Here in georgia, a state deeply rooted in civil rights history, we understand the significance of leaders who challenge America to live up to its promise.

Reverend Jesse Jackson life stands as a testament of more courage and encourage enduring hope.

May we honor his legacy not only in words but with our work.

Members of the house and senate celebrated the life of reverend Jesse Jackson today, sharing their personal stories and the impact that the civil and human rights leader had on their lives.

Good evening and welcome to lawmakers.

It's day 19 of the georgia legislative session.

I'm donna lowery in Atlanta ahead Lawmakers from the asian American pacific islander or aapi caucus join the show to tell us more about the lunar new year.

We'll also discuss their bipartisan missions and their different political perspectives on legislation, plus a closer look at how georgia public broadcasting serves every county in the state from education to emergency response tonight the head of georgia public broadcasting joins us as we take a closer look at what gpb means for georgia first it's time to get the day's news from inside the capitol from correspondent sarah calls.

Hi donna.

Today at the capitol, lawmakers remembered the late civil rights leader jesse jackson and celebrated lunar new year in the senate, former lieutenant governor casey cgl stopped by for a visit and quickly established his role by taking over a few of the morning's lesser duties.

I like to say the time for convening having arrive, the senate will come to order.

That came along with some good humored ribbing from the senate floor.

It's nice to have a real president back up there on the roster.

The senator knows from which he speaks We got a new rules chairman right after this.

The senate also shared a moment of silence to remember civil rights activist, political leader and two time presidential candidate reverend Jesse Jackson, who passed away this morning.

Many of the senators spoke about his influence and their personal connection to the fallen leader.

He made a great impact on a lot of people who were really uplifted by his keep hope alive, operation push people united to save humanity was an ambitious thing to make sure it could be infused with a lot of hope that keep hope alive would infiltrate and grow among people who had despair in their life and had no hope.. And he repeated that over and over again and I think it uplifted millions of people.

They then took up three bills sb 452 would allow a larger 401K fund match by the state law enforcement pension fund after officers serve for five years.

Georgia ranks 49th in the nation in state law enforcement officer retirement.

It is high time that we express our support for the brave men and women running towards danger and offer competitive benefits for future recruits It passed unanimously.

Firefighters get some changes to their members' pension retirement fund with senate bill 143.

This makes updates to allow us to have a similar system and set up for folks that have retired but then want to come back and continue to work in the fire service.

We have done the very same thing for our police officers and for our teachers.

And in a time where it's harder than ever to find folks who are willing to rush in when others rush out.

This helps fill the gap.

It also allows us to change the dates for their retirement for age 50, but with a combined 80 number which means 30 years of service and 50-years-old.

And the last thing it allows for is to take 10% of the fund to invest in different funds and bonds specifically that longer term have a higher yield of return, similar to the way 49 other states do it today.

While there were some concerns over new types of investments permitted in the bill, it passed 47 to three and sb 369 would fund alternative charter schools that would allow students who drop out of middle and high school the opportunity to return and earn their diploma.

It also passed unanimously in the house.

Members considered legislation regulating data centers.

House bill 1063 aims to protect electricity consumers who live near the centers.

It requires data centers to cover their own operational costs so they are not passed on to consumers.

Georgia is experiencing unprecedented demand for our energy for data centers.

That growth can be really good for our state, but only if it's managed responsibly.

The public service commission has already put strong cost allocation rules in place.

What this bill does is take those protections and put them into statute so they can't be weakened reinterpreted or bypassed down the road.

Some lawmakers say the bill doesn't go far enough in addressing the environmental and financial impacts data centers may have on communities.

Is this really the best that we can do for georgians on something that has bipartisan opposition and concerns?

Is this truly the best we have to offer?

I argue the answer is no.

I want every georgian to know that they deserve better than this, especially over a year of them actively reaching out to us.

I do not believe this bill meets their needs.

Hb 1063 passed 159 to five.

The house also passed a bill that would ban electronic tinting on car windows.

Many of you may not realize this, but today there is something called electric window tent.

This technology allows a driver to have their windows tinted far beyond what is allowed under georgia law.

And if they're pulled over by law enforcement, they can simply press a button and the wind is instantly become crystal clear.

