Georgia lawmakers have seven days left to complete business this session. In addition to the budget, which they are mandated by the constitution to pass, they are also considering a hate crimes bill for the state. District 118 Representative Spencer Frye says the current plan in the senate is not what he expected.
“Extremely unexpected, it puts in a little bit of religious discrimination, it puts in a little bit of protective of heritage groups,” Frye said.
Heritage, is that a code word?
“It’s a code word for Sons of the Confederacy and whatnot, the Ku Klux Klan, protecting hate speech and it’s really extremely disappointing.”
Frye says this is not the first time the plan has come up.
“You know the Hate Crimes Bill, House Bill 426 was originally passed in a bipartisan measure by the House, not this year, but last year. It hung up in the Senate for about 400 and some odd days, and then I guess when it was politically expedient, they dedicated to act on it,” according to Frye.
“We have been asking them to pass a clean hate crimes bill, as passed by the House for over a year, 16, 17 months.”
He says this version of the measure does not actually protect likely victims of hate crimes.
“And really disappointed at the version that was put out by the Senate. It seems like it’s not protecting the people that have hate crimes mostly committed against them as much as it seems to be protecting the purveyors of the hate crimes itself.”
The senate will hold a committee meeting Thursday afternoon to discuss the bill.
