ATLANTA — Supporters of a new religious liberty bill are trying to pressure lawmakers to get it to the floor of the House for a vote.
The measure has already passed the Senate.
Some Republicans insist the bill is needed to protect people of faith, while Democrats say it only gives people a license to discriminate.
There are only two days left in the legislative season.
Supporters of the new Religious Freedom Restoration Act, or RFRA, gathered at the capitol Tuesday for a news conference to put pressure on lawmakers to bring their bill to the floor of the house for a vote.
Acworth Republican state Sen. Ed Setzler, who wrote the bill, insists this bill is necessary to protect people of faith from, what he says is, unwarranted government intrusion. He thinks he has the votes to get it across the finish line.
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“I’m confident the house of representatives will support this. I think the votes are there. I think there are people in both parties that would like to support this,” Setzler said.
House Minority Leader Carolyn Hughley believes the bill will hurt businesses and people.
“If Georgia wants to remain the No. 1 state to do business, why would you do this? Because it’s simply a license to discriminate, and our caucus is going fight vigorously against it,” Hughley said.
Sandy Springs Democrat Esther Panitch is the legislature’s only Jewish member. She thinks that without an underlying civil rights law, this bill will allow people and businesses to discriminate against minority religions and the LGBTQ+ community simply because they don’t like them.
“RFRA is a terrible bill. It’s touted as protecting minority religions. It would not. It would discriminate against minority religions including Judaism,” Panitch said.
The House has set its agenda for Wednesday, and the RFRA bill is not on it, but that doesn’t mean it can’t come up, or on Sine Die on Friday.
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