Ep.4: "I'm Disgusted" w/guest Reps. Inga Willis and Omari Crawford

How do we feel now that the biggest vote of Georgia's legislative session is behind us? We're holding nothing back as we discuss the happenings in the House chamber on the day of the recent vote on SB 68 - TORT REFORM!

summary

In this episode of Georgia House Rules, Representative Karen Lupton is joined by colleagues Representative Omari Crawford and Representative Inga Willis to discuss the recent tort reform vote in the Georgia House. They share their experiences on the House floor, the emotional impact of the vote, and the legislative process surrounding the bill. The conversation highlights the importance of protecting victims' rights and the responsibility of legislators to serve the public. They also reflect on the public's response to the legislation and the need for advocacy in the face of challenges. In this conversation, the speakers discuss the challenges and responsibilities faced by legislators, particularly in the context of advocating for vulnerable populations. They reflect on the importance of teamwork and strategic decision-making in navigating legislative processes, emphasizing the need for unity and preparation for future battles. The dialogue highlights the complexities of governance and the necessity of balancing individual district needs with broader legislative goals.

takeaways

• The tort reform vote was a significant event in the Georgia House.
• Emotions ran high during the legislative process.
• The importance of protecting victims over profits was emphasized.
• Public advocacy is crucial in influencing legislation.
• Legislators felt a deep responsibility to their constituents.
• The vote reflected a broader struggle for justice in the legal system.
• There was bipartisan support against the tort reform bill.
• The impact of the bill on everyday Georgians was a major concern.
• The legislators expressed disappointment in the outcome of the vote.
• The conversation highlighted the need for continued advocacy and engagement. Poverty is not a choice and should not be treated as such.
• Legislators often face difficult choices and must prioritize battles.
• Teamwork is essential in governance, especially in a caucus.
• Advocacy for vulnerable populations is a core responsibility of legislators.
• Legislation can be complex and may not always align with personal beliefs.
• Preparation for future legislative challenges is crucial.
• The dynamics of team sports can be mirrored in legislative processes.
• Not all legislation is perfect, but improvements can be made through collaboration.
• Voices of the minority party are vital in the legislative process.
• Leadership requires sacrifice and commitment to the greater good.

Sound Bites

• "I did not come here to cower."
• "It was one of the darkest days."
• "This was a manufactured crisis."
• "Our job is to protect them."
• "It helps companies, not people."
• "Poverty is not a choice."
• "It's a knife to a gunfight."
• "Shame on you."
• "Tighten up Democrats."

Thank you for listening!

Transcript

Karen Lupton (00:00)
Hello and welcome again to Georgia House Rules with Representative Karen Lupton. I'm your host. And today I have with me two really fabulous reps that I am really proud to call colleagues. We want to talk a little bit about, of course, the big elephant in the room is the tort reform vote that happened in the Georgia House last week. But we have many miles to go before we sleep here in the Georgia General Assembly. So

my good friends, Representative Omari Crawford and Representative Inga Willis are here to talk us through it today. Thank you both of you for being with me.

Inga (00:42)
Absolutely.

Omari Crawford (00:42)
Thanks for having me. Thanks for having us.

Karen Lupton (00:46)
We have a, this may sound strange to some people, but we call each other classes when we all come in at the same time. So Inga and Omari and I are in part of the same class. We were elected the same year and had our first moments in the General Assembly together. So we've got a pretty tight bond, I think.

Inga (01:06)
I would agree.

Omari Crawford (01:07)
Yes. Yes, yes.

Karen Lupton (01:09)
It's like soldiers in the foxhole, so to speak.

Inga (01:11)
You're

one of our faves, you're one of my faves.

Karen Lupton (01:14)
Well, you know, the feeling is mutual. We should retitle this episode, you know, the Mutual Admiration Society of the Georgia General Assembly. besides that, Inga, can you tell us a little bit about your experience of Thursday, which was when the House took up tort reform, SB 68.

Omari Crawford (01:14)
Absolutely one of mine.

You

Karen Lupton (01:42)
and the battle that happened there on the floor.

Inga (01:45)
Wow. Yes, I can. And I think that's a great way to frame the question. We all have different experiences, right? Even in moments that we share. So through my lens, it was a very hectic day. We knew that it was coming. We've been preparing for this moment for the entirety of session. And to be quite candid and honest, even before there had been talks about it, that

And to the public, means not just convening with one another, discussing it with one another, conversations amongst lobbyists, conversations amongst victims, being called out to the ropes by victims, by lobbyists about this. So there was this tired, unending ping pong of back and forth between the seat, when is the vote coming? We had heard that it was coming on that particular day.

