Bathroom break

‘Religious liberty’ bill passes during a bathroom break

By Daniel Malloy and Greg Bluestein

Whether you call it the Motorman’s Friend or Stadium Pal, if you’re a Senate Democrat in the state Capitol, you might consider ordering one.

On Monday, Vincent Fort, D-Atlanta, had sat through an hour-long education committee meeting, followed by a 90-minute hearing on his no-knock-warrant bill. Assisted by a few bottles of water.

So after he quickly checked in with chairman Josh McKoon at his Senate Judiciary Committee meeting, Fort made a dash for the bathroom. By the time he got back, S.B. 129, the stalled religious liberty bill authored by McKoon, had been pulled off the table and voted through by his committee. Which at the time, consisted only of Republicans.

“When I got back, it was gone. [McKoon] knew I was going to come back,” Fort said. “It seems to me the right thing would have been to delay the vote until all the members who had appeared at the committee were in the room.”

Alerted by a staffer in the audience, other Senate Democrats rushed to the scene, but were too late.

The committee passage of S.B. 129 was a dramatic turnaround for Senate Majority Leader Bill Cowsert, R-Athens, who had been targeted by religious conservatives after leading the effort to stall the bill.

According to our AJC colleague Kristina Torres:

The new version is sparser and hews to federal language already on the books. It does not, however, include an anti-discrimination amendment first proposed by Senate Majority Leader Bill Cowsert, R-Athens, to state clearly that the government had a compelling interest to act against religious beliefs if it prevented child abuse or protected individuals from discrimination.

On Monday, Cowsert said he was satisfied without it. Cowsert took care to praise McKoon, saying he had been “unfairly attacked in the press and some groups trying to make an argument that it’s a pretext for religious discrimination.”

Supporters of S.B. 129 and H.B. 218, the House version, will hold a 2:30 p.m. rally today at the state Capitol. But don’t expect a speedy vote for McKoon’s bill. His vote may be needed on some tough issues, including a transportation funding bill and Gov. Nathan Deal’s school-rescue program