2023 Georgia legislative session
|
← 2022
2024 →
|
| 2023 Georgia legislative session |
|---|
|
| General information |
| Session start: January 9, 2023 Session end: March 29, 2023 |
| Leadership |
| Senate President Burt Jones House Speaker |
| Elections |
| Next Election: November 5, 2024 Last Election: November 8, 2022 |
| Previous legislative sessions |
| 2022 • 2021 • 2020 • 2019 • 2018 |
| Other 2023 legislative sessions |
In 2023, the Georgia General Assembly was scheduled to convene on January 9 and adjourn on March 29.
The legislators serving in this session took office following the 2022 elections. Republicans won a 32-23 majority (with one vacancy) in the Senate and a 98-79 majority (with three vacancies) in the House. The party also controlled the governorship, creating a Republican state government trifecta. At the start of the 2023 session, Georgia was one of 23 state legislatures where neither party had a veto-proof supermajority in both chambers.
Leadership in 2023
Georgia State Senate
- Senate president: Burt Jones (R)
- Majority leader: Steve Gooch (R)
- Minority leader: Gloria Butler (D)
Georgia House of Representatives
- Speaker of the House: Jon G. Burns (R)
- Majority leader: Chuck Efstration (R)
- Minority leader: James Beverly (D)
Partisan control in 2023
- See also: State government trifectas
Georgia was one of 22 Republican state government trifectas at the start of 2023 legislative sessions. A state government trifecta occurs when one political party holds the governor's office, a majority in the state Senate, and a majority in the state House. For more information about state government trifectas, click here.
Georgia was also one of 23 state legislatures where neither party had a veto-proof supermajority in both chambers. Veto overrides occur when a legislature votes to reverse a veto issued by an executive such as a governor or the president. If one party has a majority in a state legislature that is large enough to override a gubernatorial veto without any votes from members of the minority party, it is called a veto-proof majority or, sometimes, a supermajority. To read more about veto-proof supermajorities in state legislatures, click here.
The following tables show the partisan breakdown of the Georgia General Assembly in the 2023 legislative session.
Georgia State Senate
| Party | As of January 2023 | |
|---|---|---|
| Democratic Party | 23 | |
| Republican Party | 32 | |
| Other | 0 | |
| Vacancies | 1 | |
| Total | 56 | |
Georgia House of Representatives
| Party | As of January 2023 | |
|---|---|---|
| Democratic Party | 79 | |
| Republican Party | 98 | |
| Other | 0 | |
| Vacancies | 3 | |
| Total | 180 | |
Regular session
The list below shows up to 25 pieces of legislation in the 2023 legislative session that most recently passed both chambers of the legislature, were signed by the governor, or were approved by the legislature in a veto override. If no bills are displayed below, no legislation met these criteria in 2023. This information is provided by BillTrack50.
Standing legislative committees
A standing committee of a state legislature is a committee that exists on a more-or-less permanent basis, from legislative session to session, that considers and refines legislative bills that fall under the committee's subject matter.
At the beginning of the 2023 legislative session, there were 67 standing committees in Georgia's state government, including one joint legislative committees, 28 state Senate committees, and 38 state House committees.