I did not think it was going to come quite that early. So all of a sudden I'm sitting there playing my position and helping my teammates prepare to be great for the day and the way that I do. And I look up and it's just on the screen and I asked Rep Crawford, I'm like, Mari, it now? He's like, yes, it's now. He'd slid his speech under my laptop that he was going to give as I was on my computer working.

working with Chairwoman Miller and it was a, it was the best of times and the worst of times. I was the proudest of my seatmate, Representative Crawford, for what he was able to bring to the conversation in that moment. I could not be prouder of our Chairwoman, Tanya Miller, for possibly one of the best well speeches I've heard since I've been in the legislature.

Karen Lupton (03:37)
Amen.

Inga (03:38)
in terms of being informed and reaffirming the position that we took as a caucus. And that was to stand on our value proposition of protecting people over profits. What it felt like in the moment was surreal, fast, happening. What's the vote gonna be? know, when are we, I'm ready to push my button. I've been ready to push my button since.

before session started because I knew what I was going to do. So I want to make sure my button wasn't sticking. Is it working? Is everything okay? Because it's a no for me. but it was surreal. It was also heart wrenching and heartbreaking to see that in the very moment, that we were one vote away from denying this governor something that he wanted that was so harmful to our people.

Karen Lupton (04:14)
Martino.

Inga (04:33)
And that as a caucus to reflect as a party that we had an opportunity to say no collectively and even had some Republican support to be quite honest with you in the vote. It was astonishing. But I was, I was gutted. I still am. It's not over. But I did what I committed to do. And I stood with my caucus and I would do it again. And I stood for the people of Georgia.

Karen Lupton (04:48)
Yes, we did.

Inga (05:02)
And that's what I was elected here to do. And I stood for victims and I stood for children, seniors, people who don't have the means to, or even know how to obtain an attorney and still believe even now that justice should not, we should not insert hurdles into the obstacle course of obtaining justice. We should remove them. And so that's how I felt.

Karen Lupton (05:30)
Yes,

we are in agreement about that. think, well, all three of us on this podcast did cast no votes for this legislation. And Omari, in fact, you spoke against it as Inga mentioned. You spoke against it in the well. What was that like for you?

Omari Crawford (05:52)
Thursday is a blur, mainly because as representative Willis said, it had been something that had been hanging over the Capitol since the first day of session. And when the governor gave his state address discussing something that he was going to prioritize and even require a special session, should the legislation not pass.

So when it finally came to the floor on Thursday, I got to the Capitol very early on Thursday morning to go to our caucus meeting and to also speak with a few individual members of our caucus to kind of explain to them my position with the bill, why I think the bill is dangerous and why the bill would make it more difficult for

people catastrophically injured to receive justice. And that are those challenges when you juxtapose that to how it will allow insurance companies to have more money. I mean, to me, I thought that it was a pretty simple answer of how we should look at this legislation. Got to the House floor and I saw

and realize it was very tense. You had a lot of people that were for and against Senate Bill 68 outside of the ropes. So was a very crowded day at the Capitol. And my seatmate and I always exchanged pleasantries, and we did on that day, as always. But I could, it was just a lot of tension in the air. She was busy in her computer. And I remember the leadership in our caucus.

Confirmed because it had been questioned whether or not I was going to speak to it. I didn't know Well, it was confirmed probably about 30 minutes before The bill was actually called. I got the confirmation. Okay, you will speak to the bill and so as my seatmate rep will have said I start typing some things in my phone getting some notes prepared. Okay, what am I going to say and

I don't know that I've ever seen the gallery in our chamber with that many people before.

Karen Lupton (08:22)
Yeah, there were a lot of witnesses here for this vote.

Omari Crawford (08:25)
it

and there were so many people counting on the caucus. And so my position at the time, you know, and I want to give special recognition to a few representatives, Williams, Sam Park, and without a doubt, Stacey Evans and Tonya Miller, right? For the work that they put into trying to stop this bill.

Karen Lupton (08:45)
Absolutely.

Omari Crawford (08:53)
from getting through the subcommittee that was created and trying to offer amendments and their attentiveness and being down at the Capitol for hours and days with the weight of so many victims and advocates on their shoulders and they did a phenomenal job. And each of them also spoke.

against the bill as well as Shea Roberts, but I definitely want to acknowledge the four that stayed with this for a long time. It made remarkable speeches.

