Nine years after similar legislation ignited a firestorm of protest from business and civic leaders in Georgia, state Gov. Brian Kemp (R) recently signed a new bill aimed at protecting “religious freedom.”

Modeled on the federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) of 1993, the bill’s sponsors say it will prevent government agents from impeding individuals’ religious rights and enforcing laws that conflict with religious expression. The Republican-led state House approved the bill in a 96-70 vote.

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In previous years, state legislators failed to pass a so-called RFRA amid fierce opposition. Like those versions, the current bill is framed as an expansion and protection of religious rights.

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Critics say just like earlier versions, the new bill will be used to deny the civil rights of LGBTQ+ people and other minorities. They also worry the RFRA will be cited as a basis for passing anti-LGBTQ+ laws, further restricting reproductive rights, allowing business owners to discriminate at their own discretion, and controlling educational materials in schools.

Opponents of the RFRA include state House Rep. Ruwa Romman (D), who believes that without an underlying civil rights law explicitly prohibiting discrimination, the bill will give people a license to discriminate against people or lifestyles they don’t like. Georgia doesn’t have comprehensive state civil rights protections.

“Because at the end of the day, those who will bear the brunt of this are not those in the majority. It’ll be us, people in the religious minority,” said Romman, who spoke of her own Christian faith while denouncing the bill.

Gov. Kemp disagreed with Romman’s take, telling reporters, “I don’t buy that. I don’t think we’ve seen that in other states, and I think our record speaks for ourselves here in Georgia.”

Georgia still remains a state where there is no place for hate, and I can assure all Georgians of that today,” he said at the RFRA’s Friday signing ceremony. At least 29 states have similar “religious freedom” laws.

The bill recalls highly contested legislation that former Gov. Nathan Deal (R) vetoed in 2016 amid widespread protests and concerns from Georgia’s business community that it would hurt their ability to attract employees and tourists. The Metro Atlanta Chamber once again expressed opposition to the new religious freedom legislation.

The bill’s sponsor Sen. Ed Setzler (R) said the new bill, designed in part by Gov. Kemp’s staff, is less extreme than the 2016 version.

Pro-business lawmakers took pains to distinguish this year’s bill from previous efforts, saying the new law would not override local civil rights protections in place in several Georgia municipalities.

“Every Georgian should be free to exercise their faith without unfair federal, state and local government intrusion,” Setzler said at a news conference last week. He said the bill “protects ordinary people from unfair state and local government intrusion.”

“This is not a license of private citizens to discriminate against private citizens,” said Republican Rep. Tyler Paul Smith, who presented the bill in the House. “This prohibits the government from burning religious exercise in our state.”

Republican state Rep. Deborah Silcox failed in her effort to add an anti-discrimination clause to the bill before it passed the House on Wednesday. She was one of two House Republicans to vote against it.   

Examples of “unfair state and local government intrusion” were absent, however, in testimony about the legislation.

Pressed during a House Judiciary committee meeting, Setzler couldn’t name a case where someone’s religious liberties were violated in a way that would require the bill’s protections.

“We are swatting at imaginary flies, and I’m sick of it,” Atlanta state Rep. Stacey Evans (D) said last Wednesday after the state House vote approving the bill.

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