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AJC.com > Legislature > Blog > Archives > 2007 > February
February 2007
Bill would broaden HERO scholarship program
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
A bill that would broaden access to Georgia’s HERO scholarship program for the military passed the state’s House of Representatives today.
House Bill 311 would allow National Guardsmen and U.S. military reservists who live in Georgia and who have been deployed in a combat zone on or after Sept. 11, 2001, to qualify for the scholarship. The law now sets the date at March 3, 2005 for the program, called Helping Educate Reservists and Their Offspring.
The bill’s sponsor, House Majority Whip Barry Fleming (R-Harem) said the legislation would make about 1,600 more service members who deployed before March of 2005 eligible for the scholarship. The program also applies to children whose parents were killed or totally disabled in a combat zone.
Recipients are eligible for up to $8,000 for four years of study in the state’s university system, the Georgia Department of Technical and Adult Education or an eligible private college or university in Georgia.
To date, more than 200 scholarships totaling nearly $400,000 have been awarded, according to the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia.
The bill now moves to the Senate for consideration.
Permalink | | Categories: Education
Holmes’ proposal gives more clout to popular vote for president
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
A Democratic legislator wants to change the way American presidents are elected, and he wants the Georgia General Assembly to help.
State Rep. Bob Holmes (D-Atlanta) believes the candidate who gets the most popular votes should become president.
Currently, candidates for president are elected by an Electoral College process established in the Constitution. A candidate who gets 270 Electoral College votes is elected. States with larger populations — such as California, Texas and New York — have more Electoral College votes, which means presidential candidates spend a large amount of their time campaigning in those bigger key states.
Holmes doesn’t think that’s right, so he filed House Bill 630. Under the bill, states would be able to approve an interstate compact that allows electors to cast their votes for the candidate who wins the popular vote. For example, if the majority of Georgia voters cast their ballots for a Republican candidate, but the Democratic candidate won more popular votes throughout the U.S., Georgia’s electors would be required to give their Electoral College votes to the Democratic candidate.
If enough states — with 270 of the 538 Electoral College votes needed for victory — agree to the compact, it would ensure that the candidate with the most popular votes gets elected. Holmes said such nterstate compacts are allowed by the Constitution, though they appear to require congressional approval.
Four presidents throughout history have won the office without a popular vote. President Bush was the last, winning office in 2000 even though Democrat Al Gore received more popular votes.
Holmes could not get a Republican co-sponsor and he acknowledges the bill faces a tough time in the GOP-controlled House.
But Holmes said he at least wants to start a discussion on the subject. And he notes Republicans could eventually be on the receiving end of losing the popular vote.
“The president of the United States is the most powerful office in the world,” Holmes said today. It is, however, the only office in the world that a person can be elected to and receive fewer votes than the person that he defeats.”
Holmes said changing the process will also help make sure that presidential candidates campaign in states other than so-called “battleground” states where large Electoral College votes are at stake.
Holmes said polls show Americans favor a national popular vote plan by 70 percent.
Permalink | Comments (5) | Categories: politics
Abortion bill altered to not require sonogram
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The Senate Health and Human Services Committee voted late Tuesday in favor of significant changes to Senate Bill 66, a measure aimed at deterring women from having abortions.
The original bill, approved by the committee earlier this month, would have required a woman seeking an abortion in Georgia to undergo an ultrasound procedure and then choose whether to view the images.
But lawmakers decided to change the bill’s language. Now SB 66 would require doctors to “offer” an ultrasound to a woman seeking an abortion. The sonogram would not be mandatory. State Sen. Nancy Schaefer (R-Turnerville), the bill’s sponsor, said she decided to make the change because most clinics already perform an ultrasound prior to an abortion.
The committee also removed an amendment, proposed by Sen. Preston Smith (R-Rome), which would have excluded women who were victims of rape or incest from having to undergo the ultrasound. Schaefer said the exemption no longer was necessary because the bill does not mandate the ultrasound.
Shelley Senterfiit, an attorney and lobbyist for the Georgia Network to End Sexual Assault, said the organization was disappointed by the committee’s decision to remove the rape and incest exemption. She said amendment was important, even with the bill’s new language.
“The bill still places a survivor of rape and incest in the position of having to say ‘no,’” Senterfitt said. “We do not think she should have to say ‘no’ one more time.”
SB 66 now heads back to the Senate Rules Committee.
The House Judiciary (Non-Civil) Committee is scheduled to consider House Bill 147, a similar ultrasound proposal, at 3:30 p.m. today.
Permalink | | Categories: Health Care
“Merlot to Go” bill passes Senate
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The Senate is taking another shot at letting Georgians take unfinished bottles of wine home from restaurants.
The Senate passed legislation this morning letting Georgians take resealed, unfinished bottles of wine home 48-4, sending the measure to the House for the second consecutive year.
Called the “Merlot to Go” bill, advocates say the measure would give restaurant patrons the option of not feeling like they have to empty bottles of wine they’ve purchased before driving home. They say it would reduce drunk driving, and note that 34 states have similar laws.
The bill passed both chambers last year, but it was vetoed by Gov. Sonny Perdue, a Christian conservative who doesn’t drink. Perdue said the bill violated open-container laws and would endanger federal highway funding.
This year, lawmakers included wording making it clear the bill would not loosen current laws against driving with open containers of alcohol. Sponsors say they expect Perdue to sign it if it again passes the House.
Permalink | Comments (51) | Categories: Liquor Laws
Sunday liquor sales
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
3 p.m. — Senate Regulated Industries Committee takes up a bill that would give local governments the power to decide whether to allow alcohol sales on Sunday. Voters would then have to approve the change.
Permalink | Comments (1) | Categories: Today's Agenda
‘Buffalo bill’ rides on toward House vote
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The laughter started as soon as Rep. Howard Maxwell opened his mouth this morning about his “buffalo bill.”
“This is an issue I know that is near and dear to all of our hearts — water buffalo,” Maxwell (R-Dallas) declared, drawing chuckles from fellow lawmakers on the House Game, Fish and Parks Committee.
Maxwell is sponsoring House Bill 418, which would remove water buffalo from the list of creatures requiring state wild animal permits. Water buffalo farmers — yes, there are several in Georgia — say the licensing requirement is hurting their business. The annual permits cost $236.
At issue is whether the state should consider water buffalo wild or domesticated animals. Farmers point out that water buffalo have been domesticated for many years in other parts of the world. The horned animals are now prized in the United States for their milk, which is used to make mozzarella cheese and yogurt.
Fellow lawmakers couldn’t resist having a little fun with Maxwell before they voted in favor of his bill in committee, sending it on its way toward a vote on the House floor.
“You do realize you are going to be the one going before the House presenting this [bill]?” committee chairman Bob Lane (R-Statesboro) warned Maxwell, prompting more laughter from the audience.
Rep. Sean Jerguson (R-Canton) joined in, asking Maxwell to pronounce the scientific name for water buffalo — bubalus bubalis.
Maxwell mangled the words a few times before giving up in frustration, saying: “It’s a water buffalo and he has got horns. I’ll practice before I go to Rules Committee I can assure you.”
Lane jokingly warned Maxwell the committee wouldn’t pass his bill until he could learn the pronunciation. The committee unanimously endorsed the measure anyway. The bill is now on its way to the House Rules Committee, which sets the agenda for the House floor votes.
Just as the committee hearing was wrapping up, Rep. Charles Jenkins (D-Blairsville) asked a serious question about water buffalo milk.
“You make cheese, you say, from the product?” Jenkins asked. “Does that mean you milk these things like a cow?”
Maxwell responded: “Yes, sir.”
Jenkins: “I used to milk cows, but I don’t believe I would want to tackle a buffalo.”
Permalink | | Categories: politics
‘Buffalo bill’ rides on toward House vote
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The laughter started as soon as Rep. Howard Maxwell opened his mouth this morning about his “buffalo bill.”
“This is an issue I know that is near and dear to all of our hearts — water buffalo,” Maxwell (R-Dallas) declared, drawing chuckles from fellow lawmakers on the House Game, Fish and Parks Committee.
Maxwell is sponsoring House Bill 418, which would remove water buffalo from the list of creatures requiring state wild animal permits. Water buffalo farmers — yes, there are several in Georgia — say the licensing requirement is hurting their business. The annual permits cost $236.
At issue is whether the state should consider water buffalo wild or domesticated animals. Farmers point out that water buffalo have been domesticated for many years in other parts of the world. The horned animals are now prized in the United States for their milk, which is used to make mozzarella cheese and yogurt.
Fellow lawmakers couldn’t resist having a little fun with Maxwell before they voted in favor of his bill in committee, sending it on its way toward a vote on the House floor.
“You do realize you are going to be the one going before the House presenting this [bill]?” committee chairman Bob Lane (R-Statesboro) warned Maxwell, prompting more laughter from the audience.
Rep. Sean Jerguson (R-Canton) joined in, asking Maxwell to pronounce the scientific name for water buffalo — bubalus bubalis.
Maxwell mangled the words a few times before giving up in frustration, saying: “It’s a water buffalo and he has got horns. I’ll practice before I go to Rules Committee I can assure you.”
Lane jokingly warned Maxwell the committee wouldn’t pass his bill until he could learn the pronunciation. The committee unanimously endorsed the measure anyway. The bill is now on its way to the House Rules Committee, which sets the agenda for the House floor votes.
Just as the committee hearing was wrapping up, Rep. Charles Jenkins (D-Blairsville) asked a serious question about water buffalo milk.
“You make cheese, you say, from the product?” Jenkins asked. “Does that mean you milk these things like a cow?”
Maxwell responded: “Yes, sir.”
Jenkins: “I used to milk cows, but I don’t believe I would want to tackle a buffalo.”
Permalink | | Categories: politics
Lawmakers target marijuana-flavored candy
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
A bill that would ban the sale of marijuana-flavored candy to children in Georgia won approval from a legislative committee this morning, advancing the proposal toward a vote in the House of Representatives.
House Bill 280 calls for a $1,000 fine for those caught selling the sweets, also called “chronic candy” or “pot suckers.” The candy comes in the form of lollipops, gumdrops and other sweets.
Proponents of the legislation say the candy serves as a gateway to illegal drug use.
“This candy is really a glorification of illegal substance abuse and it is a gateway product into more dangerous things,” Rep. Terry Johnson (D-Marietta) told the House Children and Youth Committee this morning before the panel unanimously endorsed the measure.
