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  • Feb 27
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February 27, 2026


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Weekly Wrap-Up: Democrats Invest In Students And Seniors, Republicans Back The Boot And Big Tech


Senate Dems introduced bills to protect homeowners and renters, motorists, and insurance policyholders

Atlanta, Ga. — During the seventh week of the 2026 legislative session, Senate Democrats advanced legislation to invest in students, improve state pensions, and reform the criminal justice process. Meanwhile, Senate Republicans avoided holding data center owners accountable for freeloading off Georgia communities and killed an attempt to ban predatory vehicle booting.


Bills Introduced by the Georgia Senate Democratic Caucus

  • Senate Bill 541 to prohibit the placement of wheel restraints on trespassing motor vehicles. This bill is led by Senator Josh McLaurin (D-Sandy Springs). 

  • Senate Bill 549 to prohibit covered governmental entities from providing funding or resources in support of the operation of immigration detention centers. This bill is led by Senator Jaha Howard (D-Smyrna). 

  • Senate Bill 558 to classify possession of certain quantities of marijuana constitute a misdemeanor. This bill is led by Minority Leader Harold Jones II (D-Augusta).

  • Senate Bill 559 to amend Georgia’s Fair Business Act to prohibit rental property owners and managers from using AI algorithms to jack up prices.

  • Senate Bill 560 to provide provisions governing the use of third party search firms in selecting a superintendent. Additionally, the bill would create districts in DeKalb County from which members of the county’s Board of Education can be elected from. This bill is led by Senator Emanuel Jones (D-Decatur).

  • Senate Bill 562 to allow homeless Georgians or those without a permanent address to register to vote using the address of their county’s registrar office, address of the university they are currently attending, or address of their place of worship. This bill is led by Senator Randal Mangham (D-Stone Mountain).

  • Senate Bill 563 / Juvenile Second Chance Record Confidentiality Act to mandate the automatic sealing of files and records in certain circumstances. This bill is led by Senator Randal Mangham (D-Stone Mountain).

  • Senate Bill 564 to extend the maintenance of physical evidence collected from an alleged sexual assault. This bill is led by Senator Randal Mangham (D-Stone Mountain). 

  • Senate Bill 580 to increase the minimum amount required for a foreclosure on a lien on a property under the Georgia Condominium Act and the Georgia Property Owners' Association Act. This bill is led by Senator Sheikh Rahman (D-Lawrenceville).

  • Senate Bill 583 to require any person, firm, or corporation to display all fees associated with a consumer transaction when displaying the total price of a good. This bill is led by Senator Sonya Halpern (D-Atlanta).

  • Senate Bill 585 to require certain disclosures in property and casualty insurance rate filings concerning climate related risk, catastrophe modeling, and reinsurance costs. Additionally, the bill would require property and casualty insurance companies to submit certain information to the Department and require such departments to create databases for that information. This bill is led by Senator Nabilah Parkes (D-Duluth).

  • Senate Bill 588 to create certain protections for caregivers, increase the tax credit for qualified caregiving expenses, and increase their number of sick days. This bill is led by Minority Leader Harold Jones II (D-Augusta).

  • Senate Bill 595 to authorize the State Board of Education to establish a student personal development and career readiness program, including finding third-party providers to administer the program, requirements for approved program providers, and disbursement of funds to approved program providers. This bill is led by Senator Donzella James (D-Atlanta). 

  • Senate Bill 596 to require the State Board of Education to establish a program of state-wide coordinated support for summer literacy programs offered by local school systems and other public schools. Additionally, the bill would require the Department of Education to develop a plan to implement such a program and to submit such a plan to the General Assembly. This bill is led by Senator Randal Mangham (D-Stone Mountain).

  • Senate Bill 597 to create a course of instruction in legal literacy and life skills and adopt content standards for such instruction. Additionally, the bill would require that each local board of education offer a course of instruction based on such content standards and make the course a graduation requirement. This bill is led by Senator Randal Mangham (D-Stone Mountain).

  • Senate Bill 598 to prohibit nonemergency rules or regulations adopted by the State Election Board within 180 days of an election from being enforced for such election. This bill is led by Senator Randal Mangham (D-Stone Mountain).

  • Senate Bill 600 / Georgia Corporate Power Reset Act to restrict the powers of business corporations, nonprofit corporations, partnerships, limited partnerships, and limited liability companies to only the powers the General Assembly expressly grants. This bill is led by Senator Nabilah Parkes (D-Duluth).

