How did Athens’ state representatives vote?
Legend
Row color
• Red rows indicate a bill sponsored by Republicans only.
• Purple rows indicate a bill with sponsors from both parties.
(If you’re wondering why there aren’t any blue rows, it’s because without Republican support, bills have no chance of passing in this state.)
Vote color
• Votes (yes or no) colored red indicate that most people who voted that way were Republicans, with few or no Democrats voting with them.
• Votes colored blue indicate that most people who voted that way were Democrats, with few or no Republicans voting with them.
• Votes colored purple indicate that many members from both parties voted that way.
Nerd’s Take
Thumbs up means APN supports the bill.
Thumbs down means APN opposes the bill.
Athens’ legislative delegation
State House District 120 – Houston Gaines (R)
State House District 121 – Marcus Wiedower (R)
State House District 122 – Spencer Frye (D)
State House District 124 – Trey Rhodes (R)
State Senate District 46 – Bill Cowsert (R)
State Senate District 47 – Frank Ginn (R)
A closer look: 2025 legislation in Georgia
Ban Transgender Girls in Sports (SB 1)
This session, the state legislature made numerous attacks on Georgia’s LGTBQ community, mostly targeted at trans people. For example, SB 30 would have further banned gender affirming care for minors and SB 39 would have stopped state employees from getting state insurance coverage for these procedures as well. These bills failed to advance, but SB 185, which bans prisoners from getting gender affirming care, did pass and is awaiting the governor’s signature.
SB 1 also passed both houses and is waiting on the governor’s desk. Called the “Riley Gaines Act,” this bill would ban those who are “capable of producing sperm” from participating in women’s sports in Georgia. The bill also encourages parents to file lawsuits against their school system if trans kids are allowed to use bathrooms appropriate to their gender.
The Human Rights Campaign, a national LGBTQ advocacy group, spoke out against these bills, calling them Georgia’s “Slate of Hate.”
“Political attacks on transgender youth generally, and trans student athletes specifically, are fueled by discrimination, not facts. Blanket bans on transgender youth participation make life harder for all kids, emboldening people to question the gender of kids who don’t fit a narrow view of how they’re supposed to dress or look,” wrote Laurel Powell, the Human Rights Campaign’s director of communications. “Not only is this bill discriminatory and unconstitutional, but it also deprives transgender youth of their right to access education because when you can’t use the school restroom safely, you can’t learn.”
Athens’ Senators Bill Cowsert and Frank Ginn were co-sponsors of this legislation.
SB 1 was signed into law.
Sue “Sanctuary City” Officials (SB 21)
SB 21 would have allowed “local government employees and officials in so-called “sanctuary cities” to be held civilly liable for crimes committed by immigrants without permanent legal status,” as explained by the Georgia Recorder.
This bill would have been another brick in the wall encouraging sheriff’s departments around the state to act outside of their authority on matters of federal immigration policy. Even though sanctuary cities are already illegal under state law, if SB 21 had passed, we might have seen more lawsuits filed against officials like Mayor Kelly Girtz and Sheriff John Q Williams for crimes like the murder of Laken Riley.
SB 21 passed the Senate but not the House.
Religious Freedom Restoration Act (SB 36)
Should bakeries be required to bake cakes for gay weddings? These are the sorts of questions that inspired the return of the “Religious Freedom Restoration Act” to the Georgia legislature this year.
SB 36 prevents state or local governments from “substantially burden[ing] a person’s exercise of religion” unless it furthers a “compelling governmental interest” while being “the least restrictive means” of furthering that interest.
The Georgia ACLU opposed the bill, saying that it was “framed as an expansion and protection of religious rights, but in reality, it could be used to deny rights to gay people and many others. Supporters will likely use it as a reason to pass anti-LGBTQ+ laws, further restrict reproductive rights, allow business owners to discriminate at their own discretion and control educational materials in schools.”
SB 36 was signed into law.
Pay Minimum Wage to those with Disabilities (SB 55)
Dubbed the “Dignity and Pay Act,” SB 55 removes the exception in state law that has allowed businesses to pay those with physical or mental disabilities less than the federal minimum wage of $7.25.
SB 55 was signed into law.
Prosecute Librarians (SB 74)
SB 74 would have made librarians vulnerable to aggravated misdemeanor charges if they allowed children to check out certain “harmful” books. However, the bill provided a defense for librarians who made a good faith attempt to remove these materials ahead of time, essentially by self-censoring. The bill is part of an effort by homophobes and bigots to ban books portraying LGBTQ+ characters across the country.
This bill was opposed by the Georgia ACLU.
SB 74 passed the Senate but not the House.
FY 2026 Budget (HB 68)
The budget proposed by Governor Brian Kemp and passed by the state legislature this year slightly lowers the state’s income tax, provides money for Hurricane Helene disaster relief and spends more on prisons and education, including mental health resources.
The Georgia Budget and Policy Institute has a full breakdown of the FY 2026 state budget here.
Firearm Safe Storage Act (HB 79)
HB 79 was one of many gun safety measures considered in the state legislature this year. Typically, these bills are written by Democrats like Representative Michelle Au and fail to gain any traction whatsoever. HB 79, by contrast, was sponsored by a group of Republicans. It focuses on giving tax breaks to gun owners who either take an instructional course on gun safety or purchase a secure gun locker for their firearms.
Even this very mild approach to gun safety failed to make it to the finish line this year. It passed the House overwhelmingly but did not get a vote in the Senate (beyond a motion to engross).
HB 79 passed the House but not the Senate.
School Safety (HB 268)
This bill will tighten security at schools across the state in the wake of the deadly shooting at Apalachee High School last year. But it doesn’t do so by controlling guns, which firearm enthusiasts claim would violate their constitutional rights. Instead, it violates the privacy rights of students by creating a statewide database of student behavior, shared with law enforcement, that would attempt to determine which students pose a threat to school safety ahead of a shooting.
The bill also calls for each school to set up a behavioral threat management team that’s intended to intervene when students threaten violence.
Athens’ Representative Houston Gaines and Senator Bill Cowsert were co-sponsors of this legislation.
HB 268 was signed into law.
Cell Phone Ban in Schools (HB 340)
HB 340, the “Distraction-Free Education Act,” bans most cell phone use in schools by students. It forces school districts across the state to adopt policies that severely restrict the use of mobile devices in schools by January 1 and then actually implement the ban by July 1, 2026.
The bill does not require a complete ban. It has several exceptions, such as for school-issued devices intended for learning and for students with certain medical or disability needs.
HB 340 was signed into law.
Omnibus Voting bill (HB 397)
The state legislature seems to draft one of these voting reform bills every year, at least since the presidential election of 2020 didn’t go Republicans’ way. This particular bill would have prohibited local elections officials from accepting mail-in ballots after the early voting period ends and would have removed the State Elections Board from supervision by the Secretary of State.
Republicans argued the bill was about election integrity, implying that the integrity of Georgia elections is in doubt. Democrats argued that the bill was about creating barriers to voting and about increasing the power of the State Elections Board.
HB 397 passed the House and the Senate but was sent to committee for further refinement.
Protect In-Vitro Fertilization (HB 428)
In the controversy over abortion rights in Georgia and nationwide, proponents of reproductive freedom have often implied that in-vitro fertilization (IVF), a fertility treatment, may be next on the Republican chopping block. While that may be the case in some states, it’s not true in Georgia.
HB 428 will protect the right to this particular fertility treatment across the state. Notably, HB 428 was passed nearly unanimously. Only one Republican, Senator Colton Moore, opposed it.
HB 428 was signed into law.
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