The bill now goes to the House Rules Committee, which sets the agenda for the House floor votes. A similar measure died in the Legislature last year.
Permalink | Comments (3) | Categories: Miscellaneous
Amendment aims to boost independence in redistricting
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Gov. Sonny Perdue’s legislation aimed at adding some independence to the process of drawing political boundaries was filed Thursday.
The proposed constitutional amendment would set up an independent panel, made up of people appointed by the governor and legislators from both parties, to draw political districts.
Currently, the highly partisan job of redistricting is left up to the General Assembly. Typically, the party in power draws boundaries to help ensure it retains power.
Perdue’s proposal faces tough sledding in the Legislature. It would need the approval of two-thirds of the General Assembly to be placed on the ballot. House Speaker Glenn Richardson (R-Hiram), has already expressed reluctance to change the current system of redistricting.
Permalink | Comments (2) | Categories: politics
Amendment proposed to safeguard English
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The English-first movement could be coming to a ballot near you.
Georgia voters would decide whether to amend Georgia’s constitution and declare English the state’s official language under a resolution filed Thursday by Rep. Timothy Bearden (R-Villa Rica).
English has been Georgia’s official language for more than a decade. But Bearden said he wants to give voters a chance to cement that declaration into the state constitution amid fears that illegal immigrants aren’t assimilating. into the American melting pot.
When it comes to enforcing immigration laws, “the federal government is derelict in its duties,” Bearden said. “ … It’s time to allow the people to vote.”
HR 413 would protect the use of other languages in certain circumstances. They include teaching English, treating medical patients, protecting the rights of crime victims and promoting economic development.
Bearden said he wants to move HR 413 through the committee process this session but wait to put it up for a vote before the General Assembly until next year. He envisions it appearing on the 2008 ballot.
Bearden said he’s going to put his energy behind the constitutional amendment rather than HB 21, which he submitted earlier this year. That measure would have barred state and local governments from issuing documents in languages other than English. But the bill failed to gain a vote before a House Judiciary subcommittee earlier this month after legal experts and immigrant advocates said it could jeopardize some criminal convictions and harm immigrants who are here legally.
Permalink | Comments (1) | Categories: Immigration
Lawmakers worried about potential terrorists
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Several state lawmakers want to set up a committee that would study the recruitment of terrorists in Georgia’s prison system.
House Resolution 375 refers to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, saying they “have changed our world and the ways in which we must assess and protect our security.”
The resolution also says there is evidence “indicating that there may be ongoing recruitment of terrorists from within our prison population,” though the resolution does not cite any specifics.
State Rep. Martin Scott (R-Rossville) filed the resolution with four cosponsors. It would create the House Study Committee on Prison System Terrorist Recruitment, a five-member panel that would be appointed by the House speaker.
The committee would potentially recommend legislation and issue a report by Dec. 31.
Permalink | | Categories: politics
Discussion of money pool used by Nichols’ lawyers
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
10 a.m. — The Senate Judiciary Committee considers bills relating to the state indigent defense fund, which is the pool of money from which the defense lawyers are being paid in the death penalty trial of accused Fulton County courthouse killer Brian Nichols.
Permalink | | Categories: Today's Agenda
Discussion of money pool used by Nichols lawyers
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
10 a.m. — The Senate Judiciary Committee considers bills relating to the state indigent defense fund, which is the pool of money from which the defense lawyers are being paid in the death penalty trial of accused Fulton County courthouse killer Brian Nichols.
Permalink | | Categories: Today's Agenda
Bill expands power against Internet predators
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
A bill that would help the GBI keep up with technological changes necessary to hunt down Internet child sex predators got approval today by a Senate committee.
Senate Bill 98, sponsored by Sen. Bill Hamrick (R-Carrollton), expands Georgia law to include newer technological devices illegally used to entice children.
When the “Computer Pornography and Child Exploitation Act of 1999” was passed, it did not contemplate technology that allows, for example, the transmission of child porn and solicitations via cellphones, video games, thumb drives and other devices.
The bill also gives the GBI limited power to subpoena Internet service providers to turn over records necessary to catch child sex predators.
GBI Director Vernon Keenan says changes in the law will help the agency’s Georgia Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force.
Permalink | | Categories: politics
Non-embryonic stem cell bill clears committee
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
A proposal that would promote non-embryonic stem cell research and collection in Georgia cleared a Senate committee today.
Senate Bill 148 would establish a Newborn Umbilical Cord Blood Bank or network of such banks in Georgia. All hospitals in the state would be required as of June 30, 2009, to inform pregnant women about the opportunity to donate postnatal tissue and fluid to the bank.
Senate Bill 148, if approved, also would create a 15-member commission to oversee the blood bank. The proposal also offers a tax break to Georgians who contribute to non-embryonic stem cell research.
“My intent is to move forward with every type of stem cell research over which there is no ethical controversy,” said Sen. David Shafer (R-Duluth), the bill’s sponsor.
The bill does not include a ban on embryonic stem cell research, which has triggered emotional debate across the nation about whether it destroys human life.
But SB148 contains language that expresses reservations about the use of embryos for stem cell research. The bill states that embryonic stem cell research has been “hampered by difficulties” and that embryonic stem cells have a tendency to mutate into cancers.
It also states that the public policy of Georgia will be to encourage the donation, collection and storage of non-embryonic stem cells for scientific treatment and medical research.
Kevin Harris, a lobbyist with Georgia Right to Life, expressed support of SB148 at the Science and Technology Committee meeting today, saying it, “promotes a culture of ethical stem cell research in Georgia.”
But Charles Craig, president of the Georgia Biomedical Partnership, a coalition of 280 organizations, said the group opposes SB 148 as written. He said the partnership supports the bill’s intention to establish a newborn cord blood bank but opposes references to embryonic stem cell research as “unnecessary” and “unscientific.” He said the group could not support legislation that “openly disparages promising research.”
SB 148 now heads to the Senate Rules committee.
Permalink | | Categories: politics
Attorney: Taylor’s son will plead guilty
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Former Lt. Gov. Mark Taylor’s son is preparing to plead guilty to a felony drunken driving charge in connection with a car wreck that killed his best friend in 2005, his attorney confirmed today.
Fletcher Taylor, 23, faces at least one year in prison for the crime, which carries a maximum of 25 years and a minimum $10,100 fine in Charleston, S.C., where the crash occurred.
Taylor, whose father ran unsuccessfully for governor last year, will enter his guilty plea some time in the coming weeks, said his attorney, Bart Daniel. A plea hearing is scheduled for next week, but that will likely be delayed, Daniel said.
“What we were trying to work out was doing a guilty plea on [next] Thursday. That now is not going to work out for logistical reasons,” said Daniel, a former U.S. Attorney. “It doesn’t look like it would be Thursday but it would be some time in the next week or two.”
Taylor’s family referred questions about the case to Daniel. Daniel declined to discuss the basis for the plea or to disclose where Taylor is and whether he has completed his court-ordered alcohol treatment program.
A South Carolina grand jury indicted Taylor in June for felony driving under the influence where a death results. He was arrested in 2005 after his 2000 Lincoln Navigator hit a retaining wall on I-26 and flipped upside down. His passenger and friend, Joseph Victor Gennert, 22, of Charleston, was killed in the wreck. Gennert was not wearing a seatbelt.
Officers who went to the scene said Taylor had “glassy and bloodshot eyes, slurred speech and … a strong odor of an alcoholic beverage on his breath.” They said he was distraught and told them: “I killed my best friend.”
Taylor’s father confirmed in June that he considered dropping out of the race for governor against the incumbent Republican Gov. Sonny Perdue after his son was charged. He decided to stay in, saying he could meet his family’s needs and still continue to campaign. Perdue defeated him in a landslide victory in November.
“We just have to travel this awful road with Fletcher. It’s going to be a long one,” Taylor said in a June interview about his son’s indictment. “My greatest concern continues to be for Joe’s family. I just cannot imagine what they are having to go through.”
The prosecutor assigned to the case confirmed he would not reduce the charge from felony drunken driving. He also confirmed that he has kept Gennert’s family informed of the process.
“I have contacted them,” said Nathan Williams, the Charleston County prosecutor assigned to the case. “They are aware of what is going on and what the situation is.”
Permalink | | Categories: politics
Committee backs HIV tests for pregnant women
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Georgia doctors would be required to offer HIV tests to pregnant women under a bill that won approval from a legislative committee this morning.
House Bill 429 would also require doctors to refer infected women to counseling and medical services. Women would have the option to refuse the HIV tests. But their refusals would be recorded in their patient records.
“This bill is about protecting babies from HIV infection,” Rep. Sharon Cooper (R-Marietta) told the House Children Health Issues Subcommittee this morning about her bill before the panel unanimously endorsed it.
Nearly a quarter of all women who are pregnant in Georgia are not tested for the HIV virus because their doctors don’t consider them to be at high risk, Cooper said.
“In most cases, it is middle-class women,” Cooper said of those who are not tested. “And their physician or their healthcare provider doesn’t consider them to be in the high-risk pool. And unfortunately, if you know anything about the HIV virus, everyone is at risk.”
Somewhere between 20 and 30 babies are born with HIV each year in Georgia, Cooper said, citing estimates from the state Department of Human Resources Division of Public Health. Treatment costs an estimated $600,000 per baby, according to the public health agency.
Treating HIV-infected pregnant women in their first trimesters can reduce the possibility that their babies become infected with the virus to as low as 1 percent, Cooper said. Infected mothers who don’t get the treatment have a 25 percent chance of delivering babies with HIV, she said.
Several doctor groups spoke in favor of the legislation this morning, despite concerns committee members raised about liability for doctors and patient confidentiality. The bill is drawing support from the Georgia Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Georgia Obstetrical and Gynecological Society.
“There is no question that this does save lives,” said Dr. William Sexson, a pediatrician and representative from the Georgia Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics. “The impact on human life is dramatic. And if we know about this HIV disease we can do something to help the kids and help the mothers prevent problems in future pregnancies.”
Permalink | | Categories: politics
Funeral home bill attracts comics
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The jokes started early this morning about the funeral home bill pending in Georgia’s Legislature.
To be sure, it’s serious legislation. But some lawmakers just couldn’t resist some dark humor.
