Dear Friends,
I hope everyone is having a wonderful holiday season with their families and loved ones!
We are coming up fast on the start of the legislative session, which starts on Monday January 13th. This will be the first year of the new biennium (or two-year legislative session), when lawmakers are sworn in and a new cycle for bills begins.
I won’t sugar-coat things. With Georgia’s Republican trifecta and the extremist Republican administration preparing to enter the White House in a few weeks, this is going to be a challenging few years for Democrats in Georgia.
But the work goes on, and so do we.
Pre-Session Town Hall
Our government works best when our constituents are engaged in the lawmaking process.
(Click here to RSVP to attend in-person or virtually)
Therefore for this year’s annual pre-session town hall I’m hosting a “CAPITOL CONDITIONING” forum on Sunday, January 5, where we will walk through some Georgia General Assembly 101 training to get fit for the new legislative year.
If you’ve ever been curious about government, politics, or public policy, this is the forum you want to attend. All are welcome! (This includes students, potential future state legislative candidates, and non-HD 50 residents.)
Have you ever wanted to read the original language of a bill you’ve heard about in the news, but haven’t been sure how to find it? We’ll walk you through it.
Have you ever wondered which legislators sit on particular House or Senate committees or wanted to watch a live-stream of a hearing about a piece of legislation or issue? We’ll show you how to find it.
Do you want to look up bills and co-sponsors of bills dating all the way back to 2001? We’ll show you how.
Do you want the inside scoop during the course of a legislative session, and learn some of the jargon so you can impress your friends and colleagues? We’ve got you covered.
All that and we’ll show you my original drafts of the bills I will be filing this session, while you share the additional issues you want me to work on in 2025. So mark your calendars for Sunday, January 5 and click here to RSVP or for more info.
Let’s get fit for the new session!
Immigration Issues
Though immigration policy is not the purview of state legislatures, I expect with the incoming federal administration, conversations about immigration, the border, and its economic effects will trickle down into state policies.
American Civil Liberties Union
While conversations around immigration have become increasingly polarized, largely for political advantage, in my view immigration policy requires a nuanced approach that balances national interests and humanitarian priorities.
It is absolutely essential that the federal government commit to reforming the crisis at the border and defending our national security. This includes interrupting the flow of narcotics into our country and prohibiting the unlawful entry of criminals.
That said, a blunt and absolutist approach that seeks to deport or restrict entry to vast groups of people–indeed “closing the borders” entirely–is both economically impractical and counterproductive to further our broader goals of promoting safety and prosperity.
Pellish, Aaron. “Musk and Ramaswamy Defend Foreign Worker Visas, Sparking Maga Backlash | CNN Politics.” CNN, Cable News Network, 27 Dec. 2024
This past week an interesting internecine battle has broken out among Republicans regarding the H-1B visa program, which allows American employers to temporarily hire a set number of non-immigrant foreign workers into highly skilled or specialty occupations. And while many in the tech sector want to expand the H-1B program, which they view as a way for this country to recruit top international talent, many others in MAGA World find the entire concept of hiring foreign workers anathema.
As for Trump himself, he had historically called the H-1B visa program “very bad” and “unfair” for U.S. workers, saying “we shouldn’t have it.” Further, during his first administration he signed an executive order to suspend new H-1B visas, along with rolling back L-1 visas for intracompany transfers, H-4 visas for spouses, H-2Bs for temporary non-agricultural workers and most J-1 visas for exchange visitors.
Right photo: Michael Ciaglo/Getty Images
(For what it’s worth, in this most current Republican dust-up Trump now has decided that H-1B visas are “great,” though without providing much elaboration.)
Again, immigration policy is solely the purview of the federal government. However, as a Georgia state representative with a high density of immigrant families in my district, most from Asian countries, I am watching this issue quite closely. (Of note, the vast majority of H-1B visas–approximately 84%–are granted to Indian and Chinese nationals.)
