ATLANTA- Several Georgia state House Republicans have come together to form the Republican Study Committee. The newly formed group has over 25 members who meet at least once a day to help each other evaluate and discuss every piece of legislation under consideration in the House.
“Our goal is to promote conservative policy in the best interests of liberty and prosperity for all Georgians,” said Representative Charlice Byrd (R-Woodstock). “We accomplish this by working together to better understand the consequences of each bill and how it will affect the lives of Georgians.”
This new conservative group in the House has a leadership team comprised of Representatives Charlice Byrd, Steve Davis (R-McDonough), Calvin Hill (R-Canton), Doug Holt (R-Social Circle), Barry Loudermilk (R-Cassville), Tom Graves (R-Ranger), Martin Scott (R-Rossville), and Ed Setzler (R-Acworth). Together these representatives help their fellow House members score each piece of legislation based on a five point test: 1) Does the bill reduce the size of government, 2) Does the bill reduce taxes or fees, 3) Does the bill encourage personal responsibility by individuals and families and encourage them to provide for their own needs, 4) Does the bill increase opportunities for individuals or families to decide how to conduct their own lives and make personal choices, and 5) Does the bill stay with the limits of the proper role of government?
Based on the results of this test, each piece of legislation is then scored. Each member of the RSC can then use this test to help them decide the position they take on each piece of legislation.
“This is not an organization bent on telling House members how to vote,” said Representative Loudermilk. “We just want to help give members the tools needed to fully understand the affects of legislation in order to make better personal voting decisions based on our conservative principals.”
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