Hurricane relief, 3rd Macon mayor term: What’s the focus of Middle GA lawmakers this year?

As the Georgia General Assembly begins its session, Middle Georgia lawmakers are hitting the ground running with new legislation that could impact Macon, Warner Robins and beyond.

Running from Jan. 13 to April 3, the session moves fast. Lawmakers are seeking to touch on a wide range of issues, from school and gun safety following the Apalachee High School shooting, to relief for farmers following Hurricane Helene, to economic development in Georgia.

Here’s what legislators in the Macon and Middle Georgia area are focused on.

Hurricane Helene relief for farmers, timber

Months after Hurricane Helene devastated swaths of Georgia in September 2024, Georgians are still struggling to recover. Some Middle Georgia lawmakers want to offer more relief, particularly to farmers and timber growers who saw damage to crops, equipment and property.

Hurricane Helene cost Georgia’s forestry and agriculture industries more than $5 billion, according to a report by the University of Georgia’s Cooperative Extension, which focuses on agricultural research and outreach. This loss includes lost crops and timber, equipment and buildings that were damaged or destroyed and the cost of cleanup and restoration.

“It’s a generational loss,” said state Sen. Larry Walker, who represents portions of Perry and Warner Robins and is the secretary of the state Senate’s Committee on Agriculture and Consumer Affairs. “Not only did they lose their income from being able to harvest (timber and crops), they also had to clean it up.”

The committee anticipates receiving more federal money, which it plans to give out through low-interest loans to farms and timber growers. Sen. Walker said lawmakers are also looking at tax adjustments, such as suspending Georgia’s severance tax on timber and providing reforestation tax credits, to make it easier for the agriculture and forestry industries to recover.

Shoring up gun laws, school safety after Apalachee

Georgia’s Apalachee High School became the focus of national attention in September when a 14-year-old student killed four people and injured nine others in a shooting. In the Georgia General Assembly, numerous bills aim to shore up school security and tighten gun laws.

Middle Georgia lawmakers haven’t been strangers to the efforts. State Sen. David Lucas, whose district covers parts of Macon and Warner Robins, said he is supporting legislation that would require a 10-day waiting period and background check for people purchasing firearms who don’t already have a Georgia firearms license.

Walker said he is supporting legislation that would bolster panic alert systems in schools and make sure records on student behavior and health are transferred between schools when students move to a new district. The student who committed the shooting at Apalachee High School was a recent transfer to the school, according to media reports from the Associated Press.

He had threatened violence in his previous district in Jackson County — and while authorities and school officials in that county were alerted of the incident — Barrow County was not made aware when he transferred, according to media reports.

However, Walker was hesitant to support stiffer gun control restrictions, such as universal background checks or waiting periods for people purchasing firearms, and bans on assault-style weapons and ammunition.

“I don’t want to put additional burdens on law-abiding Georgia citizens that don’t really solve the problem we are talking about trying to solve,” Walker said.

Research published in JAMA Internal Medicine, a peer-reviewed journal operated by the American Medical Association, found that a higher number of firearm laws in a state correlate to lower numbers of firearm fatalities.

Economic growth plans in Middle Georgia

Middle Georgia lawmakers have also set their sights on furthering economic growth in the region.

State Rep. Anissa Jones, whose district includes parts of Macon and Warner Robins, said she hopes to bolster businesses and attract new industries by improving infrastructure and offering tax incentives.

“I would love to work on allocating funds down to our area so that we can attract more industry,” Jones said. “That we can have higher paying jobs for our constituents that live there so that they can thrive.”

Jones said she is interested in proposing or supporting legislation that would fund job training programs for Middle Georgia residents, and collaborating with local agencies such as the Macon Water Authority to prepare land and facilities for future industrial use.

Could Macon mayors run for a 3rd term?

Even though they work at the state level, many Middle Georgia lawmakers are still concerned with governing at home.

Earlier this month, the Macon-Bibb County Board of Commissioners passed a resolution asking for the state to give Macon’s mayor a third term. Currently, the mayor is limited to two terms, while county commissioners are limited to three.

To make the change, the Georgia General Assembly would have to pass legislation changing the language in Macon’s city charter.

While no formal bill for the change has been introduced, according to the Georgia General Assembly’s website, Lucas said he is supportive of the idea, and said allowing mayors to seek a third term doesn’t guarantee they will win it.

“People give you term limits,” Lucas said. “If you gave (a mayor) an opportunity to run for a third term, that doesn’t mean he’s going to be elected. People have the right to vote and make a decision about it.”

DNA tests for felony charges

A Middle Georgia lawmaker last week filed a bill that would require law enforcement agencies to swab for DNA of people arrested with felony charges before a conviction.

This is currently only required at individual agencies’ discretion, and is not a statewide mandate. Most surrounding states already mandate this practice.

District 25 State Sen. Rick Williams, a Republican from Milledgeville, said Senate Bill 29 would link suspects to unsolved cases and help investigators avoid mistaken arrests.

“This is not to invade someone’s privacy, but actually could prove them innocent,” Williams told The Telegraph.

The Republican-backed bill would also create a database of felony suspects’ DNA profiles to help investigators archive their history of charges.

“It has helped put some bad guys behind bars in other states. I think it’s just time for it to come out,” Williams said.

Ban on automatic speed cameras

After thousands of drivers in Macon-Bibb County received school speed zone citations from automatic cameras in 2024, a Macon-based legislator now plans to propose a bill that would ban these across Georgia.

Republican State Rep. Dale Washburn said it is ineffective and unfair for a camera to ticket someone for speeding, rather than an officer pulling over a driver in the moment.

“If the goal is to slow down traffic speed in school zones, then the most effective way to do that is to have a patrol car park there,” Washburn said.

Most school zone cameras in Bibb and Houston counties, and Perry enforce speed limits before and after school, and during the school day, even when the blinking yellow light signaling a school zone is off, The Telegraph previously reported.

Drivers can end up receiving the ticket days or weeks after the incident, which does not solve the issue of speeding, according to Washburn.

“It is a business, it is revenue by citation and it’s wrong to deceive people,” he said. “The end plot of this is to rake in money. It is not about school safety.”