Joint legislative committees
- Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Overview Committee (MARTOC)
Senate committees
- Administrative Affairs Committee
- Assignments Committee
- Banking and Financial Institutions Committee
- Education and Youth Committee
- Finance Committee
- Government Oversight Committee
- Insurance and Labor Committee
- Natural Resources and the Environment Committee
- Public Safety Committee
- Reapportionment and Redistricting Committee
- Regulated Industries and Utilities Committee
- Senate Agriculture and Consumer Affairs Committee
- Senate Appropriations Committee
- Senate Economic Development and Tourism Committee
- Senate Ethics Committee
- Senate Health and Human Services Committee
- Senate Higher Education Committee
- Senate Interstate Cooperation Committee
- Senate Judiciary Committee
- Senate Retirement Committee
- Senate Rules Committee
- Senate Science and Technology Committee
- Senate Transportation Committee
- Special Judiciary Committee
- State Institutions and Property Committee
- State and Local Governmental Operations Committee
- Urban Affairs Committee
- Veterans, Military and Homeland Security Committee
House committees
- Banks and Banking Committee
- Budget and Fiscal Affairs Oversight Committee
- Code Revision Committee
- Creative Arts & Entertainment Committee
- Defense and Veterans Affairs Committee
- Education Committee
- Energy, Utilities and Telecommunications Committee
- Game, Fish, and Parks Committee
- Governmental Affairs Committee
- House Agriculture and Consumer Affairs Committee
- House Appropriations Committee
- House Economic Development and Tourism Committee
- House Ethics Committee
- House Health and Human Services Committee
- House Higher Education Committee
- House Interstate Cooperation Committee
- House Judiciary Committee
- House Retirement Committee
- House Rules Committee
- House Science and Technology Committee
- House Transportation Committee
- Human Relations and Aging Committee
- Industry and Labor Committee
- Information and Audits Committee
- Insurance Committee
- Intragovernmental Coordination Committee
- Judiciary - Non-Civil Committee
- Juvenile Justice Committee
- Legislative and Congressional Reapportionment Committee
- Motor Vehicles Committee
- Natural Resources and Environment Committee
- Public Safety and Homeland Security Committee
- Regulated Industries Committee
- Small Business Development Committee
- Special Rules Committee
- State Planning and Community Affairs Committee
- State Properties Committee
- Ways and Means Committee
Legislatively referred constitutional amendments
In every state but Delaware, voter approval is required to enact a constitutional amendment. In each state, the legislature has a process for referring constitutional amendments before voters. In 18 states, initiated constitutional amendments can be put on the ballot through a signature petition drive. There are also many other types of statewide measures.
The methods by which the Georgia Constitution can be amended:
The Georgia Constitution provides two mechanisms for amending the state's constitution— a legislative process and a state constitutional convention. Georgia requires a simple majority vote (50% plus 1) for voters to approve constitutional amendments.
Legislature
A two-thirds (66.67%) vote is required during one legislative session for the Georgia State Legislature to place an amendment on the ballot. That amounts to a minimum of 120 votes in the Georgia House of Representatives and 38 votes in the Georgia State Senate, assuming no vacancies. Amendments do not require the governor's signature to be referred to the ballot.
Convention
Georgia: According to Paragraph IV of Article X of the Georgia Constitution, a constitutional convention can occur in Georgia if a two-thirds majority of the members of both houses of the Georgia General Assembly agree to hold it. That agreement does not need to be put to a vote of the people.[1]
Historical partisan control
The table below depicts the historical trifecta status of Georgia.
Georgia Party Control: 1992-2025
Eleven years of Democratic trifectas • Twenty-one years of Republican trifectas
Scroll left and right on the table below to view more years.
| Year | 92 | 93 | 94 | 95 | 96 | 97 | 98 | 99 | 00 | 01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06 | 07 | 08 | 09 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Governor | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R |
| Senate | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R |
| House | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R |
Historical Senate control
From 1992 to 2022, the Georgia State Senate switched from Democratic control to a Republican majority, with the chamber changing hands in the days following the 2002 elections. Prior to 2002, the chamber had been under solid Democratic control since the years immediately following the Civil War. The partisan change in the chamber coincided with the American South's shift from nearly 175 years of Democratic dominance to being solid Republican by the early 21st century. The table below shows the partisan history of the Georgia State Senate following every general election from 1992 to 2022. All data from 2006 or earlier comes from Michael Dubin's Party Affiliations in the State Legislatures (McFarland Press, 2007). Data after 2006 was compiled by Ballotpedia staff.
Georgia State Senate election results: 1992-2022
| Year | '92 | '94 | '96 | '98 | '00 | '02 | '04 | '06 | '08 | '10 | '12 | '14 | '16 | '18 | '20 | '22 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democrats | 41 | 35 | 34 | 34 | 32 | 26 | 22 | 22 | 22 | 20 | 18 | 18 | 18 | 21 | 22 | 23 |
| Republicans | 15 | 21 | 22 | 22 | 24 | 30 | 34 | 34 | 34 | 36 | 38 | 38 | 38 | 35 | 34 | 33 |
Before 2002, Democrats had controlled the Georgia Senate since the end of the Civil War and Reconstruction. From 1874 to 1962, Republicans never controlled more than two seats in the chamber after an election. It was not until 1986 that Republicans captured 10 seats in the chamber. Still, their gains were small in the two elections that followed and the chamber majority remained out of reach.
