Gov. Kemp's State Of The State Address, $2K Raise For Teachers

ATLANTA, GA — During Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp’s second State of the State address he shared his 2020 agenda which includes a $2,000 raise for teachers and tripling the adoption tax credit.

“By investing in education we can build strong houses where everyone learns and all Georginas have a place to thrive,” Kemp said in his speech. “As a father of three, I know a healthy home is a happy one, and the same is true in our state.”

The adoption tax credit proposal will call for the credit to triple from $2,000 to $6,000 to “offset the cost of adoption" for families.

Kemp also discussed the HeartBeat Bill, which he introduced last year. Thursday he said he wanted to take the next step in protecting the unborn.

“Georgia is a state that values life,” he said. “As a pro-life governor I believe we need to protect the unborn and the born,” he said.

The governor also proposed new tougher anti-gang legislation and human trafficking legislation.

First Lady Marty Kemp spearheaded The Georgians for Refuge, Action, Compassion, and Education Commission, or GRACE Commission last year. It was created to combat the threat of human trafficking in the State of Georgia. The GRACE Commission is comprised of public officials, law enforcement, for-profit and non-profit organizations, faith-based institutions, and subject matter experts to tackle human trafficking, seek justice for victims, and hold bad actors accountable.

Georgia is a sex trafficking hub, Kemp said with traffickers “trading human life like a commodity.” He credited his wife for working diligently to help end the “modern day slavery.”

Kemp called on members of the House and Senate to advance legislation to better help survivors and victims.

“We will not stop working,” he said.

He also praised U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson for his service to the state over the decades. Isakson announced he was resigning at the end of 2019 due to his Parkinson's Disease. He was diagnosed in 2013. He spent more than 40 years in the real estate industry, and is the only Georgian ever elected to the state House, state Senate, U.S. House and U.S. Senate. In 2016 he became the first Georgia Republican ever to be elected to a third term in the U.S. Senate.

Kemp said he would create the "Johnny Isakson Professorship for Parkinson’s Research," proposal to create a grant to bring a researcher to the University of Georgia to work on ways to delay or prevent the disease from taking its course. He said 20,000 people live with it today.

“Parkinson’s disease has no cure; I want to change that,” he said. “We will move one step closer to a cure.”

Kemp concluded that there’s still work to be done.

“We are doing a great work here in Georgia,” he said, [but] “we have a construction project that deserves our attention.”

“Let’s build a state that invests in education, lowers health care costs, shakes up the status quo. Let’s build a state that’s safe and where gangs and traffickers want to leave and families want to stay.”

“It’s 2020 folks. It’s a time of building. We are doing a great work and can’t stop chopping.”

Kemp was inaugurated as Georgia's new governor on Monday, Jan. 14, 2019. He made his first public appearance of 2019 Jan. 2 when he appeared at a human trafficking event in Midtown.

The Democratic response to his address will be held at 12:15 p.m. on the south wing steps of the capitol building.