Georgia

For Misdemeanor Poverty, Georgia Would Assign Mandatory Cash Bail – Filter

Published

2 years ago

February 29, 2024

For Misdemeanor Poverty, Georgia Would Assign Mandatory Cash Bail – Filter

February 29 is Crossover Day in the Georgia General Assembly, with lawmakers clambering over each other to advance their bills of choice before the legislative session comes to a close. Except Senator Randy Robertson (R), sponsor of the proposal to dramatically expand cash bail, which was one of the only major bills to already sail onward to the governor’s desk. Nothing brings lawmakers together quite like punishing the poor.

There are currently 14 charges for which the state of Georgia requires cash bail. Senate Bill 63 would add 30 new ones, then forbid people accused of those charges from receiving almost any assistance from charities or nonprofits, or even loved ones. If they can’t pay their assigned bail, they will languish in the death traps that are Georgia’s overcrowded jails. Most of the 30 charges are misdemeanors, and wouldn’t be punishable by incarceration if the person were actually convicted.

“I think if the individual honestly conveyed to the judge that they were basically destitute, then I think there are ways for the individual to make bond,” Robertson stated at a Committee on Public Safety hearing earlier in February, in defense of his bill to legally abolish most ways for destitute individuals to make bond.

“The criminal trespass may have been vagrancy, in order to break into an abandoned house that belonged to someone else in order to stay in it, and in cases like that most likely the charge would be dismissed,” he continued, in a tone concerningly devoid of sarcasm. “But in Georgia being broke is not a viable defense for committing a crime.”

Many groups and individual humans out there post bond for people who can’t afford it on their own, but SB 63 would cap their efforts at three recipients each per year. Defendants who can’t afford bail must deal only with approved bail bondsmen. Except defendants who are undocumented, whom even the bail bondsmen are forbidden from helping.

More than going after people for shoplifting and squatting, SB 63 is after people who have shoplifted and squatted before.

SB 63 would undo many judicial reforms enacted under former Governor Nathan Deal (R). ACLU Georgia has vowed to sue if Governor Brian Kemp (R) signs the bill into law, stating that “[no]t only is SB 63 bad policy, it is illegal. It unconstitutionally criminalizes poverty and restricts conduct protected by the First Amendment.”

The legislature obviously doesn’t expect defendants to be able to personally produce thousands of dollars at the ready, or SB 63 wouldn’t be aimed specifically at people who do not have money. Many of the 30 new bail-restricted charges describe activities people engage in entirely because they have been chronically without money. “Theft by taking, [on] the person’s second or subsequent offense”; “criminal trespass, [on] the person’s second or subsequent offense.”

More than going after people for shoplifting and squatting, SB 63 is after those “habitual violators” who have shoplifted and squatted before. It also targets those who would disrupt the accumulation of wealth by the wealthy, as Stop Cop City organizers did in 2022. But for the most part, constituents who are not one economic hiccup away from being sent to the gulag are often perfectly willing to accept the rules of tyrants, who vow to keep them safe from the people with no money or resources.

Introducing someone into the criminal-legal system rarely improves the trajectory of their life.

What options do people have, when you prosecute them for having nothing? They could run, and join the many disenfranchised souls dispersed in rural encampments across the state, but of course “fleeing or attempting to elude a police officer” is also among the 30 new bail-restricted charges. Missing a court date is another, for people who’ve missed court dates before. Jumping bail has been assigned mandatory bail all along.

The problem is obviously not that Georgia has too many dangerous criminals. The problem is that people have nowhere to live. Rather than house them, the state intends to profoundly destabilize their life and heap on new sources of debt. If that doesn’t improve their housing prospects, they don’t deserve to be free.

Introducing someone into the criminal-legal system rarely improves the trajectory of their life. A couple of days in jail, even without a conviction, is the off-ramp from the highway of “contributing to society,” as lawmakers like to say.

Still, it isn’t all bad. The thousands of us who have served decades inside Georgia Department of Corrections prisons are in fact heartened by SB 63’s breakaway success. If the prison population grows rapidly enough to compel the Georgia State Board of Pardons and Paroles to actually grant some of us parole, we would gladly give up our beds to needy newcomers.

