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Revised bill to require disclosure of third-party financing in civil suits heads to Georgia Senate

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3 days ago

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georgiarecorder.com – Maya Homan – 2025-03-27 16:12:00

by Maya Homan, Georgia Recorder
March 27, 2025

A sequel to Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp’s push to overhaul Georgia’s civil litigation system has passed the House in a 98-69 vote, bringing the governor’s top legislative priority closer to fruition.

Unlike its far-reaching counterpart, Senate Bill 69 focuses solely on promoting greater transparency into third-party groups that finance civil suits, which supporters argue could give both judges and juries a clearer sense of what forces might be influencing a case before deciding whether to award damages.

The bill was amended in the House Subcommittee of Rules on Lawsuit Reform to include a new section allowing the Department of Banking and Finance to deny litigation financing registrations and outlining an appeals process for organizations that have been denied. It also clarifies prior language defining foreign adversaries and requires additional disclosures for any stakeholders who own 10% or more of a company financing litigation.

Because of the additional provisions added on the House side, SB 69 will need to return to the Senate for another vote to reconcile changes before it can advance to the governor’s desk, but is not expected to encounter any additional hurdles. The bill has enjoyed more bipartisan support than Senate Bill 68, passing unanimously during its first vote in the Senate. 

The use of third-party lawsuit funding is a multibillion dollar industry, according to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. It works by allowing hedge funds and other investment groups to finance lawsuits in exchange for a portion of anticipated damages awarded to the plaintiffs. Supporters of the practice, which is sometimes referred to as champerty, argue that it can expand access for plaintiffs, who may be struggling financially in the wake of an accident that leaves them unable to work or results in hefty medical bills. 

However, critics say that it allows private equity groups to exert influence over trials, which could prolong costly litigation expenses, and may give foreign actors access to sensitive information they would not otherwise be able to obtain. Georgia law doesn’t currently require plaintiffs to disclose the use of outside funding. 

“Currently there are no provisions whatsoever that outline regulations on litigation financing,” said House Majority Caucus Whip James Burchett, a Waycross Republican who sponsored the bill in the House. “What this bill seeks to do is put some guard rails and regulation on the industry.”

Efforts to require greater transparency for third-party lawsuit financing have become increasingly popular in state legislatures across the country in recent years, with Indiana, Louisiana and West Virginia all passing new restrictions against the practice in 2024. Georgia lawmakers also said the legislation will help safeguard business innovation to support growth in the state’s economy.

“We have to be thinking of different ways to get more innovation into our economy and our industries,” said Rep. Todd Jones, a South Forsyth Republican who chairs the House Technology and Infrastructure Innovation Committee. “One of the ways that we protect innovation is to ensure that bad actors don’t capture trade secrets, patents and other intellectual property through bad actors and the litigation process.”

As with the first part of Kemp’s tort overhaul legislation, the majority of House Democrats opposed the bill, though Rep. Michelle Au of Johns Creek, Rep. Tangie Herring of Macon and Rep. Brian Prince of Augusta crossed party lines to vote in favor of the legislation. Rep. Charlice Byrd of Woodstock was the sole Republican “no” vote.

Minority Caucus Chair Tanya Miller, an Atlanta Democrat who served on the House Subcommittee of Rules on Lawsuit Reform where the bill was heard, condemned SB 69’s passage, calling Kemp’s push to overhaul Georgia’s civil courts a “manufactured crisis.”

“Like so many Republican-backed bills, it attempts to solve a problem that simply doesn’t exist,” she said of SB 69. “In committee, not a single case in Georgia was identified to justify this legislation. That’s because the need for this bill was never grounded in facts—it’s part of a broader propaganda playbook designed to protect big business and the insurance industry at the expense of everyday Georgians.”

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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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Georgia road project forcing homeowners out | FOX 5 News

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March 29, 2025

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www.youtube.com – FOX 5 Atlanta – 2025-03-29 18:00:09

SUMMARY: Residents of Villa Rica, Georgia, are fighting a proposed road project that could force them from their homes. The Mirror Lake Connector project aims to extend the road through properties, connecting Douglas County to downtown, but many homeowners have lived there for decades and do not want to move. Despite ongoing protests and concerns about transparency, the city continues to push the project forward, citing regional growth. Some residents feel the city has not communicated effectively, and they plan to keep advocating against the displacement, with one individual expressing frustration over their veteran father’s uncertain future.

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A group of residents in Villa Rica could be forced to move as a proposed road project that would go right through their properties is allowed to proceed. It’s a fight that has been going on for years.

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Gold Dome nuggets: No raises for powers that be, Senator Treasurer, Dem disarray

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1 day ago

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March 29, 2025

By

georgiarecorder.com – Ross Williams, Stanley Dunlap – 2025-03-29 11:11:00

by Ross Williams and Stanley Dunlap, Georgia Recorder
March 29, 2025

This story was updated at 5 p.m. on Saturday, March 29, 2025. 

Back by popular demand, it’s nuggets, tasty little tidbits of news from the Gold Dome. 

Lawmakers are getting ready for the last day of the 2025 legislative session on Friday, but they still drop some nuggets everywhere they go.

This week: Democratic discontent comes to the dome, a ride-or-die always Trumper gets rewarded with a new gig and some funny money, and state leaders try to decide whether to add more real money into their yearly salaries. 

Pay bump flop

House lawmakers quickly swatted down a last-minute Senate plan to give the governor and other statewide officials pay raises. 

