Protesters protest protest bill and an unlikely coalition is built

• Joeff Davis
• A NEW COALITION: Atlanta Tea Party co-founder Debbie Dooley, Georgia AFL-CIO President Charlie Flemming (glasses), and Pastor Jean Ward (at mic) lead a chant of “We own the Dome!” at this morning’s protest against SB 469.

About 100 people representing a broad coalition of groups rallied this morning to oppose SB 469, which they fear would stifle free speech and would dramatically increase penalties for protesters.

According to Ben Speight, an organizer for Teamsters Local 728, the bill criminalizes forms of free speech and political protest by imposing fines for picketing outside any private residence and tacking “conspiracy” onto some criminal trespass charges that protesters often face. If you plan as a group to commit criminal trespass, like recent foreclosure protests, you could be charged with committing conspiracy, meaning each person participating will not only be charged with a misdemeanor, but also could get two years in prison. That’s stiffer than the penalty for conspiracy to commit murder.

Speakers at this morning’s rally included members of Atlanta’s religious community, the co-founder for the Atlanta Tea Party, and the president of Georgia’s AFL-CIO. Other groups opposing the bill include Georgia Conservatives in Action, Common Cause, the Sierra Club, Georgia Right to Life, Amnesty International, Occupy Atlanta, and many Tea Party groups across the state.

“If this bill is passed, innocent people that are exercising their First Amendment rights could be hauled off to jail,” said Debbie Dooley, co-founder of Atlanta Tea Party at this morning’s rally. Religious groups could also be affected according to Rev. Johnny Hill, who serves as professor and dean at Interdenominational Theological Center: “SB 469 does not limit provisions of penalizing groups for protesting private space, even faith-based groups could be charged. If a church is concerned about an abandoned building in a community or a business, like a liquor store, they will now be subject to being jailed for protesting. It is a very dangerous legislation with which everybody should be deeply concerned.”

The bill is expected to be voted on today in the House. If it passes, it will go back to the Senate for approval before heading to Gov. Nathan Deal’s desk.

“A community labor coalition is committed to civil disobedience action if the law passes,” says Roger Sikes, organizer with Atlanta Jobs with Justice. “We have a bail fund that has about $5,000 at the moment that will be for people who go to jail today in opposition of 469,” he says, emphasizing that they will only commit disobedience if the bill passes both the House and the Senate. “First we must reach a critical mass of people who are willing to be arrested and we are currently very close to that number, we are signing people up as we speak.”

At the time of this post, the bill was still not on the calendar to be voted on today, the final day of this year’s legislative session. “I think we have this bill killed,” Debbie Dooley told CL shortly before this post went live, citing the fact that it is not on the House calendar yet. “We think it would be on the calendar if they had the votes to pass it. We have confidence that a lot of legislatures will not vote against First Amendment rights. We plan on being here all day and all night. We are going to make sure this bill is killed.”