A little background first about House Bill 90: Georgia funeral homes would no longer be required to display at least eight coffins in their showrooms under the legislation. The bill would instead allow funeral directors to display models, mock-ups or sections of coffins for sale. The actual coffins could be kept in a back storage room under the legislation.
State law now requires funeral directors to keep at least eight caskets on display. The reason for that law is unclear. Funeral directors and lawmakers, however, speculate it was passed to ensure that grieving families could buy what they see and not face delays burying their loved ones.
The bill, sponsored by Chuck Sims (R-Ambrose) had been pending in the Rules Committee for several days before the House approved it this morning and sent it on to the Senate.
“Back from the dead,” Rules Committee Chairman Earl Ehrhart (R-Powder Springs) quipped before his panel moved the bill to the House floor this morning.
When it came up for a vote on the House floor, Rep. Carl Rogers (R-Gainesville) asked Sims a serious question about the bill that nevertheless drew titters from fellow lawmakers.
“Does this include rental caskets as well?” said Rogers, who previously co-owned a funeral home and cemetery.
Sims responded: “Yes it does, and it comes one per customer.”
Rental caskets? Indeed, they do exist. Some families rent them to view their loved ones before they are cremated, Sims and Rogers confirmed. Those caskets are then cleaned and reused, they said.
“You know, there are just some things I don’t want to know,” House Speaker Glenn Richardson (R-Hiram) declared, drawing more nervous laughter from the audience.
Sims says it can be traumatic for families to walk into funeral showrooms and see full-size coffins just after their loved ones have died. So some funeral homes prefer to display models as would be allowed under his bill.
Sims, by the way, is a funeral director with his family-owned Sims Funeral Home in Douglas. He said he keeps all his caskets in his showroom.
“This is not something that would be a conflict of interest for me because normally I don’t do this,” he said in an interview last month about keeping only model caskets on display in his business. Sims, however, added: “I might want to decide later on that I might want to do it.”
Several grinning lawmakers sought out Sims in the moments after the House passed his bill. “I want to use one,” one lawmaker inquired about the rental coffins.
Another lawmaker walked up to Sims and joked: “I heard that you rent them out for deer hunters because they can take them out in the woods and they are water proof and warm and comfortable.”
Permalink | Comments (3) | Categories: Miscellaneous
Isakson, Johnson visit Legislature
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Two members of the U.S. Congress paid a brief visit to the Georgia Senate Thursday morning.
U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson, a Cobb County Republican who served in both the state House and Senate, gave an upbeat chat about some recent developments in Georgia.
He praised recent developments such as the recent victory of Delta Air Lines over a hostile take-over bid by US Airways, the announcement of a KIA plant in West Georgia, and the January groundbreaking of a $175 million ethanol plant in Camilla.
Isakson also had high marks for Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle, who in November became the first Republican elected to the office of lieutenant governor in Georgia.
“I’m particularly proud of Casey Cagle,” Isakson said. “His election was a great thing for the state of Georgia.”
Isakson promised the Senate that a solution for the state’s current funding for PeachCare, the state’s health insurance plan for the children of working families, would be worked out.
The Georgia Department of Community Health is expected to run out of money to pay the bills for the 273,000 children enrolled in the program in March. The insurance plan operates with both state and federal funds; the pool of federal dollars is quickly drying up.
A few minutes later, U.S. Rep. Hank Johnson, a Democrat who represents the 4th Congressional District, also vowed that the PeachCare funding gap would be filled. Johnson, a former DeKalb County commissioner, soundly defeated former U.S. Rep. Cynthia McKinney in the August primary. He too had high praise for Cagle. “I also would like to thank the Lt. Gov who has made me so proud with his bipartisan approach to the affairs of this hall,” Johnson said.
Permalink | | Categories: politics
Lawmakers target boat owners who abandon vessels
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The Georgia Senate voted 54-0 on Thursday in favor of a bill that would allow the state to possibly revoke the boat registration, fishing license or vehicle registration of boat owners who abandon their vessels.
Senate President Pro Tempore Eric Johnson (R-Savannah), the bill’s sponsor, said that abandoned vessels are an environmental hazard because they contain fuel, and that removing the boats is an extremely expensive process for the state.
It can cost between $60,000 to $80,000 to remove a sunken boat - but sometimes the price tag of removal soars beyond that. The state recently paid $173,000 to raise and properly dispose of a sunken shrimp trawler in the Wilmington River and an abandoned barge in the Ogeechee River.
Johnson said that Senate Bill 27 is an attempt to address the problem of abandoned vessels and put the burden of paying for removal on the owners - not Georgia taxpayers. Johnson said that there currently are 66 abandoned vehicles on a list compiled by the Department of Natural Resources, and that 25 more boats recently have been reported. Most of the vessels, which include shrimp trawlers, barges and sailboats, are in the waters off Chatham, McIntosh and Glynn counties.
“Realistically, [the state] is not going to be able to go after every boat owner, but it gives them a tool to try to force them to do the right thing,” Johnson said.
SB 27 now heads to the House for approval.
Permalink | | Categories: Environment
Payday lending repeal and fake ID bills
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The House Banking Committee votes on a measure to repeal the state’s payday lending ban and replace it with a system to regulate the high-interest, short-term loans.
The Senate Judiciary Committee discusses SB 100, which would increase penalties for people who manufacture or distribute fake documents.
Permalink | Comments (1) | Categories: Today's Agenda
Lawmakers seek to boost trauma network
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Georgia lawmakers on Wednesday moved one small step forward on a plan to beef up the state’s trauma network system.
The Georgia Senate voted 51-0 in favor of Senate Bill 60, a measure that would create a trauma commission to oversee funding for emergency and catastrophic medical care across the state.
“In the state of Georgia, our deaths from trauma injuries are 20 percent than other states,” said Sen. Cecil Staton (R-Macon), the bill’s sponsor. “I think you would agree with me that Georgia is better than that.”
SB 60 is the result of a joint House and Senate study committee, proposed by Senate Pro Tem Eric Johnson (R-Savannah), that has examined Georgia’s trauma care services for the past year.
The committee found that Georgia has a 20 percent higher death rate from trauma injuries than other states in the country. Their report states that 700 lives each year could be saved if Georgia improved to reach the national average.
Staton, who was in a head-on car crash four years ago, explained that Georgia has only 15 trauma centers statewide, and that many counties in rural areas are hours away from the nearest hospital with trauma care services. Many of those hospitals are struggling with the cost of trauma care and are considering dropping those services.
The new commission, if approved by the Senate and House, would be comprised of nine members who oversee and disburse funds to hospitals that currently provide trauma care services, such as Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta and Memorial Health in Savannah.
Ideally, the Georgia Trauma Commission also would find ways to expand Georgia’s trauma care network by supporting the efforts of other hospitals to establish such emergency care services. Staton said the members of the trauma care study committee would like the commission to have $85 million in initial funding. He said he hopes that lawmakers in the House will file legislation to raise revenue for the commission this year.
The measure now heads to the House for approval.
In addition, the Senate voted 53-0 in favor of a measure that makes the attempt to buy cigarettes by a minor a punishable offense. A minor could face up to 20 hours of mandatory community service. Senate Bill 95, sponsored by Sen. Joseph Carter (R-Tifton), also prohibits vending machine operators from dispensing tobacco-related products in the same machine as non-tobacco items such as gum and snacks.
“It puts those things on the same level in the minds of many,” Carter said. “That’s not good practice.”
That measure also goes to the House for consideration.
Permalink | | Categories: Health Care
Death penalty hearing
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
10 a.m. — the House and Senate convene separately.
2 p.m. — A bill that would allow for the imposition of the death penalty with only 9 of 12 jurors voting in favor, gets a hearing before a House Judiciary subcommittee.
Permalink | Comments (1) | Categories: Today's Agenda
Critics contend vouchers could be abused
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
A proposal to give disabled children state-funded scholarships to attend private or public schools of their choice is vulnerable to abuse, according to testimony today at a packed subcommittee hearing.
Senate Bill 10, which passed the Senate and is now in the House Education Committee, doesn’t require regular evaluations of students to determine if they still have the learning disability that made them eligible for the voucher.
The bill says a special needs scholarship will remain in force until the youngster graduates, returns to the resident school, or turns 21. Conceivably, a student who no longer has a disability could continue to use tax dollars to attend a private school.
“Kids with disabilities need to have their progress regularly monitored,” Ann Abramowitz, a psychology professor at Emory University, told the School Choice Subcommittee. “With this bill there’s no meaningful monitoring.”
Sen. Eric Johnson (R-Savannah), the bill’s sponsor, said public schools, with their larger staffs, could do the evaluations for the private schools.
But critics of the bill said private schools should shoulder that responsibility.
“If public funding is to follow the student, then public accountability also should follow,” said Angela Palm, director of policy for the Georgia School Boards Association.
Not everyone who signed up to speak got a chance before the two-hour hearing concluded. It will continue Wednesday afternoon and could go into a third day.
Johnson estimates 9,300 students would use the vouchers, based on numbers from a similar voucher law in Florida. The size of the voucher would vary depending on the severity of the student’s disability, but the average amount would be about $9,000, Johnson said. Vouchers would be funded with money deducted from a school system’s state allotment.
Rep. David Casas (R-Lilburn) is sponsoring similar legislation, House Bill 199, and said he’s working with Johnson. “This is good legislation,” Casas told the subcommittee.
Abramowitz said neither bill seems to understand the nature of disabilities. “It assumes disability is permanent. That’s far from the truth,” she said.
Rep. Fran Millar (R-Dunwoody) asked, where is the data that shows disabled students, separated from the general population, do better in school?
“I’m concerned at the end of the day why we’re doing this,” Millar said.
Jeff Hubbard, president of the Georgia Association of Educators, said instead of deducting state money from public schools, the Legislature should add money.
“We need the tools and resources from the Georgia General Assembly for schools to succeed,” Hubbard said.
But Jamie Self, vice president of public policy for the Georgia Family Council, a conservative advocacy group that favors the voucher legislation, said public schools can’t meet every child’s needs.
“There are cases where these children are not being very well served in the current system,” she said.
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Committee approves portraits of civil rights leaders
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
A legislative committee has endorsed a proposal to hang portraits of Rosa Parks and four other civil rights leaders in the State Capitol.
The House Special Rules Committee voted unanimously in favor of a substitute to House Resolution 121 this morning.
