Mixed bag of winners and losers as Georgia legislative session ends

The Georgia General Assembly recently finished its annual 40-legislative-day sprint at around 1 am on Friday morning, March 29. After passing a host of bills, the Legislature adjourned for the year, and all pieces of legislation that failed to pass both the House and Senate are officially dead. Even for insiders, it is a difficult task to monitor all of the happenings in the Gold Dome—as both chambers meet simultaneously, numerous committees debate and amend bills, and conference committees negotiate deals to pass legislation.

Now that the dust has settled from a whirlwind legislative session, wonks and policymakers are beginning to get a firmer grasp on what transpired in the waning days of legislative session. As is always the case, there were plenty of winners and losers, including criminal justice, professional licensing, tax and tort reforms.

The 2024 legislative session began with hope that lawmakers would successfully tackle tort reform, which is a critical necessity. The American Tort Reform Association rated Georgia the country’s number one “judicial hellhole.” This is something that impacts all of us. Our highly litigious environment and propensity toward awarding massive verdicts burdens businesses that pass the costs off to Georgians—to a tune of around $1,200 per person per year.

After years of work and agreement from Gov. Brian Kemp’s office that tort reform should be front and center, the General Assembly largely failed to deliver. Efforts came up short to curb premises liability, which allows plaintiffs to sue companies for injuries they didn’t inflict but happened on/near their property, and repeal the seatbelt gag rule—a bizarre law that forbids juries from factoring-in car accident victims’ seatbelt usage when apportioning damages. Only one notable tort reform measure passed. It seeks to limit plaintiffs’ ability to simultaneously sue insurers and motor carriers for the same perceived offense. While this reform is limited in scope, it is nonetheless important.

Like tort reform, criminal justice reform was a victim of the 2024 legislative session. There weren’t a large number of justice reform bills seriously considered, but there were at least two commonsense measures introduced by powerful legislators. One would have raised the age of adult criminal responsibility from 17 to 18-years-old, which would have aligned Georgia with nearly every other state. Another would have prevented boards from denying professional licensing applications based on unrelated criminal backgrounds and vague character standards. Both measures sadly failed to cross the finish line.

Not all was lost in the General Assembly; there were some notable wins for taxpayers and workforce development. Georgia already has one of the country’s lowest tax rates per capita, and thanks to continued efforts, the Peach State is poised to further improve its standing. The legislature approved an income tax decrease, with the goal of lowering it to 4.99 percent in 2025. Lawmakers also passed a ballot measure to increase the homestead tax exemption, and finally, policymakers supported a bill to increase the dependent tax deduction.

The other winner of the 2024 legislative session was occupational licensing reform, as lawmakers have been seeking ways to address the state’s widespread workforce shortages, which are particularly acute. According to the Chamber of Commerce, for every 100 jobs available in Georgia, there are just 54 job seekers.

In an effort to ease these shortages, legislators have focused on licensing reform, and just this year, numerous bills meandered through the process and received broad support. These include proposals to lower licensing barriers for out-of-state civilian license holders and military spouses; eliminating unnecessary licensing requirements for blow-dry stylists and shampooers; re-orienting how land surveyors are licensed; and reforming licensing to attract more social workers and family therapists to work in Georgia.

These reforms promise to ameliorate some of Georgia’s workforce woes, and Sen. Larry Walker, R-Perry, has his fingerprints on every single one of these licensing measures. For his successful efforts, he is also one of the undisputed winners of Georgia’s 2024 legislative session, and his fellow Senate members seem to agree. On March 28, they officially passed a motion declaring “7PM the [Sen. Larry] Walker Power Hour,” and one senator rose to speak and jokingly exclaimed, “Give me Larry or give me death.”

The governor has 40 days following the adjournment of session to determine whether or not to sign or veto legislation that has reached his desk. While there were many losers this year, Georgians can celebrate some of the hard-fought victories that look to help propel the state forward. Now it is up to Kemp to finish the drill.