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AJC.com > Legislature > Blog > Archives > 2007 > April > 12
Thursday, April 12, 2007
House panel approves budget
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
A key committee approved a state budget for next year on Thursday that includes extra money for school instruction and fishing tourism and $1 billion in new construction.
The $20.2 billion spending plan for fiscal 2008, which begins July 1, also includes dozens of pet projects for lawmakers and $6 million for unspecified grants that won’t be made public until just before the end of the 2007 session.
The House Appropriations Committee backed the budget this morning, and the full House will consider it Friday. Lawmakers hope to end the 2007 session next Friday.
The spending plan gives Gov. Sonny Perdue much, although not all, of what he requested. It includes $18 million of the $19 million he wanted for “Go Fish Georgia,” the state’s effort to promote fishing tourism. However, it doesn’t include any money for land preservation, another of Perdue’s priorities.
House leaders had cut out much of the “Go Fish” funding earlier in the session. However, Perdue pressured lawmakers to back his program, which was one of few initiatives the governor promoted this year.
House leaders reduced the size of the austerity spending cut Perdue had included for schools, dropping it from $140 million to $100 million. They also added $5 million to promote the development of charter schools, which are allowed to operate without many public school regulations, and $8 million to build a charter school in Cobb County.
The House spending plan also would give more money to the State Ethics Commission, which Perdue had recommended be cut by 40 percent. The commission investigates accusations of campaign finance laws and handles campaign finance and lobby spending reports. The House budget also included $3.5 million to buy 100 new state trooper cars.
House Appropriations Chairman Ben Harbin (R-Evans), is from the Augusta area, and that East Georgia city had a good haul in the House budget. The Georgia Golf Hall of Fame, located in Augusta, would get $550,000 for operations and a feasibility study on its future. Another $2.8 million would go to expand the Medical College of Georgia in Augusta.
Gainesville, home of Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle and House Appropriations Committee Vice Chairman Carl Rogers (R-Gainesville), would get $2 million for a parking deck.
Paulding County, home of House Speaker Glenn Richardson (R-Hiram), would get $1.5 million for a new library.
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Stem cell bill unlikely to pass this year
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
A controversial bill that would promote non-embryonic stem cell research in Georgia is unlikely to pass the Georgia General Assembly this year.
The House Science and Technology Committee, chaired by Rep. Amos Amerson (R-Dahlonega), did not take action on the bill Thursday morning despite hearing 2 1/2 hours of testimony on the measure earlier this week.
Sen. David Shafer (R-Duluth), the bill’s sponsor, said he believes the measure has enough support among lawmakers to pass eventually.
“I continue to be encouraged by the strong bipartisan support for the bill,” Shafer wrote in an e-mail Thursday. “The bill would have passed this morning with votes from both parties. I am confident that when the chairman allows the committee to vote, the bill will move forward.”
Senate Bill 148 would require all state hospitals by June 30, 2009, to inform pregnant women that they can donate placenta, umbilical cords and amniotic fluid to either public or private banks for medical research. Georgians who contribute to nondestructive stem cell research would be eligible for a state tax break.
The measure also would establish a 15-member state commission that would oversee a system of umbilical cord blood banks and seek grants for non-destructive stem cell research.
Nothing in Shafer’s bill prohibits embryonic stem cell research, but some critics say the measure contains language that is unnecessary and implies that research involving human embryos is unethical. Several scientists, lawmakers and patient advocates have asked Shafer to remove language in the bill referring to embryonic stem cell research.
But Shafer has refused so far. He and organizations such as Georgia Right to Life and the Georgia Christian Alliance oppose research that destroys human embryos, saying such procedures cross a moral and ethical line.
Last year, one version of Shafer’s bill would have prohibited 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.
Senate lawmakers eventually removed that controversial language, and the measure passed both chambers with overwhelming support. But the bill died on the final day of the session because it failed to get a procedural approval before the clock ran out. Within a few weeks, Gov. Sonny Perdue issued an executive order that resurrected some parts of the bill, including the establishment of a Newborn Umbilical Cord Blood Bank Commission. That order will sunset at the end of the year.
The debate in Georgia has echoed discussion about human embryonic stem cell research and adult stem cell research that have played out on the federal level.
The U.S Senate approved a bill Wednesday that would provide federal funding for embryonic stem cell research. The House of Representatives has already approved a similar measure, but President George W. Bush has said he likely will veto that bill.
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