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AJC.com > Legislature > Blog > Archives > 2007 > February > 09
Friday, February 9, 2007
Bill could delay smaller classes
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
A bill sponsored by the chairman of the House Education Committee would postpone smaller class-size requirements for high schools.
Rep. Brooks Coleman (R-Duluth) said schools systems don’t have the money to build enough classrooms to meet the new standard. The school funding formula has been underfunded for several years.
House Bill 332 would delay implementing the class-size change until 2009.
Class sizes for lower grades already have been reduced.
Permalink | | Categories: Education
Committee endorses limits on lottery spending
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Senate Resolution 125, which would limit lottery spending to the HOPE scholarship and grant program and to pre-k, was unanimously passed out of the Higher Education Committee today.
The resolution will be voted on next by the full Senate.
Gov. Sonny Perdue wants to make the change, which requires amending the state Constitution, to protect funding for HOPE and pre-k. The resolution needs two-thirds approval in the General Assembly in order to be put before voters this year.
“This makes certain nobody in the future bothers those funds,” Sen. Seth Harp (R-Midland), chairman of the Higher Education Committee, said.
Currently, lottery funds also can be spent on technology and capital projects for grades kindergarten through 12, but that hasn’t happened for several years. The AJC disclosed in 2003 that $1.8 billion in lottery money had gone to questionable purchases, such as security fences, metal detectors and renovating historic buildings.
Permalink | | Categories: Education
Speaker’s plan would slash PeachCare numbers
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The speaker of the Georgia House said today he had filed legislation that would slash the number of poor kids eligible for the PeachCare health insurance program by up to 30,000 and that he’s working on several other measures to make sure only U.S. citizens could sign up.
House Speaker Glenn Richardson said in an interview that the program shouldn’t be in trouble, that no child’s insurance should be in jeopardy and that the program’s funding problems are all the federal government’s fault.
He spoke a day after Dr. Rhonda Medows, commissioner of the Department of Community Health, which administers the program, announced she was cutting off new enrollments on March 11.
“We are almost at the drop dead time when we would need to send out letters telling 273,000 Georgians we can’t afford to keep you on PeachCare,” Richardson said. “It’s imminent. The money is running out. The federal money is not going to be here for May and June.”
Community Health Department officials have said money will run out next month. Several other bills have been filed to provide a short-term fix.
Richardson said his measure, House Bill 340, would reduce the number of children on PeachCare to 250,000, or perhaps fewer.
Currently, families with incomes up to 235 percent of the federal poverty level are eligible to sign up their children and pay premiums
Richardson said he wants that percentage knocked down to 200 percent. That means a family with an income of $48,000 that is now eligible would no longer be. He said he would like to see the income level in the $40,000 range, which means “there’s a group of people that now qualify that wouldn’t qualify. But we’ve got to do something to stem the rising costs and save money.”
He said “everybody keeps saying Congress is going to reauthorize the money, but they haven’t.”
Richardson said the formula needs to be fixed on the federal level because currently “the more children you insure, the less money you are eligible for” from Washington.
“I know it surprises no one that Congress would have a formula that made no sense, but instead of stepping up and fixing that problem formula they just keep going blindly forward and saying, ‘That’s Georgia’s problem,’ ” Richardson said. “If you make a mistake and have a bad program you either fix it or come clean and say, ‘We don’t want to insure children.’ We are faced with a Catch-22. We can either wait until we get to the end of the line and money to react andintroduce these bills to try to limit benefits, or we can start now.”
Permalink | Comments (13) | Categories: Health Care
Booze bills uncorked today
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
New bills allowing local voters to approve selling beer, wine and hard liquor on Sundays were filed this afternoon.
The measure is aimed at placating the liquor lobby, which has complained that the original Sunday sales bill left them out by only allowing for sales of beer and wine at stores.
The new bill would allow voters to let liquor stores sell hard liquor on Sundays as well. Grocery and convenience stories aren’t legally allowed to sell hard liquor. The bills also say Sunday sales would not be allowed until noon, at the earliest.
Sen. Seth Harp (R-Midland), ran into a roadblock when he filed a bill last month with bipartisan support allowing local voters to approve the sale of beer and wine at stores. Senate Regulated Utilities Chairman David Shafer (R-Duluth), objected to the bill in part because it didn’t include liquor. Gov. Sonny Perdue also came out against the bill.
Whether Harp’s latest bills pass the Legislature is up in the air. Shafer has avoided holding committee meetings and has filed a resolution calling for a study of all liquor laws. Such study committees generally spell doom for bills. However, national spirits industry officials support the new effort, and the Georgia Chamber of Commerce is backing Harp’s attempts to legalize Sunday sales as well.
Permalink | Comments (25) | Categories: Liquor Laws
Senate quickens the pace on legislation
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The Georgia Senate quickened its pace today, approving five different bills that range from defying the federal Real ID Act approved by Congress in 2005 to increasing penalties for voter fraud.
The Senate voted 51-1 in favor of Senate Bill 5, a measure that would authorize Georgia’s governor to delay compliance with the Real ID Act until the federal government guarantees it will not compromise the privacy of any Georgian.
Under the Real ID Act, everyone in the country would have to provide extensive proof of his or her identity to get a driver’s license. Some of that information could include a digital fingerprint or retinal scan.
Georgia is among more than two dozen states rebelling against the Real ID Act, which goes into effect May 11. State lawmakers across the country are concerned the federal bill could lead to more identity fraud. In Georgia, the cost of implementing the act could be as much as $85 million.
Sen. Mitch Seabaugh (R-Sharpsburg), the bill’s sponsor, said Congress approved the Real ID Act without examining how it would be implemented or its consequences.
“Most disturbing is that there is no provision in the Real ID Act that requires or even mentions information privacy or data security,” Seabaugh said.
Sen. Steve Thompson (D-Powder Springs) voted for the bill after criticizing his colleagues for being hypocritical. He said Republican lawmakers expressed no concerns about privacy when they passed legislation that would create a state-issued voter identification card. That measure is tied up in the courts.
Senate President Pro Tem Eric Johnson (R-Savannah) countered that Georgia’s proposed voter ID card was dramatically different in scope from the federal Real ID Act.
“The photo ID card for voting had nothing to do with it because it would not have had digital fingerprints, social security numbers, retinal scans and whatever else on it.,” Johnson said.
The measure now heads to the House for approval.
In addition, the Senate today approved Senate Bill 54, a measure that would change Georgia law to make the definition of incest gender-neutral.
The law currently on the books defines incest as sexual intercourse between an adult and a family member of the opposite gender. The law did not contemplate same-sex incestuous acts.
“It’s a bill I wish did not have to be brought,” said Sen. Preston Smith (R-Rome), the bill’s sponsor. “I wish these things didn’t happen, but they do.”
The Senate approved the measure 50-0.
Senate lawmakers also passed a measure that increases the penalties for several kinds of election fraud.
For example, if a Georgian registers to vote under a false name and is convicted, he or she could face between one and 10 years of imprisonment or a fine of up to $100,000, or both.
The same penalty could apply to a person who is convicted of tampering with ballot cards, threatens other voters or poll workers, tries to influence the vote of other electors as well as several other offenses.
Senate Bill 40, sponsored by Sen. Cecil Staton (R-Macon) passed by a vote of 52-0. The bill, along with the measure on incest, both go to the House for approval.
The Senate and House meet next Saturday at 10 a.m. for Family Day.
Permalink | Comments (3) | Categories: politics
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