I want to thank the four caucus members, Representative Al Williams, Sam Park, Stacey Evans and representative chairwoman Tanya Miller for the work that they put into trying to stop this bill in the subcommittee that was created to hear it and how they spoke up for victims and advocates. did a

I mean, Herculean effort in trying to stop this bill, which was a governor prioritized bill. And just to back up, they did an incredible job. And to back up what Representative Willis said, Stacey Evans and Tanya, this is not to, you I will put my own speech to the side. Stacey Evans and Tanya Miller, my God. mean,

Karen Lupton (10:17)
and came pretty close to stopping it. I mean, you know.

Inga (10:20)
One vote.

Omari Crawford (10:38)
Tanya Miller had one of the most phenomenal speeches I've ever heard in my life. Stacey Evans is phenomenal speech. And, know, that was, in my opinion, that was our super bowl. That was the biggest stage. I don't care what side you were on. The entire state felt like it was not only watching, but almost sitting in the gallery. And we came up.

Karen Lupton (10:38)
It was impressive.

Mm-hmm.

Oof.

Omari Crawford (11:08)
one vote short, so that hurts. That is something that I have been wrestling with over the last few days because it was so much energy put into this one piece of legislation. And I'm hurt for not only what the vote looked like, but what it does, right? Like this is something that again is going to make victims of terrible violent acts.

is going to make it more challenging for them in court. that's, I hate that.

Karen Lupton (11:45)
That's not what we're here to do. Certainly not. It was a very, very intense day. I mean, for me, I've been a hard no on tort reform since the beginning, and I'm not all that involved with caucus. I'm not tight with caucus leadership, and neither am I an attorney. So basically, I had a couple of texts.

Omari Crawford (11:47)
Yeah.

Inga (11:47)
No, it's not.

Karen Lupton (12:14)
Nobody had ever really called me out to the ropes. I put it out there very loudly, very clearly. Hey, I'm a hard no on this. Don't bother with me. But there were one of the interesting and difficult things that we have as Democrats is very little leverage with which to say, Hey, we need you to stick with us as a caucus or else.

Omari Crawford (12:24)
Yeah.

Karen Lupton (12:44)
Question mark? It's very, very difficult.

Inga (12:45)
be a one.

Big question mark.

Omari Crawford (12:52)
Yeah. You know, I think everyone who spoke against the bill had different reasons and reasons of why the bill was not a good bill, right? In my effort, it was to look at the efficiency and how this bill would interfere with the efficiency of our independent judiciary branch.

Karen Lupton (12:53)
Big question marks.

Omari Crawford (13:21)
This is a bill that is going to create more backlogs in our courts. you know, that's something that should be important to everyone, even if you don't really understand the weeds and the nuances of what it will do to everyday Georgians, which I think is extremely important as well. It's the most important. But for people who are like,

so-called love the government and love that we have three branches of government and stick their chests out about the efficiency of the checks and balance system that we have in this country and in this state for me.

That was what I was trying to encourage people to really understand that you can't on the one hand be a person that acknowledges the Constitution and acknowledges three branches of government and love that we have three branches of government, but then support a bill that is handcuffing our judicial branch. We are telling you what you can and cannot do in your courtroom based upon

this false narrative that we have created that says you are having too many frivolous lawsuits. You're having too many nuclear verdicts. Neither is true, right? And so I think that was more so of my position coupled with the terrible things that this bill will do for everyday Georgians.

Karen Lupton (14:44)
No, no.

Yeah. And it does seem like separation of powers has been both on the federal level and the state level. Yes. And I want to thank both of you, Inga and Omari, for your bravery, your leadership, for your steadfastness in this fight. I've been telling folks, you know, because I've had some folks ask me, know, like, my God, what now?

Inga (15:03)
It seems like a theme.

Omari Crawford (15:06)
Yeah.

Inga (15:06)
Seems like.

Karen Lupton (15:23)
I've been encouraging folks to get in touch with the governor's office directly. because it's not going to, okay. What I try to make clear is it's not going to stop governor camp from signing tort reform. He's going to sign it and he's going to, you know, be very proud about it. However, we know that governor camp wants more. He wants higher office. So what I'm asking people to do is if you don't like this, contact his office.

and say, we will remember this the next time you ask us for your vote. We're not giving you money. We're not giving you our support. feel like that's leverage that we as voters can throw out there to remind the governor that there's a whole lot of other people in the state who do not agree with him. Inga, have you had people ask you for advice?

Inga (16:17)
so many. I had several speaking engagements this weekend. One was with a literary club that is a black literary club here in Atlanta that's about 110 years old. The gifts were banned books on the table. These women, these backbones of community, these trailblazing black women whom I deeply admire.