Sponsored by Rep. Tyrone Brooks (D-Atlanta), the resolution urges the state’s Capitol Arts Standards Commission to authorize the placement of the portraits on the second floor of the Capitol.
“I think this is worthy of further discussion and at least getting it to a place where we might have a chance to vote on it,” Rep. Mike Keown (R-Coolidge) said before he urged fellow committee members to recommend the House pass the resolution.
The measure now goes to the House Rules Committee, which sets the agenda for the House floor votes.
The committee angered African-American lawmakers last week when it suggested they redraft the resolution, declaring the Legislature no long has the authority to hang portraits in the Capitol. That power now rests with the arts commission, which the Legislature created last year to oversee artwork in the building.
In response, Brooks submitted a substitute of his resolution to the committee this morning, urging the arts commission to hang the pictures of Parks and four other civil rights leaders: Ralph David Abernathy Sr., Hosea Williams, Joseph Lowery and Joseph Boone.
Brooks modeled his resolution on one that urges the arts commission to authorize the placement of a statue of former U.S. Sen. Zell Miller on the Capitol grounds. The House approved that resolution honoring Miller last month. Meanwhile, Rep. Roberta Abdul-Salaam (D-Riverdale) said she is preparing to redraft a bill honoring Coretta Scott King and submit it as a resolution to the committee in the Special Rules Committee in the coming days. She also plans to model her proposal on the successful Zell Miller resolution.
As written now, House Bill 88 calls for hanging a portrait to Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s late wife in the Capitol. Abdul-Salaam said she would break out another provision in the bill — designating April 27 as Coretta Scott King Day - as a separate resolution to be introduced in the coming days.
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Bill to allow wine shipments to homes clears committee
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Georgia consumers could have wine shipped to them directly from wineries under a bill approved by a key House committee this morning.
The measure, sponsored by Rep. Ron Stephens (R-Garden City), is the first of several bills aimed at making it easier for consumers to buy wine, beer or liquor to move in the 2007 legislative session. A similar proposal, along with legislation letting voters decide on the Sunday sale of alcoholic beverages at stores, are stalled in the Senate Regulated Industries Committee.
Stephens’ bill, which won unanimous approval this morning from the House Regulated Industries Committee, would let consumers have up to 20 cases of wine a year shipped to them directly from farm wineries. To be eligible to buy the wine over the phone or Internet, consumers would have to appear at the winery to show identification proving they are at least 21 years old. Then they would be able to buy wine over the phone or Internet in the future from that winery.
When the wine is delivered in Georgia, an adult would have to sign for it, according to the legislation.
The liquor industry has traditionally opposed opening up sales laws, but Fred Kitchens, executive director of the Wine & Spirits Wholesales of Georgia, worked with Stephens on his measure. “Everyone is in agreement on this. There is no opposition,” Stephens said.
Committee Chairman Roger Williams (R-Dalton), praised the measure.
“This is something that has been asked for for a long time,” he said. “I think what we’ve got here is a bill Georgia needs. I think it’s a good marketing tool for a product we’ve got.”
Georgia has almost two-dozen small wineries, and their owners back the change, saying it would boost their business to be able to ship their products directly to consumers. It would also allow Georgians to place phone or e-mail orders with out-of-state wineries in places like California’s Napa Valley.
Williams has also filed a bill allowing voters to decide if they want stores to be able to sell beer, wine and alcohol on Sundays. The House has been waiting to see if the Senate moved on similar legislation.
However, Senate Regulated Industries Chairman David Shafer (R-Duluth), has been reluctant to even hold hearings on the issues.
Any alcohol bills that pass the General Assembly will also face a tough time winning the signature of Gov. Sonny Perdue. Perdue is a Christian conservative who doesn’t drink and he has vetoed wine bills in the past. He usually declines to express an opinion on pending legislation, but he has already come out against the Sunday sales bill.
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Bill banning red light cameras gets hearing
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Senate convenes at 10 a..m.; House starts at 1.
9 a.m.: House Special Rules Committee meets to reconsider a bill and a resolution to honor Coretta Scott King and other civil rights leaders with portraits in the state Capitol.
9:30 a.m.: Georgia’s House Judiciary Subcommittee will hear testimony tomorrow on a bill that would require all law enforcement agencies in Georgia to institute new procedures for conducting live and photographic line-ups of criminal suspects.
2:30 p.m. or 30 minutes after adjournment of House: House Motor Vehicles Committee meets to discuss proposal to ban red light cameras.
Permalink | Comments (1) | Categories: Today's Agenda
Red light cameras and civil rights portraits
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
9 a.m. — House Special Rules Committee reconsiders a bill and a resolution to honor Coretta Scott King and other civil rights leaders with portraits in the state Capitol.
10 a.m. — Senate convenes.
1 p.m. — House convenes.
2:30 p.m — (approximate time; meeting follows House adjournment) House Motor Vehicles Committee discusses proposal to ban red light cameras.
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Lawmaker caught in peanut butter recall
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
A lawmaker who represents one of Georgia’s biggest peanut producing areas had an admission to make Thursday: The jars of peanut butter he recently handed out to colleagues were among those recalled after they were linked to a salmonella outbreak.
State Rep. Ed Rynders, who represents a southwest Georgia region he calls the “peanut capital of Georgia” went to the well of the Georgia House to tell lawmakers and lobbyists to discard the peanut butter jars he recently gave them. He said he would make it up to them.
“Make sure you’ve discarded it,” warned Rynders, an Albany Republican. “We’re going to get you some good peanut butter and make sure you’re done right.”
Rynders said they were among the jars of Peter Pan and Great Value peanut butter that ConAgra Inc. told consumers to discard after the spread was linked to a salmonella outbreak that has sickened 288 people in 39 states since August. The affected peanut butter jars have a product code beginning with “2111,” the company said.
Federal health officials said the salmonella outbreak was linked to tainted peanut butter produced by ConAgra at a plant in Sylvester, Ga. How salmonella got into peanut butter is still under investigation, said Dr. Mike Lynch, an epidemiologist at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
CDC officials believe the salmonella outbreak to be the nation’s first stemming from peanut butter. The most cases were reported in New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Tennessee and Missouri.
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Anti-evolution memo stirs controversy
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The Anti-Defamation League is calling on state Rep. Ben Bridges to apologize for a memo distributed under his name that says the teaching of evolution should be banned in public schools because it is a religious deception stemming from an ancient Jewish sect.
Bridges (R-Cleveland) denies having anything to do with the memo. But one of his constituents said he wrote the memo with Bridges’ approval before it was recently distributed to lawmakers in several states, including Texas, California, New York, Illinois, Pennsylvania and Ohio.
“Indisputable evidence — long hidden but now available to everyone — demonstrates conclusively that so-called ‘secular evolution science’ is the Big-Bang 15-billion-year alternate ‘creation scenario’ of the Pharisee Religion,” the memo says. “This scenario is derived concept-for-concept from Rabbinic writings in the mystic ‘holy book’ Kabbala dating back at least two millennia.”
The memo calls on lawmakers to introduce legislation that would end the teaching of evolution in public schools because it is “a deception that is causing incalculable harm to every student and every truth-loving citizen.”
It also directs readers to a Web site www.fixedearth.com, which includes model legislation that calls the Kabbala “a mystic, anti-Christ ‘holy book’ of the Pharisee Sect of Judaism.” The Web site also declares “the earth is not rotating … nor is it going around the sun.”
The Anti-Defamation League says the assertions in the memo border on anti-Semitism.
“Your memo conjures up repugnant images of Judaism used for thousands of years to smear the Jewish people as cult-like and manipulative,” Bill Nigut, the ADL’s Southeast regional director, wrote in an e-mail to Bridges Thursday. “I am shocked and appalled that you would send this anti-Semitic material to colleagues and friends, and call upon you to repudiate and apologize for distributing this highly offensive memo.”
Bridges denied writing or authorizing the memo.
“I did not put it out nor did I know it was going out,” Bridges said. “I’m not defending it or taking up for it.”
The memo directs supporters to call Marshall Hall, president of the Fair Education Foundation Inc., a Cornelia, Ga.-based organization that seeks to show evolution is a myth. Hall said he showed Bridges the text of the memo and got his permission to distribute it.
“I gave him a copy of it months ago,” said Hall, a retired high school teacher. “I had already written this up as an idea to present to him so he could see what it was and what we were thinking.”
Hall said his wife Bonnie has served as Bridges’ campaign manager since 1996.
Bridges acknowledged that he talked to Hall about filing legislation this year that would end the teaching of evolution in Georgia’s public schools. Bridges said the views in the memo belong to Hall, though Bridges said he doesn’t necessarily disagree with them.
“I agree with it more than I would the Big Bang Theory or the Darwin Theory,” Bridges said. “I am convinced that rather than risk teaching a lie why teach anything?”
Bridges sponsored unsuccessful legislation in 2005 that would have required Georgia’s teachers to introduce scientific evidence challenging evolution.
Asked about the ADL’s call for an apology, Bridges said: “I regret that these people have been offended, but I didn’t offend them because I didn’t put the memo out.”
A Texas lawmaker says he is now “willing to apologize” for giving fellow legislators the memo Tuesday, The Dallas Morning News reported today.
“The stuff that causes conflicts between religious beliefs, you know, I’d never be a party to that,” Texas House Appropriations Chairman Warren Chisum told the Morning News Wednesday. “I’m willing to apologize if I’ve offended anyone.”
The newspaper reported Chisum made his comments after he learned the Anti-Defamation League was demanding an apology in a letter to his office.
The National Center for Science Education, an Oakland, Calif.-based organization that defends the teaching of evolution in public schools, said the assertion that evolution is linked to an ancient Jewish sect is “bizarre.”
“Evolution is recognized as a central unifying principle of the biological sciences by the scientific community and the education community,” said Glenn Branch, the center’s deputy director.
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Abortion bill clears Senate committee
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
A bill that would require any pregnant woman who is seeking an abortion in Georgia to undergo an ultrasound and then choose whether to view the images passed a Senate committee Thursday.
The Senate Health and Human Sciences Committee, chaired by Sen. Don Thomas (R-Dalton), voted 8 to 5 for Senate Bill 66. Thomas shut down debate despite the fact that some lawmakers raised major concerns about the bill’s language and several people signed up to testify.
Nancy Schaefer (R-Turnersville), the bill’s sponsor, opened the hearing by explaining that she believed her proposal would help women make a sound decision about going through with an abortion.
