Senator-elect Ed Brown unveils ‘Blueprint for Building a Better Georgia’

ALBANY – This is the time of year most politicians are either gearing up for the challenges that await them on Election Day or resting on their laurels, enjoying the last couple of months or so of calm before the hoopla surrounding the legislative session starts up.

Edward Brown is not most politicians.

Having overwhelmingly defeated a pair of challengers in the battle to replace long-time District 12 state Sen. Freddie Powell Sims – and a court challenge by one of the candidates he trounced in the Democratic primary – Brown is doing something you just don’t see politicians doing, especially these days.

Brown already has made a stop in Calhoun County to talk with constituents about their primary concerns, and he’s planning 12 more stops – one for each county in the district – before he takes off for the Gold Dome as a freshman member of the state legislature.

“I want the people in the district to know that we’re going to Atlanta with a plan,” Brown, the vice president for Strategy and Acquisitions with the Fred Taylor Co. in Albany, said. “I want everyone – those who voted for us, those who voted against us and those who didn’t vote – to know precisely what we plan to do in the coming session.”

And while many political newcomers’ plans might include easing into the fray to get the lay of the land, Brown’s “Blueprint for Building a Better Georgia” shows no such timidity.

“From expanding Medicaid to providing tax breaks for new farmers to changing how we fund public schools to creating an economic development bank to expanding from a part-time to a full-time legislature … we have a list of bills that I guarantee we’re going to drop into the hopper,” Brown said. “Yes, these are lofty goals, but whether they succeed or not, we’re going to put these forward during the session.”

Brown has stops planned in Miller and Stewart counties this week, and he’ll make appearances in Sumter, Webster, Quitman, Clay, Randolph, Terrell, Dougherty, Early, Baker and Mitchell counties over the next few weeks to discuss issues that impact the region.

“I know data centers and Flock cameras are in the news, but people in our part of the state are more concerned about the third, fourth or fifth job they have to take just to try and survive,” the Senator-elect said. “People want to know about jobs, about improving their income.

“I talked to a lady in Arlington who, with tears in her eyes, said, ‘People have forgotten about us … they’ve left us for dead.’ And she’s right. We can’t spend the next 20 years here doing what we’ve done the last 20. By allowing capital flight away from here to metro Atlanta, we’ve seen capital following capital, and people following along. That can’t continue to happen.”

Brown said he has 14 prospective bills that he plans to put before his colleagues before the 2027 40-day session ends. They include:

– A “fair and inclusive act” that reinstates graduated tax brackets;

– A “healthcare opportunities act” that will expand Medicaid;

– A “vote now act” that will allow same-day voter registration and halt voter purges;

– A “fresh start for farmers act” that halts all state taxes on farmers for the first 10 years of their operation;

– A “blueprint to zero act” that will end homelessness in the state over the next 10 years;

– A “summer act” that will secure meals and funding for every region of the state; 

– A “keep public funds in public schools act” that will eliminate vouchers for private schools;

– A “go ag act” that will increase funding for ag education in public schools;

– A “hope-plus act” that will expand HOPE Scholarship funding to include room and board vouchers for students in need;

– A “serve act” that creates a full-time legislature in Georgia;

– A “feed act” that increases funding for food and nutrition programs;

– A “seed act” that incorporates poverty weight into the public school funding formula;

– An “impact act” that will create a Georgia Economic Development bank;

– A “home act” that will create a statewide minimum lot size for homes.

“Rural Georgia will be a priority for us, and one of my primary goals will be to get the metro Atlanta politicians, the governor, the lieutenant governor and the Labor commissioner to invest in areas outside the Capital,” Brown said. “Atlanta’s infrastructure is crumbling, and one of the best ways for the state to battle that is to invest in rural Georgia.

“One of the things I’m telling people during this tour of the 13 counties is that I want them to hold me accountable. I’m telling them what I plan to do, and if I don’t follow through, I encourage them to vote me out of office.”

Not exactly words you hear from most politicians … but as we said, Edward Brown is not most politicians.