(The Center Square) – An amended bill that would change elections in five metro Atlanta counties to nonpartisan raised more questions about the bill’s intent in the House of Representatives on Friday.
House Bill 369 by former state Rep. Dexter Sharper, D-Valdosta, originally addressed food truck safety but was amended in the Senate to create nonpartisan elections for Fulton, Clayton, DeKalb, Cobb and Gwinnett counties.
It passed the House 93-64 on Friday and the Senate on Tuesday.
Senate Bill 573, which included the same language, failed to pass the Senate on March 6, which was crossover day.
Senate Republicans said during Wednesday’s debate that the bill’s rationale was “public safety,” as the change affected counties with medical examiner’s offices. Democrats said the bill would likely face a court challenge because the district attorneys in the five counties are Black women.
House Majority Leader Chuck Efstration, of Mulberry, said during Friday’s debate that the bill applies to what are defined as “consolidated law enforcement counties.”
“The opinion from legislative counsel as it has been given to me that it is constitutional and it treats certain local offices similar to how judges are classified at the local level so that partisan politics is minimised when providing basic local governmental services,” Efstration said.
“We’re giving voters the opportunity to rid themselves of district attorneys who are more concerned with playing partisan games than prosecuting and delivering justice,” said Rep. Trey Kelley, R-Cedartown.
Republicans have questioned a decision by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis to prosecute President Donald Trump and 18 others on election interference charges. Willis was disqualified from the case after it was revealed she was in a romantic relationship with special prosecutor Nathan Wade. The case was dismissed by a Fulton County judge in November.
Willis told CBS News that Senate Bill 369 was politically motivated.
“This bill is nothing more than a continuation of Burt Jones’ political attack on me and my metro Atlanta colleagues,” Willis said. “The targeting of five African-American women Democrats who were chosen by the voters of their counties to serve as district attorney is racist, sexist and clearly unconstitutional.”
Joe Mulholland, president of the Georgia District Attorney’s Association, told the Senate Ethics Commission on March 2 that the state’s district attorneys opposed the bill. Their opinion could change if the bill applied to all of the state’s district attorneys, he said.
The bill presented an unusual situation for House Speaker Jon Burns because the House sponsor of an amended Senate bill normally presents the substitute. Sharper resigned after he pleaded guilty to pandemic-related unemployment fraud. Rincon Republican Bill Hitchens was the second sponsor of the bill. He introduced it without taking any questions, which required lawmakers to state their feelings on the bill during parliamentary inquiry.
The legislation goes to Gov. Brian Kemp’s desk for his signature.