ATLANTA (AP) – Georgia’s lieutenant governor proposed his own version of a hate crimes law Wednesday, calling on lawmakers to protect broad categories from bias crimes, including people victimized because of their culture and exercising First Amendment rights including worship, free speech and assembly.
Republican Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan made the proposal after days of pressure by House lawmakers, business leaders and community activists to move on giving Georgia a state hate crimes law again. A previous effort was found unconstitutional by the state Supreme Court more than a decade ago, leaving Georgia as one of only four states without a hate crimes law.
“This is the right time and the right place in history for Georgia to lead on this,” Duncan said.
Advocates have long been seeking to renew Georgia’s law penalizing hate crimes. That push intensified after the February slaying of Ahmaud Arbery near Brunswick. Investigators have said that one of the white men charged in the case uttered a racial slur after chasing Arbery down and shooting him.
Georgia’s House passed a simpler and more conventional measure last year. House Bill 426 would add penalties to crimes committed because of someone’s race, color, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, gender, mental disability or physical disability. A person found guilty of a hate crime would be sentenced to an extra three to 12 months for misdemeanor and an extra two years or more for a felony.