Ga. businesses backing hate-crimes legislation
and Moddelmog wrote in a joint statement issued Monday, June 8. “When the Georgia General Assembly reconvenes in June, the Metro Atlanta Chamber and the Georgia Chamber urge swift passage of hate-crimes legislation that aligns our state’s laws with our values.”
The two chamber leaders endorsed the hate crimes bill late last month after the arrests of three white men in Glynn County in the fatal shooting of Ahmaud Arbery, a 25-year-old black man, but before the death of another black man, George Floyd, at the hands of a white police officer in Minneapolis touched off a wave of protests across the country.
High-profile Georgia-based businesses joining the two chambers in Monday’s letter include Delta Air Lines Inc., The Home Depot Inc., Coca-Cola Co., Georgia Power Co. and UPS Inc.
This isn’t the first time the state’s business community has gotten involved in civil rights legislation percolating under the Gold Dome. Business groups have fought for years against the passage of religious liberty legislation pushed by social conservatives opponents have argued would let companies discriminate against gays and lesbians, including a 2016 bill that was vetoed by then-Gov. Nathan Deal.
The hate-crimes bill, sponsored by Rep. Chuck Efstration, R-Dacula, would impose additional penalties on criminal defendants if it determined their victim was chosen based on his or her “race, color, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, gender, mental disability or physical disability.”
Lawmakers will return to the Capitol Monday, June 15, three months after the coronavirus pandemic forced a suspension of this year’s session.