GEORGIA: Session Ends With No RFRA

It’s almost midnight in Georgia on the last day of the legislative session and legislators are still banging away at bills about craft beer and jet fuel. But the RFRA bill is dead. Via the Atlanta Journal-Constitution:

Georgia’s bid for a “religious liberty” measure has been on life support for days, but leaders pulled the plug on the legislation with just a few hours left in the legislative session. Gov. Nathan Deal, who has repeatedly said he would support legislation that mirrored the 1993 law, signaled the debate has become too toxic. He said in an interview that supporters ensure that anti-discrimination language is in the measure next year if they want to earn his signature. “That’s the most important thing. And that is a delicate thing to do,” he said. “There’s been so much hyperbole. It’s hard to identify what can you say without saying too much, what can you say without saying too little, and what will people read into either version that you like.” And House Speaker David Ralston told GPB’s “Lawmakers” program late Thursday that the controversial legislation will resurface next year. “We have a committee process and we have acted on that process. It just couldn’t get out of committee … I’m not going to have the House committee process subverted.”

Mark down today as 0-3 for the haters.