Karen Lupton (16:36)
Nice.

Inga (16:47)
whom have poured into me all of my life and whom I have the honor and privilege of sitting with at times. We're in this setting this weekend, just as an example, and they are watching. came up, they said, so what are we gonna do? Who were the three votes? What are you all doing about it? What happened? So it let me know that there is more than I've seen before, a keen awareness and focus on state politics right now.

Karen Lupton (17:03)
Mm. Mm.

Inga (17:15)
from people who typically focus on national or even closer local, right? So I represent the city of Atlanta and Atlanta politics is festive. So there's plenty to watch if you just, you know, to see what's going on with city hall and the mayor and this and that, you know, it's a thing. But to have people ask me specifically about tort reform amongst other things like their social security.

Karen Lupton (17:19)
Yes.

Trust a-

Inga (17:44)
And it is revealing to me the connectivity between national politics and the pandemonium that that is causing, right? Uncertainty, whether the EPA is standing, Department of Education, et cetera. Social security, will they receive it? Which is just heartbreaking to hear from our seniors anyway, which make up a large part of my district. But yes, they're asking me what to do.

Karen Lupton (17:57)
Yes.

Inga (18:11)
But they're also asking Democrats to do their jobs. And so first and foremost for them is that, we shouldn't, just like with my position on tort reform, we should not be placing more of a burden on victims, right? We as the Democratic party should not be placing more of a burden on our voters who did their job and getting us here. And so that's where I sit in this moment is it should not be up to me.

Karen Lupton (18:15)
Hmm, yes.

Absolutely.

Inga (18:40)
to give a list, a litany, a bevy of options to someone who did their job and exercised their right to put us in these seats, to now have a reactive duty based upon Democrats not doing their jobs. And that is the way it's reading in the public. And that is the way it's reading to the people. And that is the way that it feels. And it's not just what it's done to the victim. It's what it's done to this caucus and what it's doing to this party. And so there is gravity in this moment.

if we fail to seize it.

Shame on us. Shame on us. I did not come here to play with you people on behalf of my people. I did not come here to bend the knee. I did not come here to cower and I did not come here to dance for governor's aspirations. I came here for different reasons. so I think Karen, I'm always with you and

Karen Lupton (19:26)
You did not.

Inga (19:44)
And that was one of the most chaotic days and darkest days of my service in this House of Representatives. It was one of the darkest and most disappointing days. It reflected not only what a chaos machine of propaganda can do. This was a manufactured crisis that was not new. There was no crisis.

Karen Lupton (20:09)
Good point.

Inga (20:12)
in the judicial system of whether jurors can't make up their minds. And if that was the case, then we will be revamping the entire jury system, juror system. That's not what we're doing. This was very concise and very specific to a specific type of case where we were forced to believe or led to believe or being swayed to believe that people who sacrifice to serve on juries can't do their jobs.

when it comes to certain things. And we gave the insurance companies layup. And the people who I've spoken with, Rep. Lupton, wanna know when we're getting our acts together. Wanna know why we didn't do what we said we were gonna do. They wanna know why we didn't protect the people. They wanna know where their deals cut. They have a myriad of questions. And it's now in the hands of the Senate and in the hands of our greater leadership, but I don't wanna...

Karen Lupton (20:48)
Yes.

Yeah.

Inga (21:13)
Tiptoe around the fact that people are outraged and so am I.

Karen Lupton (21:17)
Hmm. I, one of the reasons that I love you so much, Inga, is that you're out there and you're in it to win it all the time. You don't pull any punches and you're just so committed. That's one of the reasons that I love serving with you. And I know now Omari gets to sit next to you and see some of the fireworks that I don't get to see. I'd love to, I'd love to be on your side of the chamber.

Omari Crawford (21:43)
I annoy her every morning.

Inga (21:45)
and afternoon.

Karen Lupton (21:48)
Okay, so well, you're consistent. We can say that.

Omari Crawford (21:52)
Right, right. And you know,

in terms of consistent, I mean, I think it's a perfect segue. We are called into leadership roles for the people. And I think it's simple for the people. For the first five years of my legal career, I represented victims of premises liability and negligence security cases. And so I could describe

case after case after case of innocent people who were harmed because of negligence, omissions, and just downright apathetic slumlords and their reluctance to really upkeep their property because they didn't care. They don't care. It's about money.

talked about in the well, a young lady who was shot at and how she will forever be impaired because she was shot at by gang members that were inside of a parking lot and how this particular property had multiple shootings. But I can also talk about a young man who went inside of his new bedroom. Parents had just moved into an apartment.

and they saw it as moving on up because they came from really bad conditions before this next move. This young man for the first time has his own bedroom. He is jumping on top of his bed up and down and as soon as the family goes outside to start moving things, you know, back into the apartment, rival gangs are shooting at each other. Stray bully hits him in the head. He dies.