So from the officer's standpoint, what they observed when initiating the stop is no longer what they see when they approach the vehicle.

The same issue now is happening with license plates and tags.

That bill passed 133 to 25.

Representatives also held a moment of silence for linda davis, a savannah area teacher who was killed in a car accident yesterday after she was struck by a driver who authorities say was fleeing immigration enforcement.

Much may be said about her death in the coming days, but we want to take today to remember her life.

Doctor linda davis was a wife, a mother of four children, an educator, a doctor of transformative leadership.

She taught special education students at hess k eight school in chatham county.

Prior to that, she taught at otis brock elementary school.

She is survived by her wife and four children.

.

But as I said today, we just want to remember all that she gave to the children of chatham county, which is evidenced by the beautiful picture that we've got displayed.

And there was a lion roaming around the capitol today as asian American pacific islander lawmakers held their annual lunar new year celebrations at the capitol, marking the start of the year of the fire horse and today was gpb day at the capitol, where lawmakers had the opportunity to learn about the many ways that gpb serves the state.

Tomorrow we expect to hear speaker byrne's plan for insurance affordability and the chambers will be back for day 20 at the halfway point of the session.

That's all for my capital report donna thanks sarah now as sarah mentioned, it was gp day at the capitol.

Community engagement all over the state.

As part of gp's mission, we have the chance to spread the word about how essential gpb is to georgia in so many ways.

Georgia public broadcasting receives a portion of its funding from the state through the georgia public telecommunications commission.

Gps receives reaches every corner of our state.

Children joined us and so did the ever popular daniel the tiger.

Now if you're not familiar with him, daniel helps children learn social skills necessary for school and for life, and he was very popular today.

Tonight we're taking a closer look at what that means for georgia in the classrooms during emergencies and at the capitol.

We're joined by the president and ceo of georgia public broadcasting, bert wesley huffman.

Burt is a georgia native from blue ridge.

He has been a fixture at gpp since 2014 as the company's first vice president for development and marketing.

Welcome lawmakers.

It's your first time on this session.

It only took me 12 years to no it just took a while.

I'm glad you're here.

Thank you.

So many georgians know gpb for television or radio.

And let's start with what that means in terms of the geographic size and the scope of gp.

So we're going to put a graphic up on the screen and there are 35 facilities, 29 broadcast towers, 22 station statewide network radio and nine tv station statewide network.

So tell us what we're looking at because there's very little of georgia that you don't see covered.

That's right.

Yeah actually with our most recent radio station Do in pelham georgia it was our 22nd radio station and it really locked in that corr or from savannah into georgia on I 16.

So we literally have 100% coverage of the entire state of georgia.

Anywhere you are in georgia, that's right.

You can hear gpb.

It's quite a reach.

How does the network of stations actually work?

So some people may not understand that right yeah.

So they all work together as one entity.

So the only separate radio station we have is actually the Atlanta radio station, 88.5.

All the rest are simulcast together.

So we have the opportunity to reach out to anyone in the state at any time, which is a great resource for georgia.

So when you speak to georgians, what do you tell them about what gpb is all about?

How do you define gps well the first thing I say is that gpb is so much more than you think.

You know, people come to us for televisions radio, but at the end of the day, we're a community engagement engine.

You know, we are working with students and teachers every day through the educational resources that we provide were critical to georgia's emergency management.

There's so much about gpb that people are surprised to learn yeah you said gpb sees itself first as a public service organization.

What does that mean?

What it means is that the real mission of public media is to be here to support the people of georgia, to bring them together, to create opportunities to connect them.

And so I don't really look at us as a media company.

I think that our first job is to make the lives of georgians better and unite and uplift them.

And that's beyond broadcasting.

Either radio or tv, isn't it?

That's right.

It goes far beyond that.

Like I said, with our education products, you know, we're in every school in georgia.

We have more than 200,000 educational resources available at gpb.org.

A lot of people think oh I go to gpb to watch tv, but in reality, more people come to our website for our educational materials than anything else yeah so let's talk about that.

A major portion of gpp state funding supports education and you work with all 184 school districts in 159 counties.

And what does that partnership look like?

