James Jan-Feb 2024 web - Flipbook - Page 35
A 2023 FIRST-TERM
House Republican Perspective
BY STATE REP. MATT REEVES
T
he week that my colleagues and I were
elected, a changing of the guard occurred in the Georgia House of Representatives due to the death of Speaker
David Ralston. At the same time, it was an honor
to participate in the election of Speaker Jon Burns,
Majority Leader Chuck Efstration and other House
leadership positions even before we were sworn in.
Ralston had admonished House Republican candidates to win the election at the voters’ doorsteps, and
not be caught sitting in the air conditioning when
others were out campaigning in the Georgia heat.
Indeed, it was bittersweet to begin the 2023 session without him.
The week that we were sworn in, the University
of Georgia won the national football championship
again, and Gov. Brian Kemp was inaugurated for his
second term. The governor and First Lady Marty
Kemp hosted a bipartisan House and Senate inaugural candlelight dinner at the State Capitol for the
first time in many decades. A short time later, for
the tenth year in a row, Georgia was named the No. 1
place to do business.
I began working hard on the House Judiciary and
House Judicial Non-Civil (Criminal Law) Committees,
and was confronted with public safety crises early
in the session. One of my mayors and City Council
members ran into the fiery arson and riot incident
in downtown Atlanta while there for an event. And
also occurring were far too numerous car break-ins
in areas a just few miles away from the Capitol. The
governor provided leadership with a crackdown on
gang recruitment of minors, and I sponsored the Safer Hospitals Act to protect nurses, doctors and other
hospital employees by allowing hospitals to form
hospital campus police departments. It also provided
assault and battery protections for healthcare workers across the entire hospital campus.
Inflation and the American dream of homeownership are two issues that my constituents in
Suwanee, Sugar Hill and Duluth are concerned
about. I worked with Sugar Hill Mayor Brandon
Hembree and the Sugar Hill City Council to place
a homeowner property tax cut homestead exemption on the ballot for the first time in decades, and
Sugar Hill voters approved that referendum with 87
percent of the vote. I worked with Majority Leader
Efstration, a bipartisan group of legislators, and
school officials to place a similar homeowner tax
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