So these are the type of families that I used to represent. And so when you, again, make it, as my seatmate just said, you make it more difficult for them at what cost for insurance companies that are already going to make billions of dollars and they will continue to make billions of dollars, right? We're going to make it more difficult for the person who has to bury their son or the

Karen Lupton (23:51)
Well...

Mm-hmm.

They're doing fine.

Mm-hmm. Yep.

Inga (24:16)
How dare we?

Omari Crawford (24:18)
or the woman who can't even hold her arm above her head anymore, simply because they were existing. They weren't doing anything wrong. Our job is to protect them. So to Inga's point that this was a very difficult day for me, because again, I've worked in that field, right? I continue to work in that field. And so we are creating more hurdles for people

Karen Lupton (24:32)
Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Omari Crawford (24:48)
And as legislators, as if you are trying to be a public servant, your job should be to make it easier for people so you can better protect them, right? That's why we have town halls. We are bringing the government to you. How can we serve you? How can we?

Karen Lupton (24:58)
Yeah, for justice, for our laws to hold people accountable.

Inga (24:58)
Just like voting.

Just like voting.

Omari Crawford (25:15)
You know, so to vote for Senate Bill 68, think is the opposite of what we are supposed to be doing. I'm supposed to be helping. Nothing that in this bill that was drafted helps anyone, not a single living, breathing soul. It helps companies, right? I didn't come into politics to help companies.

Karen Lupton (25:36)
Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah.

Inga (25:40)
And I think one of the most gutting parts, there were many, if I'm being honest, was to hear our speaker and others say, now let's see what the insurance companies do. They told us this would reduce insurance rates. Now let's see, let's study it now and see what happens. No, we should have studied it before because part of the most upset, one of the most upsetting things is that it has been proven.

Karen Lupton (25:47)
You

Inga (26:10)
that torture reform doesn't lower insurance rates. So when you have, you know, I've got more people in my district than businesses. Although I have businesses, I've got more people and I heard from businesses. I also heard from people who told me what they wanted to do. I vote on their behalf, right? They didn't get to vote on this. We did. And that is a sacred act.

Karen Lupton (26:32)
Right. Mm-hmm.

Inga (26:37)
And so that's just where I am. How dare we stumble in the road when it comes to what's best for the people. Rape victims, survivors, seniors in uninhabitable conditions, children. You know, people act as if poverty is a choice.

Karen Lupton (26:41)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Mm-hmm. And a crime. Mm-hmm.

Inga (27:02)
and a crime versus a

Omari Crawford (27:04)
Yeah.

Inga (27:04)
circumstance.

And the value proposition that I signed up for in this party protects them. That's why I'm here. And so I'm disgusted still, and I probably will be for a while.

Karen Lupton (27:19)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah, and that's okay. Go ahead, Amari.

Omari Crawford (27:29)
You know,

no, mean, when you are in the minority party, right?

A lot of legislation comes at you, legislation that you do not support, right? And oftentimes I find myself looking at two different options. One option is to go ballistic, yell, scream, flip tables at every bill that comes through committee that I don't like, which is a lot, or every bill that comes to the house floor that I don't like, which unfortunately is a lot.

Karen Lupton (28:04)
you

is also a lot, yes.

Omari Crawford (28:12)
or you say, I'm just going to say no to this one, not flip a table and save my strength for a bigger battle. While I may dislike a lot of them, they are not all the same. I think what hurts about this one is that in my opinion,

This one will have, in comparison to some of the others that we've seen that maybe we don't like, this one was the one where I think as a caucus, we did the latter. We saved our strength and we were ready, or so I thought, to attack this thing together. And when the numbers came out and the numbers were not what we wanted,

It hurts, right? Especially when you're that close. Especially when you're that close. Yeah.

Karen Lupton (29:04)
Yeah. And when you've invested so much in it, so many

of our leadership and you guys invested so much in making sure that other legislators and people understood just what was at stake. And to see that not turn out the way we want is, boy, that sound is not going to translate well, but.

Omari Crawford (29:22)
Yeah.

Inga (29:25)
You know, and we communicated,

Omari Crawford (29:26)
Yeah.

Inga (29:29)
Rep. Lupton, we communicated to external stakeholders that, you know, the democratic vote should not be taken for granted either. You know, this was a well-oiled, well-funded.

