Legislative Delegation Holds Town Hall For Constituents

Staff Report

The Columbus Legislative Delegation met with constituents to discuss concerns and hot topics related to the 2025 Georgia Legislative Session, which convened on January 13.

House Minority Leader Carolyn Hugley (District 141), Rep. Debbie Buckner (District 137), Rep. Teddy Reese (District 140) and State Sen. Ed Harbison (District 15) were all on hand to discuss their issues they see as most important coming before the legislature.

Hugley said it was important for them to come together as a group to meet with the local constituency to ensure their needs are met.

“Leaders have to first listen. That was our goal here tonight, to listen to our constituents, to make sure that what we think and what we're hearing other places are in alignment with the needs of our own constituency,” Hugley said. “So tonight, we heard about many of those needs, some of the things we've heard before, but we also heard some new things and some new concerns.”

One of the major themes from the meeting was education.

“People are concerned about the fact that our education funding formula is 40 years old,” Hugley said. “It does not take into consideration higher levels for students with special needs. It does not take into consideration low-income areas, and other things that have changed since 1980. The student that came in 1980 is not the student that shows up in 2020 and we have to address the funding mechanism so that we can meet the needs of our existing students.”

Hugley said she believes the state needs to deal with this issue sooner rather than later.

Harbison also listed education as a top priority for him during this legislative session.

“As a former member of the school board, I got to tell you that it is a tough issue every year, because the voucher programs and the money spent from the voucher program,” Harbison said. “The money goes with the person to private schools; and really a lot of times that is inadequate to cover the cost of the person going to that school. So, we need to sort of balance things out a little bit to make sure that we've got good coverage, good response and good expenditure of the public dollars.”

Harbison also mentioned that tort reform will be coming before the Georgia General Assembly again this session.

“Every year we get something about tort reforms as it relates to lawsuits and the money you can get when you are injured in a medical situation, or if you got a robbery situation on your property, you can be sued,” Harbison said. “Lot of times, it's felt that it's very excessive, but the victims feel (differently). So, we're always between that rock and a hard place.”

Buckner said her focus is on expanding medical services for constituents throughout the state.

“Health care is one of the things that is important to me,” she said. “I work for Doctor's Hospital and public health, so healthcare is always important to me, and I have been a long proponent for Georgia to be a part of the Medicaid expansion, which we have not done… People need health care and it needs to be good quality and needs to be affordable and it needs to be accessible, and that's what we need to be working on.”

Reese, who is in his first term in the Georgia House, said he is concerned about economic development in Columbus and the taxes applied to federal retirement.

“I will be reintroducing the bill that I introduced last year to waive retirement taxes on retired veterans. We are the only state that failed to totally waive taxes for retired veterans, and because of that, we see so many of our men and women in uniform who served us here at Fort Moore, who want to remain in this area, but they buy a home in Smiths Station or Fort Mitchell because they want to get away from the tax.”

He said the people continue to shop and do business in Columbus, but they do not live there.

Overall, the meeting was an opportunity to get a chance to talk with the local delegation and get to know them better.

“We offered the citizens an opportunity to have more robust discussions with us about the things that matter to them. So that was our goal tonight and I think we've accomplished that,” Hugley said. “It's a high honor to represent the citizens of Columbus, but representation is a two-way proposition. It's a relationship, and so our constituents make us better when they interface with us, and when they talk to us.”

Nearly 100 people attended the event held Jan. 9 in the Columbus Council Chamber.

“We represent you. We’re aware and we're attuned to what your concerns are. And we're so glad to have you come and espouse to us about what's going on,” Harbison said.