ATLANTA — A Georgia lawmaker was removed from the House chamber by order of House Speaker David Ralston Tuesday morning after “deliberately” refusing to participate in the twice-weekly mandated COVID-19 testing.

Republican Rep. David Clark of Buford was escorted off the floor by a member of Capitol law enforcement after he did not take Ralston up on his offer to “quietly” leave the chamber.

Ralston did not name Clark but noted the member for violating the testing place and “jeopardizing the health” of other lawmakers in the chamber. He called Clark’s decision a ploy to get “media attention for standing up to authority.”

“I don’t know about you all but I’ve been to too many funerals and I’m tired of going to them,” the speaker said after Clark was escorted out. “I don’t know when this will end — we all pray that it will be sooner rather than later — but until that time, I think it behooves us to do whatever we need to do to be safe and to show love toward our neighbors.”

House and Senate lawmakers are required to be tested for COVID-19 twice-weekly as part of an effort to prevent the Gold Dome from becoming the next coronavirus hot spot. After just the first day of testing, several Senate and House members received positive results, including Republican Senate Majority Leader Mike Dugan.

Ralston scolded members during the first week after learning nearly half of his chamber did not take the mandatory test on the first day of the 2021 legislative session. At that point, there were no stipulated repercussions for members who refused to be tested.

Clark is one of a small group of Republican House members who do not support Ralston as speaker. The Buford Republican pitched an unsuccessful bid against Ralston during the chamber’s election in November.

He also previously led a group of Republican lawmakers in demanding Ralston, a defense attorney, step down after an investigation by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Channel 2 Action News found the Speaker had been delaying criminal court cases.

After he was removed from the floor, Clark told reporters he believes the leaders of the General Assembly cannot under law require members to be tested.

“You can’t just pick the rules and decide who comes in and who does not come in,” he said.

Kaleb McMichen, director of communications for Ralston, said Clark has been “advised numerous times” of the requirement to be tested and is the only member who has not taken a single test or provided documentation that he has been tested outside of the Capitol.

After Clark refused to leave the chamber, he said Ralston used his authority to have him escorted out by a member of the Department of Public Safety. 

Clark is permitted to return to the chamber after complying with testing requirements.

“This is about preventing the spread of a disease that has killed more than 12,000 Georgians,” McMichen said.