It's really deep and important for gpb to be in every school in georgia.

So we have community outreach specialists that go into those schools and teach teachers how to use what we have.

You know, if you think about the time a teacher has during the day, literally they have maybe an hour of planning time.

So we want to make things as easy as possible for them so we can provide them anything from gaming technology, lots of games that teach kids lessons, or even all the way down to full courses in biology physics computer science.

We hear so much about teachers wanting professional development.

Gp helps with that.

That's right yeah we do that for free.

More than 2,500 times last year we were in schools with our outreach specialist providing that professional development okay so let's look at some more numbers.

14 million educators students and families use gp's free content, which is aligned of course with the georgia education standards in last year alone.

And gp's education specialists provide georgia teachers with 250 free annual professional learning sessions.

So one popular program is gosh a go.

You know that.

So here's a snippet of that show.

Welcome to the world of gosh a go where kids learn math and computer science skills through games songs and animated videos.

How do the schools actually use gosh a go right so gosh go is a great example of the work that we've been doing over the last few years in gaming.

So it's a game that teaches kids digital literacy skills, helps them better understand what it's like to learn in today's environment.

And it's for kids four to 6-years-old.

And so, and it's very popular.

Very popular.

I know it is.

Gp provides educators with virtual field trips and you mentioned gaming tools.

Now talk about how popular those virtual field trips are yeah the most popular item on our website is always the georgia history textbook.

Gpb maintains georgia's official history textbook for all eighth grade students throughout the state.

And as part of that, those virtual field trips are really important.

So as a kid that grew up in rural georgia, I know that it's difficult sometimes to get a field trip to another part of the state.

Georgia is a big state, so you can go to gpb.org slash education and anyone can look up those virtual field trips and in a matter of minutes you can be at the twa indian mounds or graze reef yeah it just takes transforms you somewhere.

And a lot of people who are homeschooling their children use it absolutely we are not just a resource for teachers, we're for families as well.

And we do hear that from a lot of homeschooled parents who say that it's a wonderful resource for them as well.

So another function that people may not know about for gpb is that that's how gpb is part of the georgia emergency communications network.

Talk a little bit about that.

So when you think about those 32 towers and sites that we mentioned earlier, they're not only just to provide education and entertainment for people, they're also to be there in times when people need to get out of harm's way.

So we oftentimes are able to be the emergency management system for georgia in that way.

So when people hear those emergency alerts, they may be coming from gp.

That's right.

Or if it's just on your phone, you see it on tv or the radio, or if you get an Amber alert on your phone, there's a very big chance that that pinged off of a gp tower somewhere in this.

So let's talk about hurricane helene because gpp was very important during that time when people lost power, when people lost self service.

Talk about that yeah so with hurricane helene, we had 25% of georgia's cell towers were down meanwhile gpb was only down for an hour or so until we could get an engineer there to switch on the emergency power so that we can continue serving the people who live in those areas.

So for many people, we were the only place to go to find out where to get clean water or where to find shelter.

And that's really such an important part of what we do in times of emergency.

I know in my home we have the crank radio, so you still may have a radio or access to it.

And gpb is able to provide help with that kind of thing absolutely here's how many, it is something many people may not know.

Gp serves as the pool feed when the governor addresses the state in crisis.

And so what does that mean operationally for gp well it essentially means it's the role of gpb to get important information into the homes of the people who live in georgia.

So for us, we do serve as the pool feed, meaning that we're the primary filming organization there, and then we pass that on to other commercial media companies across the country because ultimately it's, we want you to hear the information.

It's important that you hear it wherever you are.

So we want to be on as many platforms as possible in that situation.

And when that happens,, it's on gpb on the digital site so you can find it anywhere and also on social media yeah absolutely.

You can always go to gpb.org and search those things out.

And of course we keep them there for years, so they're always available okay let's talk about my personal favorite, this show.

You often say lawmakers covers government, not politics.

So explain the difference for people who don't know well I think that lawmakers is the most perfect mission critical example of what we do here at gpp because this is a wonderful space for lawmakers to provide insight from their own in their own voice to the people who elect them and they're able to talk about what happens during the day in a respectful and civil environment.

