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  • Feb 20
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

February 20, 2026


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Weekly Wrap-Up: Democrats Deliver Doctors and Student Aid, Senate GOP Deny More Georgians Health Care


Senate Dems introduced the Henry McNeal Turner Voting Rights Act to protect Georgians from voter suppression and vote dilution


Additional bills including banning ICE detention centers, empowering sex trafficking victims to seek justice, and creating state-run savings trust accounts for babies born in Georgia


Atlanta, Ga. — During the sixth week of the 2026 legislative session, Senate Democrats delivered on major caucus priorities in the passage of the state budget. This includes funding needs-based scholarships and tackling Georgia’s doctor shortage to help solve the affordability crisis. Meanwhile, Senate Republicans rejected two Democrat-backed amendments that would have expanded health care for 500,000 Georgians.


Bills Introduced by the Georgia Senate Democratic Caucus


  • Senate Bill 516 to establish a grant program within the Secretary of State’s office to help counties with offsetting half of the cost associated with special elections to fill state or federal offices. This bill is led by Senator Jaha Howard (D-Smyrna). 


  • Senate Bill 517 to prohibit the use of immigration detention centers in this state for two years. This bill is led by Senator Jaha Howard (D-Smyrna).


  • Senate Bill 519 to clarify certain rules for school employees. Public schools selecting evaluators cannot select any public school employee to evaluate the public school; surveys of public school employees must be conducted anonymously; annual contracts with public school employees must include the teacher’s assignment for the school year; every teacher must be provided at least two planned restroom breaks per day, only one of which may coincide with the teacher’s planning period; schools must provide all teachers with the opportunity to receive training relevant to their teaching role; and bus drivers must be allowed to request a bus monitor if the bus driver has concerns regarding the behavior of a student. This bill is led by Senator Tonya Anderson (D-Lithonia).


  • Senate Bill 520 to change the income tax rate for both individuals and businesses; increase the standard deduction for married couples; increase the child tax credit from $250 to $1,250; give up to a 20% tax credit for low income earners to match federal tax credits; significantly increase the sales tax for all nicotine products; and eliminate the Georgia Private School Tax Credit. This bill is led by Minority Whip Kim Jackson (D-Stone Mountain). 


  • Senate Bill 521 to require that the members of the board, officers of the condominium, and home owners associations be residents of the property that they represent. This bill is led by Senator Donzella James (D-Atlanta). 


  • Senate Bill 529 to empower victims of sex trafficking to hold negligent property owners accountable for enabling their exploitation. This bill is led by Senator Nikki Merritt (D-Grayson).


  • Senate Bill 530 to create a fund for the collection of insurance premiums and data center collections that will then allow for tax credits that can be attributed for property taxes for homesteads that are within the same jurisdiction as the data center at issue. This bill is led by Senator Nabilah Parkes (D-Duluth).


  • Senate Bill 531 to ensure that marijuana charges are not codified as a felony charge; people convicted of marijuana offenses shall not be prohibited from registering to vote or voting. This bill is led by Minority Leader Harold Jones II (D-Augusta). 


  • Senate Bill 532 to make it so that if a defendant fails to file a pleading, the defendant will be deemed to have waived all notices except notices of the time and place of a trial. This bill is led by Caucus Vice Chair Sonya Halpern (D-Atlanta).


  • Senate Bill 534 to create the Georgia Baby Bond Savings Plan, a state-run savings program that sets up a trust account for every child born in Georgia. This bill is led by Senator Nikki Merritt (D-Grayson).


  • Senate Bill 536 / Henry McNeal Turner Voting Rights Act to set statewide protections against voter suppression and vote dilution, creates a Georgia Voting Rights Commission, and establishes guardrails like preclearance, transparency, language access, and enforcement tools so voting rules are fair, consistent, and accountable. This bill is led by Minority Leader Harold Jones II (D-Augusta).


Media Coverage of the Georgia Senate Democratic Caucus



  • The Georgia State Senate has proposed a plan to eliminate income tax on the first $50,000 to $100,000 of earnings, a move that has divided residents of Stone Mountain.


  • Democratic Senator Kim Jackson, who represents the Stone Mountain area, has criticized it as a "scam" that would favor higher-income earners and blow a multibillion-dollar hole in the state's budget.



  • The Georgia Senate on Wednesday unveiled a spending plan that grants income and property tax relief, builds a new mental health hospital and cuts back state employee bonuses.


  • Kemp proposed spending $325 million on the state’s need-based DREAMS scholarship program. The House budget scaled that back to $300 million, and the Senate reduces it further to $100 million.


  • Sen. Nan Orrock, D-Atlanta, expressed concern about the smaller investment. She said other states have surpassed Georgia in helping students who can’t afford college.


