House Minority Leader Collaborates, Competes With the Opposition

With her first session as minority leader now under her belt, state Rep. Stacey Abrams says one of the most important pieces of legislation for her district is the new bicycling bill.

“I voted against its original version because I thought it was too over-reaching,” said Abrams, D-Atlanta. “But this final version of House Bill 101 creates a smart balance between bicycle-friendly communities and the realities of biking in an urban area.”

Among other things, the bill requires motorists to use a three-foot buffer zone when passing cyclists on the roadway.

Abrams represents several East Atlanta communities as well as portions of unincorporated DeKalb and the city of Decatur. As the state’s highest-ranking Democratic lawmaker, Abrams earned high marks for working with the Republican majority on some issues, while, in her words, “holding them accountable on others.”

“It’s always difficult to be in the minority party,” she said. “However, it’s a better time to be a Democrat than in recent memory. We compete where we can, and collaborate where we should. Our objective is to hold the majority party accountable, and we were able to do that when it came to the issue of rewriting the tax code.”

The proposal to overhaul the tax code, House Bill 388 drew fire from House Democrats. Under Abrams’ leadership, they argued the bill offered a minimal personal income tax cut for most Georgians, while increasing sales taxes on the same taxpayers for a net tax increase. Revising the tax code was one of the Republican majority’s priority items, but the GOP caucus was never able to move the bill out of committee.

Abrams also pointed to the passage of House Bill 500 on the session’s final day, which would extend Georgia’s eligibility to receive additional federal unemployment dollars. “It was important for Democrats and Republicans to work together on that bill,” Abrams said, “particularly given the unemployment rate in the southern half of my district.”

Unemployment and job creation would be harmed by House Bill 87, according to state Sen. Nan Orrock, D-Atlanta. If signed by Gov. Nathan Deal, the bill would revise the state’s immigration laws to require businesses with at least 10 employees to use a federal work-eligibility verification system.

It also would allow local and state police to check immigration status when people are detained for other legal infractions. The bill would  increase the penalty for using fake identification to get a job to 15 years in prison and up to $250,000 in fines.

“This bill is going to cost us jobs in Atlanta,” Orrock said. “The Georgia World Congress Center is in my district, and tourism and conventions are the second-largest part of our economy. When conventions cancel, hotels and restaurants are impacted, and their workforces are reduced. We’ve now joined Arizona as a target for convention cancellations and lost bookings.”