“This act will help women in Georgia have the accurate information they desire to make an informed decision about their pregnancy,” Schaefer said.
Sen. Preston Smith (R-Rome) proposed an amendment to the bill that exempts victims of rape and incest from the sonogram requirement.
“I think compassion argues that a person who has been the victim of rape or incest be exempt,” Smith said.
His amendment passed, but at least three senators voted against it: Sen. David Shafer (R-Duluth), Sen. Don Balfour (R-Snellville), and Sen. Judson Hill (R-Marietta).
Schaefer proposed a similar measure last year, which passed the Senate but died in the House. SB 66 is Georgia Right to Life’s number one legislative priority this year. Not surprisingly, abortion-rights groups oppose the measure.
However, the committee did not hear much testimony from either side on the nuances of the bill. Thomas, in a hurry to get to the funeral of U.S. Rep. Charlie Norwood, limited testimony to three minutes from one person for the bill, and one person against the bill.
Anne Feldman, the mother of adopted twin girls born in 2004, testified that her daughters are alive now because their birth mother underwent a sonogram before seeking an abortion. The sonogram changed the birth mother’s mind about terminating her pregnancy.
Carrie Cwiak, an Emory University physician who represents the Georgia Obstetrical and Gynecological Society, argued against the bill, saying it mandates a medically unnecessary procedure. She also raised concerns about the cost implications of the bill for women seeking an abortion.
Several lawmakers, including Sen. Nan Orrock (D-Atlanta), Sen. Gloria Butler (D-Stone Mountain), and Sen. Steve Henson (D-Tucker) tried to clarify the bill’s language and offer additional amendments. They extended the length of the meeting to just over an hour despite Thomas’s repeated efforts to move quickly.
At one point, a frustrated Thomas exclaimed, “I have a plane to catch.”
Henson asked the committee to approve an amendment that would make the sonogram procedure optional for pregnant women seeking an abortion. He argued that it was not logical to make women have the procedure if they would decline the opportunity to view the images anyway. Last year, a House committee amended Schaefer’s bill to include such language against the recommendation of Georgia Right to Life.
Henson’s amendment failed, as did a suggestion by Butler to ensure that women be referred only to “licensed” medical facilities for the ultrasound.
Senate Bill 66 heads to the Senate Rules committee next.
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Dem takes ethics complaint to feds
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
One day after Republican legislative leaders dismissed his complaint, a former Democratic researcher said he would take his conflict of interest complaint against a Republican House member to the U.S. Attorney’s Office and State Attorney General Thurbert Baker.
Edward Chapman, who worked last year for the Democratic Party, alleges House Ways & Means Chairman Larry O’Neal (R-Warner Robins) pushed legislation that led to a $100,000 property tax deferral for Gov. Sonny Perdue.
O’Neal and Perdue are long-time friends and O’Neal has served as the governor’s lawyer on some land deals.
House Speaker Glenn Richardson (R-Hiram) and Senate President Pro-tempore Eric Johnson (R-Savannah), who head the Joint Legislative Ethics Committee, had defended O’Neal’s actions even before the complaint was filed. Chapman said that showed they had no intention of taking his complaint seriously.
The Ethics committee determined that it had no jurisdiction in the matter because the alleged ethics violation took place during the 2005 legislative session, prior to the Jan. 9, 2006, creation of the panel, Johnson said in a statement.
However, the panel has now quickly dismissed all four of the complaints against Republican lawmakers that have been filed, raising questions about the panel’s ability to police its members when it comes to conflicts of interest.
Much of what was in the complaint about O’Neal and the Perdue tax break was reported by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution last fall. The complaint said O’Neal put the financial interests of the governor above those of the state.
He will now ask the U.S. Attorney’s and Georgia Attorney General’s offices to review his complaint.
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Fonda makes guest appearance at Capitol
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Jane Fonda made a guest appearance at the state Capitol on Tuesday to discuss initiatives to reduce teen pregnancy and support young mothers with state lawmakers.
In 1995, Fonda founded the Georgia Campaign for Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention, an organization that seeks to address some of the underlying social problems such as poverty and child abuse that can lead to adolescent pregnancy.
Last year, G-CAPP unveiled its goal of reducing teen pregnancies statewide by 15 percent by 2015. The campaign also coordinates programs such as the Doula Project, an initiative that pairs a pregnant teen with an older woman from her community for advice and support during pregnancy, childbirth and the first few weeks after delivery.
“There’s a lot they can do,” Fonda said about state lawmakers and their ability to help reduce teen pregnancies across the state.
She said Georgia’s legislators can maintain funding for PeachCare, the state’s health insurance plan for the children of working-class families. The two-time Academy Award winning actress said she would also like to see more investment in prevention programs, and initiatives that create safe homes for young mothers and their children.
Fonda - without even being present - created a stir under the Gold Dome last year.
When former state Sen. Steen Miles (D-Decatur) introduced an honorary resolution to honor the actress for her work with G-CAPP, some lawmakers had a visceral reaction.
Miles’s resolution initially passed, but then Sen. John Douglas (R-Covington) asked his colleagues to reconsider their vote, citing Fonda’s anti-Vietnam War activism more than 30 years ago.
Miles said that Fonda did not ask for the honorary resolution. The lawmaker attempted to withdraw the resolution, saying she received a call from Fonda’s office asking her to do so. But lawmakers forced a vote, defeating the resolution by a vote of 38 to 1.
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Bill promotes non-embryonic stem cell research
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Georgia lawmakers once again are pushing a proposal to allow any woman who gives birth in Georgia to donate postnatal tissue and fluid to an umbilical cord blood bank or network of such banks for non-embryonic stem cell research.
Sen. David Shafer (R-Duluth) introduced a bill Tuesday that would establish a Newborn Umbilical Cord Blood Bank in Georgia. All hospitals in the state would be required as of June 30, 2009, to inform pregnant women about the opportunity to donate postnatal tissue and fluid to the bank.
Senate Bill 148, if approved, also would create a 15-member commission to oversee the blood bank. Finally, the proposal offers a tax break to Georgians who contribute to non-embryonic stem cell research.
The bill does not include a ban on embryonic stem cell research or human cloning, but it contains language that expresses reservations about the use of embryos for stem cell research. Notably, the bill states that embryonic stem cell research has been “hampered by difficulties” and that embryonic stem cells have a tendency to mutate into cancers.
It also states that the public policy of Georgia will be to encourage the donation, collection and storage of non-embryonic stem cells for scientific treatment and medical research.
“I believe the cutting edge of science has shifted to pre-natal amniotic stem cells,” Shafer said Tuesday. “They are as potent as embryonic stem cells and easier to control in the laboratory.”
Shafer introduced a similar bill last year that created considerable controversy. The parts of the bill that established an umbilical cord blood bank received near universal support from Republican and Democratic lawmakers, Georgia’s scientific community, advocates for patients with degenerative and chronic diseases, and conservative Christian groups. Human umbilical cords and placenta contain a type of stem cell that has been used to treat diseases.
A ban on human cloning —- a process not yet achieved and widely denounced by scientists and religious leaders alike —- also won wide support.
But a section of the measure that would have banned therapeutic cloning —- a process that many scientists argue may someday hold the cure for diseases such as Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, cancer and spinal cord injuries —- concerned many individuals and patient advocacy groups.
Shafer eventually removed the controversial language, and the bill passed the Senate and then the House on the final day of the session. The measure needed to come before the Senate for a final rubber-stamp of approval - but the clock ran out.
Gov. Sonny Perdue issued an executive order that resurrected some parts of the bill, but that order will sunset at the end of the year. Shafer said he wants his proposal to gain Legislative approval and become law.
Sen. David Adelman (D-Atlanta), a strong supporter of both adult and embryonic stem cell research, said that he thought Georgia “can do better” after reading Shafer’s bill.
“This bill is fine as far as it goes, but turns a cold shoulder to some of the most promising research,” Adelman said. “ I think adult stem cell research is important, but should not be pursued to the exclusion of embryonic stem cell research. This bill ignores the potential of embryonic stem cell research and disturbingly suggests it should be discouraged.”
Adelman said he soon plans to introduce a bill similar to one he pushed last year that encourages embryonic stem cell research in Georgia.
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Groups seek increased family planning funding
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Planned Parenthood of Georgia and several other groups and individuals who support abortion and women’s reproductive rights lobbied at the state Capitol Tuesday to ask lawmakers for more family planning funding, comprehensive sex education, and greater access to emergency contraception and vaccinations against human papillomavirus, which can cause cervical cancer.
The organizations kicked off their lobby day with a rally on the front steps of the Capitol. Several students from various college and universities braved the chilly weather to show their support for issues such as sex education that goes beyond abstinence-only lessons in high schools.
“We need quality sex education in schools,” said Gabrielle Micale, 21, a senior at Georgia Southern University in Statesboro. “Women need to know about their own bodies to protect themselves. I don’t think abortion would be such a big problem if women knew how to protect themselves.”
Other groups at the rally included NARAL Pro-Choice Georgia, Georgians for Responsible Health Education and the Feminist Women’s Health Center. Almost all of the speakers at Tuesday’s rally repeated said they wanted lawmakers to support and provide funding for pregnancy prevention programs.
Those types of programs, several speakers argued, would reduce abortion rates more than measures backed by abortion groups such as Georgia Right to Life that seek restrictions on emergency contraception and require a women seeking an abortion to first undergo an ultrasound and then choose whether or not to view the images.
The Senate Health and Human Services Committee is scheduled to consider Senate Bill 66, an abortion-related ultrasound bill on Thursday. House Bill 147, a very similar measure, already has had one committee hearing, but lawmakers did not vote on the issue. The Senate last year approved a similar measure, but it did not pass the House.
Kay Scott, the CEO of Planned Parenthood of Georgia, said that lawmakers should pass legislation that will help women and improve their health care.
“We don’t need Georgia legislators to regulate our private parts,” Scott said to loud cheers.
Several lawmakers, including state Rep. Stephanie Stuckey Benfield (D-Atlanta), Sen. Nan Orrock (D-Atlanta), Sen. Vincent Fort (D-Atlanta), Rep. Alisha Thomas Morgan (D-Austell), also spoke in support of family planning funding, comprehensive sex education and HPV vaccinations.
