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AJC.com > Legislature > Blog > Archives > 2006 > March > 09
Thursday, March 9, 2006
House approves 5 new judgeships
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The Georgia House unanimously approved legislation Thursday to create five new Superior Court judgeships - including one each for Cobb, Paulding and Coweta judicial circuits.
HB 1073, which passed 163-0, also authorizes a new judgeship in the Blue Ridge Judicial Circuit and the Houston Judicial Circuit, home county of Gov. Sonny Perdue.
The bill now goes to the Senate.
If these judgeships are approved, Cobb County will have 10 Superior Court judges. Coweta will have six, and Houston, Blue Ridge and Paulding will each have three.
Permalink | | Categories: Breaking news
House votes to give swine industry fuel tax break
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
He didn’t want to be hoggish, so Republican state Rep. Jay Roberts of Ocilla put a two-year cap on a fuel tax exemption for the swine industry.
“It’s just a little pork project,” joked Roberts before the House voted 148 to 5 in favor of the exemption. The estimated cost to taxpayers, he said, is $100,000.
Lawmakers have passed dozens of tax exemptions this year for various groups, including charitable food banks and back-to-school shoppers.
Roberts’ bill, which still has to clear the Senate and be approved by the governor, would exempt from sales tax liquified gas and other fuels in swine operations. It would be effective from July 1 of this year to June 30, 2008.
Permalink | | Categories: Breaking news
House bill allows for changes in school taxes
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The Georgia House passed a Constitutional amendment Thursday that could change funding for school construction in DeKalb, Fulton, Gwinnett and 18 other counties with independent city school systems.
Currently, a referendum on raising the local sales tax for school construction cannot be put before voters without agreement of every school system in the county, said state Rep. Jan Jones (R-Alpharetta), the bill’s chief sponsor.
Under HB 893 and HR 773, if voters agree, a county school system could proceed with a referendum, without the independent system’s agreement.
“It’s a pretty significant issue in larger counties like Gwinnett and DeKalb,” Jones said.
In areas where the city school system declines to participate in the referendum, city residents would not be required to pay the extra sales tax, Jones said. But she said the city school board, if it later changed its mind, would have to wait five years until the county’s sales tax expired.
Both measures now go to the state Senate for consideration.
Permalink | | Categories: Breaking news
Bill would give unused prescription drugs to uninsured
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Costly prescription drugs could be recycled and distributed free to the uninsured and poor under legislation passed Thursday by the Georgia House.
HB 1178 would allow the state to set up a program so that approved pharmacies could restock and then dispense unused prescription drugs that had been given to patients who died in nursing homes, hospices and personal care homes, said its sponsor, state Rep. Cecily Hill (R-Kingsland).
Currently, Hill has said, millions of dollars worth of drugs have to be thrown away. She told House members this will help the many people who “fall through the cracks who make too much money for Medicaid, but don’t qualify for Medicare.”
The bill now goes to the state Senate.
Permalink | Comments (2) | Categories: Breaking news
Funerals and Free Speech
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Should the Georgia Legislature stop people from protesting at funerals? Senate Bill 606 is aimed at stopping the protests similar to those of Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kansas. The church shows up at the funerals and memorials of service people killed in Iraq, holding up signs with epithets towards homosexuals. The church says the war in Iraq is God’s punishment for what they believe is the United States’ lack of morality. Some family members have been upset by the protests and urged lawmakers to prohibit them. Few people would likely disagree that the protests are in poor taste. But are they protected by the First Amendment right to free speech and peaceful assembly?
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