Georgia House committee shortens domestic terrorism bill

The Georgia House may soon consider a much shorter version of a Senate bill that set out to redefine domestic terrorism and set up a new body to work on strategies to fight such crimes.

The bill was important enough to state Senate Republican leadership that they gave it a symbolic number: Senate Bill 1.

But it went from 33 pages to eight before House Judiciary Non-Civil Committee approval on Wednesday.

In the new version, the definition of “domestic terrorism” is several paragraphs long, but broadly means serious violent or destructive felony crime that’s meant to intimidate the population or change public policy.

The latest version drops a reference to crime intended to advance an “ideology.”

The House committee version also cuts a new Georgia Department of Homeland Security led by a Board of Homeland Security to set up counterterrorism strategy.

The sponsor, Senate Majority Leader Bill Cowsert, R-Athens, said there was criticism that the bill somehow expands government. But he said that Georgia already has a homeland security commissioner and an agency working on the issue, the Georgia Emergency Management Agency.

“In my original bill, the intent was more for our state to have a plan, and to be sort of … nipping it in the bud,” Cowsert said.

He called the trimmed-down bill a response plan, rather than a preparation.

“This is what are we going to do after the Super Bowl has been blown up, how badly are we going to punish somebody, how are we going to prosecute them? That’s nice, but I don’t really think the criminal penalty end of these things deters these types of actions much,” Cowsert said.

He said he still wants to create that new department.

But throughout hearings, critics have focused on another part of the bill: they worry that unruly protest, like a spontaneous march without a permit, might get roped into the definition of domestic terrorism. Or that leaders of protests might end up in trouble if serious wrongdoers hijack a legal gathering.

Christopher Bruce, of the American Civil Liberties Union of Georgia, said he recognized how much work has gone into the bill and what the committee is trying to do to protect Georgians, but he still has concerns.

“We do not want this bill to be used against people who have absolutely nothing to do with terrorism,” Bruce said. He also said that under this law, people might think twice about exercising freedom of speech.

If the bill gets full House approval, the House and Senate would then need to come to some compromise to send a bill to Gov. Nathan Deal for his review.

This story was originally published March 22, 2017 at 6:17 PM with the headline "Georgia House committee shortens domestic terrorism bill."