Gold Dome Live is moving!
Our new spot will allow us to get the news to you even faster and make commenting easier. Please bookmark the new site and sign up for our rss feed:
http://blogs.ajc.com/gold-dome-live/
AJC.com > Legislature > Blog > Archives > 2009 > January > 30
Friday, January 30, 2009
Senator introduces food safety bill in response to peanut butter salmonella outbreak
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Sen. John Bulloch (R-Ochlocknee) introduced legislation today that would require food manufacturers to perform “regular testing” to ensure food safety. The bill is in response to the salmonella outbreak caused by products from Peanut Corp. of America in Blakely, Ga., which is in Bulloch’s district.
The bill says the testing should detect the presence of “poisonous or deleterious substances or other contaminants.”
Senate Bill 80 also requires a company to report to the Georgia department of agriculture any tests that show contamination within one business day. The bill gives the department of agriculture the right to inspect test result records held by a company.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment | Categories: Legislature
Tuxedos vs. blue jeans in the Senate
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
While the Georgia Senate is not a fashion runway, it’s a place where “proper attire” is still required. Wife-beater T-shirts, sneakers and such are frowned upon. It’s a jacket and tie kind of place.
Sen. Dan Moody (R-Alpharetta) takes that very seriously. He wore a tuxedo on Friday, to hold up the tradition of appropriate dress in the wood-paneled chamber with its huge chandelier.
Moody was also making a dig at Sen. John Bulloch (R-Ochlocknee), who frequently wears blue jeans to the Senate — although they are starched and pressed with a very precise seam, mind you.
“As you know, in the South it’s customary to dress up for special occasions,” Moody said. “We only serve 40 days out of 365. I consider each of those to be special days,” he said. A black tux is his way of showing respect for the people of Georgia, he said.
Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle noticed Moody’s outfit. “The senator looks extremely dapper,” Cagle said.
Last session, Moody and Bulloch exchanged words over their different views of “proper attire.”
Sen. Bulloch defended his choice of trouser Friday.
“I represent cotton farmers,” Bulloch said. He wore jeans, a Brooks Brothers tweedy jacket and yellow silk tie decorated with dragonflies. He also wore a handmade diamondback rattlesnake belt and ostrich skin cowboy boots.
“I think that a clean, neat pair of jeans with a sports coat and a tie is just as appropriate as anything else,” Bulloch said. “When we’re not in session, I wear ‘em everyday.”
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment | Categories: Legislature
Here we go
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
11:17 a.m. UPDATE: With the first big legislative debate in the books, the House is surprisingly quitting for the day.
HR 1 was on the calendar for the day but, being 11:15 on Friday after a full week, Speaker Glenn Richardson (R-Hiram) apparently felt the HB 143 debate was enough. Either that, or the majority party doesn’t have the numbers to win a two-thirds majority vote on the constitutional amendment.
The House is now debating HB 143, which fully funds this year the homeowners tax relief grants to the tune of more than $420 million. It would save homeowners $200 to $300 on their tax bills. But the bill makes clear that in future years the grants might not be there. We’re live-blogging the action below.
11:15 a.m. UPDATE: HB 143 passes by a vote of 117-55. Next up: HR 1.
11:13 a.m. UPDATE: Vote! Vote! Vote! Here we go. Voting on the board.
11:09 a.m. UPDATE: One more step. O’Neal, the chairman of the Ways and Means Committee and sponsor of the bill, gets the last 20 minutes to argue in favor of the bill. He’s yielded his time to House Majority Leader Jerry Keen (R-St. Simons), who is essentially saying that everyone else who spoke before him was making it up as they went along.
“So let’s talk about the facts,” Keen said.
That vote is still coming.
10:58 a.m. UPDATE: Rep. Alan Powell (D-Hartwell) is now speaking. He’s the last of the seven speakers who signed up to share their views.
Once he’s finished — it’s time to vote!
10:38 a.m UPDATE: Calling the bill a “band aid,” Rep. Tommy Smith (R-Nichols) urged his colleagues to support this bill.