I am also grateful to note that under the Biden/Harris administration, the Department of Homeland Security has just announced a final rule which will significantly strengthen the H-1B program, modernizing and streamlining a process which will ultimately strengthen the U.S. economy.
Department of Homeland Security
HEALTHCARE ACCESS
ATTACKING THE AFFORDABLE CARE ACT
One of Donald Trump’s top priorities his first term was to repeal the Affordable Care Act. While the ACA continues to gain popularity and the specificity of his attacks has softened, this transformative program–which now provides coverage for nearly 50 million Americans–remains in peril. In Georgia alone, 1.3 million Georgians are enrolled through the ACA.
Even if Trump is unsuccessful at completely repealing this seminal healthcare law, the incoming administration can still do incredible damage to Americans’ healthcare access. One way is to allow the Biden-era ACA subsidies to expire at the end of 2025.
iStock/YinYang
KFF provides a good explainer of how these ACA subsidies came about, and the potential catastrophic effect if they are allowed to expire:
Drew Angerer/Getty Images
“Temporary subsidies were originally passed as part of the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) in 2021, which included two years of enhanced subsidies (2021 and 2022). The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), which passed in 2022, extended these enhanced subsidies for an additional three years, ending after 2025.”
Currently more than over 700,000 Georgians have gained health insurance using these enhanced subsidies. Without Congress acting to extend them, this funding will disappear, causing net premium payments to increase by an average of 79% and more than doubling in some states. And states like Georgia, which have still refused to fully expand Medicaid under the ACA, are particularly vulnerable.
KFF.org
GEORGIA COVERAGE CONTINUES TO FALTER
Meanwhile, here in Georgia, the state with the second highest percent of patients lacking health insurance in the nation, we continue to fail our patients. Nowhere is this more evident than in our abysmal maternal and infant morbidity and mortality rates.
March of Dimes
Georgia recently earned the ignominious distinction of an F grade in the March of Dimes report card for preterm birth rate. Preterm birth, meaning a birth prior to 37 weeks gestation, vastly increases the risk of serious illness, disability, and even infant death.
What’s worse, the report found that many risk factors for preterm birth are not improving, including inadequate prenatal care and chronic health issues.
In 2022 Georgia finally expanded its postpartum Medicaid coverage up to a full year after delivery. This was tremendous progress given that, prior to 2021, Georgia Medicaid only covered postpartum moms for 60 days after the baby was born. However, the health of the patient, including prior to pregnancy, has a huge effect on how that pregnancy progresses. In fact, key risk factors for preterm births and continuing poor health outcomes for babies are the chronic health issues of the pregnant patient.
Pete Corson/AJC
March of Dimes
It is no coincidence, therefore, that the states with the highest risk of preterm birth so closely line up with the states that have still refused to expand Medicaid. Full Medicaid expansion under the ACA would avail patients of preventative and maintenance healthcare prior to getting pregnant, including access to contraception to prevent unplanned, higher risk pregnancies.
At some point, I hope this state’s leadership will be able to move past the partisan ideology that stymies our ability to do the right thing by the people of Georgia.
Meanwhile, recent reports continue to show Governor Kemp’s Pathways to Coverage program to be an expensive, inefficient boondoggle, so far enrolling only about 2.3% of the Georgians who qualify (yes, the decimal point is in the right place), and which spends the vast majority of its funding on administrative and consultant expenses rather than on direct clinical care.
TEAM AU IN ACTION
OPIOID RISK MITIGATION
It was my privilege to have been appointed by Speaker Burns to serve on this year’s House Study Committee for Alternatives to Opioids for Pain Management. Over the past several months, we heard expert testimony on the economic cost and human toll of the opioid epidemic, and discussed concrete solutions to address this issue to reduce harm. I will be excited to see some of the bipartisan legislation that may result from the final report of this committee, and look forward to bringing solutions to our communities!
