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AJC.com > Legislature > Georgia Beat > Archives > 2005 > March > 03
Thursday, March 3, 2005
Senate votes store gift card rules
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Retailers that sell gift cards soon may be required to put expiration and non-usage fee dates on the face of the card. The Georgia Senate on Thursday voted 52-2 in favor of the measure, which was introduced by Sen. Chip Rogers (R-Woodstock). “We’re taking a card that’s extremely popular and making it better for consumers by giving them the information they need,” Rogers said.
Senate Minority Whip David Adelman (D-Atlanta) said he supported the bill, but wanted the measure to better protect consumers. He proposed two amendments. One would limit non-usage fees to a maximum of $1 per month, while the other would prohibit non-use fees from kicking in for 12 months after the card’s purchase date.
“This is a good, moderate, pro-consumer compromise,” Adelman said. Both of his amendments failed. Senate Bill 13 now heads to the House for approval.
Several states recently have enacted similar legislation. New York legislators, for example, approved a law that bans monthly service fees on gift cards until the card has been unused for twelve consecutive months.
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House lets state college donors stay secret
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Georgia’s public colleges would no longer have to disclose their private contributions under a bill approved by the state House.
The House voted 129-to-30 to exempt donors from the state’s open records laws. That means that public colleges and universities would not be required to say who gives them money or how much. Republican sponsors of the bill said the exemption is necessary because some potential donors shy away from giving to state colleges because they fear their personal financial records would be open to examination.
Some Democrats opposed the measure, saying the public has a right to know who is giving money to public colleges, and whether any conditions are placed on those donations.
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Georgia on Jamie Foxx’s mind?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Thrilled by Jamie Foxx’s Oscar win for his performance in “Ray,” the Georgia House is hoping the actor will visit the Capitol and re-enact a 1979 visit by Ray Charles.
A resolution introduced Thursday congratulates Foxx for his Academy Award-winning portrayal of the Albany, Ga., native and invites him to the chamber to be honored in person.
The Legislative Black Caucus, which sponsored the idea, is hoping that Foxx would perform “Georgia On My Mind” on a piano in the House chamber.
Charles performed the tune for lawmakers in 1979 when it was designated the state song. Georgia politicians maintained a close relationship with the singer afterward; he performed at the 2003 inauguration of Gov. Sonny Perdue. Charles died last year.
In an autobiography, Charles said he was deeply honored by his visit to the House.
“That touched my heart,” Charles wrote in “Brother Ray.” “I cried. I truly did.”
Sponsors haven’t heard yet whether Foxx would be able to visit, said the resolution’s author, Democratic Rep. Quincy Murphy of Augusta. He said lawmakers just wanted Foxx to know how much they liked the movie.
“It’s been tremendous. It has resurrected all this good will and feeling for Ray Charles,” Murphy said.
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Tax rules eased for Georgia companies
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Georgia companies will get a $1 billion tax break over the next decade under legislation that won final approval in the Senate this morning and now heads to the governor for his signature.
The Senate voted 43-10 for a bill that radically changes how corporations in Georgia are taxed, moving from a system based on sales, property and payroll to one based only on sales.
It is designed to close tax loopholes and increase the tax burden of out-of-state companies, and would save Georgia firms about $1 billion over 10 years. The measure was supported by Gov. Sonny Perdue’s Department of Revenue.
Backers said it would provide incentives for businesses to invest in Georgia because they wouldn’t have to pay higher taxes for building a plant or adding workers. Lobbyists for Georgia-based Coca-Cola, BellSouth, General Electric and the textile industry pushed the bill, which earlier overwhelmingly passed the House.
“It’s all about jobs,” said Senate Finance Chairman Casey Cagle (R-Gainesville), its leading backer in the Senate.
Critics called it corporate welfare.
“This money is coming from the citizens of this state,” said Sen. Emanuel Jones (D-Ellenwood). “We’re going to reduce taxes on corporate America and we’re going to raise taxes for the citizens of this state.
“We should be man and woman enough to tell the citizens of Georgia that we’re going to raise your taxes.”
Sen. Steve Thompson (D-Powder Springs) criticized Republican leaders for not letting Democrats add an amendment to the bill making the state and companies verify how many jobs — if any — are created because of the corporate tax cut.
Pro-business legislation has zoomed through the General Assembly this session, the first with Republican majorities since Reconstruction. Earlier, lawmakers passed a business-backed measure limiting doctors’ and hospitals’ legal liability, and the Senate approved a sub-minimum wage “training” pay for some workers. The House has approved a bill granting governmental bodies secrecy when trying to attract businesses, and it is about to consider a measure that would allow automobile insurance companies to raise rates without having to first get state approval.
Thompson said he considers himself pro-business, but he added that corporate lobbyists seem to be getting whatever they want from legislators these days. He joked that when he leaves the Capitol, “I check the gold on the dome to make sure it’s still there.”
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Clean up — and say ‘cheese’
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Before the lights and camera came the instructions: “Clean your desks.”
