GAC alumni Chuck Efstration (Class of 2001) authored and helped to pass Georgia’s new Anti-Hate Crimes Act, which received national attention this year and was recently signed into law. Georgia previously had been one of four states without a hate crime law.

The bill, spurred by public outrage over the killing of Ahmaud Arbery, will allow stiffer sentences for those who target victims based on race, color, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender, mental disability or physical disability. House Bill 426 allows for those convicted of a misdemeanor hate crime to face at least three months in prison. A person convicted of a felony hate crime would face at least two years in prison.

A former Gwinnett County felony prosecutor, Efstration was first elected to the Georgia House of Representatives in 2013. He serves as chairman of the judiciary committee which reviews changes to the criminal code.  He previously served as a member of the Georgia Council on Criminal Justice Reform and as a floor leader for Governor Nathan Deal. 

A local attorney with the law firm of McGarity & Efstration, LLC in Buford, Efstration said, “Striving to demonstrate servant leadership in public office is a high calling. Working to put people first and find ways to build consensus has been my focus as a lawyer and a legislator,” he said.