This weekend Governor Brian Kemp appeared to heed the great public outcry from the grassroots against S.B. 23, as it was amended in the final days of the recent legislative session.
Although we have sometimes pointed out missteps from Governor Kemp’s administration, we have also publicly expressed our appreciation when he has taken bold and right stands — as when he signed the “Constitutional Carry” legislation and when he early re-opened the state in the midst of the COVID lockdowns. This is yet another example where we want to give credit where credit is due.
Many grassroots activists such as Hank Sullivan have pointed out the problems with S.B. 23, which was amended late into the legislative session to include some of the bad provisions from H.B. 520 relating to data collection on citizens. The amendment was so bad that State Senator Greg Dolezal (R-Forsyth), who was the second sponsor of the original version of the bill, voted against his own bill. In fact, in a sign of solidarity, all of the members of the Georgia Freedom Caucus in the previous legislative session opposed the amended S.B. 23.
We wish to thank and commend Governor Kemp for vetoing this awful legislation. Thanks also to all of those who called and messaged the Governor’s office, urging him to make this veto!
