It’s been a whirlwind of a year for Bo Hatchett and Victor Anderson. Both were elected to office last year amid a series of pandemic election delays and, in Hatchett’s case, a runoff.
Anderson, of Alto, was elected to succeed Terry Rogers as District 10 State Representative. Hatchett was elected to succeed John Wilkinson as District 50 State Senator.
Both freshman legislators have spent the past 40 days acclimating to life at the State Capitol. They’ve done so amid heightened COVID-19 protocols and a flurry of controversial legislation, most notably, voting rights bills.
On the final day of this year’s legislative session, the two Habersham natives took time Wednesday to reflect on their inaugural session.
Hatchett’s main goals in this legislative session were to pass the controversial election and gun bills, which he believes served the people of Habersham county.
“I was very happy that we were able to pass that,” Hatchett said about HB-218, the bill that loosened gun restrictions in Georgia. “We’ve taken a lot of heat since that passed from some media sources, but I think it was an important bill to protect the second amendment.”
This bill passed just two weeks after the spa shootings in Atlanta, but Hatchett says this bill wasn’t reactionary. “It was a bill that we intended to have throughout the whole session, and I’m glad we got that,” he says.
As for the new election law that Kemp signed into order on Mar. 25, Hatchett couldn’t be more pleased.
“I’m excited that we were able to pass the election bill,” Hatchett said. “It was worth the debate that we had and I think it’ll help the [election] board have more secure, transparent elections.”
The new election law has been criticized by civil rights activist groups, and Atlanta companies like Home Depot and Coca-Cola oppose the new legislation.
“I think it [the law] will make it [voting] much, much safer than we had,” Hatchett said. “Requiring an ID for absentee voting I think is huge. There were a lot of things that went into that bill that we vetted. I was on the ethics committee and got to hear a lot of testimony, and I do think it’ll make it better.”
Anderson says that while this law was one of the most important he helped pass, it’s in the past now, and he’s looking on to the next challenges.
“Now we’re finalizing– putting the finishing touches and perfecting […] legislation dealing with hospital and nursing home visitation,” Anderson says. “There’s a bill I’ve just passed myself, and had some help from Senator Hatchett on the Senate side, is one that deals with cybersecurity issues and local governments.”
Anderson’s bill helps protect local government’s sensitive information from hacking and ransomware attacks, like those we saw in this past year in Cornelia and Hall county.
But at the end of the day for both Senator Hatchett and Representative Anderson, their biggest goal in this legislative session was to learn more and gain experience.
“My goal originally was to come down here and learn as much as I could about the system, how it works and what it takes to get things done here,” Anderson said. “I’ve accomplished a lot of that, but at the same time, I’ve had the opportunity to carry three bills that have let me learn different aspects of what it takes to make or change laws in Georgia.”
“I’m proud of where we are and proud of the things we’ve got to do for the district,” Hatchett says. “I’m looking forward to […] finishing this day strong and be ready next January.”
