Georgia Legislative Black Caucus pushes civil rights, Medicaid expansion at Capitol

The Georgia Legislative Black Caucus arrived at the Georgia Capitol Monday to advocate for their legislative priorities.

Coinciding with the start of Black History Month, the organization laid out their priorities in six categories: health, housing, wealth, education, safety/justice and advocacy.

State Rep. Jasmine Clark, D-Lilburn, said that Georgia needs its own civil rights legislation like Texas, Louisiana and North Carolina and is the lead sponsor in House Bill 670, which would be just that.

“In a state that produced prominent Civil Rights leaders like Martin Luther King and John Lewis, Andrew Young and Hosea Williams and so many others, it is actually shameful that the state of Georgia has less protections against discrimination than some of our Southern neighbors,” Clark said. “We as a nation are watching the unraveling of civil rights happen right before our eyes all across the country.”

Clark said the bill would also require the state to collect data on racial profiling and traffic stops by law enforcement.

The caucus advocated for bipartisan support on voter accessibility, expanding protections for workers’ rights and increasing the state’s minimum wage.

Here are the caucus’s top priorities in each category:

• Full expansion of Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act
• Incentivize affordable housing
• Create tax incentives, grants and low-interest loans for Black-owned businesses
• Ensure quality education for Black students in underfunded areas through equitable K-12 funding
• Focusing on trust-based policing that includes de-escalation, mental health and anti-bias training
• Improve living conditions and reduce pollution in Black communities

Read the caucus’s full list of priorities at gablackcaucus.org.