“I wasn’t taught about sexually transmitted diseases or contraceptives until I was in a college biology class,” said Haley Shank, 21, a senior at Georgia Southern University. “Even then, all the information wasn’t correct. People don’t know how to protect themselves, and the state is recommending they not learn We need this information.”
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Bill would block car tags for illegals
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The state Senate unanimously approved a bill Tuesday designed to close a license plate loophole and make it harder for illegal immigrants to drive in Georgia.
SB 38, sponsored by Sen. Chip Rogers (R-Woodstock), would force license plate applicants to furnish a Georgia driver’s license or Georgia ID card.
Currently, applicants who claim they are new to the state can obtain an auto tag and registration using a foreign or out-of-state driver’s license. That has allowed people who are in the country illegally - and therefore unable to secure a Georgia driver’s license - to obtain a license plate and drive state roads undetected.
SB 38 would exempt college students, military personnel and other special cases. It passed 50-0 with no debate Tuesday, sending the measure over to the House for consideration.
The bill is among several in this year’s General Assembly that would make it harder for illegal immigrants to drive in Georgia. One measure that passed the Senate last month would increase the penalties for driving without a license. Another would ratchet up the penalties for fraudulently obtaining a Georgia driver’s license or tag.
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Measure to honor black leaders shelved again
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Proposals to hang portraits of Coretta Scott King and five other African-American civil rights leaders in Georgia’s State Capitol were sent back to the drawing board today, angering black lawmakers who have been pushing the measures for the past two years.
Some of the lawmakers suggested opponents are using delay tactics against their proposals to honor the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s late wife and others, including Rosa Parks. Similar proposals died in the House last year.
“How long are we going to run this race?” Rep. Roberta Abdul-Salaam (D-Riverdale) asked the House Special Rules Committee this morning after it suggested she redraft her bill and resubmit it next week. “Is this a put-off technique?”
The committee told Salaam the Legislature no longer has the authority to hang portraits in the Capitol. That power now rests with the state’s Capitol Arts Standards Commission, which the Legislature created last year to oversee artwork in the building.
But Republican Gov. Sonny Perdue has not appointed his three members to the 15-member panel, including the chairman, said Special Rules Committee chairman Calvin Hill (R-Canton).
“We all have the ability to slow down and bury things,” Rep. Al Williams (D-Midway), chairman of Georgia’s the Black Legislative Caucus, told the Hill and the rest of his committee this morning.
“I’m sending a message to all good thinking members of the Legislature that the question ‘How long?’ has got to be answered,” Williams said. “Put it on the floor and let us vote it up or vote it down. And let Georgians see who wants to and who does not. That’s the process. Let’s not bog this down.”
Hill said he would write a letter to Perdue, urging him to appoint his members to the panel so it could start meeting. A spokesman for the governor said Perdue decided on his appointments last week and will likely announce them before the end of this week.
Hill also suggested that the proposals honoring the civil rights leaders be redrafted in the form of requests to the arts commission.
“It is not the intention nor the desire of this committee to hold anything back,” Hill said. “And I take a little bit of umbrage that anybody would consider us doing that. What we are trying to do is follow the law, follow it appropriately, so these can go forward in a proper manner.”
The chances of these measures passing the Legislature this year were already uncertain before today’s committee meeting. The director of the Capitol Museum has said no room is left in the building for additional portraits. And House Speaker Glenn Richardson (R-Hiram) said he has concerns about the measures.
Similar proposals died in the House last year after Richardson said he had “reluctance to hang very many photos” of people who are not elected and are not from Georgia in the state’s Capitol.
State Rep. Tyrone Brooks (D-Atlanta), president of the Georgia Association of Black Elected Officials, has complained about the “lack of diversity” displayed in Georgia’s Capitol.
The state’s Capitol art collection includes 296 portraits, plaques, statues and sculptures, some of which are in storage. Of the 93 portraits now on display in the Capitol, only five depict African-Americans, including the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., said Dorothy Olson, director of the Georgia Capitol Museum and Capitol Tours.
Brooks, Abdul-Salaam and several other lawmakers want to change that. They want to put up portraits of King’s late wife, Parks, Ralph David Abernathy Sr., Hosea Williams, Joseph Lowery and Joseph Boone. All are deceased except Lowery.
Parks defied segregated bus seating in Alabama in 1955. Abernathy was one of Martin Luther King Jr.’s top lieutenants and co-founder and former president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.
Williams served in the House of Representatives from 1974 to 1983 and started a campaign to feed the poor. He also was a leader in the Selma to Montgomery march, which gave momentum to passage of the 1965 Voting Rights Act. Lowery co-founded the SCLC and is a longtime civil rights activist.
Since last year, Brooks and other lawmakers added Boone to their wish list. He was a minister and key organizer in the Atlanta Movement, in which students organized marches against businesses that practiced segregation.
The lawmakers also want the state to designate April 27 as Coretta Scott King Day.
Under House Bill 88 and House Resolution 121, the portraits of Coretta Scott King and the other leaders would be hung on the second floor of the Capitol alongside Martin Luther King Jr.’s picture.
King’s portrait is near a corner beside Gov. Sonny Perdue’s office, sandwiched between portraits of former Govs. Roy Barnes and George Troup. No wall space is left for additional portraits, Olson said. If the new portraits went up, she said, others would have to come down.
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House approves concealed gun bill
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
UPDATED
The Georgia House jumped back into the long-running debate over gun rights Monday, approving legislation that would allow motorists to conceal loaded firearms in their cars without a permit.
Proponents say House Bill 89 would let motorists keep firearms in easy reach to defend themselves against carjackers and other criminals. But critics say the measure would circumvent the state’s concealed handgun background check requirements and endanger police making traffic stops.
The House approved HB 89 on a bipartisan vote of 130-38 Monday, capping its first extended — and heated — debate of this year’s legislative session.
The bill now goes to the Senate, where one of the chamber’s Republican leaders said it has a good chance of passage.
State law now requires motorists who do not have concealed handgun permits to keep their loaded firearms “fully exposed to view” or in the glove box, console or similar compartment.
The bill sponsored by state Rep. Tim Bearden (R-Villa Rica) would allow people to hide guns under seats or wedge them between seat cushions and center consoles.
“It allows a law-abiding citizen … to place a firearm anywhere in the vehicle that they feel is the safest place for their personal protection, for the protection of their family or passengers in that vehicle,” Bearden told lawmakers during a sometimes testy debate that lasted more than an hour.
“What this bill does is just give back a piece — a small piece — of the Second Amendment that has been deprived of so many law-abiding citizens over the last few years.”
The measure is one of several gun-related bills pending in the Legislature. A second would ban police from confiscating guns during a state of emergency such as a hurricane. A third would prohibit certain employers from banning firearms in locked vehicles at employee parking lots or garages.
Last year, the GOP-controlled Legislature approved a law that gives Georgians permission to use deadly force against muggers, carjackers and other attackers without fear of being prosecuted or sued. Supporters labeled it the “stand your ground” law, while critics called it a “shoot first” measure that would encourage reckless shootings.
The National Rifle Association and the Gun Owners of America support Bearden’s bill.
“Very often people who are driving don’t have the luxury of keeping their firearm in plain view,” said NRA spokesman Andrew Arulanandam.
The 565-member Georgia Association of Chiefs of Police opposes the bill.
“Our association and its members strongly support Georgians’ Second Amendment rights,” Frank V. Rotondo, the association’s executive director, wrote in a letter to lawmakers Monday. “However, the effect of this bill would extend those rights to an absurd level and have the ultimate effect of occasioning more killings of both police officers, and innocent civilians.”
Several Democrats opposed the bill from the House floor Monday.
“Are you not concerned about the safety of police officers in this matter?” Rep. Alisha Thomas Morgan (D-Austell) asked Bearden.
Bearden, a former Douglasville police sergeant, responded: “I can promise you one thing: I would never endorse nor would I author a bill that would endanger any of my brothers and sisters in law enforcement.”
Rep. Roger Bruce (D-Atlanta) asked why the bill is needed.
“The current leadership of this House at the beginning of this session indicated that one of the conditions for a bill should be that it … solves a problem,” Bruce said. “What problem does this solve?”
Bearden responded: “The most dearest thing anyone can do is to protect their family from criminal assault.”
In the Senate, President Pro Tem Eric Johnson (R-Savannah) said the bill stands a good chance of approval there. “Government does not tell a private citizen where they can keep a gun in their home. They should not be able to tell a law-abiding citizen where they can keep a gun in their own personal vehicle.”
Georgians for Gun Safety also opposes the measure, citing statistics that 575 police officers were killed in the line of duty across the country between 1996 and 2005. Of those, 102 were killed during traffic violation stops and felony traffic stops, according to the federal Department of Justice. The federal report does not specify whether guns were involved in those incidents.
State law prohibits people under 21, drug dealers and other felons from obtaining concealed gun licenses. And people applying for the licenses must submit to fingerprinting and criminal background checks.
Alice Johnson, executive director of Georgians for Gun Safety, said Bearden’s bill “erases the distinction that currently exists between someone who can purchase a firearm … and those who can pass the comprehensive background check to get a concealed weapons permit.”
“Many people are turned down for those permit applications because of something in their background that was identified because of that more comprehensive background check,” Johnson said.
Permalink | Comments (42) | Categories: Public safety
New law would target sex offender shutterbugs
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Georgia lawmakers on Monday passed another piece of legislation aimed at cracking down on registered sex offenders.
The Senate voted 54-0 in favor of Senate Bill 1, a proposal to prohibit any registered sex offender from intentionally photographing a child under the age of 18 without the consent of the child’s parent or guardian. A person who violates the measure, if signed into law, would be guilty of an aggravated misdemeanor.
Senate President Pro Tem Eric Johnson (R-Savannah), the bill’s sponsor, said he got the idea for the proposal from a concerned mother who lives in Richmond Hill, a suburb just south of Savannah.
The mother told Johnson that a man took pictures of her daughter, who was working at a coffee shop. Lewis eventually found out that the man was a registered sex offender from Massachusetts. SB 1 now heads to the House for approval.
Permalink | Comments (1) | Categories: Criminal justice
Research universities boost state, officials say
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Scientists studying everything from diabetes to bird flu at the state’s four public research institutions are bringing in million of dollars in research grants, university presidents told lawmakers Monday.
The presidents of Medical College of Georgia, Georgia State, Georgia Tech and the University of Georgia outlined research on their campuses before the House Higher Education Appropriations Subcommittee Monday morning, giving an overview of economic impact and health and medical benefits for Georgians.
