Georgia session reboot opens with new call for hate-crimes law (Source AJC)

With protesters outside and inside the Capitol demanding change, the Georgia General Assembly reopened for business amid bipartisan calls to pass hate-crimes legislation. The rebooting of the 2020 session, which was suspended in March because of the coronavirus pandemic, came during protests over the recent killing of African Americans, including unarmed black jogger Ahmaud Arbery, shot by a white man who chased him down, and the police shooting of Rayshard Brooks on Friday night in the parking lot of an Atlanta fast-food restaurant.

Hate-crimes legislation has stalled in the Senate after passing the House last year. The Senate committee that would handle the bill didn’t meet Monday as originally scheduled.

House Speaker David Ralston, R-Blue Ridge, made an impassioned plea in his chamber for the Senate to act. “All Georgians were shocked by the senseless murder of Ahmaud Arbery, who was hunted like an animal and shot with a shotgun at point-blank range,” Ralston said. “Members of this body, that is hate. “If we leave here this session without passing a hate-crimes bill, it will be a stain on this state that we can never wash away.” Lawmakers returned for the final 11 working days of the session facing state finances wrecked by the pandemic recession, as well as calls for police and criminal justice reform.

Legislators entered the building for their social-distancing session through scanners that checked their temperatures. House members were required to wear masks; most senators also wore them in their chamber.