Leaders of the Georgia General Assembly announced Thursday the current legislative session was being suspended indefinitely amid concerns about the spread of the Coronavirus.
The House and Senate will suspend their work after Friday. The announcement was made by Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan in the Senate and Speaker David Ralston in the House. Ralston urged House members to go home Thursday night or Friday morning. The Senate is expected to be in session for at least part of the day Friday.
The initial suspension is for a maximum of 30 days, although Sen. Butch Miller, R-Gainesville, the senate’s pro tem, said legislators could come back earlier than 30 days.
“As we get to the Capitol every day, there’s 600 to maybe a couple of thousand people in the building every day, it just seems like the prudent things to suspend,” Miller said. “I commend the governor’s task force and the governor’s office for leading the way on this.”
Earlier Thursday, Gov. Brian Kemp ordered thousands of state employees to work from home for now as the state moves to contain the spread of the Coronavirus. Kemp said the virus had claimed its first victim in Georgia, a 67-year old man who had underlying health issues and was hospitalized last week at WellStar Kennestone Hospital in Marietta.
““I hope this thing is overblown, but if it’s not, we’ve got to do everything we can to protect our elderly loved ones and those who are especially at risk from dying from this disease,” the governor said in a late-afternoon briefing. “I would tell Georgians out there that I’m not unilaterally making these decisions. I’m conferring with the experts. You have a lot of experts that are really smart following this issue, and we’ll continue to follow the facts.”
Kemp did not close the Capitol, nor did he declare a state of emergency. But he told school superintendents they had permissions to close if local officials thought it was prudent.
Miller said shutting down the legislative session for now was the wise decision. Already, the legislature’s page program had been suspended, and visitors have been limited.
“We know that gatherings of 200 people or more becomes exponentially more dangerous and more likely to spread the virus,” Miller said. “We’re trying to limit the spread of the virus to make sure there are enough facilities, beds, ventilators to serve the patients who need them.”
Miller said most legislative business, including most committee work, would likely be suspended. He said leaders would re-evaluate the situation regularly.
Thursday was the 28th day of the 40-day legislative session. It’s also known as “crossover day,” the day on which legislation must have passed at least one house to be considered for further action this session. Friday would count as the 29th day, so when lawmakers do return, they’ll have 10 days left in the session.
“No one pushed back on the suspension of the session,” Miller said. “In fact, most people welcomed it.”
The decision to suspend the session came on the same day the Major League Soccer and Major League Baseball suspended their seasons and the NCAA cancelled March Madness and the championship in all winter and spring sports in an effort to contain the spread of the virus.
