I will admit – the Star Wars prequel movies aren’t always great. But, there is a scene that sticks out to me where Palpatine declares himself to be Emperor and Senator Padme Amidala remarks “so this is how democracy dies – with thunderous applause.”

I was reminded of that scene yesterday when I sat in the Georgia House Chamber and leftist representatives – one of whom had essentially declared in her speech prior that the state owns your children – erupted in thunderous applause as they were aided by 16 Republicans to kill SB 233, education freedom legislation, with a few votes to spare.

These left-wing radicals were jubilant – high-fiving one another and going off in a side room to dance.

They realize what the 16 Republicans who joined them, hopefully, do not – education freedom is the single greatest threat to their agenda and the single greatest weapon conservatives have to keeping and growing our majorities. If we fail to deliver on this issue, children suffer and remain indoctrinated. If we fail to deliver on this issue, the woke radicals eventually take power.

While SB 233 was defeated 85-89 last night, it procedurally remains alive for next year, and we will be back ready to get this done.

Frontline is committed to passing this strong legislation for education freedom next year, and we need your help – please consider donating TODAY to help us reach our $1785 end-of-month, end-of-quarter goal!

This was an enraging defeat, and we will be working in the offseason to build the support needed to pass this bill. I will note that, among the 16 Republicans who voted no, some are good friends and allies on essentially every other issue. While some of the 16 are essentially still Democrats masquerading as Republicans, others are conservatives who need to be won over on this issue.

Now onto the good news…

Once again, we were able to defeat major pushes from powerful people for gambling expansion. While I would love to say it is always brilliant strategy that is allowing us to keep this expansion at bay, God has used – for several years – personality and political conflicts to defeat sports betting. Praise be to the Lord!

I also do want to recognize our good friend Mike Griffin with GA Baptist Mission Board for his tireless work on this issue. We are privileged to count him as a “foxhole brother.”

More good news on the session…

I always try to be honest with our constituents – this session was not as strong as last year’s and it was actually, in many ways, the most frustrating I’ve experienced because of missed opportunities.

However, here are just some good victories we were proud to endorse and work on this year:

▪ Senate Bill 1 by Sen. Greg Dolezal bans vaccine passports
▪ Senate Bill 3 by Sen. John Albers reduces the number of state jobs requiring college degrees
▪ Senate Bill 44 by Sen. Bo Hatchett increases penalties for gang related crimes
▪ Senate Bill 92 by Sen. Randy Robertson creates a Prosecutorial Oversight Commission to hold District Attorneys that ignore the law accountable
▪ Senate Bill 93 by Sen. Jason Anavitarte bans Tik Tok and foreign adversary owned social media from government and school devices
▪ Senate Bills 131, 134, 135, and 216 by Senators Black Tillery, Bill Cowsert, Kay Kirkpatrick, and Matt Brass all provide needed foster care reform
▪ Senate Bill 204 by Sen. Greg Dolezal provides accreditation organization accountability
▪ Senate Bill 222 by Sen. Max Burns bans outside money, aka “Zuckerbucks” from flooding into local governments to influence elections
▪ House Bill 129 by Rep. Soo Hong provides extra support to pregnant women
▪ House Bill 162 by Rep. Lauren McDonald provides for an income tax refund
▪ House Bill 188 by Rep. Steven Sainz helps target dangerous sexual predators and keep them off the streets
▪ House Bill 189 by Rep. Steven Meeks allows for increased truck weights – helping businesses and industry in our state.

We also were the leading force behind ensuring Georgia took action against “gender reassignment” for minors this session. While SB 140 was not what we hoped for, we were instrumental in overcoming the desires of certain senators to keep it as weak as its original form.

Looking ahead…

We have many more big battles to fight next year. As a result, we are gearing up for our biggest legislative agenda yet AND our boldest approach to primary and general elections.

These efforts will require greater resources.

Please consider a generous donation of $25, $200, or $400 TODAY to help us engage at the ballot box and for big, bold policy!

More thoughts, analysis, and plans to come…

For His Glory,

Cole Muzio
President,
Frontline Policy

cole@frontlinepolicy.com