Karen Lupton (29:34)
Mm-hmm.

Inga (29:47)
propaganda machine, a manufactured prize. And so to battle that with.

Karen Lupton (29:49)
Yeah, campaign to get this into.

Inga (29:54)
common sense and intellect, know, it's a knife to a gunfight. People are swayed. But this moment was, you know, and kudos to our chairwoman who led a valiant effort.

Karen Lupton (29:59)
Yes, it feels like that.

Inga (30:14)
in this regard and representative Stacey Evans, were like, Cagney and Lacey, LaVernas, they were like, you know, in it, subcommittee, slicing and dicing, bringing the victims forward, finding the common denominator. Hey, that's how we did get the carve out for sex trafficking victim is by calling that to the forefront. That's something that matters to the first lady of this state. So how would you make them suffer? So that hypocrisy hurt me even more.

Omari Crawford (30:15)
Yeah.

Karen Lupton (30:16)
A+.

Omari Crawford (30:25)
Yeah.

Karen Lupton (30:35)
Correct. Yep.

Omari Crawford (30:37)
Yeah.

Inga (30:45)
that you can go to court if you're a sex trafficking survivor. And yes, your life is forever altered.

Omari Crawford (30:54)
Yeah, and you know, I also want to acknowledge our leader because she also had to make a choice. Her career is in insurance.

Inga (30:55)
Click, click,

Karen Lupton (31:01)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah. I don't know if people know that, but our leader, Carolyn Hughley, works for, as she said many times, State Farm Insurance.

Omari Crawford (31:17)
Right. And she helped, you know, create what we have was just a caucus position, right? She led that charge as well. So, you know, she sacrificed, a lot of people sacrifice a lot. think, you know, my seatmate knows that I have so many great sports analogies. But, you know, it's, you get beaten the game that you work so hard for.

and it's a close game and you lose because of mistakes and errors and that's what this feels like. And so, right, and so now we have to pick yourself up and be prepared for the next big fight because it will happen. We have approximately six days left, two weeks.

Karen Lupton (31:54)
Yeah, an unforced error.

yeah.

Omari Crawford (32:16)
And there are other bills that I am ideologically opposed to that may find their way to the house floor. And so again, it is be upset about this and you have a right to be upset about this. What do you do to prepare for the next play? And I think that's what we have to look at ourselves and say. That doesn't mean that doesn't mean, you know, in my sports analogy,

Karen Lupton (32:30)
Mm-hmm.

Omari Crawford (32:45)
that you don't call the errors out in film study after the game. No, you don't. Okay. But then you also have to be prepared for that next game. And so we have some bills that may be coming to the house floor, like RFRA, the Religious Freedom Restoration Act bill, said, Bill.

Karen Lupton (32:50)
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

can't believe they're

bringing that thing back. I mean, come on now.

Omari Crawford (33:12)
Senate Bill

36, it is in committee right now. We don't know if it will make it through committee into the House floor in time. But for those who might be watching, one, the bill is a bill that's going to be used to discriminate. And that's all I need to say. It will be a license to discriminate. That I think in its most simplest form, that's what the bill is, right? And religious.

or religion will be used as a way to discriminate. And we have so many cases around our country to show what discrimination looks like through RFRA legislation. So it's tons, it's tons of it out there, right? The next thing is, will it get to the house floor this session?

Karen Lupton (33:57)
Yes.

Omari Crawford (34:08)
But for those who may be watching who don't understand this, even if it does not get to the house floor this session, it is still eligible to come to the house floor this biennium, which means it may come next year. Right. that's right. It may not come by April 4th. That does not mean that it won't come next year in 2026. Right.

Karen Lupton (34:08)
Yeah.

Yes.

Inga (34:19)
Yes.

Karen Lupton (34:20)
Yeah, they're just teeing it up this session.

Inga (34:30)
We've seen those

Karen Lupton (34:30)
in 2026.

Inga (34:31)
that we've heard were coming that haven't come. there's oftentimes just for our listenership and viewership, there are oftentimes we'll get worked up about something that's coming. We'll put efforts into it. It may or may not come. Hell, last year they tried to drop Clarence Thomas statue on Capitol grounds. So, you know, it did not come, but we were prepared for it to come. So if the theme is overreach, right?

Karen Lupton (34:49)
I remember that.

Right,

government overreach.

Inga (34:59)
Yeah,

then you it's, you never know when something is going to come to the floor. You prepare for battle as best you can. But when you're in a caucus, you make a commitment to play a team sport. And when you play team sports, look at my seatmate like, okay, go ahead with your personality, okay? But when you make a commitment to play a team sport, when the coach says run this play, we run it.