As a related matter, I was grateful to the Georgia Council for Recovery for hosting an important discussion earlier this month in The People’s House to break down the stigma of Substance Use Disorder (SUD) and work together on solutions. This is one of many productive forums to advance the work of the Georgia General Assembly Working Group for Addiction and Recovery of which I am Co-Chair; a bicameral, bipartisan group of lawmakers committed to working to prioritize prevention, treatment, and support for those with SUD.
AJC OP-ED PUBLISHED
NYPD /AP
(Click here to read full article)
The murder of United HealthCare CEO Brian Thompson on December 4th captivated the nation, not just because of the shocking and brazen nature of the crime or the national manhunt that followed, but for the public reaction that ensued, and what it revealed about the simmering fury directed at the American healthcare system.
It cannot be stated enough: this type of crime is unacceptable, and the murder of a health insurance executive will not fix what is so deeply broken about American healthcare. But, as I wrote, “the public response, even in an age where social media has become increasingly vicious, has revealed something deeper about the simmering fury Americans feel in this moment, watching profits being prioritized over people and multibillionaires are leveraging their wealth into political influence at the highest levels. Overlay onto that the environment of health care, one of the most personal aspects of all of our lives, and you might start to see something like the near-mythic ethos being constructed, where an unknown assailant guns down a father of two in the middle of one of the busiest cities in the world, evades capture and is celebrated for it.”
Read my full piece in the Atlanta Journal Constitution here.
MEETING WITH MAYOR BRADBERRY AND JOHNS CREEK CITY COUNCIL
Another meeting in the books with our esteemed local officials! Always grateful to Mayor John Bradberry and Johns Creek City Council for taking the time to update me on City developments and discuss the upcoming session. Excited to see all the exciting things in store for the City of Johns Creek!
In addition, our meeting focused on some of the municipal issues that were raised during the many constituent events I’ve hosted this year, including public safety concerns, local development and traffic, and election administration. Join me at my January 5th forum to get a debrief from that meeting!
TEAM AU LEGISLATIVE FELLOWSHIP
Team Au has always made mentorship a priority, offering training and opportunity for students to become the next generation of Georgia leaders. We have now selected our fifth class of Team Au Legislative Fellows, and I look forward to having them join us for our work in the district and at the Capitol!
I’m proud that previous Team Au fellows have gone on from our office to college and graduate school, and to careers in policy working in D.C. and internationally. Even more gratifyingly, many of our former fellows end up referring new students to join our team!
And I of course love having our students come back to visit. I was thrilled to meet up with Vineet Raman and Kyle Patel, two of my legislative fellows from my first year in office, earlier this month! Kyle and Vineet are now both medical students with a strong focus on public health and policy. It’s wonderful to hear how their time with our office helped guide their choices, and I’ve certainly learned so much from our fellows as well!
Are you interested in learning more about our legislative fellowship? Email my Chief of Staff Noah Lourie here.
GOLD DOME BLOOD DRIVE
(Click here to make an appointment to donate!)
Team Au, in partnership with our friends at Life South, have traditionally hosted at least two blood drives per session at the Georgia State Capitol.
This year, our first blood drive of 2025 will be on TUESDAY, JANUARY 14. Sign up now, or just walk in between 8am and 5pm. The blood mobile will be parked on Mitchell Street, right between the Capitol Building and the Coverdell Legislative Office Building.
Record shortages at blood banks across the country continue. Every unit of blood you donate can save the lives of three patients who require critical transfusions! Please join us on January 14 to save lives!
THANK YOU, HOUSE DISTRICT 50
To the voters of House District 50, thank you again for your trust in me and your faith in my work. I am so thankful that you have re-elected me for another term, and excited to continue to work with and for all of you.
It has never been more important to pay attention to the work of state legislatures, and nowhere is it more evident than in our district, at the epicenter of the changing electoral face of Georgia. Thank you as ever for your support so that we can keep doing this most important work together.
As always, please do not hesitate to reach out to our office should you need any assistance, or if you have any concerns you’d like me to address on your behalf.
I could not do this without the support of my constituents. It is my honor to be your voice in the Georgia House of Representatives.
In service,