And that's really the role of public broadcasting.

Lawmakers has been around for 56 years.

It's the longest running television show in georgia.

That's amazing.

It's only been, you know, seven years for me, but 56 years, seven of the best.

So let's talk some other quick numbers.

The state appropriation is about $13.2 million, just over $1 per person and a small fraction of that overall state budget, 32%, I believe, is a gps funding from the state.

So talk about how, how would you describe that investment to peoples yeah so I always say gpb is a perfect public private partnership.

So the state of georgia provides us generously that 13.2 million that helps us do all the things we've been talking about, educate george's children, keep them safe and the infrastructure, and then all of the media that you might come to gp for anything from masterpiece to lawmakers is paid for through individual donations from people all across the state.

So in total, gpp is about a $41 million company.

So I think we take that 13.2 million and leverage it quite well.

And certainly more than match it for the entire operation.

So today was, as we said, gpb day at the capitol at first.

Why have that?

Why not?

I think it's wonderful to get into that space and help people better understand the other things that we do outside of just tv and radio.

And it was great for that today.

And what do you hope legislators and the public better understand about gpb that we're here for them, that we want to provide this platform for them, and that we want to help them do their jobs.

And we're here and committed to all of georgia okay well, thank you.

Burt wesley huffman.

Thank you, president and ceo of georgia public broadcasting for coming on gpb Lawmakers.

My favorite part of gpb.

Thank you so much.

Thank you.

Coming up.

What is the year of the horse all about?

Two lawmakers join us to tell us about lunar new year and legislation they hope to pass see past this session.

You're watching lawmakers on gpv.

Georgia Farm Bureau, a grassroots organization dedicated to preserving georgia agriculture.

Farm bureau advocates for all georgia farmers at the state capitol during the session and year round.

Georgia Farm Bureau, the voice of georgia farmers, Explore the stories that move you.

Welcome to the incredible world of gpv passport from inspiring science to endearing dramas.

Passport is your access to an incredible catalog of pbs programming and new titles are being added all the time.

Take a look at what's new.

What is it you want?

Would you indulge me?

Quad something, isn't it?

Sister scandalous, isn't it?

Have I got a story for you I want to know so much more.

You are really good at this.

I'm just getting started.

We can't wait to see where gpb passport takes you.

Your support as a monthly sustainer connects you to the high quality news, information and entertainment that you've come to rely on from pbs.

And for gpb, your sustaining support is the most reliable source of funding for the programs and essential services that you rely on right here at home.

Make an impact with your sustaining gift today and start streaming.

Visit gpb.org and click passport now and thanks.

It's not a mountain thing or a coastal thing.

It's a georgia people places and stories.

Morning edition on georgia public broadcasting that keeps georgians everywhere dialed into home.

Tune in to gpb.

It's a georgia thing Welcome back to lawmakers.

Donna laury for the third year in a row, thanks to the asian American pacific islander or aapi caucus, the georgia capital has celebrated lunar new year.

Joining us are two members of that caucus, republican representative sue hong of lawrenceville.

She is vice chair of the house majority caucus and she is also chair of reapportionment and redistricting.

Her other committees include judiciary and judiciary non civil.

And also here is democratic representative long tran of dunwoody.

His committee assignments include creative arts and entertainment, natural resources and environment, and technology and infrastructure innovation.

Thank you both for being here.

I appreciate that.

We're going to get into lunar new year in a minute, but let's start with some serious things.

And first I want to say congratulations on your position.

You're now the majority caucus vice chair.

What does that mean to you and to the public?

What should they know yeah of course.

Thank you.

And it's been exciting.

I'm very humbled and proud to be elected by my majority caucus members as the vice chair of our caucus.

In this role, essentially, I will, I work with the speaker and leadership on discussing policy as well as it being election year.

I've been working on elections for our members so that they can come back and be reelected.

And it's just it's a job for service.

So I'm servicing our caucus members, anything else that they need, looking over their bills, any issues that they may have in their district.

So I'll be helping with that.

Keeps you busy.

Very busy.

It is a really busy time leading up to elections.

Thanks for telling us about that.

Representative fran, let's talk about something serious.