  • Senate Bill 602 to reform prior authorization and utilization review requirements for healthcare plans, including for certain information to be provided to healthcare providers at the time of notification of an adverse determination, for retroactive authorizations, to exempt certain healthcare services from prior authorization, and for automatic authorization. This bill is led by Senator Nabilah Parkes (D-Duluth).

  • Senate Bill 603 / Georgia Insurance Consumer and Policyholder Advocacy Act to increase transparency and accountability in the insurance industry and at the office of the Commissioner of Insurance. This bill is led by Senator Nabilah Parkes (D-Duluth). 

  • Senate Bill 610 / Georgia Death and Dignity Act to create provisions for physician-assisted end-of-life options for terminally ill individuals. This bill is led by Minority Whip Kim Jackson (D-Stone Mountain).

Media Coverage of the Georgia Senate Democratic Caucus


  • Democrats attempted to pass Medicaid expansion on the floor of the Senate in a legislative maneuver that was quickly shot down by their Republican counterparts Friday.

  • But a pair of amendments, introduced by Senate Minority Leader Harold Jones of Augusta and Minority Whip Kim Jackson of Stone Mountain, incorporated language from two previously introduced bills to allow the state to fully expand its Medicaid program. Georgia is one of only 10 states that has not fully expanded Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act.

  • “He’s not addressing the affordability crisis and the other factor is Republicans are not addressing the affordability crisis, so true to our president’s way, he basically just says it doesn’t exist,” Jones said. “Today was an opportunity to actually show that Georgia is serious about the affordability crisis, and Republicans refused to do that.”

  • Dozens of data centers have popped up across the state over the past two years, stirring fears among residents that the electricity-gobbling warehouses owned by blue-chip tech companies might damage the environment and send their monthly power bills soaring.

  • Asked why no vote was held Thursday, Senate President Pro Tem Larry Walker III, R-Perry, said lawmakers needed time to consider other bills in several committees scheduled throughout the day, particularly given the Crossover Day deadline on March 6 in which a bill must pass out of at least one chamber to remain alive in the session.

  • That explanation did not satisfy Democratic leaders furious over the situation after aligning with Hufstetler to restore the bill’s original version. Senate Minority Leader Harold Jones II, D-Augusta, called the move “shameful” and a sign that majority Republicans “don’t want to help regular Georgians actually lower their bills.”

  • “The only thing that took place today was there was going to be a vote to protect Georgia citizens and Republicans said, ‘We’re not going to do it,’” Jones said. “That’s what took place today.”


  • A Georgia Senate bill that would have required data centers to cover their own power costs stalled Thursday when Republican leaders adjourned before it could come to the floor for a vote.

  • Democrats said Republican leaders adjourned to block the vote because they lacked the votes to stop the amendment.

  • Senate Minority Leader Harold Jones, of Augusta, said: “If they had the votes, they wouldn’t have to adjourn. They would have loved to do it.”

  • A separate bill, Senate Bill 192, was introduced during the 2025 legislative session. It would have provided state-funded subsidies to Georgians earning up to 400% of the federal poverty level and eliminated premiums entirely for those at or below 200%. That bill never received a hearing. 

  • Senate Minority Leader Harold Jones II said it could be revived. At least 10 other states are using their own money to partially or fully replace the expired federal subsidies. Georgia is not among them. The state currently holds a $14 billion budget surplus.

  • The Senate session ended abruptly Thursday just as senators were nearing a vote on a bill aimed at ensuring data centers pay for the energy infrastructure built to accommodate them after it appeared a last-minute alternative measure had the votes to pass.

  • The Georgia Senate avoided voting on Senate Bill 34, which moved out of committee earlier this week after it had been changed to reflect language from House Bill 1063, which Georgia Power did not oppose and the data center industry preferred.

  • Senate Democrats [...] accused Republicans of delaying action to provide economic relief to Georgians after giving data centers billions in tax breaks over the years.

  • “This is real affordability legislation in a year where Georgians face higher utility bills, grocery prices and health insurance premiums. Republicans need to drag themselves back to the Capitol, stop kissing Donald Trump’s ring and pass this bill. The data centers cannot be allowed to keep leeching off our state,” said Sen. Elena Parent, an Atlanta Democrat.

  • Senate Minority Leader Harold Jones, an Augusta Democrat, told reporters Thursday that in over a decade as a lawmaker, he had “never seen the Georgia state Senate actually decline to actually debate a bill.”

  • “Instead of addressing that issue today — (a) clear issue that Georgians want — what this majority did, what the Republicans did today, was say, we’re not going to address it. We’re going to actually hide from it and run, and that is amazing that this actually took place today,” Jones said.

  • The Georgia Senate Judiciary Committee on Feb. 19 unanimously advanced a pared down version of Senate Bill 443, which would increase the criminal charges and penalties for obstructing a roadway.