Mike Cassidy, head of the Georgia Research Alliance, a non-profit group that recruits top researchers to the state, said Georgia is poised to become an international leader in drug and vaccine research. Scientists at Georgia universities are already working on vaccines for AIDS and Alzheimer’s disease and Cassidy said the state should increase funding to lure more top researchers.
“We want to do the deals that grow Georgia’s economy,” he said.
Permalink | Comments (1) | Categories: Education
Bill to offer tax credit for scholarship donations
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
A state lawmaker says he will propose legislation granting state income tax credits for scholarships targeting poor or disabled students who want to attend private schools.
Under state Rep. Earl Ehrhart’s (R-Powder Springs) plan, individuals and businesses would fund the scholarships through donations to nonprofit organizations.
Those donations — which would be exempt from state income taxes — could also be turned into grants for a variety of public school programs, including pre-kindergarten, foreign language classes and music lessons.
Ehrhart said he wants to set a $50 million annual cap on the cost of the tax credit program. He said he intends to introduce the bill today or tomorrow.
“The key is this is not money coming out of the state treasury,” said Ehrhart, chairman of the powerful House Rules Committee. “It is a tax credit. It is a huge incentive for corporations. If you do it, you will also get a federal income tax credit.”
Ehrhart plans to announce his proposal at a news conference this afternoon.
Permalink | | Categories: Taxes
House will discuss concealed weapons bill
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
A proposed law that would allow motorists to conceal firearms in their cars has cleared a key legislative committee and is on its way to Georgia’s House of Representatives for a vote as soon as Monday.
Some Georgia police chiefs and other critics say House Bill 89 would endanger police making traffic stops. Proponents say the measure would protect their Second Amendment right to bear arms.
State law now requires motorists who do not have handgun permits to keep their firearms “fully exposed to view” or in the glove box, console or similar compartment.
State Rep. Tim Bearden’s (R-Villa Rica) bill would allow people to hide guns under seats or wedge them between seats cushion and consoles.
After a brief debate Saturday, the Rules Committee recommended the House pass the bill. Several lawmakers peppered Bearden with probing questions during a hearing before the committee vote.
“Over the weekend our law enforcement officials approached me about this bill and they expressed their concern for the safety for their officers if we do pass such a measure,” said House Minority Whip Carolyn Hugley (D-Columbus). “And they asked that we carefully consider doing this in light of the more dangerous position we would put officers in as they approach vehicles.”
Bearden attempted to deflect Hugley’s criticism.
“Once again we have to make sure we understand this is for law-abiding citizens that will not pose a danger to our law enforcement officers,” Bearden said of his bill. “This is protecting the citizens who [have] the right to protect themselves in their homes. And the car is an extension of their homes.”
Another lawmaker asked Bearden if more safeguards could be added to his bill for children.
“Are there any protections for the children at all?” asked Rep. Judy Manning (R-Marietta). “Could you make the proposition a little stronger as far as safety locks or anything like that?”
Bearden contended his bill would make it for safer for youngsters traveling in cars with firearms.
“The person already has the right to have the gun in plain view on the front seat or on the dash,” Bearden said. “But we are allowing the citizen to put it in a more secure place in the vehicle to make sure that child does not get a hold of the firearm. I think that is a safety aspect in itself.”
Bearden’s measure is one of several gun-related bills now pending in the Legislature.
A second bill now in the House Rules Committee would ban police officers, National Guardsmen and others from confiscating guns during a state of emergency such as a hurricane. And a third proposal pending in the House Non Civil Judiciary Committee and in the Senate would prohibit certain public and private employers from barring workers from keeping firearms in locked vehicles at employee parking lots or garages.
The National Rifle Association supports Bearden’s bill.
“Very often people who are driving don’t have the luxury of keeping their firearm in plain view,” said NRA spokesman Andrew Arulanandam. “Depending on what kind of car or truck they are driving, they might not have the ability to do that. It also depends on how many passengers they have in the car and the demographic of those passengers.”
Four police chiefs representing communities in Cherokee County - including Woodstock, Holly Springs, Ball Ground and Canton — have gone on record against the bill.
“House Bill 89 increases the threat to the safety of our officers by allowing non-permit holders to carry loaded firearms on their person while in a vehicle,” the police chiefs wrote in a Feb. 1 email sent to lawmakers, “inhibiting [the] ability of our officers to distinguish between a law-abiding citizen and a deviant one.”
Georgians for Gun Safety is also opposed to the measure.
“It erases the distinction that currently exists between someone who can purchase a firearm… and those who can pass the comprehensive background check to get a concealed weapons permit,” said Alice Johnson, executive director of Georgians for Gun Safety, which promotes responsible gun ownership.
“Many people are turned down for those permit applications because of something in their background that was identified because of that more comprehensive background check.”
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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.
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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.
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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
Sanitizer comes in handy for lawmaker
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The huge bottle of hand sanitizer that permanently sits on state Rep. Martin Scott’s desk is a constant reminder of the health hazard politicians face every day: Handshakes.
Handshakes carry germs. And germs can make people sick.
Martin (R-Rossville) knows that all too well. He got sick with the flu in 2005, when he was a freshman in the House of Representatives.
“Everybody had it and I tried to avoid it but it got me,” Scott, a business consultant, said of his bout with the flu. “It was the worst I ever had.”
Scott speculated his illness might have come from someone he came in contact with at the State Capitol. Constituents and lobbyists routinely seek handshakes with lawmakers at the Capitol every day.
“I’m the world’s worst. I walk around shaking everybody’s hands,” Scott said.
Once he recovered, Scott returned to his seat in the House of Representatives with his large bottle of germ-X hand sanitizer. Then he handed out smaller bottles of the sanitizer to lawmakers sitting around him.
Scott periodically squirts some of the cool, clear liquid into his hands every day the legislature is in session.
“One has to be careful of rubbing shoulders with politicians,” Scott joked. “I would definitely recommend that constituents use germ-X after shaking hands with their local politicians. I’m probably no exception.”
Permalink | | Categories: politics
Citing finances, PeachCare closes door on new enrollments
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Georgia’s program that provides health insurance to children of families of the working poor will accept no new enrollees starting March 11, the commissioner of the Department of Community Health said Thursday.
Dr. Rhonda Medows blamed funding problems, including an impasse in Washington over Congress’ failure to renew funding for insurance for children of the working poor, including 273,000 in Georgia.
“I don’t care how they get it,” she said. “I need them to show me the money. Show me the money. I need them to quit with the blame and the rhetoric and show me solve resolve. I need the money. This is a crisis. I hate to use that word, but it’s appropriate.”
She said the department has enough money to “get into the first couple of weeks of March” unless families stop paying premiums or there’s a scramble by people now to go to doctors before the program shuts down, which is possible.
She said in a statement that “it is difficult for hard-working parents to try to provide health care for their children. We continue to wait for an act of Congress to occur so that we can provide care for the children currently enrolled in the program through October 2007.”
Georgia participates in the federal State Children’s Health Insurance Program as a partner with the federal government. The state has reserved its share of funds needed, but the program has a $131 million federal funding shortfall for the current fiscal year.
Department of Community Health officials have said funds will run out at some point in March unless Congress acts, or the General Assembly passes legislation that would provide a temporary infusion of funds.
Medows said a public notice has been filed to “cease the allowance of new members to the PCK (PeachCare for Kids) program.”
Effective March 11, she said, “Only those currently enrolled in the PCK program may continue to receive services via the state.”
She said parents and guardians of children now enrolled “should not be alarmed by this notification” and that she is hopeful Congress will meet its obligation to fund the State Children’s Health Insurance Program, which is also called SCHIP.
In a related development, She said she fears that “with today’s announcement we may see a rush of people trying to get enrolled. We may see people who in the past have forgotten to pay premiums pay it to keep from getting dropped off, and we may see a rush of people trying to get treatment in fear that this program won’t be around.”
Permalink | Comments (84) | Categories: Health Care
Effort renewed for portraits of civil rights leaders
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Several state lawmakers have revived efforts to hang a portrait of Coretta Scott King, next to one of her husband in Georgia’s State Capitol — plus portraits of five more civil rights leaders, including Rosa Parks.
But the chances of these measures passing the Legislature this year are uncertain. The director of the Capitol Museum says there is no room left in the building for additional portraits. And House Speaker Glenn Richardson (R-Hiram) said he has concerns about the measures.
Similar proposals died in the General Assembly last year after Richardson said he had “reluctance to hang very many photos” of people who are not elected and are not from Georgia in the state’s Capitol.
The House Special Rules Committee is scheduled to hold a hearing on these ideas Friday at 9 a.m.
“I have been very disappointed at the lack of diversity in the showcasing of Georgia’s history,” said state Rep. Tyrone Brooks (D-Atlanta), president of the Georgia Association of Black Elected Officials, who is co-sponsoring the measures. “All you have to do is walk through the Capitol, walk the grounds of the Capitol, and it is quite evident that the true diversity of Georgia’s history is not being displayed.”
The state’s capitol art collection includes 296 portraits, plaques, statues and sculptures, some of which are in storage. Of the 93 portraits now on display in the Capitol, only five depict African-Americans, including the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., said Dorothy Olson, director of the Georgia Capitol Museum and Capitol Tours.
Brooks, Rep. Roberta Abdul-Salaam (D-Riverdale) and several other lawmakers want to change that. They want to put up portraits of King’s late wife; Parks, Ralph David Abernathy, Hosea Williams, Joseph Lowery and Joseph Boone.
Parks is best known for defying segregated bus seating in Alabama in 1955.
Abernathy was one of Martin Luther King’s top lieutenants and the co-founder and former president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.
Williams served in the House of Representatives from 1974 to 1983 and was the founder of “Hosea’s Feed the Hungry and Homeless” campaign. He was also a leader of the march across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in 1965, an event that helped secure passage of the 1965 Voting Rights Act.
Lowery co-founded the SCLC with King and has been a champion of election, criminal justice and government reforms.
Boone was a longtime minister and civil rights picketer.
The lawmakers also want the state to designate April 27 as Coretta Scott King Day.
Asked if the proposals would pass this year, Richardson said: “I wouldn’t say it is likely, but I say it is possible.”
