ATLANTA — Georgia's elected leaders will soon be returning to the Gold Dome for a new legislative session. It kicks off in January and lawmakers are already preparing for what's expected to be a busy session.
State Senate President Pro Tempore John Kennedy, a leader in the Republican caucus, spoke one-on-one with The Georgia Vote about his legislative priorities in 2025.
Excerpts are below. You can watch the full interview in the video player above.
Hurricane Helene relief
"The one thing that I think is going to be the most pressing issue as we all return back to the Gold Dome...is what do we do about hurricane relief for the victims of the communities and the families of hurricane Helene...it is a generational devastation on families and communities and the truth is that the state doesn't step in and we don't provide some help and relief to those communities, you're going to have whole small communities that are simply not going to survive."
Tax rebates
"One of the things we're going to work on and continue with the governor's leadership is continued tax relief for hard working Georgians and families. We have worked hard on that with the governor's leadership, but also we've led in the Senate and [I] was very pleased...to be at the announcement where the governor is going to plan to [provide] tax income rebates of a billion dollars in this next year 2025 session."
School safety
School safety is always top of mind for parents and the deadly shooting at Barrow County's Apalachee High School intensified concerns.
"It is a horrible circumstance that we have all too often seen on the news, but it got visited here in Georgia in a very tragic way. And so I think what you will see is a continuation of the efforts to try to make sure that schools have the resources they need so that the children and parents, when they drop their children off, they know they're dropping their children, their child off in a safe environment," said Kennedy.
He said conversations will continue about resources and the needs of schools around the state. Kennedy contemplated legislation that could increase schools' safety budgets. He also referenced potentially issuing panic buttons to schools.
"It is extremely effective and improves the resource and response time of first responders coming," he said.
Watch the extended conversation and The Georgia Vote on 11Alive+. Download the app for free on Roku, Amazon Fire TV, or your Apple TV device.