“People of Georgia are smart,” Smith said. “They know what this bill is.”
“At least it takes away the increase your constituents would have without this legislation,” Nichols said.
10:25 a.m. UPDATE: Freshman House member Rep. Rashad Taylor (D-Atlanta) is urging lawmakers to vote down the bill, arguing that it will break a promise the state made nearly a decade ago.
“We ought to keep that promise we’ve made since 1999 and continue to fund these grants,” Taylor said.
HB 143, he said, “is the tax increase.”
10:19 a.m. UPDATE: O’Neal has left the well and there are seven lawmakers signed up to speak on the bill. Rep. Stacey Abrams (D-Atlanta) is up first.
Abrams said she does not deny the “good intention” of the bill or O’Neal’s desire to solve the problem.
“This bill is not the vehicle to solve that problem,” Abrams said.
If this bill fails, she said, the Legislature could still fund the grants through the normal budget process.
10:09 a.m. UPDATE: The first sharp exchange of the year came between O’Neal and Rep. Winfred Dukes (D-Albany).
Albany said if the state funds the grants this year, but not next, the result would be “the largest property tax bill to the homeowners in the state of Georgia in the history of this state.”
O’Neal took umbrage with that.
“I respectfully disagree with you,” O’Neal said. “It’s never been an entitlement. You can try and spin the outcome for your politics, but I disagree with you completely.”
10:03 a.m. UPDATE: Rep. Tim Bearden (R-Villa Rica) wants to be sure that if the bill passes counties will not still send out two tax bills.
O’Neal said if the bill DOESN’T pass that will happen, because most localities already sent out tax bills assuming the homeowners relief grants would be funded.
9:52 a.m. UPDATE: O’Neal said this bill is about “keeping our promises.”
If the bill is passed, the man from Bonaire said, it will avoid situations like this one, where local governments are faced with hoping the General Assembly lives up to its end of the bargain.
“The counties school boards and cities, under the terms of the bill, if we decide to make the homeowners tax relief funding, will have the money in their bank accounts, have the money before they send out their bills,” O’Neal said. “So they’ll never be faced with having to have legislation to keep the promises made by this General Assembly.”
O’Neal now taking questions.
Rep. Larry O’Neal (R-Bonaire), the chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, is in the well, ready to introduce HB 143, the bill that funds the homeowners tax relief grants for the coming year.
Permalink | Comments (5) | Post your comment | Categories: Legislature
This might not take that long after all
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Rep. Jill Chambers (R-Atlanta) just did Gold Dome Live a solid and checked to see how many of her colleagues have signed up to speak during the coming debates on HR 1 and HB 143.
The total? Four.
That could well change between now and when the debate gets started (they’re still congratulating each other and introducing friends and constituents at the moment). House members have until the bill’s introduction is finished to sign up.
But if there’s not a rush to sign up, this won’t last that long.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment | Categories: Legislature
This might not take that long after all
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Rep. Jill Chambers (R-Atlanta) just did Gold Dome Live a solid and checked to see how many of her colleagues have signed up to speak during the coming debates on HR 1 and HB 143.
The total? Four.
That could well change between now and when the debate gets started (they’re still congratulating each other and introducing friends and constituents at the moment). House members have until the bill’s introduction is finished to sign up.
But if there’s not a rush to sign up, this won’t last that long.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment | Categories: Legislature
The fun starts today
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
It’s Day 10 of the 2009 General Assembly and we’re finally expecting some action on the floor of the House.
Two pieces of legislation — actual, meaningful legislation — will hit the floor this morning at some point. The House convenes, well, now. In the next hour or so, HR 1 and HB 143 will be brought up, debated and — most likely — passed out to the Senate.
HR 1, which sets caps on increases in the assessed value of property, will take a two-thirds vote of the House, meaning some Democrats will have to go along for it to pass. HB 143, which funds the homeowners relief grants for this year, but makes future funding doubtful, takes a simple majority.
We’ll be live-blogging the debate, so check back often for updates.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment | Categories: Legislature