  • The bill also would make anyone convicted of roadway obstruction civilly liable for property damage. But Judiciary Committee member Sen. Elena Parent (D-Atlanta) told Atlanta Civic Circle after the vote that it would be difficult to win any actual damages in a lawsuit against a group of roadway obstructors.

  • “What could cause such high damages that would make it worth it to sue every person involved in the protest that had gotten ticketed?” asked Parent, a lawyer. “I don’t like that part at all. I think that it would be extremely difficult to actually utilize it.”

  • A bill that would restore regular cost-of-living adjustments for Georgia state retirees has unanimously passed out of the Senate Retirement Committee.

  • Senate Bill 339, led by Sen. Nan Orrock, would reinstate cost-of-living adjustments every six months for members of the Georgia Employees’ Retirement System.


  • Orrock said retirees have seen the buying power of their monthly pensions shrink year after year, forcing many to forgo medicine and choose which bills to pay.

  • “Senate Bill 339 rights that wrong and allows them to focus on enjoying their retirement, rather than juggling their pills and bills,” Orrock said. “Passing this legislation tells our retirees that help is on the way.”

  • Georgia officials on both sides of the aisle are proposing legislation aimed at holding insurance companies accountable when they fall short of the long-held promise of mental health parity, which is the idea that insurance coverage for mental health should be on par with coverage for physical health.

  • [State Senator Nabilah Parkes] said that insurance companies can currently raise rates without much state approval, and her plan includes a requirement that the commissioner approve rate increase filings before they take effect.

  • “If Republicans were serious about regulating insurance companies, they would focus on making sure Georgia has prior approval, just like other states do. What is the insurance commissioner doing, if not regulating rates?” Parkes said.

  • Parkes also called for an end to “ZIP code discrimination,” alleging that insurers penalize working class and minority neighborhoods based on location rather than actual risk.

  • After recent demonstrations against ICE led to disciplinary action against students in Georgia, state lawmakers are considering legislation that would give high school students more rights to protest and engage in political activity.

  • State Senator Rashaun Kemp says his legislation would give students an excused absence for political activity.

  • “Regardless of what your ideology is, students should be encouraged to participate in civic engagement,” Kemp said. “No matter what you believe in, you should want that from our students in high schools today.”

  • Hundreds of students across the metro Atlanta area walked out of their classrooms last month to protest federal immigration enforcement policies.

  • Democratic Senator RaShaun Kemp and Democratic House Rep. Bryce Berry are sponsoring bills that would allow students to participate in demonstrations or attend government meetings, school board meetings, or events during the school day without penalty.

  • "Civic engagement should never be treated like a disciplinary problem," Sen. Kemp told reporters. "The great thing about this legislation is it allows for districts to create policies around this, but with the underlying expectation that you are going to allow students to have at least two excused absences to be able to engage in civic participation."

  • A majority of the Georgia Senate has signed on to a new bill to outlaw booting in Georgia parking lots. 

  • "I hear stories constantly about people who get booted in their own apartment complexes, people who just accidentally type the wrong digit in their license plate or their tire is touching the line," McLaurin said Monday. "Or maybe they didn't do anything at all. The booter just throws the boot on and says 'I just want my seventy-five bucks' and you can't leave until you pay it."

  • McLaurin's bill would outlaw the immobilization of a car. It would not outlaw another method used in other states, wherein parking companies use a windshield cover called a barnacle that stays locked on until released by the barnacle owner. Unlike boots, barnacle devices can be released remotely, McLaurin said. 

  • "Whether or not there are new technologies to immobilize cars for another day. I think today Georgia just needs to ban the boot," McLaurin said.

  • Both drivers are among many Georgians who hoped a recent State Senate bill would end what they call predatory booting. Democratic State Senator Josh McLaurin, the bill's sponsor, says the practice is a form of extortion. "Georgia needs to ban the boot. You're trapped when it happens."

  • Despite gaining bipartisan support, the bill was abruptly killed in a procedural move. It was sent to a committee that, due to the chairman's resignation, couldn't hold hearings or move bills forward. 

  • "That committee is essentially dead," McLaurin explained. Efforts to get comment from the Lt. Governor's office about the bill's demise went unanswered.

  • McLaurin isn't giving up. He plans to reintroduce the legislation later this session, hopeful that relief is still possible for Georgia drivers. 

  • He also points out an inconsistency: "Towing companies in Georgia are regulated and can't just wait in a lot for you to mess up. Booting, on the other hand, is barely regulated at all."

Georgia Senate Democrats are available for comment.

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