Karen Lupton (35:20)
You

Omari Crawford (35:21)
You listening?

Inga (35:28)
Sure, I could probably hit my own three-pointer just because I'm nice like that. But if you ask me to do XYZ, I'm committed to do XYZ. That's my commitment. When you don't commit to play a team sport, we lose as a team. And I think that's where we are. So just want to be clear about that. And that for me is unacceptable behavior. It's unacceptable. It's unacceptable. And how dare we act as if it's not? is unacceptable. did not. My vote, yes, I voted for Inga Willis.

Karen Lupton (35:41)
Yes.

Omari Crawford (35:45)
yeah.

Inga (35:58)
My one vote did not get me here. The rest of the votes did, you know? And so I'm just, I'm disgusted. This has been a tough session. We are a tough team, but it's hard to play a team sport when people are not playing a team sport. it's as that. Shame on you.

Karen Lupton (36:20)
team sport.

It is very, it's a real irony of this job that we have to stand for the 60,000 that elected us. But I remember speaking, I was at a bipartisan event and a woman who generally politically lives across the aisle was asking me, well, don't you guys just get to vote your conscience on everything? Like you're in there, don't you just get to vote your conscience?

Omari Crawford (36:23)
You know.

Karen Lupton (36:50)
And I laughed and I laughed and I laughed because there is that point where like, know, you folks in your district may disagree with folks in my district about something, but there is that team play aspect. and it, it, of the things that people have asked me, cause I was in local government, nonpartisan government before I got to here, they say, how is it different? I said, you have a lot more teams that you're on.

Omari Crawford (36:52)
Yeah.

Karen Lupton (37:20)
when you're in here, you have not only your party team, you know, we're the Democratic caucus, but each of us have different county delegations that we're in, different municipal delegations that we're in. We have these circles that don't always line up in these nice little pretty Venn diagrams or concentric circles that can pull us different ways. So

Omari Crawford (37:46)
Yeah.

Karen Lupton (37:49)
Sometimes, no, it's not just about what Karen Lupton wants to vote. Sometimes it is, especially when we take a caucus position, about what is the coach telling us to do right now?

Omari Crawford (38:02)
And a lot of times, yes, it is about being a team. And then I also think under the gold dome, there are oftentimes where legislation may not be good. I'm sorry, it may not be perfect, but it's good, right? And that's happened before where constituents, they ask you, well, why couldn't we get this in this bill? Listen, it was amended in its best,

shape or form. It was not going to look this particular way or that way. I remember in our first session, we all came in together. There was a bill that expanded tenant rights. House Bill 404. And a Republican, Casey Carpenter, was the primary sponsor of the bill. The bill in its original form expanded rights.

Karen Lupton (38:47)
Yes.

Yes, I remember that.

Omari Crawford (38:59)
And through amendments, it created even more rights. So we got better. But when you had people who wanted it to be so extreme, it's like, listen, it's better. It gives more rights than we previously had. It addresses a problem. And it is a good piece of legislation. It's not perfect. Similarly, this particular session

We had another bill that dealt with education, right? House Bill 268, off the top of my head, right, with, and you, so you know this all extremely well, right? I don't want to mansplain it. I've been known.

Karen Lupton (39:33)
Yes, yep, came through my commitment and education.

No.

We got a lot of other people out there who don't know what HP 268 is, so please.

Omari Crawford (39:47)
But the education and safety bill and the wellbeing of the students bill that originated in your committee, you guys made it better than its original form. And then when it got to the House floor, it was better than it had previously been, right? And so when people say, can you do certain things? Yes, yes, we can try to make legislation better. It may not be perfect, right?

And then there's legislation where it's just, in my mind, it's just bad legislation for people in my district, right? So perhaps maybe in a different district, they might say, is wonderful. Well, then my district is terrible, right? And I'm going to speak out against it and why it's bad for my district. And I think, you know, to what Rep Willis just said, yeah, like, and what you're saying as well, sometimes it's about your district that's specific, but then sometimes...

Karen Lupton (40:22)
It's just bad.

Omari Crawford (40:45)
we can look and say, generally this is probably bad for almost everybody in the state, right?

Karen Lupton (40:52)
Yeah.

And we're going to try to hang together as caucus to, to compound our power. I know it's, it has been, and the day this vote, specifically the tort vote, I was hoping we'd get to other bills. Well, I thought maybe we'd get to other bills, but tort is just too juicy. Um, so juicy. Um, that it was so big, but I do want to say, and, and

Omari Crawford (40:56)
Right.