You are the lead sponsor of hb 527, which creates or revises child abuse protocols.

So why did you want this legislation and what would it do?

So some of our protocols are outdated and they're county focused.

And if we want more collaboration between our agencies, whether it's dfs, law enforcement, and especially through our judicial system.

I feel like it's better that we put the onus on our different judicial circuits to create protocols that best fit them in reporting child abuse.

Georgia's got some of the highest suicide rates for these children who go through child abuse.

And we know the mental health struggles coming out of covid.

So I'm hoping that these protocols will help prevent a lot of the suicides.

So give us an example of a protocol that might change.

A protocol that might change is how police will talk to maybe the school, whether they need to talk to the educators first and then talk to dfs or they may talk to a child agency within that judicial circuit, whether it's casa or something else, we're bringing more community advocacy groups into the process that may know these children better, whether it's at the school or something as simple as a local boy scout or girl scout troop okay well thank you for that one.

So chairman hong, chair woman, I'm going to say hong, you also have a bill dealing with child abuse, hb 11 87.

It's trades law and we've seen other states pass this.

So tell us what that's all about correct, this is a very important bill and I'm very happy that I'm able to carry it.

So what this does is it prevents non disclosure agreements in civil settlements involving child sexual abuse, sexual abuse, and human trafficking.

This law is named after trey carlock.

He was sexually abused at a summer camp.

And this summer camp happens to have the most georgian children attend.

And so he attended that summer camp, was sexually abused, filed a civil suit, and entered into an nda, a non disclosure agreement, and he was not able to talk about the abuse and because of not being able to share with a therapist or others about his abuse and trying to get help for it.

He ended up taking his own life.

And so what this does is make sure that survivors voices are heard and we want to make sure that they get the help that they need and institutions and offenders are taken be responsible for what they've done.

So this is very important.

We are one of the, I believe, the fifth or sixth state that will pass this.

And so we will be leading other states in this law.

And trey's sister, elizabeth phillips,, was the one who brought this bill to us and she's been a great advocate for survivors yeah it occurs to me also with an nda, you may, the word wouldn't get out for other people, other people not to be abused by someone correct and I mean, ndas were essentially designed for businesses and copyrights and things like that and it ended up being used in these civil settlements.

And so therefore, despite the fact that trey was sexually abused, since he couldn't talk about it, other people who are sending their children did not know about it.

And so this is holding them accountable as well.

And this is probably a bipartisan bill.

I'm thinking it through judiciary and it was supported by both parties okay how are you feeling about your bill?

I'm feeling pretty good,.

I think we'll probably get it into committee next week okay let's talk about something less serious.

Tell us about the lunar new year celebration and what happened today at the capitol yeah so I'm happy to be serving as the vice chair of aapi caucus and representative tran is the chair.

And this is our third year celebrated the lunar new year and I'm korean American and I'm so proud that we're able to do this at the capitol.

I grew up in georgia in the 90s where it was not as diverse as it is now.

And to see our aapi community community to come to the capitol and celebrate.

And we had the lion dance and to share this cultural event with others is very special.

So the year of the red horse, the year of the red horse or fire.

It mean Frey.

So the spirit of the horse is freedom right you know, a horse runs free.

And so if you're born in the year of the horse, you're going to have a very free spirit, but it also embodies energy and bold decision making, strong leadership and moving swiftly.

And so that's the spirit of the fire horse.

And it's, I hope our legislative body represents that this year.

And I can tell you this has become really popular.

Everybody comes to see what's going on and then the food that you serve afterwards, It was just really wonderful.

It's really great.

It's been beyond what I expected when we started three years ago.

And what I love seeing is folks from all over the state, especially aapi folks, come and ask questions.

For a lot of them the first time coming down to the capitol.

And then the food is a huge component.

We have folks from parts of the state that have never tried some of the aapi dishes that we've brought to the capitol.

And so I I love bridging our communities that way yeah it was really great yeah and we become a better state when we share our culture and educate others about where we come from.

So it's a special event well thank you for that and thank you for coming on the show.

Thank you.

Thank you for having me.

That does it for lawmakers today.

We return tomorrow for the halfway point in the session day 20.

Have a good evening W