-Senate dispute.

This year, mental health leaders say they expect to focus on more money to raise pay, increase payments to service providers and open more crisis beds. But legislation may still be needed for some priorities, including addressing the backlog of pretrial mental health evaluations for people accused of crimes.

Social media regulations

Georgia could join other states requiring children younger than 18 to get their parents’ permission to create social media accounts. Republican Sen. Jason Anavitarte of Dallas said in August that he would push such a proposal.

Georgia wouldn’t be the first state to seek such a restriction, but efforts in other states have been challenged by lawsuits.

In the House, Education Committee Chairman Chris Erwin, a Homer Republican, says lawmakers need to study whether threats and other social media activity hurt schools’ ability to function, although he has made no specific proposals.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.