That was a big one.

Karen Lupton (41:20)
you two having served exactly the same amount of time, that we've all been together the exact same amount of time. What happened within the Democratic caucus wasn't possible even 365 days ago. As far as having a strong point of leadership, I feel. Did we get quite the result that we wanted? No, but I wasn't sure that even last year this time.

we could have pulled together even the coalition that we had. What is it? coalition of the willing or whatever. I've been watching too much Parks and Rec in my spare time. But I wanna thank the both of you for just being the incredible public servants that you are, for lending your intelligence and passion to governance that we...

Omari Crawford (42:08)
Same for you.

Karen Lupton (42:15)
In my opinion, we need a lot more people like that who aren't, who know that they aren't here for themselves, who know that they're here for a higher calling for other people mostly. And I appreciate the fact that you guys carry that in your hearts all the time. I see it in your actions and I see it in your service. So thanks for taking the time to talk with me today.

Omari Crawford (42:36)
Thank you.

Inga (42:38)
wouldn't we? You're

one of our favorites and we appreciate you. I want to take an opportunity just to shout you out. It's not easy to find space in this place to bring our gifts to the forefront. And so I commend you for utilizing yours in this space. It's something that many of us struggle with. How do we make our individual impact and each of our contributions matter? Some seen and some unseen, but all important. And so just want to publicly thank you for, you know, utilizing

your station, sacrificing your privilege willingly. And we thank you for that. And I want people to know that, that there are often times when it's necessary to do. we have to do that for one another and for the people. just thank you, Karen, for stepping up and utilizing your voice and your privilege and instances to ensure that.

what is best for the people who's forward because I fundamentally and idealistically believe that that is who we still are and who we should aspire to be. And that is my hope.

Omari Crawford (43:49)
Yes, Karen, thank you for using your voice, which is kind of like a double entendre because you are a singer.

Inga (43:54)
And she

Karen Lupton (43:54)
you

Inga (43:55)
is.

Omari Crawford (43:57)
Is that a dead joke? Was that a dead joke?

Karen Lupton (43:58)
Or I was. No, no. No,

Inga (44:03)
Nah, it was pretty solid. It was pretty solid.

Karen Lupton (44:04)
it it. Yeah, I take that a couple steps above a dad joke. I mean, maybe an uncle, but you know. A fun, a funkel, that's right. I think that's the perfect level of joke that was.

Inga (44:08)
Yeah. A fun uncle, fun cool. Yeah, solid.

Omari Crawford (44:12)
of life.

Yeah, well, no, seriously, thank you for allowing us to just speak on this platform. to my seatmate, she said it correctly. One, and I've said this to your face, say it behind your back. Representative Lumpkin, you are one of my favorite people in the entire Capitol. thank you for speaking out, right? Like you spoke out against what was the 267 bill that came to the house floor, right?

Karen Lupton (44:42)
Yeah. Yeah, the numbers are

a blur, but yeah.

Omari Crawford (44:46)
Right,

right. And so you use your voice as well and that's what we have to do. We have to show that even though we are not in the majority party and even though we don't have the numbers to just straight stop every bill, it is important that we fight.

It is important that our voices are heard. It is important that our voices are heard for those who are not sitting in our seats. So advocacy is extremely important. It will always be important. And as we claim, because it will happen, that we will reach the majority party at some point, it's bound to happen. It's inevitable, right? We will continue to be advocates for the people in our districts. And that's important, right?

Karen Lupton (45:06)
Absolutely.

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Yep, that's the whole thing of representative government. Representative!

Omari Crawford (45:38)
Yep.

Right, I see what you did there.

Karen Lupton (45:41)
Now that was a dad joke. Well, thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I will see you guys here tomorrow. We're recording this on a Monday, and we don't have our committees today or session, but

Inga (45:42)
Buh-bye, bye.

Omari Crawford (45:49)
Thank you.

tomorrow.

Inga (45:56)
We might need to come back, Karen, because

there's so much more to talk about. we'll be back, people. We'll be back.

Karen Lupton (46:03)
To be continued. See, this is why love you guys. Okay, well, we will see you all on the next episode of Georgia House Rules. Find us wherever you find us. You'll hear it in the outro. And thank you again to Representative Inga Willis and Representative Omari Crawford for being just awesome, awesome, awesome people. See you all next time.

Omari Crawford (46:03)
In part two.

Inga (46:20)
Anytime.

Tighten up Democrats.

See y'all next time.

Karen Lupton (46:27)
Bye.