  • “Right now we’re having students leave our state and go to surrounding states that all have robust financial aid for higher education,” Orrock said.



  • Three Democratic lawmakers gathered in South Fulton to announce new legislation in an effort to prevent the Department of Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement from moving forward with planned warehouse detention centers in Georgia.


  • State Sen. Dr. Jaha Howard, D-Smyrna, announced a new bill Sunday afternoon that looks to prevent state funds from being used to help build planned ICE facilities in Georgia.


  • "We are here because of a proposal of a 10,000-bed detention facility in a town with fewer than 5,000 residents. That should give every Georgian pause," Howard said.


  • [State Senator RaShaun Kemp] said he will introduce a resolution under the Gold Dome to back U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock, D-Georgia, and his proposed legislation to stop ICE from opening the planned facilities.


  • "This is not just a Democratic issue," Kemp said. "Republican cities and communities that are saying, ‘Yes, we want strong borders, but we don't want to house thousands of people in detention centers in our communities.”



  • Georgia lawmakers are grappling with how to address data centers during the 2026 legislative session. Several bills have been introduced that would either impose a moratorium or add regulations.


  • State Sen. Jaha Howard (D – Smyrna) introduced Senate Bill 436 on Feb. 9 that would suspend any new sales and use tax exemptions from July 1, 2026, through June 30, 2027. 


  • “I’m proud to introduce my first piece of legislation, which places a one-year pause on the expansion of data center tax exemptions so the General Assembly has adequate time to listen and respond to our constituents impacted the most,” Howard said. “We welcome investment from technology companies, but our constituents need peace of mind on the short and long-term impacts of these projects on their communities."


  • Howard added that the temporary pause could give legislators time to evaluate the long-term impact of data centers and “responsible policies that protect our resources while keeping Georgia affordable.”


  • SB 421, sponsored by Sen. RaShaun Kemp (D – Atlanta), is called the Data Center Transparency Act. It would prohibit local governments from entering into nondisclosure agreements regarding the water and power usage of data centers. 



  • Two Georgia state senators say they plan to file a resolution under the Gold Dome aimed at keeping additional immigration detention facilities out of the state.


  • State Senators Jaha Howard and Rashaun Kemp say the resolution would support an amendment introduced by U.S. Senator Raphael Warnock on Capitol Hill. The amendment would bar facilities from becoming operational in the cities of Social Circle and Oakwood.


  • Kemp said he plans “to file a resolution supporting our United States Senator Raphael Warnock and his efforts to slow this down; there should be cooperation on a ground level.”


  • Howard said, “we know that we don’t have as much power as our federal government, but we do have power [...] let me be clear, secure borders do not require industrial scale detention facilities imposed without local consent.”



  • Georgia’s State Election Board did not move to take control of Fulton County’s elections at a closely watched meeting this week, but at least one board member left the door open for future intervention.


  • “It is ridiculous that we’re spending taxpayer money trying to make Trump feel better,” said Sen. Nikki Merritt, a Grayson Democrat who chairs the Georgia Legislative Black Caucus. “I think there is a move to interfere with our elections in the state of Georgia, and this is just a step in that direction.”



  • On Tuesday, they introduced the Henry McNeal Turner Voting Rights Act, a state-level bill designed to protect Black voters and other communities of color from what supporters describe as years of targeted suppression.


  • The proposal would require counties with a documented history of racial discrimination to obtain approval before changing voting rules. It would expand language access, ban vote dilution and allow voters and local governments to sue in state courts if discrimination occurs.


  • Georgia’s SB 202, passed in 2021, shortened runoff timelines, added new ID requirements for absentee ballots and empowered the state to intervene in local election boards.



  • Georgia Democrats took their fight over the ballot straight to the State Capitol on Thursday, rolling out a state-level Voting Rights Act they say is designed to protect Black voters and other communities of color in what they describe as a volatile election year.


  • “Georgia voters have lived through years of constant changes of election rules and repeated efforts that make it harder for eligible people to participate in voting,” Sen. Nikki Merritt said at the unveiling under the Gold Dome. She argued the state needs stable, predictable rules so people are not constantly guessing whether they can cast a ballot without jumping through new hoops.


  • The measure, formally named the Henry McNeal Turner Voting Rights Act, is structured to mirror key federal protections that voting-rights advocates say have been weakened in recent years. 


  • Framed as a direct response to recent federal actions and a wave of new voting restrictions, the proposal is pitched less as a symbolic gesture and more as a concrete attempt to lock in protections before the next round of political chaos hits.


  • According to Democracy Docket, the bill would require counties with documented histories of racial discrimination to get approval before changing voting practices, expand language access at the polls, bar tactics that dilute the voting power of communities of color and allow private citizens and local governments to sue in Georgia courts over discriminatory rules.


Georgia Senate Democrats are available for comment.


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