“All labor has dignity”

That quote is from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s speech supporting striking sanitation workers in Memphis, Tennessee on Feb. 12, 1968. It gains a renewed resonance for Atlanta’s Martin Luther King Jr. Day parade on Monday, which attracted strong union turnout as local workers mobilize and unionize.

Earlier in the day, unionized Avis workers held a rally at Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport to demand better pay and working conditions ahead of contract negotiations set to resume next month. Organizers from their union, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Rep. Lydia Glaize (D-Fairburn) and three local Democratic Socialist politicians turned out in support, including Atlanta City Councilmember Kelsea Bond, Rep. Gabriel Sanchez (D-Smyrna), and Jeremiah Olney, who’s challenging Rep. Stacy Evans (D-Atlanta) in House District 57. Read more about it here. 

Meanwhile, PepsiCo drivers in Northwest Atlanta voted Jan. 15 to unionize with the Teamsters, and another contingent of PepsiCo drivers in Lithonia is expected to vote today. We’ll have a story on that later this week.

What’s happening in the Legislature

The Georgia Legislature is back in session, so here’s a look at what’s going on under the Gold Dome. 

Gov. Brian Kemp laid out his budget priorities for fiscal year 2027, which begins July 1, in his final state of the state address last week. That marks the starting point for the legislature’s budget process, which kicks off with joint hearings today through Thursday.

The liberal-leaning Georgia Budget and Policy Institute released an initial analysis of Kemp’s $38.5 billion spending plan for FY 2027 last week. The group’s takeaway: Kemp’s $46.4 million appropriation for SNAP food assistance does a good job filling the gap from federal funding cuts, but his budget should go a lot further to fund higher education. It will release its full analysis at its annual Georgia budget conference on Jan. 23.

Atlanta Civic Circle will be keeping an eye on the General Assembly’s budget process and legislation related to housing, labor, and democracy. A few bills have already caught our attention. 

A Republican bill to regulate local governments’ use of artificial intelligence (AI) that we covered last year, HB 147, is back — after passing the house in 2025, but stalling in the senate. The senate recommitted it last week, meaning there’s hope for the legislation. 

Georgia Democrats in the senate have introduced four bills to check federal overreach, aimed specifically at the Trump administration’s deployments of the National Guard and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to US cities. The Georgia Recorder has a good roundup of the proposed legislation. The bills seek to make it Georgia law that: 

  • ICE agents don’t wear face coverings and can be identified by badges.
  • Any federal agency must obtain a judicial warrant  to conduct operations in schools or churches. 
  • Georgians can bring civil lawsuits against federal agents who violate their constitutional rights.
  • National Guard troops cannot be deployed without consent from Georgia’s governor, unless there is a lawful reason invoked by the US President.

And Democrats in the house are tackling housing affordability. Rep. Mary Margaret Oliver (D-Decatur) penned an op-ed in the Atlanta-Journal Constitution outlining a “practical set of proposals” to lower homeownership and tenancy costs, strengthen tenant rights and build more homes. She invited House Republicans to partner on budget and policy solutions for working families priced out of the housing market.

ICYMI: Akbar Ali, Georgia’s youngest lawmaker

The Georgia Legislature’s youngest member, Rep. Akbar Ali (D-Lawrenceville) just started his second week on the job. Atlanta Civic Circle sat down with Ali before the session started to hear his perspective and legislative priorities.

→ Read the full Q&A here. 

Today’s Democracy Digest was written by Alessandro Marazzi Sassoon and edited by Meredith Hobbs. As always, thank you for reading and supporting local journalism.