6 days ago · ATLANTA - Calvin Smyre made history as the longest-serving member of the Georgia House of Representatives, and now his likeness will grace the state Capitol for years to come. Lawmakers unveiled his official portrait Tuesday, the seventh of a Black person to be...

5 days ago · ATLANTA – Georgia Chief Justice Michael Boggs used his annual State of the Judiciary address to members of the General Assembly Tuesday to plug two bills raising the salaries of superior court and statewide judges. “An independent judiciary must be able to attract and retain qualified jurists,” Boggs told a joint session of the Georgia House and Senate. House Bill 85 and House Bill 86 ...

3 days ago · ATLANTA – Gov. Brian Kemp unveiled comprehensive tort reform legislation Thursday aimed at reining in huge jury verdicts Republicans say are making it hard for Georgia citizens and businesses to afford insurance premiums. “Georgians should have every opportunity to pursue their constitutionally guaranteed day in court, and if were wronged, they should be made whole,” Kemp said during a ...

5 days ago · ATLANTA – The Georgia Supreme Court Tuesday dismissed a lawsuit challenging the creation of the city of Mableton inside the borders of Cobb County. In a unanimous ruling, the justices rejected the plaintiffs’ argument that the 2022 state law creating Mableton and providing a charter for the new city violated the “Single Subject Rule” in …

5 days ago · Georgia student scores mostly unchanged in national test by Ty Tagami | Jan 29, 2025 | Capitol Beat News Service ATLANTA – Scores on a biennial federal test for Georgia fourth and eighth graders show that students on the whole are not progressing enough to regain academic losses sustained during the pandemic. “Overall, student achievement has not returned to pre-pandemic performance ...

Jan 13, 2025 · ATLANTA – The General Assembly gaveled into session Monday with the usual pageantry and little of the heavy lifting that will be required to make it through the 40-day session. House lawmakers voted 153-21 to reelect Speaker Jon Burns, R-Newington, to preside over the chamber during the next two years. “I like doing that!” Burns said as he brought the gavel down to open the 2025 ...

Jan 24, 2025 · ATLANTA – The signs are clear as Georgia lawmakers prepare to resume the 2025 General Assembly session on Monday after a weeklong recess: Gov. Brian Kemp is making tort reform a high priority. Even before the session began two weeks ago, Kemp issued a call for tort reform in a speech to newly ...

Jan 7, 2025 · ATLANTA – The celebration of the life of former President Jimmy Carter moved from Atlanta to the nation’s capitol Tuesday, with a day full of pageantry capped by a memorial service inside the Capitol Rotunda. The nation’s top political leaders praised the many accomplishments of Georgia’s ...

About Capitol Beat News Service Capitol Beat is a nonprofit news service operated by the Georgia Press Educational Foundation that provides coverage of state government to newspapers throughout Georgia. The mission of Capitol Beat is to provide thorough, unbiased coverage of state government news consumers can trust to the more than 125 daily and weekly newspapers that are members of the ...

Nov 5, 2024 · ATLANTA – Georgia voters were poised to overwhelmingly approve two tax-relief measures on the statewide ballot Tuesday night, while a third tax-related proposal held a smaller lead. With 122 of the state’s 159 counties reporting, a constitutional amendment offering property tax relief had racked up 63% of the total, according to unofficial results. A second proposal on the statewide ballot ...