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 > March
March 2009
Gold Dome Live is moving!
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
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/
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment | Categories: Alert
Grocery tax hike 99 percent dead’
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Well, that didn’t take long
Just a few days after the House Ways & Means Committee passed a bill to put the state sales tax back on groceries, a House source said the measure isn’t likely to get to the House floor for a vote.
The AJC reported Tuesday that House leaders said they were planning to put the bill up for a vote Thursday.
But once the idea hit the media, Republican blogs exploded in opposition to the idea of putting the state’s 4 percent sales tax back on groceries. It was removed by a Democrat-run General Assembly in the mid-to-late 1990s. Read the whole post here: http://blogs.ajc.com/gold-dome-live/2009/03/10/grocery-tax-hike-99-percent-dead/
Permalink | Comments (1) | Post your comment | Categories: Legislature
Senate passes English-only driver’s license exams
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
English would be the only language for a driver’s license exam in Georgia under a bill that passed the Senate Tuesday.
Bill sponsor Sen. Jack Murphy (R-Cumming) said the rule is needed for safety on the highway. The measure passed 37 to 14 and still needs to pass the House before it could be signed into law.
Murphy displayed road signs in the Senate chamber from foreign countries in foreign languages.
“I’m just trying to show a comparison between you driving in that country and someone who doesn’t understand English driving in our country,” Murphy told his colleagues.
“People need to be able to drive safely on our roads and read overhead signs,” Murphy said.
Gold Dome Live has a new home on ajc.com
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment | Categories: Legislature
House adopts massive health overhaul
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Gold Dome Live has a new home on ajc.com. To see all current updates, visit: http://blogs.ajc.com/gold-dome-live/.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment | Categories: Legislature
House votes to protect access to generic drugs
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Gold Dome Live has a new home on ajc.com. To read the latest updates, go to: http://blogs.ajc.com/gold-dome-live/
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment | Categories: Legislature
House bill would deputize county health inspectors
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Gold Dome Live is moving to its new home on ajc.com. Here’s a link to the latest entry: http://blogs.ajc.com/gold-dome-live/2009/03/10/house-wants-local-officials-to-help-inspect-food-plants/
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment | Categories: Legislature
Grocery sales taxes making a comeback for visitors
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
House Republicans are discussing bringing legislation to the chamber on Thursday that would put the state’s 4 percent sales tax back on groceries.
They argue that the legislation would be “revenue neutral” for Georgians who file income tax returns because it would give them a credit to make up for paying grocery taxes.
The idea is to raise badly needed revenue for the state by forcing out-of-state shoppers and Georgians who don’t file income tax returns to pay more sales taxes.
Supporters say it could raise $250 million or more a year.
The bill’s sponsor, Rep. Chuck Sims (R-Ambrose), has filed bills the past few years putting the sales tax back on groceries. The state portion of the sales tax was removed from most groceries during the late 1990s. Doing so was long a pet project of then-Gov. Zell MIller.
Under the Sims bill that passed the House Ways and Means Committee last week, Georgia residents who file income tax returns would be able to deduct either the taxes they paid on groceries, documented with receipts, or get a credit based on the number of dependents in their family.
It’s unclear whether the proposal will make it to the House floor, or if it has a chance of passing.
But Senate Majority Leader Chip Rogers (R-Woodstock), said, “Any time you shift the tax burden from Georgia residents to non-Georgia residents, it sounds like a good idea.”
Permalink | Comments (67) | Post your comment | Categories: Legislature
Corporate tax break axed from House package
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The House will be voting Thursday on a package of tax cuts designed to entice businesses to hire the unemployed. But killing the corporate income tax is no longer part of the package.
Rep. Tom Graves (R-Ranger), sponsor of the measure, said he wants the General Assembly to study eliminating the corporate income tax, and other tax breaks for businesses, over the summer and reconsider the issue in the 2010 session.
The package, pushed by House Republican leaders, will give tax breaks to employers for hiring and retaining the unemployed. It also would eliminate some fees businesses pay.
Corporate income taxes would begin being phased out in 2012. But a fiscal note on the bill from the Department of Audits and the Office of Planning and Budget said eliminating corporate income taxes wouldn’t do much to increase economic growth.
Meanwhile, it would cut state revenues by $600 million to $900 million in most years. Graves said not all businesses pay corporate income taxes, and he wants to look at tax breaks that will help all businesses.
