Hate-Crimes Bill Being Proposed in Georgia

Rep. Meagan Hanson plans to pre-file hate-crimes legislation for this year’s General Assembly session, which opens Monday, Jan. 8.

The first-term Brookhaven Republican is scheduled to hold a Capitol press conference about the bill Wednesday morning, Jan. 3, with Anti-Defamation League Southeast Regional Director Allison Padilla-Goodman.

ADL National Director Jonathan Greenblatt launched the organization’s 50 States Against Hate initiative to promote hate-crimes laws as one of his first actions in August 2015 when he appeared in Atlanta at an event commemorating the centennial of the lynching of Leo Frank.

Georgia is one of five states without a hate-crimes law, a situation that emerged as a priority for the Atlanta Initiative Against Anti-Semitism at its first meeting in March.

Georgia enacted such a law in 2000 with strong support from the Jewish community, but the state Supreme Court threw it out in 2004 for being too vague in defining a hate crime. Subsequent efforts to pass hate-crimes legislation foundered over LGBTQ inclusion.

Hanson told the Reporter Newspapers that her bill will include protections for people targeted for crimes based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

The Jan. 3 press conference unveiling the legislation is due to include law enforcement officials and representatives of the Coalition for a Hate-Free Georgia, a group put together by the ADL.