Republicans should watch Lt. Governor Burt Jones
- Update: March 31, 2024: Despite my “heads up” warnings to various key Republican House members (including two written explanations to House Regulated Industries committee Chairman Alan Powell) SB 354 from Sen. Larry Walker passed the House on March 26 with a minor change. Only two Republicans voted “no” – congrats and many thanks to Rep Kimberly New and Rep Sharon Cooper for resisting the pressure from the Georgia Chamber of Commerce. Sen. Walker’s bill then breezed through the Senate again with an “agree” vote on the last day of the 2024 session. Note: That happened despite my early AM “…you have a second chance to stop a bad bill…” text exchange with Lt. Gov. Burt Jones before the legislative day began. All vote records here.
- Update: January 30, 2024: SB 354 passed in the Georgia Senate the morning of January 29, while we were calling and emailing to stop it. Number of Republican members who voted against it: zero.
Georgia should “…move to universal recognition (reciprocity) of out-of-state licenses.” That is the recommendation of the Senate Study Committee on Occupational Licensing chaired by Senator Larry Walker (R- Perry) after finishing several months of hearing pleas from special interest lobbyists for a reduction in the time it takes to process new occupational licenses. The recommendation says “where reasonable.”
Walker’s study committee was created by the Walker-sponsored Senate Resolution 85 which passed in the Senate Chamber last session with only a single “no” vote. Interestingly, that vote against passage of the resolution came from Sen. Blake Tillery (R- Vidalia) who was also one of the many Republican cosponsors of the measure.
Walker’s resolution described Georgia’s current occupational licensing requirements as “onerous” and “burdensome.” Including this one, Capitol insiders who have watched the growing power of the partnership between the business lobby and the refugee, illegal alien industry see the obvious input from Darlene Lynch (she/her), her fellow leftist associates at the “BIG Partnership” and the Georgia Chamber of Commerce in Walker’s effort.
- Related reading: The Georgia Chamber and DEI.
Readers can see the recommendation in the committee’s final report (item 9). We warned Senate legislators about exactly this after the Walker/Lynch resolution dropped last March.
Backed by the dollar-first business lobby, the aforementioned Lynch has pushed for allowing foreigners to be certified law enforcement officers in Georgia and for dismantling the state’s system of verifying “lawful presence” of applicants for occupational and professional licenses for years under the Gold Dome.
- Darlene Lynch – related reading from 2021: Study Committee on Innovative Ways to Maximize Global Talent (including foreign cops) excludes pro-American worker voices
Senate Bill 354 dismantles existing law on verification of lawful presence for covered workers
Walker is also the sponsor of SB 354 which passed out of the Senate Regulated Industries and Utilities committee on January 24th – a super-speedy two-days after first reading in the Senate chamber. Walker and his cosponsors are moving ahead with changing state law so that various workers related to cosmetology and barbers would no longer go through the occupational licensing process – which means they would no longer go through the verification of lawful presence procedure in OCGA 50-36-1. This bill should be viewed as a test case from Walker and the special interest lobby before moving on to electricians and carpenter trades etc.
Not many Georgians are going to notice a rushed-up, quiet change in state law that only applies to entry level workers who shampoo hair. But many of the millions of illegal aliens being waved through at our southern border will get wind of this new attitude and policy before the end of the 2024 legislative session. It’s a perfect example of “if you build it, they will come.”
One has only to imagine the condition of a “New Georgia” of only a few years in the future if we allow Democrats in California, New York and Illinois to decide who can go to work in Georgia.
- Related reading from James Magazine Online: Illegal immigration & Jones’ Red Tape Roll Back Initiative
Lt. Governor Burt Jones and the “MAGA” crowd
Republicans watching to see which GOP candidates for the 2026 gubernatorial race are on the pro-enforcement side of the contest between Joe Biden and the constitution on the invasion at the southern border should keep an eye on Lt. Governor Burt Jones. Will he allow Walker & Co.’s SB 354 and anti-enforcement bills like it to see final passage in the Senate? Update, March 31, 2024: The answer is “yes.”
No matter who Jones supports in the presidential race, dismantling the verification of lawful presence system for any workers in Georgia would be a memorable campaign detail for primary opposition two years from now.
Nobody paying attention at the Capitol doesn’t understand that Gov. Kemp would run, not walk, to sign a bill like Walker’s occupational license reciprocity legislation.
#SB354, #BurtJones, #DarleneLynch, #LarryWalker
