State Sen. John F. Kennedy (R-Macon) introduced Marsy’s Law for Georgia last week with an eye-popping list of co-sponsors that include many of the Senate’s top decision makers from both parties.

Speaking to Georgia media, Kennedy pointed that Georgia already has a strong law to provide victims with certain rights but Marsy’s Law gives them “recourse if their rights were neglected.”

The co-sponsors include the Senate president pro tem, the Appropriations Committee chairman, the GOP caucus chairman, the Transportation Committee chairman and the chairman of Rules, who plans a decisive role in which bills reach the floor for a vote. 

A constitutional amendment requires a 2/3s vote of both houses. With 20 co-sponsors this legislation is well on its way to a supermajority before it even goes through a committee hearing.

“Marsy’s Law for Georgia would bring us in line with what the vast majority of the country is already doing, and we have no evidence from these other states that constitutional rights for crime victims interfere with or overly burden the criminal justice system,” said Kennedy. “Since 2010, Georgia has had rights for crime victims outlined in state law. We already have the systems in place to provide these protections that we all support. Elevating these rights to the constitution gives them teeth, meaning victims would now have recourse if their rights were neglected.”

Marsy’s Law for Georgia has its first committee hearing on Tuesday, Feb. 13.