“I have reservations about considering putting anyone’s portrait in the Capitol regardless of color, sex, national origin,” he said. “I think we ought to be slow and … deliberative about putting portraits in the Capitol. It is not to say that every one of those people is not worthy. But I suspect that there are hundreds of people, thousands of people that are worthy that have done great service to the state.”
“I do think that, as a general rule, it ought to be residents of Georgia that claim Georgia as home,” Richardson added about his criteria for which portraits should go in the Capitol, “and I do know that some of those people on that list are not Georgia residents. And this is the Georgia Capitol.”
Several people who are not from Georgia are honored in the portraits already on display in the Capitol, including Confederate General Robert E. Lee of Virginia and President Andrew Jackson, who was born in South Carolina.
The Georgia State NAACP called Richardson’s concerns “excuses” and “delay tactics.”
“Coretta Scott King and Martin Luther King both gave a lot to America,” said Edward DuBose, president of the Georgia State NAACP. “We will stand behind any bill that stands to honor them and at the same time would challenge anyone who would have the audacity to vote something like that down.”
The Legislature created a panel last year to set standards for determining whether new artwork should go in the Capitol. But the members of the Capitol Arts Standards Commission have not yet been appointed, Olson said.
Under House Bill 88 and House Resolution 121, the portraits of Coretta Scott King and the other civil rights leaders would be hung on the second floor of the Capitol alongside Martin Luther King Jr.’s picture.
King’s portrait is near a corner of the building beside Gov. Sonny Perdue’s office, sandwiched between portraits of former Governors Roy Barnes and George Troup. There is no wall space left for additional portraits in the Capitol, Olson said. If the new portraits were to go up, she said, others would have to come down.
“Space,” Olson said, “is at a premium.”
Brooks said he is willing to compromise.
“We are open to some negotiation, if necessary,” Brooks said. “We think this is an adequate, viable proposal that deserves a fair hearing and consideration.”
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Sales tax proposed to pay for metro road improvements
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
A bill proposing a sales tax to pay for transportation improvements in the meto area’s five biggest counties could be introduced in the state General Assembly as early as next week, Sam Williams, president of the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce, said Tuesday.
Williams, speaking to the Atlanta Convention and Visitors Bureau, said the measure would allow county commissioners in Fulton, DeKalb, Gwinnett, Cobb and Clayton to put an increase of up to 1 penny in an additional sales taxes on a ballot in their counties between now and 2010. A penny increase over 10 years could raise as much as $9 billion or $10 billion, he said.
Raising the funds is essential, he said, if the metro area wants to avoid the traffic headache it experienced last week when two competing conventions tied up traffic downtown for hours.
“[Traffic] is one of the unintended consequences of our success,” he said of Atlanta’s growth as a convention center. “
Williams said the bill would be introduced by prominent Republicans from the counties, but declined to name them.
The money would be used for specific projects that would be agreed upon before a referendum, much like a special purpose local option sales tax many counties have used to raise money for schools, he said. It would also have a sunset date.
If approved, the counties would have to decide how to manage the projects, he said. The bill would allow other counties to opt in, but specifically target the five largest.
Permalink | Comments (10) | Categories: Transportation
Iraq experience moves lawmakers
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Ben Gray / Staff
Rep. Mike Glanton (D-Ellenwood) is surrounded by concerned legislators as he asks for prayers following an extremely emotional week, including the death of his grandmother and uncle and a mortar attack on his daughter's camp in Iraq.
A freshman state lawmaker brought the House of Representatives to tears today with an emotional speech about his daughter narrowly surviving a mortar attack at a U.S. military base in Baghdad.
State Rep. Mike Glanton (D-Jonesboro) cried as he stood in the well of the House speaking about his daughter, Staff Sgt. Latisha Glanton of the Ft. Polk, La.-based 488th Quartermaster Company.
One by one, lawmakers joined Glanton at the podium and placed their hands on his shoulders as he read an e-mail his daughter wrote him Thursday. In it, she described her close call and the injuries her fellow soldiers sustained in the attack.
Reading from the e-mail, Glanton said: “One of my friends pushed me out of the way — praise God — and into safety, but two of my friends were hit. I cannot stop crying, Daddy. When I close my eyes I hear my friend McCall screaming he can’t feel his leg and seeing all the blood on his uniform. I hear Milton screaming ‘Don’t leave me!’ ”
“I don’t want to come off like some wimp, Dad,’” Glanton continued reading. “I can’t leave my troops out here, but I am scared to leave my room. Maybe I just need some time.”
Glanton’s daughter is a 1999 graduate of Morrow High School in Clayton County.
Glanton’s family endured several other tragedies in the days leading up to the mortar attack. His grandmother died Monday. On Tuesday, his aunt suffered a massive stroke and is not expected to survive. On Wednesday, another aunt was rushed to the hospital with complications from diabetes. And Thursday, his uncle died from a heart attack.
“To this body,” Glanton said, “I ask for your continued prayers for my daughter, for my family and for all our service men and women who so bravely serve in our Armed Forces guarding our way of life in this country, serving in harm’s way.”
Fellow lawmakers wept as Glanton spoke. When he finished, Republicans and Democrats alike lined up to embrace him.
“I was sobbing. It was very emotional. I can’t imagine having a daughter in Iraq,” said Rep. Pat Gardner (D-Atlanta). “It was a beautiful experience… I think those kinds of experiences will help bring us together and help us work together.”
Permalink | | Categories: politics
Senate easily passes Charter Systems Act
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The state Senate overwhelmingly passed a bill today that would allow school systems to become charter systems that are exempt from many rules traditional public schools must follow. In exchange, the systems must meet performance goals spelled out in each charter.
The vote was 53-2. Senate Bill 39 now goes to the House Education Committee.
“This bill is a huge step in the right direction for public education,” Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle said just after the vote. “It sets a new platform. It has the potential of impacting the nation.”
Cagle shepherded the legislation through, along with Sen. Dan Weber (R-Dunwoody).
“This model will promote bottom-up management where parents and teachers will be empowered,” Weber said. “We need to have recognication one size does not fit all.”
Currently, schools in Georgia must apply individually to local school boards and the state Board of Education to become charter schools. This bill would speed up that process by allowing several schools at once to gain charter status.
If it becomes law, up to five school systems could be approved in the first year. Each approved system would receive $125,000 from the state to implement their plans. Applicants also would be eligible to receive smaller planning grants.
Permalink | | Categories: Education
Perdue goes to bat for PeachCare in Washington
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Gov. Sonny Perdue pleaded Thursday with Congress to save Georgia’s PeachCare program, saying “time is of the essence” with the future healthcare needs of poor children in jeopardy.
“We’re all familiar with the story of the Good Samaritan,” Perdue told members of the Senate Committee on Finance. “Why can’t we all be Good Samaritans?”
PeachCare, which provides health coverage for 273,000 eligible children in Georgia, faces a $131 million federal funding shortfall.
Speaking on behalf of the Southern Governors’ Association, Perdue said the funding formula for the 10-year-old State Children’s Health Insurance Program is broken.
“The fact that [Georgia] has already enrolled 70,000 more children than the formula says we have eligible is an indication that there’s a serious flaw in the funding formula,” Perdue said.
If Congress does not renew CHIP, the PeachCare program will be completely depleted of federal funds by March, he said.
“The money is there,” Perdue told reporters after the hearing. “But it is misallocated. Why can’t we just fund children’s health care with the numbers we know we already have?”
Permalink | Comments (8) | Categories: Health Care
Legislature considers apology for state’s role in eugenics movement
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The state Legislature is considering apologizing on behalf of Georgia for authorizing the sterilization of 3,300 prisoners, state mental patients and others as part of the pseudo-scientific eugenics movement in the 20th century.
The sterilizations happened between 1937 and 1970, when Georgia and many other states were seeking to improve the human race by eliminating supposed hereditary flaws such as mental illnesses and physical deformities, said Paul Lombardo, a Georgia State University law professor and longtime research and writer about eugenics.
The state also prohibited interracial marriages for 40 years until 1967, when the Supreme Court invalidated the law, said Lombardo, who is prodding the Legislature to apologize.
State lawmakers have introduced a resolution calling on the House of Representatives to declare “its profound regret for Georgia’s participation in the eugenics movement and the injustices done under eugenics laws.”
This year marks the 70th anniversary of the passage of Georgia’s sterilization law.
“The better job we do of recognizing our history, the better job we can possibly do in the future and understand where we need to go,” said state Rep. Mary Margaret Oliver (D-Decatur), who introduced the resolution, which was drafted by Lombardo.
“For me, recognition of this history is a humbling experience. And the more humble we legislators can be about the impact of our work, probably the better off the citizens will be.”
Several other state legislatures have apologized on behalf of their states’ involvement in the eugenics movements, including Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Oregon and California, Lombardo said.
Indiana’s legislature is now considering a similar resolution, Lombardo said.
A public apology could raise awareness about Georgia’s troubling history and comfort the victims of the forced sterilizations, some of whom are still alive, Lombardo said.
“There is not only a public education benefit, but there is also a benefit to the individuals who were the victims,” Lombardo said.
The House has referred the resolution to its Health and Human Services Committee, where it might die, said committee Chairman Sharon Cooper (R-Marietta). Cooper called the eugenics movement “unconscionable” and said people should be aware of Georgia’s history with it so it is not repeated. But she said it is unlikely her committee will ever hold a hearing on the resolution.
“I’m not sure I agree with one generation apologizing for another generation when all the parties that were involved are long dead,” Cooper said. “Its history … In the whole world there is lots of history, that seen in today’s eyes, we would certainly hope would never be repeated, but it’s history. You can’t change it.”
House Minority Leader DuBose Porter (D-Dublin) said he didn’t know enough details about the resolution to comment on it but he said it deserves a hearing in Cooper’s committee.
“Everything should have a fair hearing,” Porter said, “whether it is voted out of committee or not.”
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In committee: sex offender and ID bills….read more
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
10 a.m.: House and Senate meet.
3 p.m.: Senate Judiciary Committee discusses a bill that would prohibit registered sex offenders from taking photos of minors.
3 p.m.: Georgia’s best varsity wheelchair basketball team goes head-to-head against members of the Georgia House of Representatives.
4 p.m.: Senate Public Safety and Homeland Security Committee will disucss a bill that would withhold the state’s participation in REAL ID program until the federal government can ensure that Georgians’ personal information will be protected. REAL ID will require people all to provide a Social Security number, birth certificate and other documents in order to get a driver’s license.
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