No bills were heard on the floor of the Georgia House or Senate on the seventh day 2024 state legislative session. However, state lawmakers had a slew of issues to discuss.
Here’s a look at what legislators were up to under the gold dome:
Augusta lobbies for new veterans cemetery
The Augusta delegation in both the state House and the Senate welcomed a group of 40 veterans to the Capitol to call attention to a project now four years in the making: the construction of a new veterans’ cemetery in Augusta, which is home to Fort Eisenhower. Among the group of visitors was former Augusta Mayor Bob Young and current Commissioner Alvin Mason.
“We are trying to find a way to honor our veterans by allowing them to be interred in their home community,” said state Sen. Max Burns (R- Sylvania).
Proponents of the project say they have been unable to secure more federal funding for the cemetery and are turning to the state legislature to help fill the gap.
“We have over 66,000 military families in the greater Augusta area,” Rep. Gloria Frazier (D-Hephzibah) said, noting that the two closest veterans’ cemeteries are the Veterans Memorial Cemetery in Milledgeville and Fort Jackson National Cemetery. Both are more than 80 miles from Augusta.