Permalink | Comments (12) | Post your comment | Categories: Legislature
UPDATED: House approves stiffer penalties for ‘superspeeders’
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
UPDATE: 12:41 P.M. The House has approved legislation added stiff new penalties to so-called superspeeders and promising the money for improved trauma care.
House Bill 160, one of Gov. Sonny Perdue’s key agenda items, was approved by a vote of 113-53.
The bill would add a $200 fine to those who get busted for doing 85 mph or above on highways and interstates and 75 mph on two-lane roads.
Rep. Jim Cole (R-Forsyth), one of Perdue’s floor leaders, told his colleagues the bill would raise about $23 million that the governor wants to spend on improved trauma care in the state.
Of that $23 million, $7 million would come from the higher fines and another $16 million from higher reinstatement fees for people who get their license suspended.
The outcome of this bill was in doubt. Cole got several unfriendly questions and Rep. Doug Collins (R-Gainesville), questioned the need for the bill before proposing an amendment that was would allow Georgia Highway Patrol troopers to run radar in unmarked cars during daylight hours.
Collins said that would do more to stop speeders than the threat of higher fines.
House Speaker Glenn Richardson (R-Hiram) urged colleagues to back the bill. It was just the second time this session the big man visited the well to address the House on a bill.
“These aren’t people who care about the law,” Richardson said, referring to people who have had their licenses suspended and would have to pay the higher fee to get the privilege back.
Moments later, Richardson ruled Collins’ amendment to be non-germane, meaning the amendment is not related enough to the bill.
And a motion to table the bill failed as well.
HB 160 now goes to the Senate.
Permalink | Comments (168) | Post your comment | Categories: Legislature
Senate committee passes bill that would restrict stem cell research
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
A Senate committee narrowly approved a bill Monday morning that would restrict stem cell research in Georgia, just as President Barack Obama has announced a lifting of restrictions on federal dollars for such research.
By a vote of 7 to 6 the Senate Health and Human Services Committee approved a revised version of Senate Bill 169 Monday morning.
The bill will go to the Rules Committee Tuesday and if approved, could make it to the Senate floor for a vote Thursday, which is the last day a bill can be considered by either chamber and still remain alive during this legislative session.
Opponents say the new version of the bill would criminalize stem cell research in Georgia and place a chilling effect on the practice of in-vitro fertilization.
Supporters say it’s an attempt to respect the right of life, even an embryonic potential life.
Senate Bill 169 defines a living human embryo as a person, not property. It prohibits the destruction of a living human embryo for any reason, such as scientific research. It would also apply in the event a couple has decided they no longer want to try to become pregnant, and want to dispose of their frozen embryos kept at a fertility clinic.
E. Culver “Rusty” Kidd, a lobbyist for the medical industry who uses a wheelchair now after a motorcycle accident 10 years ago, told the committee he opposes the bill.
He spoke representing himself Monday and summed up what he thinks the bill does in one short sentence.
“If you shuck the corn and get down to what this bill really does, you’re defining when life starts,” Kidd said.
The bill would prohibit the creation of human embryos for scientific research in Georgia.
“What they’re trying to do is eliminate embryonic stem cell research,” said Charles Craig, president of Georgia Bio, a private non-profit that promotes Georgia’s life sciences industry. He said it would have a negative effect on Georgia’s ability to recruit bio tech firms to the state.
Sen. David Adelman (D-Decatur) spoke against the bill, saying it addresses an area that is too complicated and controversial to be responsibly dealt with after only a few days of deliberation.
A subcommittee of the Senate Health and Human Services Committee was assigned to study the bill last Thursday. Sen. Preston Smith (R-Rome) came back with an amended version over the weekend and presented it to the subcommittee Monday morning, and it was approved 2 to 1 and passed on to the full committee.
“I’m concerned that Georgia is putting politics ahead of science,” Adelman said.
“We’ll send an unmistakable message that Georgia is an anti-science state,” he said.
Senate Bill 169 was first introduced as a bill that would prohibit another “octuplet mom” like the recent case of Nadya Suleman in California. Suleman gave birth to eight babies after in-vitro fertilization. She already has six children and is on public assistance.
