December 21, 2024

Happy Holidays

As we celebrate the season, I am grateful for your friendship and support. The 2025 General Assembly Session convenes on January 13th, where I will take my oath to represent House District 84. I look forward to working with new and former constituents and sharing my legislative work with you in the new year.

WINTER SOLSTICE

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Longest night,

shortest light.

And yet the dearest freshness

Deep down things

This is a glass squatty tower

On the perimeter

That catches the light just so

After longest night,

Shortest light

Photo and poem by Martha Sterne

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SEASON'S GREETINGS!

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HAPPY HOLIDAYS AND THE 2025 SESSION

I wish you all a wonderful holiday celebration! Please enjoy and appreciate the love of family and friends and all the beauty of the season. I am very grateful for all your friendship and support and look forward to sharing my legislative work with you in the new year!

The 2025 General Assembly Session convenes on January 13th. On that day, I will take my oath to represent House District 84 of DeKalb County, a 70% new district for me that travels in a narrow southeasterly path from Druid Hills to outside the perimeter to include the City of Stonecrest. I look forward to working with my new constituents. For my former constituents of House District 82, I welcome your continued questions and advice and I hope you will continue to read my newsletter and answer my poll questions. Thank you all for your interest in Georgia politics and your help to improve my service for you!

The official ceremonies that begin the 2025 Session will all be livestreamed, as will every day of the 40 days until Sine Die. You may watch everything at https://www.legis.ga.gov/. Beginning the week of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, January 21st, budget hearings of the House and Senate Appropriations Committee will be conducted and also will be livestreamed. We anticipate that the Governor Kemp-proposed budget will use significant sums from the 16 billion dollar reserve funds for storm recovery needs, based on estimates of 6 billion dollars of damage to the farmers and cleanup costs for south Georgia cities and counties. We will also know by January 13th if Rivian will receive its 6.6 billion dollar federal loan for completion of the Rivian plant just north of I-20, east of Atlanta. Before we convene on January 13th, I will share with you the new legislative proposals I will be filing for consideration in the House. As always, I will ask for your advice—thank you!‍

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LAST POLLING QUESTION: SPEED CAMERAS IN SCHOOL ZONES

Would you eliminate the right of local jurisdictions to use speed cameras to detect speeders? (520 votes)

Yes - 27% (140 votes)

No - 73% (380 votes)

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OUT AND ABOUT

Yesterday was my last political event of the year—Georgia Council on Recovery. Thank you for all you do! Recovery works—- safe travels on your trips home and holiday events.

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Magnificent holiday music throughout December! I thoroughly enjoyed the annual Glenn Lessons and Carols and the Atlanta Master Chorale! This year I attended the second annual Decatur High School Holiday Spectrum Concert, complete with chorus, orchestra and woodwind & brass ensembles! Spectacular. And I loved hearing the Atlanta Gay Men's Chorus - in their 44th year! Bravo and thanks to all of these fine musicians and others who made these concerts possible.

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On Thursday the 19th, I had lunch with the DeKalb School Board, while Henry enjoyed a nap in the sunshine.

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Facts—-good and bad:

—The state’s contribution for cost of transportation has dropped from 12.5% to 8.5% of actual costs since 2008.

—Every one of DeKalb’s 139 schools has a school safety officer, and guns brought to school have reduced significantly in last 2 years— 24 down to 4 per year.

—The state poverty rate for children ages 5 to 7 is 17.9%, and DeKalb’s rate is higher at 19%.

—30 schools are benefitting from the new mental health APEX funds.

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Thanks to Decaturish for attending and covering our Legislative Town Hall on December 4th at Winnona Park Elementary!

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I am grateful for my health and my community of friends. I am also incredibly grateful to all those who work to make Georgia a better place. See you in 2025!

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UPCOMING DATES

Monday, January 13th - 2025 Session begins!

QUICK LINKS FOR YOU

I am on the following legislative committees. You can watch live every time they meet. Click on the links below for livestreams, agendas, archives and more.

Committees:

Subcommittees:

Appropriations - Human Resources
Governmental Affairs - State and Local Government
Judicial - Leverett (two)

You can search for and track bills, watch the House (or Senate) in Session, watch committee hearings, monitor legislation by committee, and find contact information —- all on the revamped General Assembly website. Here are quick links:

General Assembly website: https://www.legis.ga.gov/
House Session meetings and many committee hearings are available to watch online: https://www.legis.ga.gov/house
Archived videos of meetings and hearings: https://www.legis.ga.gov/house/media-services

Make your views known and tell me what issues interest you the most.

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