Photograph via City of Brookhaven, Georgia

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Georgia

Ga. lawmakers propose changes to state’s early voting process

Published

10 minutes ago

February 28, 2026

Press Room

Ga. lawmakers propose changes to state’s early voting process

ATLANTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) – State legislators are considering more changes to Georgia’s voting law, proposing a new bill that would alter the way early voters cast ballots.

State Sen. Greg Dolezal, a Republican from Cumming, introduced SB 568 this week. The proposal would assign early voters to one precinct in their county. Currently, voters can cast early votes at any precinct in their county.

It would also move early voting to a hand-marked paper ballot system, where voters use a pen to mark their selections, instead of the currently used touchscreen system.

“So that we would not have to print so many permutations at the paper ballots, we would assign voters to an early voting location,” said Dolezal. “Most people are going to vote to the at the early voting location closest to their home anyway.”

The bill was immediately met with backlash from democrats as a barrier to the vote.

“I have no idea how voting on a piece of paper, marking it down with your pencil in any way suppresses the vote,” said Dolezal. “For most counties out of, you know, 140 call it out of 159, they just have one location.”

Dolezal’s proposal would also require local clerks to publicly post their entire voting rolls ahead of elections.

“Making public every single voter who is qualified to vote is to some extent, a little bit of an invasion of privacy for each individual voter,” said state Sen. Sonya Halpern (D-Atlanta). “We need to have trust in our election officials to run those elections.”

It’s the latest change the legislature has proposed to Georgia’s voting system.

“You have dirty, dirty voting rolls, you’re going to have dirty elections,” Dolezal said.

The bill would also shift responsibility for voter challenges from the counties to the State Elections Board. In addition, it would also move the threshold for an automatic recount in the state from a 1.5% margin to 2%.

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Georgia

No. 3 Georgia to Host Top-Ranked Auburn for Regular Season Finale – University of Georgia Athletics

Published

12 hours ago

February 27, 2026

Press Room

No. 3 Georgia to Host Top-Ranked Auburn for Regular Season Finale – University of Georgia Athletics

ATHENS – The third-ranked Georgia equestrian team will host No. 1 Auburn on Saturday at 12 p.m. to conclude the regular season.

Georgia fell at Auburn 14-6 to wrap up the fall slate of their season. The overall record against the Tigers currently stands at 31-31, including a 13-7 record in Bishop.

During their National Championship run in the 2024-25 season, the Mane Dawgs faced off against Auburn on three separate occasions. Georgia was victorious at home, 11-9, before falling on the road, 11-8. In the quarterfinals of the NCEA National Championships in Ocala, the Bulldogs stunned the second-ranked Tigers, 13-4, en route to their eighth National Championship title.

Georgia returns to action following a trip to Blythewood, South Carolina, to take on the third-ranked Gamecocks.

Top-ranked Auburn travels to Bishop after hosting No. 4 SMU at home the prior weekend. The Tigers defeated the Mustangs 13-7 and swept all four MOP honors.

Following the conclusion of the meet, Georgia will honor their seven seniors for their dedication and contributions to the program.

The meet will be streamed on SECN+ at https://gado.gs/e7v, and live scoring will be available at https://gado.gs/e7w.

HOW TO FOLLOW GEORGIA EQUESTRIAN: For complete information on Georgia equestrian, follow the team on its social media channels via @UGAEquestrian on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.

JOIN OUR MANE DAWGS FUND: Mane Dawgs Fund contributions make a direct impact in supporting our student-athletes and equines at the Georgia Equestrian program. A gift to the Mane Dawgs fund helps provide resources such as equipment upgrades for our student and equine athletes, travel assistance, and enhance overall team experiences. Contributions to the Mane Dawgs provide benefits such as membership gifts and information about upcoming special events. Click here for more information.

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Georgia

Georgia OC Mike Bobo gets giant pay raise, salary matches DC Glenn Schumann

Published

1 day ago

February 27, 2026

Press Room

Georgia OC Mike Bobo gets giant pay raise, salary matches DC Glenn Schumann

Georgia offensive coordinator Mike Bobo and defensive coordinator Glenn Schumann will be paid equally in 2026 after receiving raises, according to an Athens Banner-Herald report.

Coach Kirby Smart’s Bulldogs are coming off a second consecutive SEC championship season and College Football Playoff Sugar Bowl quarterfinal appearance.

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