Georgia lawmakers pass bill that lets property owners file claims over homelessness and immigration

ATLANTA (AP) 鈥� Georgia lawmakers passed a bill early Friday that would allow property owners to file claims against local governments if the individual believes policies that ban people from sleeping outside and to cooperate with federal immigration authorities were not enforced.

If Republican signs the bill, individuals will be able to demand compensation from local governments amounting to alleged lost property value or expenses incurred because of failure to enforce policies such as bans on public camping, loitering and panhandling, and bans on sanctuary policies limiting cooperation with federal immigration authorities.

The bill鈥檚 sponsor, Athens Republican and U.S. House candidate Rep. Houston Gaines, said it鈥檚 important to hold cities accountable for enforcing the law. Business owners and homeowners should not have to spend money because a locality fails to clean up encampments, he added.

鈥淎llowing illegal encampments, theft and disorder to flourish is not kindness,鈥� Gaines said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 neglect.鈥�

Democrats and homelessness advocates say the bill would cause law enforcement to arrest people because they have nowhere to sleep and spur frivolous lawsuits paid for by taxpayers. They also say lawmakers should invest in housing and resources that could help unhoused people instead of send them to jail, which could hinder them from securing jobs and homes.

鈥淭his bill is ineffective, cruel, and makes it harder to solve homelessness,鈥� said Jesse Rabinowitz, campaign and communications director with the National Homelessness Law Center. 鈥淚t鈥檚 also a thinly veiled attempt by lawmakers to score cheap political points on the .鈥�

Lawmakers added a last-minute amendment that could also let people ask courts to order the local government to follow bans on sanctuary policies.

Georgia state , a Democrat, called the bill 鈥渘uclear bad policy.鈥� He said if claims go to court, it would be hard to prove whether someone鈥檚 property value fell because of unenforced immigration or homelessness policies.

鈥淲hat you鈥檙e inviting is a bunch of court cases where homeowners who are aggrieved at the local government can come make spurious claims about causation and have essentially a circus in court, which wastes judges’ time, it wastes juries’ time,鈥� McLaurin said.

Opponents also noted that local governments aren鈥檛 necessarily responsible for who sleeps outside on a given night.

Justin Kirnon, who works for the city of Atlanta, said at a committee meeting that the city has made in reducing homelessness, and those from outside the city often go there because of the resources the city has. But homelessness is not an 鈥渋ssue that you can just police your way out of,鈥� he added.

鈥淲e all agree a lot of things have to be done on this topic, but this isn鈥檛 the right approach,鈥� Kirnon said.

鈥淭his essentially turns the city鈥檚 general fund into a refund pool for any property owner that is dissatisfied with law enforcement鈥檚 outcomes when it comes to these particular matters.鈥�

A mandates that local law enforcement cooperate with federal authorities to identify and detain immigrants in the U.S. illegally, or else lose state funding. Lawmakers have since considered other proposals the same population.

鈥淲hen local governing authorities choose ideology over enforcement, it sends a message that our laws are optional, and when laws are optional, public safety suffers,鈥� said Republican state Sen. Clint Dixon Thursday.

Republicans bill last year, weeks after a man was crushed inside his tent by a bulldozer during a homeless encampment clearing in Atlanta, but it did not pass both chambers at the time.

The bill鈥檚 provisions related to homelessness stem from proposals written by Cicero Institute, a conservative think tank based in Texas that has been pushing policies such as encampment bans .

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Kramon is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse 太子探花 Initiative. is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.