Georgia Amendment 2, Establish a State Business Court Amendment (2018)

Elections in Georgia, 2018

• General election: Nov. 6
• Voter registration deadline: Oct. 9
• Early voting: Oct. 15 - Nov. 2
• Absentee voting deadline: Nov. 6

• Online registration: Yes
• Same-day registration: No
• Voter ID: Photo ID required
• Poll times: 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.

---

On the ballot: U.S. House • Governor • Lt. Gov • Attorney General • Secretary of State • State executive offices • State Senate • State House • Special state legislative • Supreme court • Appellate courts • Local judges • State ballot measures • School boards • Municipal • Democratic primaries • Republican primaries

Georgia Amendment 2
Election date November 6, 2018
Topic State judiciary
Status a Approved
Type Constitutional amendment	Origin State legislature
List of Georgia measuresGeorgia Amendment 1Georgia Amendment 2Georgia Amendment 3Georgia Amendment 4Georgia Amendment 5Georgia Referendum AGeorgia Referendum BSubmit

Georgia Amendment 2, the Business Court Amendment, was on the ballot in Georgia as a legislatively referred constitutional amendment on November 6, 2018. It was approved.

A "yes" vote supported amending the state constitution to establish a state business court and establish procedures and rules for judicial selection, term length, and judge qualifications for the court.

A "no" vote opposed amending the state constitution to establish a state business court and establish procedures and rules for judicial selection, term length, and judge qualifications for the court.

Election results

Georgia Amendment 2
Result		Votes	Percentage
Yes		2,560,107	69.01%
No		1,149,503	30.99%

Results are officially certified.

Source

Measure design

Amendment 2 was designed to allow the creation of a statewide business court with a statewide jurisdiction for use under certain circumstances. Under the amendment, the court's judges are to be appointed by the governor and approved by a majority vote of the Senate and House judiciary committees. Judges would serve a term of five years. Judges on the court would be eligible to be reappointed for any number of terms under the measure.

Text of measure

Ballot title

The ballot title for Amendment 2:

“

Shall the Constitution of Georgia be amended so as to create a state-wide business court, authorize superior court business court divisions, and allow for the appointment process for state-wide business court judges in order to lower costs, improve the efficiency of all courts, and promote predictability of judicial outcomes in certain complex business disputes for the benefit of all citizens of this state?

”

Ballot summary

The ballot summary for Amendment 2 was as follows:

“

This proposal creates a state-wide business court with state-wide jurisdiction for use under certain circumstances. It contains provisions relating to venue, jurisdiction, and powers of such court and provides for selection, terms, and qualifications of state-wide business court judges. It amends Article VI of the Georgia Constitution by revising Sections I, II, Ill, IV, and VII. A copy of this entire proposed constitutional amendment is on file in the office of the judge of the probate court and is available for public inspection.

”

Constitutional changes

See also: Article VI, Georgia Constitution

Amendment 2 amended sections 1-4 and 7 of Article VI of the state constitution. The full text of the proposed constitutional changes is available here.

Readability score

See also: Ballot measure readability scores, 2018

Using the Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level (FKGL and Flesch Reading Ease (FRE) formulas, Ballotpedia scored the readability of the ballot title and summary for this measure. Readability scores are designed to indicate the reading difficulty of text. The Flesch-Kincaid formulas account for the number of words, syllables, and sentences in a text; they do not account for the difficulty of the ideas in the text. The state legislature wrote the ballot language for this measure. The FKGL for the ballot title is grade level 30, and the FRE is -4. The word count for the ballot title is 65, and the estimated reading time is 17 seconds. The FKGL for the ballot summary is grade level 13, and the FRE is 39. The word count for the ballot summary is 86, and the estimated reading time is 22 seconds. In 2018, for the 167 statewide measures on the ballot, the average ballot title or question was written at a level appropriate for those with between 19 and 20 years of U.S. formal education (graduate school-level of education), according to the FKGL formula. Read Ballotpedia's entire 2018 ballot language readability report here.

Support

Georgians for Lawsuit Reform led the campaign in support of Amendment 2. Georgians for Lawsuit Reform described itself as "an organization focused on ensuring a fair, balanced, and efficient legal climate for all Georgia citizens." Reid Smith, the community affairs coordinator, gave a presentation at the Cartersville-Bartow County Chamber of Commerce on April 9 where he said that doing outreach in support of this amendment was a top priority of Georgians for Lawsuit Reform.

