ATLANTA – State Representative Floyd Griffin (D-Milledgeville) recently introduced House Bills 40 and 203, which would allow the Secretary of State to serve as chair of the State Election Board and include alumni of historically black colleges or universities (HBCUs) to serve on the Board of Regents.
“As I begin my first term in the Georgia House after previously serving in our state’s Senate, I look forward to working with old and new friends in supporting legislation to better our communities and state,” said Rep. Griffin. “These two bills seek to do just that – improve our state and communities. By re-instating our Secretary of State as chair of the State Election Board under HB 40, we ensure that our election’s board is more accurately represented by our state’s voters. Furthermore, under HB 203, we commit to accurately representing our state’s university system by guaranteeing that a position of the Board of Regents is held by a member of a HBCU. I am grateful for the support of my legislative colleagues on these two pieces of legislation and look forward to their movement through the Georgia General Assembly.”
HB 40 would require that Georgia’s Secretary of State serve as the State Election Board’s chairperson. Currently, the chair is elected by the General Assembly through a joint resolution passed by majority vote in both the House and Senate and then certified by the governor.
HB 203 would require that the University System of Georgia’s Board of Regents include at least one at-large member of the board to be a graduate of a historically black college or university.
The full text of HB 40 may be found here, and the full text of HB 203 may be found here.
Representative Floyd Griffin represents the citizens of District 149, which includes portions of Baldwin, Bibb and Jones counties. He was first elected to the House of Representatives in 2024 and currently serves on the Defense & Veterans Affairs, Special Rules and State Planning & Community Affairs committees.
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