WABE political reporters, Sam Gringlas and Rahul Bali, recorded a live show of their podcast “Political Breakfast” and talked about the changing landscape of Georgia politics with notable state leaders, State Rep. Rick Jasperse and State Sen. Sonya Halpern and Kennesaw State political science professor, Kerwin Scott on Feb. 16.
The hosts began their live recording by reviewing the breaking political news of the week.
Some new reports have been released by the special grand jury in Fulton County that has been investigating Donald Trump’s election fraud allegations and his allies attempting to overturn the 2020 election results in Georgia. The court documents gave a very brief glimmer of the verdict and did not release any recommendations on whether or not he or his allies will be formally charged or indicted. However, after weeks of investigating, the grand jury unanimously agreed that the allegations were false.
They examined Brian Kemp’s second term 2023 legislative plan and what seems to be in the works. He wants to focus on “kitchen table issues” such as the workforce, housing and tax refunds which he believes have been overlooked by other state leaders. Instead, new legislation has been introduced debating if teachers are allowed to talk about race in classrooms, restricting trans-students in sports and reducing gun restrictions. This has caused a lot of controversy and backlash in the chamber in the past few sessions.
The hosts also reviewed the newly introduced Senate Bill 88 in Georgia, also known as the “Don’t Say Gay” which was passed in Florida this past year. State Rep. Rick Jasperse and Sen. Sonya Halpern talked about the dynamics of controversial bills and how they go about debating what is best for their serving their communities and how they go about their occupations.
Three new housing bills have been introduced in the “Gold Dome” capitol. The first is to limit expensive housing materials, which has caused lots of controversy between the state and local counties on who gets to decide what materials are used.
Spencer Frye (D), the state representative for Georgia House District 118, just introduced legislation on corporations that diminished their ability to depreciate the homes they buy on their state taxes. Rental legislation introduced limits to the security deposit required and that it cannot exceed three times the amount of your rent. This is all a part of the plan to grow the nonexistent basic livability standards for residential rental spaces in Georgia.
Following the recap, KSU professor Kerwin Swint gave a brief history lesson on modern Georgia politics and how politically diverse the state has become in the past 40 years.
The full podcast can be found online on Spotify.
