When Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal announced his planned veto of the controversial “religious liberty” bill earlier this week, it was a sign that the business community — particularly the film industry — was able to influence the governor’s decisions, according to political watchers and those in the industry.
Critics argued the legislation would have prompted legal discrimination against the LGBT community, according to ABC News. The bill’s proponents, however, claimed the legislation would have protected the religious freedom of those in the faith-based community, including churches, private schools and adoption agencies, by allowing them to refuse services to anyone with whom they had a serious moral objection. The bill was seen as religious conservatives response to last summer’s Supreme Court decision that legalized gay marriage.
The ruling had more to do with the potential negative business impacts of the legislation than lobbying of the LGBT community, said Charles S. Bullock, Ph.D., a University of Georgia Professor of Public and International Affairs.
That’s a view shared by Stephen Geller, a SCAD liberal arts professor and member Screenwriting Branch of the Motion Picture Academy of Arts and Sciences.
The veto is a “recognition of another strong dose of nasty capitalism as political muscle by all them nouveau carpetbaggers,” Geller said.
According to Bullock, Governor Deal and the state of Georgia have used tax policy, referred to as tax expenditures, in the past to lure film and television productions to Georgia. Those filmmakers threatened to halt production in Georgia if the bill was signed into law.
“To have signed the legislation and seen Disney and other production companies leave Georgia would have undone those efforts and undercut the inducements offered to attract the industry,” Bullock said.
Geller said he would be surprised if the Governor did not take the threats of the film industry to be potentially damaging, especially since Georgia rates third nationally in what is known as “runaway production.”
Multiple businesses, such as tech firms SalesForce and MailChimp, threatened to leave Georgia if the bill became law. Bullock said the Governor likely took these and other threats seriously.
“Georgia was suffering a PR nightmare with much negative commentary on TV news shows and in the press, e.g., NY Times,” Bullock added.
On a national scale, Bullock believes the veto enhances Governor Deal’s image just as the passage of the legislation put the General Assembly in a negative light.
“The sponsor of the legislation in the House, who is now running for the vacant 3rd Congressional District seat, has called for a special session of the legislature at which he hopes to override the veto,” Bullock said.
Bullock believes getting the required three-fifths of both chambers to sign on to a call for a special session is unlikely to succeed. According to Bullock, even if a special session convened, it is unlikely that the two-thirds vote needed to override the veto could be assembled.
“Sponsors of the bill will almost certainly introduce similar legislation next year,” Bullock said. “With the lieutenant governor and speaker as supporters of this kind of legislation, it is likely to be enacted. The question then becomes whether Deal is prepared to veto a similar bill for each of the last two years of his term.”
Written by Emilie Kefalas.
