Legislative Priorities

Elections and Voting

  • Support encouragement of civic participation and voter protection.
  • Support legislation and activities to protect and extend voting rights to all citizens.
  • Oppose unnecessary and unconstitutional restrictions on voting and voter registration.
  • Oppose unnecessary and unconstitutional restrictions on access to the ballot or petitions.
  • Support mandatory education for Georgians about their rights and responsibilities as citizens and voters to be provided by the state or local elections superintendent.
  • Support uniformity in all election systems and protocol across the state.
  • Support the improvement of the election system’s integrity statewide.
  • Support easier access to the ballot for independent and third party candidates.

Education

  • Support public funding for K-12 education in public schools exclusively.
  • Support public K-12 schools with adequate state funding, reflecting the actual cost of providing the state defined services.
  • Support equitable distribution of state funding to K-12 schools, currently calculated on property tax wealth in each school system.
  • Support adequate funding by the Legislature & reduction of the austerity cuts.
  • Support efforts to increase the graduation rate in Georgia, such as mandatory attendance until graduation or age 18, early identification and support for potential dropouts, improved instructional programs for at-risk students, expanded counseling and guidance services.

Environment

  • Oppose any measure endangering human life, waterlife, and wildlife ecosystems.
  • Support conservation and water efficiency measures.
  • Support diversity of energy resources including solar and wind.
  • Support measures to reduce contaminates in our air and water.

Ethics and Transparency in Government

  • Support transparency and accountability from all levels of Georgia Government.
  • Support legislation and processes that make decisions, activities, and priorities of public officials understandable to the public.
  • Support transparency in the state budget.
  • Support creation of an Independent Redistricting Commission.
  • Support changing the State Election Board membership to reflect Georgia’s race, gender, geography and political ideology diversity.
  • Support ethics legislation that strengthens the distinction between lobbyist and legislators.
  • Support mandated funding, rule making authority, and ability of enforcement of fines and rules for the Georgia Government Transparency and Finance Commission.
  • Support renaming the Georgia Government Transparency and Finance Commission back to the Georgia Ethics Commission.
  • Support all public decision making bodies, appointed or elected, being subject to the Open Meetings and Open Records Act.

Healthcare

  • Support policies to facilitate Georgians’ access to healthcare.
  • Support expansion of Medicaid in Georgia.
  • Oppose measures removing access or coverage of mandated health services.

Juvenile Justice

  • Support use of alternatives to incarceration of juveniles including detention homes, day centers, group homes, community treatment centers, probation and status offender programs.
  • Support special training for judges who hear juvenile cases.
  • Support unified rules of practice and procedures for juvenile courts across the state.
  • Support Child In Need of Service (CHINS) program as a comprehensive program to support the individual child.

Responsible Tax Policy

  • Support legislation for long-term solutions to Georgia’s fiscal challenges.
  • Support responsible spending and tax policies and balanceapproach to the budget, to meet the long and short-term needsof Georgia.
  • Oppose any measure to re-instate a sales tax on food.

Transportation

  • Support investments in transportation to improve the state’s infrastructure, sustain a high quality of life, and attract economic development.
  • Support additional state appropriations to public transit systems across Georgia.
  • Support removal of spending restrictions on the Motor Fuel Taxes to include public transportation, bike lanes and pedestrian walkways, in addition to roads and bridges
 

League of Women Voters of Georgia   |   100 Edgewood Ave. NE   Suite 1275   Atlanta, GA 30303
(p) 404.522.4LWV (4598)   lwvga@lwvga.org x