Senator Russ Goodman: A Legislative Look

In this podcast, Georgia Senator Russ Goodman provides an overview of the 2022 legislative session and the agricultural industry. 

Representing Georgia’s 8th district—Atkinson, Clinch, Echols, Lanier, Lowndes, Pierce, and part of Ware counties—Goodman is a seventh-generation farmer and co-owner of Cogdell Berry Farm and the Great American Cobbler Company. He is passionate about saving family farms and understands the regional and global economic importance of farming and the struggles of being a small business owner. 

What you’ll learn in this podcast:

• In 2020, Goodman and family members started the Great American Cobbler Company in Homerville, Georgia. Producing blueberry, blackberry, apple, and peach cobblers—(made with locally and regionally sourced products—the company quickly expanded to more than 7,000 grocery stores across the U.S. 
• During a busy 2022 legislative session, Goodman said key wins include:
  •  The FY23 budget included $900,000 to renovate the South Georgia Regional McMullen Southside Library.
  • Georgia’s teachers received pay raises. 
  • Mental health funding received bipartisan support. 
  • The state’s multi-month gas tax suspension and income tax cuts provide financial assistance to Georgians. 
  • House Bill 1064 passed unanimously in the Senate and exempts up to $17,500 in military pension from state income tax for veterans under 62 years old.      
  • Parent’s Bill of Rights (HB1178) gives parents fundamental rights to “direct the upbringing and education of their minor children.”
  • House Bill 385 allows some (high need areas) retired Georgia teachers the ability to return to teaching full time and still collect their state pensions. 
  • The “Georgia Grown Farm to Food Bank Bill” (Senate Bill 396) assists food banks in buying directly from farmers. 
  • The “Freedom to Farm Act” protects farmers and property owners and expands agricultural education programs in elementary classrooms. 

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