{"id":255,"date":"2022-03-30T08:30:53","date_gmt":"2022-03-30T12:30:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/georgia\/press-releases\/senate-committee-strips-anti-voter-provisions-from-elections-omnibus-bill\/"},"modified":"2022-03-30T08:30:53","modified_gmt":"2022-03-30T12:30:53","slug":"senate-committee-strips-anti-voter-provisions-from-elections-omnibus-bill","status":"publish","type":"press","link":"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/georgia\/press\/senate-committee-strips-anti-voter-provisions-from-elections-omnibus-bill\/","title":{"rendered":"Senate committee strips anti-voter provisions from \u2018elections omnibus\u2019 bill"},"template":"","class_list":["post-255","press","type-press","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","press_type-press-release"],"acf":{"details":{"summary":"The pending 2023 state budget still includes $579,936 for \u201cfour fulltime positions and operating expenses to investigate elections complaints\u201d within the Georgia Bureau of Elections.","featured_image":6619,"press_type":145,"authors":["{\"site_id\":\"1\",\"post_type\":\"person\",\"post_id\":7815}"],"related_issues":[106,109,400,402],"related_work":false,"location":13},"sidebar":{"helper_enable_sidebar":false,"helper_media_contact":{"heading":"Media Contact","manually_enter_person":false,"person":null,"name":"","role":"","phone":"","email":""},"helper_links_downloads":{"heading":"Links & Downloads","links":null}},"page_layout":[{"acf_fc_layout":"layout_wysiwyg","_acfe_flexible_toggle":null,"component_wysiwyg":{"content":"<h3 style=\"text-align: center\"><b>Pending state budget still includes $580k for \u2018Election Police\u2019<\/b><\/h3>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400\">During its meeting yesterday evening, the Senate Ethics Committee replaced the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.legis.ga.gov\/legislation\/62422\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">\u201celections omnibus\u201d bill<\/a> with a new, much shorter substitute version that only includes the provisions related to employees\u2019 leave to vote.<\/span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The new version strips out previous language creating a version of the \u201cElection Police\u201d recently <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/225egw40g2k99t0ud3pbf2ct-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/sb524-coalition-veto-letter.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">approved by Florida\u2019s Legislature<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400\">However, the pending 2023 state budget still includes $579,936 for \u201cfour fulltime positions and operating expenses to investigate elections complaints\u201d within the Georgia Bureau of Elections. (Line 2711 of the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.legis.ga.gov\/api\/document\/docs\/default-source\/house-budget-and-research-office-document-library\/2023_fiscal_year\/fy2023_bill_house_hb_911.pdf?sfvrsn=be286609_2\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">pending state budget<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">.) This special unit to investigate elections complaints was first proposed by Governor Brian Kemp, at a slightly lower amount. (pdf page 248 <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/opb.georgia.gov\/afy-2022-and-fy-2023-governors-budget-report-0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">of the Governor\u2019s Budget<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">)<\/span>\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<h3 style=\"text-align: center\"><b><i>Statement of Common Cause Georgia Executive Director Aunna Dennis<\/i><\/b><\/h3>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400\">We applaud the members of the Senate Ethics Committee for listening to the many elections officials and others who spoke up against the previous version of this bill.<\/span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400\">As we keep saying, Georgia does not need to follow Florida down the path of creating an expensive \u2018Election Police\u2019 force. Again, look at the example of Texas, where taxpayers spent <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/weareoversight\/status\/1471865075837378571\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">more than $2 million<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> on an investigative unit that worked for a full year and closed just three cases. And Florida is one-upping Texas \u2013 Sunshine State taxpayers will be spending<\/span> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2022\/03\/09\/politics\/florida-bill-election-police-force\/index.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">$3.7 million a year<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> on their \u2018Election Police.\u2019<\/span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Georgia taxpayers do not need to have our money spent on a Peach State version of this. Our tax money should be better spent fully funding our elections offices. Or improving our economy and creating better jobs. Or improving our public schools. Instead, our Governor and state legislators want to spend $580,000 trying to satisfy partisan extremists who refuse to believe the 2020 presidential election results \u2013 even after the ballots were counted three times!<\/span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Again, we applaud the Senate Ethics Committee for removing the \u2018Election Police\u2019 provisions from HB 1464.<\/span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Now, we call on the members of the Budget Conference Committee to remove the spending from the state budget.<\/span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400\">And we urge the full Senate \u2013 and the House \u2013 to accept the Ethics Committee\u2019s changes to the bill.<\/span>\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Read \u201cSenate Committee Holds Public Hearing on Georgia\u2019s \u2018Election Police\u2019 Bill\u201d <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/georgia\/press-release\/senate-committee-holds-public-hearing-on-georgias-election-police-bill\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">here<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">.<\/span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Read \u201c\u2018D\u00e9j\u00e0 vu all over again\u2019 as the Georgia Senate considers another \u2018elections omnibus\u2019\u201d <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/georgia\/press-release\/deja-vu-all-over-again-as-the-georgia-senate-considers-another-elections-omnibus\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">here<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">.<\/span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Read \u201cCrossover Day Dust Settles \u2013 \u2018Voters are not being well-served\u2019\u201d <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/georgia\/press-release\/crossover-day-dust-settles-voters-are-not-being-well-served\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">here<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">.<\/span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Read \u201cGeorgia House to Consider Another Bill Changing Elections Procedures\u201d <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/georgia\/press-release\/georgia-house-to-consider-another-bill-changing-elections-procedures\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">here<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">.<\/span>"}}]},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.6 (Yoast SEO v27.1.1) - 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