2021 Session in Review

The 2021 convening of the Georgia General Assembly came to a close this past Wednesday, March 31.. This was my third session as the Majority Leader, and in many ways, the most unique session I have been a part of. Accommodating an once-in-a-lifetime pandemic and weighing the needs of the state proved to be challenging, but my colleagues and I came together to create legislation that positively impacts the lives of all Georgians. Here are some notable pieces of legislation we took action on this session:

Election Integrity Act of 2021

I’ll be writing a longer piece soon on this topic, but election reform was at the forefront of our efforts this year. A few changes we made include: the addition of early in-person voting days (including mandated weekend days), we are now requiring ID for voter registration and ballot submission for mail-in ballots, we are adding penalties for line warming and voter solicitation while waiting in line to vote, ballots must now be posted on secure voting paper, and our state will now be required to enroll in a national voter registration system. These are some of the more notable changes we made, but I will explain more in a future posting.

Income Tax Reduction – Tax Relief Act of 2021

We have continued to be good stewards of our state revenues. In addition to adding over $150 million to our reserve fund, we are increasing the standard deduction for Georgia tax filings. In the case of a single taxpayer or a head of household, we are increasing the deduction from $4,600 to $5,400. In the case of a married taxpayer filing a separate return, we are increasing the deduction from $3,000 to $3,550. In the case of a married couple filing a joint return, we are increasing the deduction from $6,000 to $7,100. This new deduction amount will generate an estimated $140 million savings for Georgians each year.

Adoption Reform

Adoption is something I care deeply about. The General Assembly joins me and has placed an incredible amount of value on giving children the opportunity to succeed, regardless of circumstance. We are increasing the adoption tax credit amount from $2,000 to $6,000.  Our hope is to increase our rates of adoption and show appreciation to the families and individuals who have already championed the success of children. 

However, we did not want our commitment to children to stop at tax incentives, so we continued our efforts by providing foster care and adoption higher education benefits. We are including a waiver of tuition and fees for qualifying foster and adopted students, providing these students plus homeless students with in-state tuition at institutions of the University System of Georgia (USG) and the Technical College System of Georgia (TCSG), and provide eligible students with post-secondary tuition waivers and eligibility for waivers of tuition, fees, and testing costs to obtain a GED from TCSG.

Community Protection

We’ve pushed several efforts to improve the safety and security of our communities. In these measures include recourse and protections for people who have suffered from human trafficking. Now, victims can change portions of their identity for personal protection and sue perpetrators in civil courts, so additional damages can be pursued. We have changed portions of our Citizen’s Arrest laws. We still allow security officers, private investigators, and off-duty officers to detain someone they believe has committed a crime and also allow law enforcement officers to make arrests outside their jurisdictions. These changes will eliminate the abuse of citizens’ arrest statutes with the hopes of eliminating another atrocities, like the instance of Ahmaud Arbery in South Georgia, from ever happening in this state again.

Freight and Logistics Expansion

I have long been a proponent and believer in the expansion of freight and logistics. Our capacity to create and move goods effectively is a primary driver of economic expansion in Georgia. We hope to aide in our development by creating the Georgia Commission on E-Commerce and Freight Infrastructure, expand eligible expenditures for the Georgia Freight Railroad Program, encouraging Public Private Partnerships (PPP) for transportation projects, and dedicate funds for freight and logistics projects. 

Georgia will now create a comprehensive, strategic business plan to develop state-wide freight and logistics infrastructure in order for this state to remain economically competitive in the freight and logistics industry. This will require the Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) to enhance mobility and safety, promote economic development, and increase the quality of life and general welfare of the public when making funding decisions. GDOT will also revise the procedure for interviewing and ranking respondents to requests for proposals to participate in public private partnerships.

These highlights are just a scratch of the efforts made in this legislative cycle. I hope to continue improving the lives of Georgians. If you have any questions, comments, or concerns, reach out to my office at (404) 656-7872 or email me at mike.dugan@senate.ga.gov.

Mike Dugan currently serves as the State Senator for Senate District 30, including Carroll, Paulding and Douglas counties. He is the Majority Leader of the State Senate and is a member of the Administrative Affairs, Appropriations, Assignments, Ethics, Government Oversight, Redistricting, Rules, and Transportation committees.