Williamson named in Top 10 most effective Republican legislators

State Rep. Bruce Williamson, serving Walton County in the Georgia General Assembly, has been named one of the top 10 most effective Republican legislators in the state by the Center for Effective Lawmaking, a joint effort of the University of Virginia and Vanderbilt University.

First elected to the General Assembly in 2010, Williamson said he was “both surprised and honored to be included” in the ranking, which covered the 2023-2024 state legislative session.

Williamson also made the list of top 10 Republican Georgia lawmakers for 2021-22.

For the 2023-2024 legislative session, Williamson ranked seventh on the Center for Effective Lawmaking list of the top 10 Republican House lawmakers in the Peach State.

Other Georgia Republican lawmakers making the list of most effective GOP lawmakers for the 2023-2024 session— in descending order from first place, which went to Rep. Rob Leverett of Elberton — were Gerald Greene of Cuthbert, Kasey Carpenter of Dalton, Matt Reeves of Duluth, Victor Anderson of Cornelia, Lee Hawkins of Gainesville, Williamson, Tyler Smith of Bremen, Marcus Wiedower of Watkinsville and Alan Powell of Hartwell.

To arrive at its listing of the most effective state lawmakers across the United States, the Center for Effective Lawmaking uses 15 metrics connected to the bills sponsored by each state legislator, how far those bills get in the legislative process, “and how substantial their policy proposals are,” according to the center’s website.

In Georgia’s 2023-2024 legislative session, bills either sponsored or cosponsored by Williamson that went on to be signed into law by Gov. Brian Kemp included a measure creating the offense of criminal interference with critical infrastructure; a law making solar power facilities responsible for clean-up and land restoration when a solar facility is decommissioned; clarification of a tax credit for establishment or relocation of quality jobs; procedures for incorporation of banks and trust companies, and matching the tax rate imposed on corporations to the tax rate imposed on individual taxpayers.