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AJC.com > Legislature > Georgia Beat > Archives > 2005 > March > 04
Friday, March 4, 2005
House OKs tougher ethics rules
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The House overwhelmingly approved tougher rules for elected officials Friday, but not before Democrats complained the bill was a watered-down version that wouldn’t make the changes Republicans once promised.
The bill, approved 163-3, includes a waiting period for elected officials becoming lobbyists after leaving office, a measure thought to reduce influence-peddling by former politicians. The bill also increases maximum fines for ethics violations from $1,000 to $10,000.
But many provisions of the original proposal were stripped out. Backed by Republican Gov. Sonny Perdue, the original bill also would’ve capped gifts to lawmakers at $50 and would’ve given the state ethics commission broader powers to investigate conflict of interest complaints.
“This thing has gone from a choir robe down to a G-string,” said House Democratic Leader DuBose Porter. “What is covered does need to be covered. It just doesn’t cover much.”
His remark elicited whoops from lawmakers, but he was jabbed right back from the Republican Leader, Jerry Keen. Keen said Porter himself is wined and dined by lobbyists and announced a menu from a dinner Porter attended earlier in the week along with other legislators: broiled crab cake, 18-ounce New York strip, key lime pie and a $39 bottle of wine.
“You’re talking out of one side of your mouth and eating out of the other. You keep doing that, and your G-string’s not gonna fit,” Keen said.
On a more serious note, Republican leaders said the ethics bill was still substantive.
“Is it better than where we are now? Absolutely,” said Rep. Rich Golick, sponsor of the bill.
But even Republicans in the Senate say more should be done. The top-ranking Republican in that chamber, Sen. Eric Johnson of Savannah, said senators would insist on a tougher bill.
“I think the Senate will be making significant changes,” he said after the House vote.
The House also a bill Friday setting up new protections for state employees who report fraud. A more controversial bill to ban state lawmakers from lobbying for better treatment for prisoners was delayed until next week.
House leaders insisted their ethics bills were tough. They pointed out that Democrats had a long time to implement many of the provisions they now advocate, but didn’t.
“This is the toughest ethics bill in the history of Georgia,” said Rep. Joe Wilkinson, R-Atlanta. “My party brought this bill to the floor of the House in 28 days. It didn’t take us 135 years.”
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Senate votes to change private school classifications
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
A bill changing the way private schools are classified for high school sports and other competitions passed the state Senate on Friday.
Currently, schools compete in classifications based on the number of students at the school. Students at private and parochial schools that compete against public schools are counted as 1.5 students under the formula.
That system was adopted by the Georgia High School Association in 2000, after then-House Speaker Tom Murphy pushed for it.
Murphy argued that private schools have an unfair advantage because they can recruit athletes and other students, regardless of where they live.
“This was because his daughter-in-law was losing on the Bremen debate team to the Pace (Academy) debate team,” said Sen. John Wiles, R-Marietta, who formerly coached a private school baseball team and sponsored the bill.
Wiles said counting enrollment equally for all schools is a matter of fairness. He said the current system forces private schools to play football, baseball, soccer and other sports against public schools that are much larger.
The bill passed 37-4 and now goes to the House.
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House approves $16.5 billion supplemental budget
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The House signed off this morning on a fiscal 2005 supplemental spending plan that would send more than $100 million to school systems whose enrollments grew last fall. The vote was 145 to 19.
One sticking point in the $16.5 billion midyear budget adjustment had been the $20 million worth of local projects added by the House. After weeks of on-again, off-again negotiations, many of the projects remained in the final spending plan, which will likely be approved by the full House and Senate.
Included in the budget is $1 million for rail upgrades at the Brunswick Port, which is represented by House Majority Leader Jerry Keen (R-St. Simons Island). Also in the budget are $2.7 million to design a teaching laboratory building at Georgia State University and $1.6 million to design a new University of Georgia College of Pharmacy.
The Senate is expected to take similar action later in the day, which would send the supplemental budget to the desk of the governor to be signed into law.
Immediately after voting on the supplemental budget, the House began looking at recommending for spending in fiscal 2006, which starts July 1.
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