Georgia-style DOGE bill intended to make agencies assess cost of rules clears state Senate 

by Jill Nolin, Georgia Recorder
February 24, 2025

A GOP proposal designed to ease regulatory burdens on small business is being billed as Georgia’s DOGE, a reference to the Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency.

“The Senate is leading the way to combat burdensome and costly regulations on behalf of business owners and employees across the state,” Lt. Governor Burt Jones said in a statement Monday that was sent out with the subject line “Georgia does DOGE.”  

The bill, officially called the “Red Tape Rollback Act,” is one of Jones’ priorities this session. Jones, who is seen as a likely candidate for governor in 2026, said the bill is “mirroring the great work President Trump is doing in Washington to create efficiency, reduce unnecessary spending and eliminate bureaucratic red tape across state agencies.”

The measure, which is a holdover from last year, cleared the Senate with a 33-21 vote that fell along party lines. The bill now moves to the House.

Proponents of the measure say it would hold government accountable and help the state be more responsive to Georgians. Critics say the bill creeps into the executive branch’s turf and imports the destructive spirit of DOGE – a point Sen. Josh McLaurin, a Sandy Springs Democrat, made by holding up a prop featuring the 2013-era Doge meme.

“It reflects the philosophy that government is a joke. That is what Elon Musk thinks,” McLaurin said. “He thinks his money and his wealth entitle him to run the world, and that the government that’s in place, the millions of federal workers, the laws that govern their service and put them in a position to succeed, that those laws are a joke as well.”

The bill is advancing as Georgia is beginning to feel the effects of the Trump administration’s fast-moving attempts to shrink the size of the federal government, with 1,300 employees at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention expected to lose their jobs.

McLaurin acknowledged the proposed Georgia-style DOGE uses a different strategy than the sweeping changes being undertaken by the Trump administration, like the mass firings. But he argued that both are imbued with the same distrust of government and both take “an ax to government” instead of trying to make targeted improvements.

“One person’s red tape is another person’s due process,” he said.

The Jones-backed proposal calls for agencies to size up the economic impact of their administrative rules and requires them to review their rules every four years – something the bill’s sponsor, Cumming Republican Sen. Greg Dolezal, likened to a “four-year spring cleaning.”

And it would give state lawmakers a chance to object to the rules created by state agencies. Any rule that has an estimated $1 million economic impact would have to be ratified by the General Assembly.

Some agencies, such as the Georgia Department of Corrections, are currently not covered by the proposal, but the bill could be broadened to include more state agencies, which are generally considered the purview of the executive branch. 

“It certainly does, I would say, enhance what we do here as legislators,” Dolezal said to reporters after the vote. “I think over the years, the General Assembly has largely devolved in terms of influence down to just a bill-passing authority. 

“I think our constituents expect us to do a lot more than just come down here and pass a bunch of new laws,” he added. 

But other state lawmakers argue that isn’t a good thing.

“I’m not sure about y’all but I didn’t come here to micromanage agencies. I didn’t come here to debate rules. I came here to pass laws,” said Sen. Jason Esteves, an Atlanta Democrat who argued that lawmakers should leave the rule-making to state agencies.

The governor’s spokesperson said Republican Gov. Brian Kemp, who sits atop of the executive branch, remains generally supportive of efforts to streamline the government but said the office does not comment on pending or proposed legislation.

Sen. Kim Jackson, a Stone Mountain Democrat, said she isn’t hearing complaints from constituents about overly cumbersome rules.

“Instead, they talk about phones that go unanswered, emails that are not responded, agencies not being able to provide the very things that they are called to because they are underfunded and understaffed,” Jackson said.

“Our agencies are not crippled by rules. They are crippled by our lack of funding. They are crippled by our lack of staffing,” she said.

The governor sets the spending level for each year’s budget, and state lawmakers move money around in the budget to fund their priorities. State agency heads have been making their annual pilgrimage to committee meeting rooms to discuss their budget needs. 

Georgia Recorder is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Georgia Recorder maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor John McCosh for questions: info@georgiarecorder.com.

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SUMMARY: The murder of Laken Riley, a 22-year-old nursing student killed by an illegal immigrant in Georgia, has intensified calls for tougher immigration laws both locally and nationally. House Speaker John Burns reflects on the impact of her tragic death on Georgia’s legislative efforts. Following Laken’s murder, the General Assembly passed House Bill 1105, which mandates local jails to check inmates’ immigration status and cooperate with federal officials. Governor Kemp highlighted Laken’s legacy in his statement, emphasizing that her tragic loss has spurred crucial legislation aimed at preventing similar incidents in the future, ensuring her memory endures through these reforms.

Laken Riley’s death sparked calls for immigration reform here in Georgia and nationwide. Georgia lawmakers have been on the front lines in the fight to pass tougher immigration laws.

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Georgia Dem lawmakers try to revive Equal Rights Amendment in era of ‘increased discrimination’

by Jill Nolin, Georgia Recorder
February 21, 2025

Democrats in both chambers have filed resolutions that celebrate and affirm former President Joe Biden’s pronouncement made on his way out the door that the Equal Rights Amendment is “the law of the land,” although the now-fired national archivist declined to certify it. 

“It is long past time to recognize the will of the American people,” Biden said in a statement last month announcing that he believes the ERA should be added as the 28th Amendment to the Constitution.

The 1970s-era amendment, which would guarantee men and women equal rights under the law, was ratified by the required number of state legislatures in 2020 when Virginia passed it and became the 38th state to do so. But that was well past the 1982 deadline set by Congress. 

Georgia has not passed the amendment, although there was a bipartisan push in 2019 that ultimately petered out.

Rep. Lisa Campbell, a Kennesaw Democrat, is sponsoring the resolution in the state House that would recognize the amendment as “the law of the land” and encourage Georgia to join other states in ratifying it. 

Campbell acknowledged that the amendment’s future is unclear but argued Georgia’s role in helping make equal rights official shouldn’t be.

“This work and this fight has been going on for 100 years, and in this body and in this chamber, week after week, we are hearing them talk about protecting women and girls,” Campbell said at a press conference Thursday. “The Equal Rights Amendment does exactly that. So, the conversation should be, why aren’t all of our states ratifying this amendment once and for all?”

Both chambers have prioritized measures this year that ban transgender athletes in girls’ sports and target health care access for transgender Georgians, including a proposed ban on puberty blockers for minors and ending gender-affirming care for state workers through the state health benefit plan. 

“Since we are seeing these harmful and divisive conversations on gender, we repeat the phrase we want ERA now in Georgia,” said Rep. Park Cannon, an Atlanta Democrat. “If the majority party is so concerned about binary gender expression, then they should go ahead and write this one into law as well.” 

Sen. Sally Harrell, an Atlanta Democrat who is sponsoring a resolution in the Senate, said part of their goal is to just keep the Equal Rights Amendment alive.

“Particularly in this environment where we have extreme abortion bans that can result in discrimination of women workers,” Harrell said. “And now we’ve got this politicized issue of DEI that includes women. So, we’re living through an environment of increased discrimination.”

Georgia Recorder is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Georgia Recorder maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor John McCosh for questions: info@georgiarecorder.com.

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