General Assembly adjourns, holding mixed bag of winners and losers

Georgians can breathe a sigh of relief; the Georgia General Assembly has adjourned, lawmakers have returned to their districts and are unlikely to gavel back into session this year.

While the legislative session was dominated by a host of social issues, including those related to religious freedom, diversity, equity and inclusion, and transgender individuals, lawmakers also debated many economic and public safety proposals. Some of these were good and others bad, and unfortunately, the result of the recent session is a mixed bag of winners and losers.

By far, the Legislature’s most notable success was the passage of meaningful tort reform. After years of rising nuclear verdicts — verdicts of more than $10 million — being labeled a “judicial hellhole” and Georgians each paying a “tort tax” of more than $1,200 a year, Gov. Brian Kemp demanded action.

Senate Bills 68 and 69 were the answer to the growing problem, and combined, they aim to curtail lawsuit abuse and require more transparency among third-party litigation funders — essentially hedge funds that invest in lawsuits — that drive up costs. After a knock-down, drag-out fight, both proposals cleared the General Assembly and went to the governor for his signature. He will undoubtedly sign them into law, which will provide Georgians some relief, but they can expect more than just this.

The Legislature passed a few tax-related bills, and Georgians will see some of the benefits relatively quickly. House Bills 111, 112 and 136 lower the income tax rate to 5.19 percent beginning this taxable year, apply a $250 tax credit for individuals and a $500 credit to joint filers to last year’s taxes, and create a $250 child tax credit beginning this year.

Meanwhile, legislators passed Senate Bill 6, which stands poised to literally save lives. Like most states, Georgia has been in the midst of a drug overdose crisis as Georgians have inadvertently ingested tainted drugs — leading to myriad deaths. While fentanyl test strips are currently legal, tools to check for other adulterants are not. Senate Bill 6 would legalize them, and the bill’s sponsor, Sen. Kay Kirkpatrick, said during committee this is a bill intended to keep Georgians alive so that they can get treatment.

Each one of these measures is on the governor’s desk, but not every win results in new policy; sometimes preventing bad laws is also a win. With lawmakers introducing 2,860 bills and resolutions this year, many were misguided, including elections bills that fortunately died. Senate Bill 175 is one such measure, and it would have prohibited the use of ranked-choice voting for all Georgians except for military and overseas voters, even though ranked-choice voting is already impermissible for all others. This is kind of like making something double-super illegal, and it is pointless.

The General Assembly also debated a couple of measures to withdraw from the Electronic Registration Information Center, or ERIC, in the name of voter integrity, but this would have been counterproductive. ERIC is a multistate tool that helps states keep clean voter rolls by determining what voters have moved across state lines, have duplicate voter registrations or have passed away. In short, membership in ERIC helps prevent voter fraud, and thankfully proposals to end Georgia’s cooperation with ERIC failed.

Despite the aforementioned legislative successes, the General Assembly also fell short in several areas by failing to pass some commonsense bills. Among those are Senate Bill 28 — the so-called Red Tape Rollback Act of 2025 — which would have limited excessive and costly government regulation. The Legislature also stalled on Senate Bill 51. It would have required local governments to use the same procurement method employed by the state and federal governments for design services. Using this paradigm, they would have focused on qualifications rather than solely on what contractor is the lowest bidder, which makes sense. After all, nobody wants to drive on a bridge built in the cheapest way possible.

Three public safety bills also failed to cross the finish line — Senate Bill 207, House Bill 535 and House Bill 651 — which is a detriment to Georgians. Senate Bill 207 would have made it easier for individuals with a criminal background to obtain an occupational license so that they can be productive members of society. House Bill 535 would have permitted the accused to deduct time in jail waiting for probation revocation hearings from their sentence, and finally, House Bill 651 would have reformed school zone speed cameras so that municipalities aren’t misusing them as cash cows.

These bills nearly reached the governor’s desk, but for one reason or another, they fell short. However, they remain alive for consideration in the 2026 legislative session. It is too early to tell if momentum will carry them into next year. If they once again fail, then expect the 2026 session to be another mixed bag of winners and losers.