State Officials Discuss 2023 Legislative Session

Representatives Scott Hilton and Ruwa Romman address changes made by Georgia General Assembly.

bill that is attempting to close the literacy gap.

“Right now, based on some estimates, as little as 40% of Georgia students don’t know how to read, or at least don’t know how to read well,” said Romman.

Hilton said he was happy to see that state legislators set priorities to pass a balanced budget that returns $3 billion back to taxpayers in the form of property tax relief. He also mentioned the income tax refunds that will soon be coming — $350 for single filers and $500 for couples.

He also mentioned the $2,000 pay raise for teachers. “The state of Georgia now has one of the highest pay rates for teachers in the southeast — and that’s a big deal. Education is having a hard time finding good quality teachers right now. And so, again, we’re putting our money where our mouth is,” said Hilton.

With just 40 days to wrap up its 2023 legislative session, the Georgia General Assembly got a lot of work done this year. To keep local constituents abreast of what passed — and just as importantly what didn’t — two area legislators, Rep. Scott Hilton, House District 48 and Rep. Ruwa Romman, House District 97, met with members of

By Arlinda Smith Broady

the Peachtree Corners Business Association and Southwest Gwinnett Chamber of Commerce recently.

A banker by profession, Hilton said it’s kind of ironic that he’s on a committee for creative arts and entertainment. But he also sits on committees for education, healthcare, market oversight and urban affairs.

With a master’s degree in public policy, Romman said she has been able to “merge that business and policy understanding really well.” She’s on committees for energy utility and telecommunications, interstate affairs and information audits.

Photos by Bruce Johnson

Both pointed out significant pieces of legislation that they were involved in.

Some successes

“There is a lot of good legislation that I love, but sometimes they have bad unintended consequences,” said Romman. “One of those was House Bill 73, which was meant to be a consumer protection bill related to solar panels.”

She said that the way the bill would have been implemented would have created a completely different office than already exists.

“We’re working on revising it now for next session,” she said. “We want to make sure that, because this whole industry is so new, we don’t accidentally hinder it as an industry.”

Both Hilton and Romman were proud of House Bill 538, a literacy

And some disappointments

One letdown for Hilton was Senate Bill 233.

“It basically said: if you’re in a failing school — in the bottom 25%, failing on every metric of reading, math, etc. — that the parent can take their student out and qualify for an education savings account,” he said. “So you get to keep the state portion of what your schools are funded by your local state taxes state and a little bit of federal.”

That means parents could pull their kids from the school, send them wherever they want and get an education savings account for $6,500.

Even though private schools in the area tend to run well above $6,500 for a year’s tuition, Hilton rationalized that it would take a significant bite out of the cost. Rom- man, however, wasn’t in favor of the bill and was glad that it didn’t pass.

“The reason that some of us opposed this bill is because there was absolutely no mechanism to ensure that the $6,500 is being used on educational purposes. And the average that we spend per child is much less than $6,500,” said Romman. “And last but not least, those in my district would not actually qualify for this in any way, shape or form because none of our schools qualify for it.”

One bill that didn’t pass was kind of perplexing to Hilton. Of the 50 states, Georgia is the only one that doesn’t outlaw game cockfighting. He thought it would be a no-brainer to introduce legislation to ban this bloody sport, but it didn’t go anywhere.

“It made me realize we live in a very big state,” said Hilton. “It’s a really violent kind of disgusting activity. So that’s a bill that I’m going to go back to and work on.”

More work to do

Even though the session is over for the year, state officials are still at work.

“Our duties don’t stop. We’re still working constituent services; we’re still attending events like this one. We’ve literally had meetings with people who want to talk policy,” said Hilton.

The 40 legislative days go by quickly and there isn’t a lot of time to meet with people who have concerns and want to see laws enacted to address them.

“I know I drive my colleagues crazy, but I really do care about the specifics of the bill,” Hilton said. “It’s not about perfectionism; my spectrum is from perfect to very harmful. If a bill is neutral, or at least does some good, I don’t care that it’s not

■ School systems will be required to teach high-quality instructional materials approved by the State Board of Education in grades kindergarten through third grade.

■ The Department of Education must develop and provide training to kindergarten through third-grade teachers on the science of reading, so teachers have the skills and knowledge to teach young students to read. Students across the state will take a universal reading screener assessment to monitor their progress in grants to make our schools safer, providing $50,000 per school to enhance safety at each facility in the state.

HB 19 — FY 24 Budget

■ $13 billion in state K-12 funding, fully funding the state’s commitments.

■ $2,000 pay raise for teachers, bringing average teacher salaries to $61,000, the highest in the southeast.

HB 162 — Income tax credit

■ Returns taxpayer funds to Georgians by providing a one-time income tax refund equal to the lesser of either the taxpayer’s 2021 income tax liability or $250 for a taxpayer filing as single, $375 for a taxpayer filing as head of household or $500 for a married couple jointly filing a return.

HB 528 — Georgia Online Automatic Renewal Transparency Act

■ Protects Georgians online by requiring that companies have a clear and conspicuous method of cancellation online if the company also allows consumers to accept an automatic renewal or continuous service online.

Passed bills

These are bills that passed that were authored by Rep. Scott Hilton and signed by Gov. Brian Kemp.

HB 402 — Edna Mae McGovern Act

Named after Edna Mae McGovern, a young girl who tragically drowned in a family swimming pool. Requires each public school to provide parents, or students over 18, with information on water safety education.

HB 219 good enough. But if a bill starts to go into that spectrum of harmful or potentially bad or redundant or wasteful spending, I tend to say ‘No, we should really reconsider this bill.’”

Rep. Scott Hilton addressed the PCBA by himself and highlighted several bills that stood out:

HB 538 — Georgia Early Literacy Act

■ ‘Georgia Early Literacy Act’ to implement the science of reading in Georgia.

foundational literacy skills.

■ The Department of Early Care and Learning must require teachers in all programs licensed or commissioned by the department to receive training on developmentally appropriate evidence-based literacy instruction by July 1, 2025.

HB 18 — Amended FY 23 Budget

■ $1 billion in property tax relief grants for Georgia taxpayers with an estimated $500 of relief for every homeowner.

■ $138.8 million in school security

Changes the venue for prosecuting financial crimes to where the victim resides (Georgia) rather than where the criminal is located.

HB 453

Eliminates burdensome red tape and excess fees on our Ambulance and EMS providers in Georgia, saving them resources to deliver life-saving treatment to Georgians. ■