In 1992, Republicans went from 11 seats in the chamber to 15. In the 1994 election, they picked up six more seats and eclipsed the 20-seat mark. Their gains stagnated in the elections from 1996 to 2000 as they gained just three seats. In 2002, Republicans gained a majority in the chamber, even though they did not win the most seats in the election. Three Democratic state senators switched to the Republican Party in the days following the election. The new Republican majority coincided with the election of Gov. Sonny Perdue, Georgia's first Republican governor since the 1800s.[2]
Republicans picked up four more seats in the 2004 elections and held a 34-22 majority until the 2010 elections when they picked up two additional seats. In 2012, they won another two seats, which they held through the 2016 elections. With 38 seats, Republicans controlled two-thirds of the chambers, which is enough for a supermajority that can certify constitutional amendments for the ballot and override gubernatorial vetoes. Republicans lost five seats between 2018 and 2022. The chamber's Republican gains from 2010 through 2014 were in line with a national trend toward Republican state legislatures during the presidency of Barack Obama (D). From 2009 to 2017, Democrats experienced losses in state legislative elections, totaling 968 seats all together.
Historical House control
From 1992 to 2022, the Georgia House of Representatives flipped from Democratic control to a Republican majority, with the chamber changing hands in the 2004 elections. Prior to 2004, the chamber had been under solid Democratic control since the years immediately following the Civil War. The partisan change in the chamber coincided with the American South's shift from nearly 175 years of Democratic dominance to being solid Republican by the early 21st century. The table below shows the partisan history of the Georgia House of Representatives following every general election from 1992 to 2022. All data from 2006 or earlier comes from Michael Dubin's Party Affiliations in the State Legislatures (McFarland Press, 2007). Data after 2006 was compiled by Ballotpedia staff.
Georgia House of Representatives election results: 1992-2022
| Year | '92 | '94 | '96 | '98 | '00 | '02 | '04 | '06 | '08 | '10 | '12 | '14 | '16 | '18 | '20 | '22 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democrats | 128 | 114 | 106 | 102 | 105 | 106 | 86 | 74 | 75 | 66 | 60 | 59 | 62 | 74 | 76 | 79 |
| Republicans | 52 | 66 | 74 | 78 | 74 | 73 | 94 | 106 | 105 | 113 | 119 | 120 | 118 | 106 | 103 | 101 |
Before 2004, Democrats had controlled the Georgia House since the end of the Civil War and Reconstruction. From 1888 to 1964, Republicans never controlled more than 10 seats in the chamber after an election. In the late 1960s, Republicans began winning around 20 seats and continued to do so until 1988, when they took 35 seats. Republicans made steady gains after 1988 and eventually won the necessary seats to claim a majority in the chamber.
From 1992 to 1998, Republicans made gains on Democrats in every election. In 2004, Republicans won 94 seats, giving them a slim majority in the chamber. They continued to win seats in 2006 and only lost one seat in 2008.
Republican numbers increased from the 2010 to 2014 elections. 2014 was the first election where Republicans won 120 seats, which is a two-thirds supermajority. However, they experienced losses in elections from 2016 to 2020, bringing them below the two-thirds mark again. The chamber's Republican gains from 2010 through 2014 were in line with a national trend toward Republican state legislatures during the presidency of Barack Obama (D). From 2009 to 2017, Democrats experienced losses in state legislative elections, totaling 968 seats all together.
Ballotpedia's Election Administration Legislation Tracker
State election laws are changing. Keeping track of the latest developments in all 50 states can seem like an impossible job.
Here's the solution: Ballotpedia's Election Administration Legislation Tracker.
Ballotpedia's Election Administration Tracker sets the industry standard for ease of use, flexibility, and raw power. But that's just the beginning of what it can do:
- Ballotpedia's election experts provide daily updates on bills and other relevant political developments
- We translate complex bill text into easy-to-understand summaries written in everyday language
- And because it's from Ballotpedia, our Tracker is guaranteed to be neutral, unbiased, and nonpartisan
See also
| Elections | Georgia State Government | State Legislatures | State Politics |
|---|---|---|---|
 |
 |
 |
 |
External links
Footnotes
