'Lawmakers' Day 37: Senate debate school vouchers; License plate bill to ID those with autism passes

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The Senate passed Senate Bill 433 on Feb. 25, 2026, which would create a special license plate to alert authorities to automobiles driven or occupied by a person with autism.

Credit: Screenshot

On Wednesday at the Capitol, lawmakers took up legislation dealing with school scholarships, money and autism.

On Day 37, the Senate took up 14 bills and one resolution. Most notable, the Senate took three related House bills and combined them all into House Bill 328. All deal with vouchers from school scholarship organizations used for sending students to private schools. The most controversial parts of the legislation increase the tax credit that can be claimed with a donation to SSOs, as well as individual scholarship amounts. It also nearly doubles the total scholarship fund to $225 million.

"This, as my friend from the 37th said, is a bill about giving parents choice, giving them control on the best situation for their children," Sen. Shawn Still (R-Suwanee) said.

Democrats pushed back, saying that the vouchers mainly help families that can already afford private school.

"I am someone that firmly believes that we should offer opportunities to go to schools that are better for your child, that better fit your child," Sen. Rashaun Kemp (D-Atlanta) said. "But I do not believe that we be investing public dollars in schools that have no accountability. We have no data on these schools as it relates to how their students can read, how their students can do math or any of those things."

The bill was passed along party lines 30 to 20.

HB 369 was a gutted House bill that would make district attorneys, as well as other county officials, elections in large metro Atlanta counties nonpartisan. Republicans inserted language from a previous Senate bill, SB 573, that was voted down on Crossover Day because of a clerical error into the new Frankenbill.

"It's important that we look at our law enforcement intensive counties the right way," Sen. John Albers (R-Roswell) said. "Things such as the World Cup coming, world's busiest airport, Super Bowls, NCAA, etc. I have made my entire career in this general assembly about public safety, and this is a public safety issue. Again, we've already debated this bill. Everybody knows how they're going to vote. So, I'd encourage us to move on."

Democrats said that this is, once again, about punishing a district attorney's politics, like Fulton County's Fani Willis, rather than election fairness.

"Either the role should be nonpartisan, or it should be partisan, and the state of Georgia can make a policy decision about it one way or the other," Sen. Josh McLaurin (D-Sandy Springs) said. "But to pretend that there's anything at work in this bill other than rank raw partisanship as to the composition of district attorney elections in these large counties is a complete farce."

Despite Democrats vowing to fight the new law in court, the bill was passed along party lines 32 to 21.

HB 1112 could remove a bit of cash out of Georgians' pockets — at least the pennies. With the federal treasury stopping production of the penny, the bill would round up or round down cash purchases to the nearest five cents.

"If your total comes out to one or two, you round down to zero," Still said. "If it's three or four, you round up to five. If it six or seven, you around down to five and it's eight or nine, you're round up to 10."

The bill was passed unanimously.

The House moved through the rules calendar slowly and did not vote on its first bill until after 2 p.m. The first bill passed was SB 433, or Rio's Law, which would create an optional license plate symbol for drivers with autism or parents of children with autism. The bill is named after a child with autism.

"For parents and individuals with autism spectrum disorder, a regular traffic stop can quickly escalate into a sensitive situation," Rep. Eddie Lumsden (R-Armuchee) said. "Many individuals with autism have sensory sensitivity or communication differences that might not translate well when interacting with law enforcement."

SB 433 also creates a training program for law enforcement officers on interacting with people with autism. The bill passed unanimously and now heads to the governor's desk to be signed into law.

The House also passed Senate Resolution 622, which creates a joint study committee to examine the rising cost in Georgia's foster care system. The legislation came after the Department of Family and Child Services reported an $88 million shortfall this year.

"This is to facilitate a study committee to try to determine why the escalating cost of children and foster care has happened," Rep. Beth Camp (R-Concord) said. "Since 2022, the cost has escalated 159%. It costs more to house these kids. We know that, but we need to drill down and find out exactly how we can handle this more efficiently and make sure that the 10,000 children that are in foster care in our state get the services they need."

Senate Bill 547 aims to crack down on pimping by making pimping and pandering a felony on the first offense.

"Our state will not tolerate this sort of behavior of those preying on the most innocent among us," Rep. Tyler Paul Smith (R-Breman) said.

The bill passed 166 to 2.

Also, in the House on Wednesday, two representatives said farewell to the chamber. Rep. Park Cannon (D-Atlanta) is not running for reelection after serving in the House for 10 years, and Rep. Lynn Smith (R-Newnan) is retiring after nearly 30 years in the House.

The House also passed legislation dealing with regulating AI chatbots and cracking down on email identity theft. Lawmakers will be back on Friday for Day 38.

GPB's Lawmakers returns for Day 38 on Friday, Mar. 27 at 7 p.m. on GPB TV.