Sponsors in the legislature

The following legislators sponsored this amendment:

• Rep. Chuck Efstration (R-104)
• Rep. Terry Rogers (R-10)
• Rep. Trey Rhodes (R-120)
• Rep. Christian Coomer (R-14)
• Rep. Wendell Willard (R-51)
• Rep. Barry Fleming (R-121)

Arguments

• Georgia Governor Nathan Deal (R) said, “A constitutional created business court would provide an efficient and dependable forum for litigants in every corner of our state."
• Bill Clark, director of political affairs at the Georgia Trial Lawyers Association, supported the idea of a business court but wanted the judges to be elected not appointed. Clark said, "They just do complex business litigation, and so it allows those judges to focus on the issues that are important to the two parties, and hopefully bring resolution to the two parties."
• Georgia State Senator Jen Jordan (D) also supported the idea of a statewide business court, but, like Clark, said that the judges should be elected rather than appointed.
• Reid Smith, community affairs coordinator for Georgians for Lawsuit Reform, said "The Fulton County business court pilot has seen a lot of success... because they have judges [who] are able to litigate the facts of the case, litigate the pretrial matters before the cases get to court and they're able to come to resolutions quicker."
• Chris Clark, CEO and President of the Georgia Chamber of Commerce said: "If you run a business in Fulton or Gwinnett counties, and you’re in Atlanta and you get into a legal conflict with another business, maybe somebody suing another, you can actually opt to go to a business court. You get to save money and you don’t have to go through the normal court system. You free up the court system, and you have a judge that knows business issues and you guys can get that thing done, knocked out and back to work. It works great in Atlanta.”

Campaign finance

See also: Campaign finance requirements for Georgia ballot measures

Ballotpedia did not identify any committees registered in support of or in opposition to the measure.

Background

Georgia Governor Nathan Deal (R) created the Court Reform Council by executive order on March 30, 2017. The council was created to "review current practices and procedures within the judicial court system and the administrative law hearing system and make recommendations to improve efficiencies and achieve best practices for the administration of justice." A subcommittee of that council recommended creating a state business court. The council issued its final report on November 20, 2017, recommending the creation of a Georgia statewide business court.

The Law Office of Ichter Davis, a law firm tracking this legislative action, lists the key points of the Court Reform Council’s recommendations. They are as follows:

• Cases would continue to be filed in superior or state court but could be removed to the business court on motion. A business court judge, not the superior or state court judge, would rule on the issue of removal.
• The proposed subject matter jurisdiction of the business court would encompass actions:
  • Brought pursuant to or governed by the Georgia Business Corporation Code, Uniform Partnership Act, Uniform Limited Partnership Act, Revised Uniform Limited Partnership Act, Limited Liability Company Act, or Uniform Commercial Code;
  • Involving securities, antitrust, intellectual property, cybersecurity or biotechnology issues;
  • Arising out of or rooted in e-commerce that meet amount-in-controversy requirements;
  • Implicating the Georgia International Arbitration Act;
  • Premised on professional malpractice claims involving a business dispute subject to an amount-in-controversy requirement; and
  • Constituting contract or business tort cases, also subject to an amount-in-controversy requirement.
• Business court judges would be appointed, not elected.
• Any jury trials would take place in the circuit where the action was originally filed.

Local Business Courts

Georgia had two local business courts that had been implemented as pilot programs in Fulton County and Gwinnett Couty. The Fulton County business court had been operating since October 2005 and expanded to serve Gwinnett Superior and Gwinnett State Courts in July 2016. The purpose of the business court was "to provide judicial attention and expertise to certain complex business cases and to facilitate the timely and appropriate resolution of such disputes."

Committee to explore feasibility of statewide business courts

On May 15, 2018, in response to the passage of House Resolution 993, the Council of Superior Court Judges of Georgia created a committee to explore the feasibility of implementing statewide business courts. The committee produced a draft of its report at the end of August 2018. According to a council notice, “The committee is charged with developing a plan to provide the legislature with alternatives which would accomplish the intent of the legislature to create a process for the efficient resolution of complex business cases at a cost savings to the taxpayer."

Path to the ballot

See also: Amending the Georgia Constitution

To put a legislatively referred constitutional amendment before voters, a two-thirds (66.67%) vote is required in both the Georgia State Senate and the Georgia House of Representatives.

Amendment 2 was added to the House hopper as House Resolution 993 on January 31, 2018. On February 28, 2018, the state House voted 142-25 in favor of it, with 13 not voting or excused. On March 29, 2018, the state Senate amended the proposal and approved it as amended in a vote of 46-7, with three not voting. The House concurred with the Senate's changes on March 29, 2018, in a vote largely along partisan lines of 120 to 52; the amendment needed at least 120 votes to pass in the House.

Vote in the Georgia State Senate March 29, 2018
Requirement: Two-thirds (66.67 percent) vote of all members in each chamber
Number of yes votes required: 38  a
	Yes	No	Not voting
Total	46	7	3
Total percent	82.14%	12.50%	5.36%
Democrat	11	7	1
Republican	35	0	2

Vote in the Georgia House of Representatives March 29, 2018
Requirement: Two-thirds (66.67 percent) vote of all members in each chamber
Number of yes votes required: 120  a
	Yes	No	Not voting
Total	120	52	8
Total percent	66.67%	28.89%	4.44%
Democrat	11	51	2
Republican	109	1	6

See also

2018 measures

• 2018 ballot measures
• State judiciary on the ballot

Georgia

• Georgia ballot measures
• Georgia ballot measure laws

News and analysis

• Ballot measure lawsuits
• Ballot measure readability
• Ballot measure polls

External links

• Georgia House Resolution 993
• 2018 Proposed Constitutional Amendments and Statewide Referendum Questions