Kemp’s Deadline Day brings budget cuts and election shake-ups

What happened on Deadline Day? A lot.

Gov. Brian Kemp signed and vetoed a flood of bills Tuesday, the last day he could take action on legislation the Republican-controlled General Assembly sent to his desk this year. The fallout includes the state budget, metro Atlanta ballots and the campaign trail.

Budget bloodbath. We warned you that lawmakers were bracing for a “financial massacre.” And that’s what happened as Kemp killed about $300 million in new spending from the budget to help close a $1.3 billion deficit from a last-minute income tax cut.

On the cutting room floor: money for homeless veterans, K-12 student transportation, airport infrastructure, school safety grants, outdoor recreation projects and other legislative priorities.

That’s not all. Kemp also cited the fiscal squeeze in vetoing measures that would have expanded a timber tax credit, extended tax breaks for museums and fine arts performances, boosted incentives for historic properties, created a Georgia Music Office and steered more money into a state fund that preserves parks, trails and wildlife.

Local races. Kemp signed a sweeping elections measure that could reshape local politics across metro Atlanta and make it harder for Democrats to hold onto power in the state’s most populous region.

It makes many local races in five Democratic-heavy metro Atlanta counties nonpartisan beginning in 2028, a move Republicans say will depoliticize local offices but Democrats say is aimed at making it harder for them to retain power.

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis and DeKalb County District Attorney Sherry Boston are preparing lawsuits they say will challenge the law’s constitutionality and disproportionate impact on Black elected leaders in Georgia’s most liberal and populous region.

“Sadly, thanks to the irresponsible actions of the Republican majorities in the Legislature and Gov. Kemp, taxpayers will be the ones footing the bill to defend it in court,” they said in a joint statement.

Secret claims. The newly signed “Epstein amendment” will make public any settlement involving unlawful workplace conduct claims against members of the Georgia General Assembly, including allegations of sexual harassment, discrimination, discriminatory harassment or retaliation.

The provision could quickly become a campaign issue, particularly in races involving sitting lawmakers. It was already a point of contention in the GOP race for lieutenant governor, where state Sen. Blake Tillery pressed his rivals to pledge they would comply with the disclosure requirement even before Kemp signed it. They each did.

We’ve already filed our open records request. New information, if there is any, should be available soon — just in time for Election Day.

Things to know

Credit: Greg Bluestein

Credit: Greg Bluestein

Good morning! Here are three things to know for today:

Insult to injury

Credit: Ben Hendren

Credit: Ben Hendren

A few hours before Colton Moore resigned his state Senate seat to run for Congress, his former colleagues gave him a parting gift of sorts by voting to send his first and only bill to the governor’s desk.

Moore would lose the special election to replace Marjorie Taylor Greene in Congress, and the seat is now occupied by U.S. Rep. Clay Fuller. Now, Moore has lost his bill, too. Kemp vetoed it Tuesday, one of 12 measures the governor blocked from becoming law.

The bill was a response to a city ordinance in Savannah that makes it illegal for people to leave unsecured guns in their vehicles. Kemp said he supports the idea of the bill. But he vetoed it because he said it would open up police officers to lawsuits.

“Such penalties should be targeted towards the leaders who enact such ordinances, not the officers who are tasked with enforcing them,” Kemp wrote in his veto message.

It’s also possible Kemp was settling a score. While Moore is a Republican, he has famously clashed with Kemp and nearly every other Republican leader in Georgia.

Likely story

Credit: Hyosub Shin/AJC

Credit: Hyosub Shin/AJC

Kemp was lonely when he signed the state budget on Tuesday.

The governor held the ceremony in his office, with just his budget director and his wife by his side. He said lawmakers couldn’t join him because they were on the campaign trail ahead of next week’s primary.

But a more likely explanation is lawmakers are miffed at the governor’s budget vetoes, something Kemp alluded to during his comments to reporters. After all, lots of lawmakers stood with Kemp on Monday when he signed an income-tax cut. The campaign trail must not have been busy that day.

