Kemp outlines plans, previews budget address

Gov. Brian Kemp unveiled plans Wednesday to create a new state anti-gang task force and devote $69 million in one-time funds for school security grants, as he began to outline more specifics of his first-year agenda days after taking office.

The Republican also promised to deliver an “historic and well-deserved” pay raise for Georgia’s public school teachers at his State of the State address on Thursday. Kemp said he would hike teacher pay by $5,000 during the campaign, but he’s likely to divvy up the raise over several years.

His remarks came at the Georgia Chamber's annual Eggs & Issues breakfast, the second in a series of events this week where Kemp will lay out many of his priorities. At the events, he has pledged to work across party lines after a divisive election that he narrowly won.

His school safety plan will include $30,000 for each of the state’s 2,294 public schools to use as they see fit for school security – such as hiring officers, paying for cameras or metal detectors or more data analysis.

As another part of the plan, he said he would put a mental health counselor in all 343 state public high schools to “engage with struggling students and help provide the resources needed to prevent disruptive, aggressive and potentially violent behavior.”

“The classroom should be a safe haven for students - not a hunting ground for school shooters,” he said.

And his anti-gang initiative will include $500,000 in initial funds to form a task force with a “highly qualified group of experienced law enforcement personnel” to work with district attorneys and law enforcement officials to target gang violence.

Each of the initiatives were staples of his campaign for governor against Democrat Stacey Abrams.

It's another reflection of how Georgia Republican leaders are promising to focus on pocketbook issues rather than fights over social divides that energize the GOP's rural base, after stinging electoral setbacks in Atlanta's dense suburbs.

To reinforce that point, House Speaker David Ralston announced a new initiative – a House panel focused on arts and entertainment – that aims to grow Georgia's film industry and other creative businesses. During the campaign, Kemp said he would pour a total of $90 million into school safety initiatives, with plans that also included financing a school safety division within the Georgia Department of Education.

It’s the latest in a series of efforts by Georgia Republicans to address safety initiatives after mass shootings at schools without delving into a debate over new gun control measures.

Case in point: House and Senate lawmakers last year allocated $16 million in school safety funding after the mass shooting at a Parkland, Fla. school left 17 people dead. A range of gun-related proposals, meanwhile, stalled in the Legislature.

The November election heightened the divide. Top Georgia Democrats bucked years of pro-gun positions last year to embrace new restrictions, such as a ban on assault rifles and waiting periods.

And leading Republicans, including Kemp and just about every other high-profile GOP candidate, pushed to aggressively expand where people can carry firearms.

Since his election, Kemp has said he would continue to champion Second Amendment rights. But he's been notably non-committal about a plan he supported in the campaign to let people carry concealed firearms without a permit.

Gang violence

Kemp's "stop and dismantle" program also played a central role in his run for governor. He first unveiled it in April as part of a broader push to emphasize crackdowns on crime and illegal immigration.

The plan would create a statewide Gang Strike Team to help local authorities combat the crime and give the state Attorney General more power to prosecute gang members.

Kemp would also pour an unspecified amount of state funding to improve a database created in 2010 to track gang members and launch a public awareness campaign on the dangers of gang-related crime.

The proposal dovetails with Kemp's campaign-trail rhetoric, which echoed President Donald Trump's focus on targeting MS-13 and other violent gangs as a linchpin of his criminal justice policy.