Georgia Republicans ready conservative legislative agenda for campaign trail

goods store in Douglasville.

Republicans pitched the bill as promoting public safety by making it easier for Georgians to protect themselves and their families. Democrats countered that permit-less carry would lead to more gun violence on the streets.

The gun bill sailed through the legislature without opponents being able to make any significant changes, as did two of the three education bills.

The Parents’ Bill of Rights establishes a protaught to their children to pursue complaints. The “divisive concepts” legislation outlines what can and can’t be taught to Georgia students concerning racism.

The bill’s Republican backers said the measure does not prevent the teaching of slavery and the Jim Crow and civil rights eras. However, they must be taught in a way that doesn’t cause students to feel guilty or perceive of themselves as superior or inferior because of their race.

Opponents said the bill creates so much uncertainty in interpretation that the penalties it carries would intimidate teachers into failing to teach an honest account of U.S. history, both the good and the bad.

Democrats almost managed to stop the so-called “transgender sports” bill. The original version of the measure would have prohibited students born male from taking part in most girls’ sports.

When it looked like the bill was going to be killed, Republicans agreed to a watereddown version that essentially punts policymaking on the issue to a newly created oversight committee that will report to the Georgia High School Association.

House Speaker David Ralston, R-Blue Ridge, said he had concerns about the original bill.

“I think this was a more reasonable approach,” he told reporters minutes after

Another bill that underwent significant changes was an election measure intended as a follow-up to last year’s broader overhaul of Georgia election law. Unlike the education bills and permit-less carry, the election legislation was not part of the governor’s agenda.

By the time the bill made it through the General Assembly, it had been whittled down to a single provision allowing the GBI to investigate allegations of voter fraud without having to be called in by elections officials or the attorney general’s office.