Last Friday’s early General Assembly adjournment exposed a Republican split on election-related changes (including the banning of QR codes on ballots) and left some unpassed bills to be carried over into the January 2026 legislative session.
Just before 9 pm Lt. Gov. Burt Jones— the Republican leader of the Senate— and his lieutenants became locked in a disagreement with GOP House Speaker Jon Burns (along with Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and probably Gov. Brian Kemp) on how best to proceed with election overhaul legislation.
One complicating factor: An Executive Order from President Donald Trump directing decertification of federally approved voting systems that use QR codes to encode votes. Another hurdle: How to legislatively define further rulemaking by the State Election Board (dominated by a pro-Trump majority constantly feuding with Raffensperger).
A compromise, especially regarding the impact of the Executive Order, wasn’t meant to be. Senate leadership didn’t see a way forward and closed shop after 9 pm while the House was wrestling with a thorny school speed zone camera issue. Burns adjourned at 10:37 pm. Initially, the House leadership was irritated, but all seemed calmer by Sunday. Jones declared: “I’d been saying all day we’re going to adjourn early, and I made it pretty clear I don’t tell the House how to run their chamber, and they don’t tell me how to run mine. So there’s no problem there.”
Interestingly, Georgia is one of only two states using barcodes on statewide ballots. And there has been longstanding bipartisan criticism that QR codes cannot be read or verified by voters. But here’s the bottom line: The touchscreen system that encodes votes in a QR code is scheduled for decertification within 180 days under the Trump Executive Order. That leaves two questions looming: What will the secretary of state do? What will the State Election Board do?
Some Republican and Democrat lawmakers wanted to push a last-minute bill mandating the use of hand-marked paper ballots, but that was also derailed.
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The early end of the 2025 legislative session also left the future of school zone speed cameras in limbo until next year.
The House was debating a substitute for House Bill 651 – one of two bills addressing school zone cameras – when the Senate adjourned. The House went on to pass the substitute 140-29, but with the Senate adjournment, final action on the bill now can’t take place until the 2026 session begins next January.
“This is the first time in my 30-plus years that I tried to pass a bill, and there was no one left to receive it,” veteran Rep. Alan Powell, R-Hartwell, the measure’s chief sponsor, said on the House floor.
Powell’s HB 651 sought to strip school boards of the authority to install the devices, leaving that decision to cities and counties. Another bill, House Bill 225, sponsored by Rep. Dale Washburn, R-Macon, would have banned new contracts with the companies that install school-zone speed cameras starting in July 2027 and repealing the law allowing them starting in July 2028.
Lawmakers did approve legislation Friday that would give innocent people who were convicted and sent to prison money for the time they spent behind bars, while also allowing defendants to recover legal costs when their prosecutor is disqualified and the case against them is dismissed.
Senate Bill 244, by Sen. Brandon Beach, R-Alpharetta, would allow President Donald Trump to recoup millions spent on legal costs defending himself against election interference charges in Fulton County under a measure headed to the governor’s desk.
Beach said he proposed the measure so Trump and his 14 fellow defendants recoup fees if Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis is ultimately disqualified from the election case. In December, the Georgia Court of Appeals disqualified Willis, citing her romantic relationship with a top prosecutor in the case. Willis has appealed that decision to the Georgia Supreme Court.
“These people have a right to get their reputation back and have compensation,” Beach said.
