GEORGIA LEGISLATIVE SESSION CONCLUDES AS ONE OF THE BEST

By MIKE GRIFFIN, Geor­gia Bap­tist Mis­sion Board, April 5, 2022

This year we were mon­i­tor­ing at least 27 bills cov­er­ing 18 leg­isla­tive sub­jects. Out of those 18 sub­jects, we were sup­port­ing 13 of those areas of leg­is­la­tion. I think with all that has been going on in the past two years that this is BIG news!

Here are some of the top bills that were passed and sup­port­ed by Geor­gia Baptists:

MATERNITY SUPPORTIVE HOUSING

This bill SB 116, known as “Betsy’s Law,” was authored by Sen. Randy Robert­son. Build­ing a cul­ture of life means pro­tect­ing life in the womb while pro­mot­ing a soci­ety that empow­ers preg­nant moms in cri­sis to con­fi­dent­ly choose life for their unborn chil­dren as well as com­bat­ing the high mater­nal mor­tal­i­ty rate in our state. Betsy’s Law accom­plish­es that end by cut­ting through the cum­ber­some red tape and gov­ern­ment reg­u­la­tions to allow non-prof­it orga­ni­za­tions (includ­ing church­es) to offer mater­ni­ty sup­port­ive hous­ing to preg­nant and new moth­ers over the age of 18. This leg­is­la­tion would pro­vide free mater­ni­ty sup­port­ive hous­ing for up to six preg­nant moms and up to 18 months post­par­tum. This would help on our focus of Pre/Post Natal Care with Mis­sion Geor­gia. It’s impor­tant that the church must step up to this chal­lenge as we see the pos­si­bil­i­ty of Roe vs Wade overturned!

APPEALS PROCESS FOR SCHOOL LIBRARY OBSCENITY

SB 226, authored by Sen. Jason Anav­i­tarte, ensures that our chil­dren are pro­tect­ed from sex­u­al­ly explic­it mate­r­i­al. Geor­gia Bap­tists sup­port leg­is­la­tion that allows a prop­er appeal process when par­ents see mate­r­i­al that is obscene. We must have laws that pro­vide more trans­paren­cy for and pow­er to par­ents while at the same time rid­ding our schools of obscene mate­ri­als. This leg­is­la­tion ensures that par­ents’ com­plaints about obscene mate­ri­als can no longer be hid by admin­is­tra­tors or school offi­cials. It shines the spot­light of trans­paren­cy on the pub­lic school sys­tem. It is very impor­tant that we do all we can in pro­tect­ing stu­dents from the sex­u­al­iza­tion of ear­ly expo­sure to obscene mate­ri­als. The last thing we need is our school sys­tem par­tic­i­pat­ing in the groom­ing process of immoral­i­ty, sex­u­al preda­tors, and human trafficking!

PARENTS BILL OF RIGHTS

SB 449 was one of two pieces of leg­is­la­tion that rein­forced the rights of par­ents to inquire about activ­i­ties in our pub­lic schools. Rep. Josh Bonner’s bill was passed dur­ing the leg­isla­tive ses­sion. This bill cod­i­fies parental rights when it comes to their child’s edu­ca­tion. The bill starts out with a very basic prin­ci­ple that all Chris­tians would find in line with Scrip­ture: “The Gen­er­al Assem­bly finds that it is a fun­da­men­tal right of par­ents to direct the upbring­ing and edu­ca­tion of their minor chil­dren. The Gen­er­al Assem­bly fur­ther finds that impor­tant infor­ma­tion relat­ing to a minor child should not be with­held, either inad­ver­tent­ly or pur­pose­ful­ly, from his or her par­ent, includ­ing infor­ma­tion relat­ing to the minor child’s edu­ca­tion …” One of the basics of this law includes the right of par­ents or guardians to have access to instruc­tion­al mate­r­i­al. The bill affirms a par­en­t’s abil­i­ty to request infor­ma­tion from a prin­ci­pal or super­in­ten­dent and requires that they pro­vide the request­ed infor­ma­tion with­in three work­ing days. All Geor­gia Bap­tists can all be hap­py that this leg­is­la­tion passed the Geor­gia Gen­er­al Assem­bly! 

BAN ON TEACHING DIVISIVE CONCEPTS

HB 1084 by Rep. Will Wade was one of two bills that was intro­duced to the leg­is­la­ture to ban the teach­ing on such things as Crit­i­cal Race The­o­ry in pub­lic schools. Geor­gia Bap­tists agree that it is impor­tant that our chil­dren know that they are all “image bear­ers,” and they should not be made to feel ashamed of who they are and be dis­trust­ful of their neigh­bor. Chil­dren do not need to feel as though they are inher­ent­ly oppressed or inher­ent­ly oppres­sors based on their race. This bill in no way dis­cour­ages the teach­ing of his­tor­i­cal facts and the truth relat­ed prob­lems to our his­to­ry that were wrong and relat­ed to racism and hatred. But no child should ever be taught that the col­or of their skin defines them. Chil­dren should not be lim­it­ed to their race or made to feel guilty for the actions of oth­ers. We can­not allow indoc­tri­na­tion that divides our coun­try, pro­duces more racial strife, and teach­es an anti-Amer­i­can world­view to our children.