Abrams subpoena

Credit: AP

Credit: AP

The same committee that spent the last two years investigating Willis has now sent subpoenas to Stacey Abrams and two of her closest allies.

The AJC’s David Wickert reports that the Senate committee is now looking further into campaign finance violations by two groups founded by Abrams — New Georgia Project and the New Georgia Project Action Fund. Lauren Groh-Wargo and Nsé Ufot also received subpoenas to testify on Friday.

Abrams, who ran for governor in 2018 and 2022 and lost to Kemp both times, said in a statement that she will testify but perhaps not on the timeline that the committee wants.

“Today, the Georgia State Senate delivered a subpoena for me to testify in a partisan, performative hearing designed to intimidate and disarm voting rights advocates across Georgia and the nation,” she said in a statement. “Despite the hollow, cynical intent, I will indeed do so on a mutually agreeable date.”

Listen up

Credit: AP

Credit: AP

Today on the “Politically Georgia” podcast we dig into the race for second place in Georgia’s Democratic and Republican primaries for governor. Both contests are likely headed to a runoff.

You can listen and subscribe to “Politically Georgia” for free on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.

Have a question or comment for the show? Email us at politicallygeorgia@ajc.com or give us a call at 770-810-5297 and you could be featured on a future episode.

Data center country

Credit: Jae C. Hong

Credit: Jae C. Hong

Georgians looking for a high-profile voice to help them fight massive data centers coming to their backyards may have finally found their man in country music star John Rich.

Rich, who is one half of the country duo Big & Rich, is also close to President Donald Trump — so close that Trump appointed him this year as a “Citizen Advocate for Landowners.”

As Rich explained on social media Tuesday night, “I was tasked by President Trump to protect land owners from egregious behavior, including eminent domain.”

That brings us to data centers, since multiple Coweta County residents have reportedly been told by Georgia Power to vacate their property to make way for new transmission lines meant to serve one of several data centers proposed for the county.

The situation caught the attention of Rich, who began hammering Georgia Power and Coweta County officials Tuesday night on X. After saying he’d had a productive conversation earlier in the day with U.S. Rep. Brian Jack, who represents the area, Rich wrote last night: “I‘m calling on @GeorgiaPower to connect me with CEO Kim Greene tomorrow. I’ve just received screen shots of your ‘condemnation threat’ letters, and will be posting them on X.”

The influx of data center proposals is also at the center of multiple local races on Tuesday’s ballot in Coweta County, so stay tuned.

Today in Washington

In memoriam

Credit: Tamar Hallerman

Credit: Tamar Hallerman

Former state Rep. John White, who crafted legislation creating the Georgia Lottery and making “Georgia on My Mind” the state song, died Saturday at age 85.

Before his more than 20-year career in the General Assembly, White broke barriers as one of the first Black reporters and anchors at WALB-TV in Albany.

U.S. Rep. Sanford Bishop, D-Albany, released a statement offering condolences and recalling his time working alongside White under the Gold Dome.

“Let us honor John White by carrying forward the values he embodied — leadership, fierce care for our neighbors, and a steadfast commitment to justice and opportunity,” Bishop said.

Shoutouts

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Before you go

Credit: Nathan Posner for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Credit: Nathan Posner for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution

We’re halfway through AJC subscriber week. We’ll wrap up the festivities with a Politically Georgia Happy Hour at Manuel’s Tavern on Friday — and we’d love for you to join us. Come have a drink with Greg Bluestein, Tia Mitchell and Patricia Murphy. You can ask questions about the election and anything else politics related. You can register here.

That’ll do it for us today. As always, you can send your best scoops, gossip and insider information to greg.bluestein@ajc.com, tia.mitchell@ajc.com, patricia.murphy@ajc.com and adam.beam@ajc.com.