InsiderAdvantage has learned that any version of the so-called “Religious Freedom Restoration Act” introduced last year by several legislators including Sen. Josh McKoon of Columbus, will be deep sixed by the leadership of the House and Senate in the upcoming legislative session.
One longtime insider described the legislation as “the Cobb Commission anti-gay resolution on steroids” in a reference to the resolution which led to Cobb County losing its role in the 1996 Centennial Olympics. Top leaders from both the legislature and governor’s office have reportedly assured business leaders that any bill this year will receive “a pretty chilly and very rapid dispensation.”
McKoon has earned a reputation as a firebrand legislator who is willing to take on powerful legislators over issues he deems important. But, according to a high placed source, any legislation he introduces on the matter for 2015 will “either have to have no bark and no bite or won’t see the light of day.”
As an underlying issue, observers are questioning whether the Metro Atlanta Chamber and Georgia Chamber of Commerce’s strong early opposition to any form of McKoon’s bill, coupled with reported support for some form of tax hike to fund transportation in Georgia, will create a reprisal of past “conservative caucuses” such as have emerged within the GOP House and Senate in prior years.
“I guess if the Tea Party and the Christian conservatives were to form some coalition over the two issues, it could conceivably create some division within the GOP” said former state lawmaker and InsiderAdvantage CEO Matt Towery. “But,” he added, “I experienced the Cobb resolution and its ramifications first hand as Newt’s (then-Speaker Newt Gingrich) Chair and as a Cobb legislator. We as a county lost a great deal and gained nothing in return. And it really politically damaged the commissioner credited with its introduction.”
At issue is the legislation’s aim to allow business owners to refuse doing business with or providing service to individuals or companies if the owners stated that to do so would violate their religious beliefs. “They don’t understand the bill and the way it would be toned down” one legislator told IAG. “But they also don’t understand that the leadership doesn’t want it moving forward and therefore it won’t.”
Ironically, state Representative Sam Teasley of Cobb County sponsored the legislation in the House last year. Cobb business leaders have been quick to point out that the legislation could have a negative impact on the Atlanta Braves and their move to Cobb County. Towery put that in context by sharing a story from the 1996 controversy.
He recalled: “I received a phone call from a leader with the Olympics telling me that Cobb would be passed over for the planned Olympic event and the torch run. The person asked how best to reach Newt and what I thought would be his reaction. An hour later the same person called back and said that Newt had hit the roof when told of the decision. But what no one knew was how upset Newt was with the Cobb Commission for ever creating such a controversy. And that was all just over a resolution. I can only imagine the reactions in the business and sporting world to a statewide bill.”
