April 19, 2025
This was my 18th year working at the Georgia Capitol and my 12th year with the Georgia Baptist Mission Board on legislation dealing with social and moral issues.
I'll have to confess this was one of our most successful years at the State Capitol. This year, we were able to see a “clean” Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) passed without unfriendly amendments and signed into law by Gov. Brian Kemp.
Also, we were able to stop, once again, all state-sponsored predatory gambling. And to top it all off, we were able to get legislation passed that will protect girls’ sports from biological males participating!
As always, it is a very busy legislative session. Georgia Baptists were monitoring up to 29 bills during the first of a two-year cycle. We were dealing with subjects such as the sanctity of life, religious freedom, gambling, child protection, alcohol expansion and marijuana restrictions. See this link of top legislation: https://gabaptist.org/resource/georgia-baptist-top-legislation-being-watched-4-4-25/
We were also monitoring approximately 12 bills over the last few weeks of the 2025 legislative session. Some of these bills, while they may have gotten passed out of one chamber before crossover, did not get voted on by the last day of the session.
Some of the bills that we supported were added to other legislation in committee or on the floor of one of the chambers. There were times when it got a little confusing as to where bills were in the legislative process! See the legislative video from the 40th day: https://www.facebook.com/share/v/15D3d77Ah7/
But, as I have mentioned, the success we had gives us a lot to be thankful to the Lord for!
Religious Freedom
Since 2014, this has been a monumental effort. In 2016, we saw legislation that had a Religious Freedom Restoration Act in it vetoed. And, since that time, many of us have been working together to see that Georgia would be in line with many other states who had adopted a RFRA along the lines of the 1993 federal act.
In 2018, before he was governor, Brian Kemp made a commitment to sign RFRA into law if it got across his desk. Since 2023, Senator Ed Setzler has been working to get it there.
We are so thankful that for the second year in a row, people like Lt. Gov. Burt Jones used his leadership to have the Senate pass RFRA. This year, when the legislation crossed over to the House, we are thankful that Speaker Jon Burns got it on the floor for a vote on the 39th day!
And because of what the Speaker did and the approval of the House, Gov. Kemp was able to sign SB 36 into law on April 4th, which was the 40th day of the legislative session. This makes Georgia the 40th state to have a RFRA!
The point of all of this is that nobody should be against a RFRA if they’re in favor of the First Amendment. It simply includes the same level of protection that we already have in freedom of speech, freedom of the press, and freedom of assembly. We can thank the Lord for getting a clean RFRA that doesn’t have any extra things in it. It is exactly what the governor said he wanted to get passed.
A RFRA is not a sword, it’s a shield. It’s not trying to weaponize people of faith to attack other people and get away with it. It’s about making sure the people of faith are protected from government, local, and state ordinances or laws that infringe on their rights.
The RFRA just makes sure that the First Amendment is balanced properly, that neither citizens’ rights nor the government’s responsibility are exaggerated. It’s a proper balancing test.
Gambling
This was approximately the 15th year of intense effort by the gambling Industry to push more gambling on Georgians. This kind of gambling has included activities such as casinos, pari-mutuel betting on horses, and sports betting. Thankfully, once again, none of these efforts made it across the finish line!
We can be thankful that state-sponsored predatory gambling did not get expanded in Georgia. You see, the popular gambling of our day would be more characterized as “predatory gambling.” This occurs when corporate gambling interests partner with the government in a way that can end up exploiting its citizens.
We saw once again this year that the gambling industry is not giving up its attempt to expand gambling in our state. There were five bills introduced during this legislative session that would have expanded gambling through sports betting and casinos.
Sen. Carden Summers introduced SR131, a constitutional amendment to put on the ballot a measure that would have legalized gambling related to both sports betting and casinos at the same time. Some of the reasoning that he used to introduce this measure was that he believed that polling showed the people in the state of Georgia wanted to vote on this kind of measure.
While this is true, there were at least two polls that showed that a majority of Georgians were interested in voting on gambling expansion. These polls did not explain what it was or the negative impact it could have on our communities and economy.
There's no doubt that if you asked someone on the street if they would consider gambling one of their top three to five legislative issues, they would more than likely not list gambling as being important.
The legislation dealing with sports betting and casinos being put on a ballot initiative to amend the state constitution had a hearing in the Senate Regulated Industries and Utilities Committee, but it was overwhelmingly voted down.
Next, legislation was introduced by Rep. Marcus Widower to put sports betting alone on a constitutional amendment for the people to vote on. The bill was HR 450 and the enabling legislation, HB 686, was titled the “Georgia Sports Betting Act.” This legislation passed by the House Regulated Industries Committee and was voted on to the floor for a vote on crossover day.