That’s what House members were advised this morning as they prepared to pose for a panoramic photo of all 180 members and their chamber. For the annual event, House Speaker Glenn Richardson (R-Hiram) asked members to stuff all their papers and laptop computers inside their desks. A man with a bullhorn then talked them through the specifics of how the photo would be shot.
And so began Day 27 of the legislative session. Fourteen bills are on the House calendar, including a controversial measure that would allow public colleges to keep secret all information about their private donors - even those who give large gifts.
Republican sponsors and the state Board of Regents say the secrecy is needed because public colleges are at a disadvantage when they can’t promise donors privacy.
Democrats expect to fight to fight House Bill 340 and have declared it the latest in a series of GOP plans to close government business from public view.
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Senate approves anti-spam measure
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The state Senate voted to slam spam — the junk messages that clog the e-mail inboxes of computer users — after a long debate Thursday morning.
By a vote of 50-3, the chamber approved Gov. Sonny Perdue’s “Slam Spam E-mail Act,” a measure that makes it a felony to send a high volume of commercial e-mail.
The proposal passed with an amendment, which stipulates e-mail defined as commercial spam must be intended to mislead recipients.
The measure now heads to the House.
Sen. David Shafer (R-Duluth) carried the bill for the governor. He said the bill would not solve the problem of spam but would be an important part of the solution.
“What this bill does is give tools to our small businesses, prosecutors and Internet Service Providers — tools we believe will be very effective in controlling spam,” Shafer said.
Senate Minority Whip David Adelman (D-Atlanta) said he did not think the bill would make a difference.
“Let’s make it clear to the people of Georgia that when we pass this anti-spam law it won’t stop spam, not one iota,” Adelman said. “We need to really manage the expectations of the people of the state of Georgia.”
At one point in the debate, Adelman asked Shafer whether the bill was a “great big nothing.”
Shafer retorted that Adelman had the option to vote “no” on the measure. Despite a lengthy debate with Shafer, Adelman voted “yes” on the bill.
Shafer said a provision in the bill gives the state attorney general, district attorneys and prosecutors the power to issue investigative subpoenas for computer crimes.
Adelman introduced a bill earlier this year on behalf of Lt. Gov. Mark Taylor that would give prosecutors the authority to investigate suspected sexual predators who use the Internet to lure minors.
Shafer argued the Spam Act would allow investigators to target commercial e-mail, sexual predators and other criminal acts carried out via the Internet.
Sen. J.B. Powell (D-Blythe) also asked why a person who suffered personal, property or economic damages from deceptive e-mail could receive damages of up to $2 million per incident, plus expenses of litigation and attorney’s fees.
Powell said the cap was too high, especially because the Senate and House recently approved a highly controversial measure capping non-economic damages for medical malpractice lawsuits at $350,000 for individuals. Perdue signed the medical malpractice limits into law earlier this month.
Powell’s amendment to set the spam damages cap at $350,000 failed.
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House spending plan includes some pork
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Pork is back on the menu at the Capitol.
The new Republican House is proposing a $17.4 billion spending plan for next year — approved by the Appropriations Committee this morning — that is loaded with $3.5 million worth of local projects the GOP commonly called “pork” when Democrats ruled the statehouse.
In addition, the proposal adds more than $40 million in college and technical school building projects favored by top lawmakers.
Much of the special project money went to the districts of Republican leaders, including at least three in the district of House Appropriations Chairman Ben Harbin (R-Evans). The plans includes $180,000 in park and renovation money for St. Simons Island, a wealthy coastal community represented by House Majority Leader Jerry Keen (R-St. Simons Island)
“Obviously, they couldn’t stand it, they had to do their special projects, which they railed against for years,” said House Minority Leader DuBose Porter (D-Dublin).
The Republicans, like past Democrat leaders, noted that the local projects — ranging from volunteer fire department equipment to historic preservation — were only a tiny piece of the state budget. And they added that the three pages in the budget document dedicated to hometown money were less than Democrats used to add. During some years, the Democrats would add 25 pages of local projects.
Nonetheless, it stood out in the budget, which will be considered by the full House Friday, because the state’s fiscal crisis the past few years has made it difficult to fund such projects.
Harbin said his chamber’s plan adds $33 million toward state employee health coverage to reduce insurance premium increases expected July 1, and eliminates millions of dollars in spending cuts hospitals were expected to suffer across the state.
It also includes $2 million for a new mentor program for science teachers, which lawmakers say is a major need in schools. Many students who fail to graduate from high school do so because they can’t pass the science section of the state graduation test.
“I think we put people over politics,” Harbin said.
Harbin said the local projects had to meet certain criteria. They had to bolster economic development and education or provide other vital community services.
“We decided at the start that there wouldn’t be any band uniforms, there wouldn’t be any ballfield lights,” he said.
Gov. Sonny Perdue’s original budget proposal for fiscal 2006, which begins July 1, was already top-heavy with bonded construction projects. It contains about $1 billion worth of new bonds for next year.
House budget writers added several more, including $4.9 million for renovations at the Georgia Tech historic civil engineering building, $4.9 million to renovate the social science, library and Wilson buildings at Kennesaw State University, $5 million for an addition to the student center at Gainesville College and $1 million toward a library in Hall County.
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