The Senate had added the salary bumps Thursday to a bill adjusting the pay of judges at higher levels in Georgia. Under the plan, Gov. Brian Kemp would have been tied with New York Gov. Kathy Hochul for the highest earning governor in the country. 

Rep. Rob Leverett. Ross Williams/Georgia Recorder

“You may have seen a little something about the amendment in the news over the last 24 hours,” the bill’s original sponsor, Elberton Republican Rep. Rob Leverett, said to his colleagues Friday. 

“I think that is a discussion we as a body need to have at some point, but we shouldn’t have it as an amendment to a bill in the last two or three days of session,” Leverett said. “I believe it needs to be thought through a little more and it needs a little more study.”

Some senators also tried to increase lawmaker pay in another judicial pay bill focused on superior court judges.

Critics argued that the legislative pay amendment would sabotage a bill intended to create uniform statewide pay for Georgia Superior Court judges. The proposed pay raise amendment to House Bill 85 would have increased the salaries of lawmakers from $24,341 to about $55,000.

Sen. Randal Mangham, a Stone Mountain Democrat, argued it would put Georgia lawmakers in line with the national average of $44,320 in 2024, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

He referenced the limited funding he receives for his staff. 

“$7,000 for an entire year with my budget for expenses to run the people’s business. It’s a $40 billion enterprise,” Mangham said, referring to the state budget.

Sen. John Kennedy, a Macon Republican, urged senators prior to voting to consider how passing the amendment would come across to the taxpayers.

“Colleagues, are you willing to look at your constituents in the eye and tell them you need more of their tax dollars in your pocket and out of their pocket?” Kennedy said.

The debate ended with the legislative pay amendments failing 33 to 18 before the superior court legislation passed with nearly unanimous support.

Dems in disarray

In the wake of a bitter loss to President Donald Trump, Democrats across the country are trying to figure out where it all went wrong. 

A recent Politico analysis of a Quinnipiac poll found that for the first time in the poll’s history, a majority of Democrats view members of their party in Congress unfavorably. Just 40 percent of Democrats polled said the party is doing a good job, compared to 49 percent who said the opposite. 

A March NBC News poll found 65% of self-identified Democrats want the party to fight Trump rather than seek compromise, even if that leads to gridlock in Washington. Around this time in Trump’s first term, only 33% of Democrats felt that way, the pollster found.

That discontent could be springing forth at the state level as well. 

The Forsyth County Democrats released a statement castigating Democrats in Congress and the state Legislature for “voting like Republicans.”

“With democracy itself at stake – and with the public’s frustration with figures like Donald Trump and Elon Musk high – we cannot afford to hand political or legislative victories to Republicans or to validate their agenda while our constituents and values hang in the balance,” the statement reads. “Likewise, here in Georgia, amid widespread discontent with Governor Brian Kemp’s hard-right legislative push, it is imperative that Democrats stand together rather than bolster Kemp’s initiatives that harm the public interest.”

The statement lists three pieces of legislation where some Democrats broke rank – Senate Bill 68, Kemp’s priority lawsuit overhaul bill, supported by three Democrats; Senate Bill 144, liability protections for fertilizer and pesticide manufacturers with the support of nine Democrats and House Bill 267, which bans transgender girls from playing on girls’ school sports teams and got votes from three Dems. 

The local parties in Fulton and Gwinnett counties have also issued statements co-signing the message from Forsyth County.

Trump U.S. Treasurer Legislature’s newly popular kid

Sen. Brandon Beach, who was recently tapped as U.S. Treasurer, signs play money in the Georgia Capitol. Stanley Dunlap/Georgia Recorder

Republican Sen. Brandon Beach’s selection as President Donald Trump’s choice to become the next U.S. Treasurer has boosted his popularity.

Beach signed fake currency featuring the face of Senate Majority Leader Steve Gooch reading “In Goochie We Trust” that was passed around the Capitol last week. The 63-year-old Beach’s signature as U.S. treasurer could soon be emblazoned on the front of real legal tender in the future.   

The senator’s role in state government will end shortly after the Legislature gavels out on April 4 for the final day of the 2025 session.

Beach will act as a liaison between the Treasury Department and the Federal Reserve, as well as oversee the U.S. Mint and Fort Knox. The president is boosting a conspiracy theory these days that some of the gold is missing from Fort Knox and says he plans to go to Kentucky to see for himself if the country’s treasure is still secured. 

Inside the Senate chamber Wednesday, fellow Trump loyalist GOP Lt. Gov. Burt Jones celebrated Beach’s new job opportunity. 

Jones recalled that not long ago they were part of a small cadre of hardline Trump supporters in the Senate who were persona non grata, even among fellow Republicans.

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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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Budget cuts: Senior Citizens Inc. and other non-profits worry for the future

Published

2 days ago

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March 28, 2025

By

www.wsav.com – Sarah Smith – 2025-03-28 18:32:00

SUMMARY: Federal budget cuts may impact non-profits providing meals to seniors in Savannah, as a proposal aims to dismantle the Administration for Community Living, which supports older adults and the disabled. Mayor Van Johnson urges lawmakers to reject the proposal and calls for community support for organizations like Senior Citizens Inc. (SCI). SCI’s Meals on Wheels program is vital for many seniors, offering daily meals. Representative Buddy Carter stated that changes at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services aim to improve efficiency but emphasized ongoing uncertainty. SCI is on track to deliver its seven millionth meal this year.

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The post Budget cuts: Senior Citizens Inc. and other non-profits worry for the future appeared first on www.wsav.com

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