What bills from Georgia’s 2025 session will Gov. Kemp sign?


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Budget and Tax

A $37.8 billion spending plan was passed, allocating funds to prisons, education, healthcare, school vouchers, and tax credits for parents of young children. An accelerated income tax cut to 5.19% and tax rebates are also likely.

Transgender Rights

Two bills targeting transgender rights are awaiting the governor's signature: one banning transgender girls and women from women's sports, and another blocking gender-affirming care for prison inmates.

MAGA Policies

Legislation allowing Trump and co-defendants to recoup legal costs is under consideration, alongside a bipartisan overhaul of the compensation system for the wrongly convicted, and a controversial “America First” license plate.

Education and Schools

A compromise measure aims to improve information sharing between administrators and law enforcement regarding school safety following a mass shooting. A cellphone ban for K-8 students is also being considered, with some families urging a veto due to safety concerns.

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He took a more muted approach with other measures, including a polarizing “religious liberty” measure he signed into law on Friday. Now he will have the final say on a range of other issues, including several that echo President Donald Trump’s agenda.

Other base-pleasing measures, from new immigration crackdowns to another round of election changes, failed to pass this session.

Kemp has until the May 14 deadline to use his veto power on any bills he doesn’t like — no idle threat under Kemp’s watch as governor. He has vetoed dozens of measures since he took office in 2019, including 12 bills last year.

Here is a look at what’s on the governor’s desk.

Budget and tax

After weeks of negotiation, lawmakers struck a deal on a $37.8 billion spending plan that includes more money for prisons, education and health care — and includes $141 million in new school voucher funding and hundreds of millions in new spending on state prisons.

Lawmakers also agreed to allow parents of children under age 6 to claim a new $250 income tax credit and expand an existing credit, providing an extra $600 for child and dependent care.

And he’s likely to green light an accelerated income tax cut to a flat 5.19% rate and tax rebates for most Georgians ranging between $250 and $500.

Transgender rights

A few years ago, measures targeting transgender rights were often bottled up in the state Legislature. Not anymore.

Kemp seems likely to sign two Trump-aligned measures that were constant themes of the president’s 2024 campaign.

One would ban transgender girls and women from playing women’s sports from grade school through college. Another would block gender-affirming care for state prison inmates.

MAGA policies

Kemp will decide whether to sign legislation that would let Trump and other codefendants recoup millions spent on legal costs to defend themselves against election interference charges in Fulton County.

It also includes a bipartisan overhaul of Georgia’s compensation system for the wrongly convicted, replacing a current system that makes lawmakers responsible for hashing each package out on a case-by-case basis.

And he’ll weigh whether to approve a new “America First” specialty license plate inspired by Trump’s campaign slogan. The red-white-and-blue design drew fierce pushback from Democrats, who traced the phrase back to a century-old isolationist movement with an antisemitic and racist history.

Education and schools

Georgia lawmakers resolved to improve how administrators and law enforcement can share information after a mass shooting at Barrow County’s Apalachee High killed two teachers and two students.

A compromise measure requires public schools to draft plans addressing their students’ mental health needs, sets up statewide anonymous reporting for threats and smooths the transfer of records when a student switches schools.

Lawmakers also voted to ban cellphones in Georgia public schools for students in grades K-8, which would tack Georgia to a growing list of states that restrict their use in schools. The families of some Apalachee students have asked Kemp to veto the bill, saying it could pose safety risks.

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