TIFTON — With the convening of the Georgia General Assembly just on the horizon, state representatives for the Tiftarea are making plans to advocate on behalf of their constituents during the upcoming legislative discussion.

Legislators across the state are hard at work preparing for the start of the assembly’s legislative session Jan. 13, speaking with constituents about the issues they face and identifying problems within their district and the greater state to discuss and advocate for improvement. The politicians speaking for the residents of Tift County are no different, eager to do what they can to provide reform and beneficial policies to the areas they represent.

State Sen. Carden Summers of Senate District 13, which encompasses Tift, Ben Hill, Berrien, Irwin, Crisp, Lee, Turner, and Worth counties, as well as a portion of Coffee County, aims to focus on providing support to mental health treatment and the homelessness situation, helping farmers heavily impacted by Hurricane Helene recover from its devastation, and ensuring a greater deal of funding is given to rural areas of the state, both specifically for improvements to rural airports and in a more general sense.

Summers expressed a desire to ensure Georgia’s rural areas were given equitable funding to that of the state’s urban areas in the hopes that they would be better equipped to attract industry and retain their younger generations of the workforce who would otherwise seek employment in more urbanized counties.

Other policies he hopes to pursue and advocate for include strengthening legislation for CBD and marijuana to allow physicians to recommend them and similar treatment as medication, a reduction to income tax, a request for President-elect Donald Trump to remove the United States from the World Health Organization, and the banning of biological males from playing in women’s sports.

The senator also hopes to bring a number of bills to the table, including heavy restrictions or an outright removal of speed cameras due to difficulties his constituents have experienced with fighting the citations; a DUI expungement bill to offer “second chances” to offending drivers in meeting background checks, provided they haven’t had a mark on their record in five years; a returning proposition from last year’s session to allow county governments to more easily sell derelict property; and a pair of bills providing support for spaying and neutering costs when adopting a pet and punishing animal cruelty, respectively.

Joining Summers in representing the Tiftarea at the upcoming session, but on the other side of the General Assembly, are the newcomer state representatives for District 169 and District 170, Angie O’Steen and Jaclyn Ford.

Among the 21 new legislators stepping into a position in the state government with the most recent election, O’Steen and Ford will fill the seats being vacated by Clay Pirkle and Penny Houston, and are eager to begin supporting and advocating for their new constituents.

O’Steen, a nurse and farmer, plans to work on improving healthcare in rural areas, invest further in public safety, and lower costs and expenditures.

While Ford has experience in government through her position as chair of the Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College Foundation and a member of the Georgia Economic Development Board, she aims to use the upcoming legislative session as a learning opportunity for how best to support those she will be speaking on behalf of in the coming years.

“I’ve got a lot to learn; I’m coming in behind Penny Houston, who served for 26 years,” Ford said. “I think I just need to sit back and listen this time.”

Indeed, though Ford won’t officially be sworn in until Jan. 13, she’s taken the time since her election to speak with constituents, learn of the concerns and issues affecting her district, and begin forming a game plan for what policies to focus on going forward.

Her current agenda includes providing support to her district’s healthcare and education systems, offering aid to those affected by Hurricane Helene, and working hard to improve Georgia’s rural agriculture industries, but she expects her first year in office will be “eye-opening” and plans to approach the start of the legislative session with an open mind.