Keisha Lance Bottoms: Where the candidate for Georgia governor stands on the issues

Keisha Lance Bottoms served one term as the mayor of Atlanta, where she lives. The Democrat is running for her party’s nomination for governor.

Here are her stances and record on key issues.

Affordability

Bottoms says she would lower costs for Georgians through tax cuts for teachers, investments in housing and free community college.

Each of these affordability programs targets specific groups — educators, lower-income or first-time homebuyers and students seeking to join the workforce.

Exempting teachers from state income taxes would allow them to stay in their jobs and find homes in their communities, Bottoms says.

For housing, Bottoms wants to provide grants for first-time homebuyers and give access to low-interest financing.

Bottoms says she wants to “find a pathway” to offer free technical and community college for people who need training as coders, plumbers, mechanics or utility workers. She hasn’t identified where the money for the free college program would come from.

Tax cuts

Bottoms proposes eliminating state income taxes for teachers, which would effectively give them a pay boost and make the profession more attractive to job seekers.

Her teacher tax cut plan is different from Republicans’ bills that passed the General Assembly this year, which gradually lower state income tax rates from 5.19% to 3.99% and limit annual property assessment increases.

Georgia House Republicans initially wanted to eliminate property taxes. Instead, legislators passed a bill to cap property value assessments at the inflation rate.

Bottoms says Republican legislators’ efforts to end most or all property taxes are “irresponsible.” Property taxes are the primary funding source for schools and local governments that provide public safety, transportation, and libraries and parks.

When the General Assembly cuts income and property taxes, Bottoms says it’s working families that are going to make up for the revenue shortfall through taxes she says would need to be placed on goods and services.

Immigration

Bottoms says she opposes the Trump administration’s immigration tactics, which resulted in the deaths of two Americans during confrontations with immigration agents in Minnesota.

She says she supports getting violent criminals off the street, but U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement shouldn’t be targeting immigrants who aren’t causing anyone harm.

Bottoms says she would support collaboration between ICE and local law enforcement as long as ICE follows the law and doesn’t target vulnerable people.

Bottoms praises the city of Social Circle as an example of how to prevent ICE overreach. Concerned about the impact of a large planned immigrant detention center on local water lines and sewers, city leaders blocked access to water meters at the property because the Trump administration didn’t respond to their concerns. ICE recently put the plan on hold.

When Bottoms was mayor of Atlanta in 2018, she ended a multimillion-dollar contract with ICE to use the city jail objecting to the Trump administration’s family separation policy.

Healthcare

Bottoms’ healthcare plan would expand Medicaid, lower health care premiums and create a prescription drug affordability board.

Like most Georgia Democrats, Bottoms sees Medicaid expansion as a way to reduce the number of Georgians who lack health insurance. Medicaid is the state and federal health care plan for the poor and disabled.

Georgia is one of 10 states that has decided against a full-scale expansion of Medicaid through the Affordable Care Act, which would provide 90% federal funding for health insurance coverage to lower-income adults who still earn too much to qualify for traditional Medicaid.

Expanding Medicaid in Georgia would require the Republican-led General Assembly to pass a bill, and the governor would then have to sign it into law.

Bottoms says she would reduce health insurance premiums by seeking ways to provide state government subsidies, which would reduce costs and prevent Georgians from losing healthcare coverage.

Bottoms’ third healthcare proposal is to launch an affordability board that reviews excessive drug price increases and sets limits for what the state will pay.

Housing

Bottoms says she’ll bring down the cost of housing by cracking down on corporate landlords who buy up hundreds of properties, dry up the supply of residences and drive up prices.

She says large investors are buying up entire neighborhoods, keeping them out of the hands of Georgians who want to live there.

Attempts to limit investor home ownership failed in the General Assembly this year.

The state Senate approved a bill that would have allowed lawsuits against companies that own more than 500 single-family rental homes, but the House didn’t move forward with the legislation after the housing industry raised concerns it would be unconstitutional. Last year, a separate bill proposed a 2,000-home cap for institutional investors.

Bottoms says she also wants to make home purchases possible for families that couldn’t otherwise afford them. The government would give first-time homebuyers access to grant money and low-interest financing, she says.

In her four years as mayor, Bottoms says the city of Atlanta created or preserved 7,000 units of affordable housing.