The good news is that it never got voted on. My understanding is that there were not enough votes to get it passed. You see, constitutional amendments have to have at least a two-thirds majority to pass.
There were two other gambling bills that were introduced to add sports betting to the Georgia lottery without using a constitutional amendment. The first one was introduced by Sen. Billy Hickman, SB 208, and the second one was introduced by Rep. Matt Hatchett, HB 910, during the last week of the legislative session. Neither of these bills ever had a hearing.
There's no doubt that in 1992, when the lottery was approved by the voters, they did not think that sports betting would ever be a part of the Georgia lottery. Attempting to add gambling, such as sports betting, without a constitutional amendment gives the appearance of an “end around attempt.” Meaning that the legislature could be concerned that they don't have a 2/3 majority in both chambers to add gambling expansion to a constitutional ballot initiative.
Therefore, there is also an integrity issue in that when the people voted for the lottery, they were not considering sports betting. Also, from a legal perspective, adding additional gambling to the law cannot be done without a constitutional amendment that has to be voted on by the citizens.
We must remember that these five gambling bills are still alive for the 2026 session coming up in January. Now is the time to keep contacting your House and Senate members and let them know not to support ANY expansion of gambling in Georgia!
Protecting Girls’ Sports
This year, there were two bills introduced to protect girls from biological males participating in girls’ sports. We are thankful that Sen. Greg Dolezal introduced SB 1, and in the House, Rep. Josh Bonner introduced SB 267.
It was monumental that this legislation was passed in both chambers. However, in the end, it was SB 1 that was passed by both chambers and made it to the governor’s desk. It ended up being titled the “Riley Gains Act,” as was originally introduced in the House.
I have read where the new law includes sporting events related to state elementary through college level schools and any private schools participating in their events. It requires things like students competing in sporting events that only match their sex at birth and regulations related to facilities such as restrooms, locker rooms, changing rooms, shower rooms, and sleeping quarters.
For Georgia Baptists, I was able to testify at least three times in favor of protecting girls’ sports. Here are some of the facts I was able to relay to the committees in both the House and the Senate.
First, from a Biblical perspective, I was able to say that according to Genesis 1:27, everyone is created either male or female in the Image of God. Everyone is created special and unique and loved by God. Therefore, everyone is to be respected and appreciated from this godly point of view.
Second, from a common sense perspective, I pointed out that it just makes sense that biological males should compete in sporting events against other biological males and that biological females should compete in sporting events against other biological females. Just the very nature of who they are at birth puts them naturally into one of two gender categories.
No matter what emotional, physical, or medical attempts are made to change one’s gender, 400 years from now, if they are removed from their grave, their DNA will be the same as it was at birth.
Third, from a fairness perspective, I said it is simply not fair for girls to be forced to compete against those that they physically are not equal to. It is a fact that men naturally have greater muscle mass and bone density, higher lung capacity, and larger hearts than women.
It is also not fair that girls be discriminated against by being denied college scholarships and recognition for holding sporting event records because biological males are allowed to compete against them.
We have a lot to be thankful for that this legislation passed! Here is a resolution the Georgia Baptist Convention passed in 2021 on this subject: 2021 FINAL Resolutions Protecting Girls Sports.pdf
Other Legislation
After Crossover Day on March 6, we were monitoring approximately 12 bills. There were six bills that were part of our top priority that did not make it past the 40th day. See the wrap-up FB video: https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1C8qiaEyUk/
The first bill had to do with banning AI child pornography, HB 171. The second one had to do with removing the library exemption for obscene materials to minors, SB 74. The third had to do with banning puberty blockers for minors, SB 30. The fourth was related to banning cock fighting, SB 102. The fifth was legislation dealing with banning DEI in public schools, SB 120. It was added to a House bill that passed the Senate but did not get taken up in the House.
Lastly, there was the “baby box” bill, which allows for devices tobe placed in emergency facilities for babies to be delivered to and to go into foster care within 30 days of birth, HB 350. There was an attempt to put it on other legislation that did not make it.
Finally, we are thankful that no legislation that expanded the legalization of alcohol made it to the final day. We had four bills on the subject that we were opposing.
Also, there was no expansion of any pro-marijuana legislation, although Georgia Baptists have not taken positions in the past against medical marijuana usage. There was good news that there was the creation of a Senate Study Committee on intoxicating hemp consumables.
As you can see, there was a lot going on at the Capitol during this legislative session. This is always so. But thank you so much for your prayers and support in passing the good bills and stopping the bad ones.
We have a lot to celebrate, especially the passing of RFRA and the stopping of gambling this year!
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Mike Griffin is the Public Affairs Representative of the Georgia Baptist Mission Board.