While many of the controversial provisions about restricting in-vitro fertilization techniques have been removed from the bill, the legislation would still hinder in-vitro fertilization practice, said Dr. Andrew Toledo, a doctor with Reproductive Biology Associates.
The bill prohibits the destruction of human embryos for any reason. This would place an obstacle in the way clinics operate, Toledo said.
When parents decide that they no longer want embryos that are frozen, they either donate them for scientific research, or they ask that they be disposed, Toldeo said.
The bill would prohibit both practices and place patients in an uncertain situation, paying about $500 per year to preserve the embryos they no longer need, Toledo said.
Right to life supporters of the bill who testified at the meeting included the Catholic Archdiocese and the Georgia Baptist Convention.
The group Georgia Right to Life argues that the bill would allow for effective legal protection for all human beings from their earliest moment of development through natural death.
“No one’s right for a cure supercedes another’s right to life,” said Dan Becker, president of Georgia Right to Life.
During debate on the bill, Sen. Johnny Grant (R-Milledgeville) asked if the left-over embryos would become wards of the state.
“Are we creating a new liability of the state?” Grant asked.
“I don’t think we have an answer to that question,” said Smith.
Tom Daniel, Senior Vice Chancellor for the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia, said the university system opposes it.
“We’re concerned it would have a damaging effect on research being done now and our ability to successfully do that in the future,” Daniel said.
Permalink | Comments (21) | Post your comment | Categories: Legislature
Bill inspired by octuplet births may morph into stem cell research restrictions
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
A bill developed in response to the octuplets recently born in California might not be on a slow-track after all.
State Sen. Preston Smith (R-Rome) says he has made some changes to Senate Bill 169 that he plans to present to a special Senate subcommittee Monday morning.
The legislation appears to be shifting from a discussion of the practices of fertility clinics towards a debate over embryonic stem cell research.
If those changes pass, the Senate Health and Humans Services Committee could reconsider the amended legislation at 10:30 a.m. in the Capitol.
Smith said he has removed from the bill everything to do with fertility clinics and how many embryos can be transferred into a woman, but he has left language that deals with cloning and embryos used for scientific research.
The bill as amended would prohibit cloning and chimera experimentation — crossing human genetic material with that of animals — which Smith called “creepy.” It would prohibit creating a human embryo for the purposes of scientific experimentation in Georgia, but would allow such research to continue using embryos created outside the state.
The bill also addresses the idea of personhood, Smith said.
“It does advance the position that an embryo has more rights than a piece of property,” he said.
Embryonic stem cell research uses newly-created human embryos discarded from fertility clinics. Because the discarded embryos are destroyed in the process, many Christian conservatives —- though not all —- equate the practice with abortion.
President Barack Obama plans to hold a public event Monday where he will announce his plan to lift restrictions on taxpayer-funded research using embryonic stem cells. Embryonic stem cells can grow and become any cell in the body, and scientists hope to use them to cure diseases such as diabetes, Parkinson’s disease or to treat spinal chord injuries.
Republicans in Georgia have predicted that changes in federal rules regarding stem cell research will prompt a state debate over the issue.
That debate could start Monday morning as the special study committee of the Senate Health and Human Services Committee meets at 9:30 a.m. to discuss the changes to the bill.
If the four senators on the subcommittee agree on the new language, they could pass it back to the larger committee, which could in turn vote in favor of it.
Monday is one of the last days for bills to pass out of committee in order to be considered for a vote in either chamber during this legislative session.
The state of Georgia is trying to use an international biotech convention that is coming to Atlanta in May to showcase the state as a good place to do business in biotechnology.
Opponents of restrictions on embryonic stem cell research say legislation prohibiting stem cell research could have a chilling effect on efforts to lure firms to establish operations in Georgia.
Staff Writer Jim Galloway and the Associated Press contributed to this story.
Permalink | Comments (3) | Post your comment | Categories: Legislature
A boost for the ACT
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
With all the emphasis placed on the SAT, it’s easy for Georgians to forget students can also take the ACT.
HB 547 would place both college admissions tests on equal footing by requiring the state to pay for students to take the ACT PLAN, a practice test. The House Education Committee unanimously approved the bill Thursday.
The state already pays for sophomores to take the PSAT. HB 547, sponsored by Rep. Carolyn Hugley (D-Columbus), would let students choose which test to take.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment | Categories: Legislature
Charter schools could see rent break
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
School boards would be required to let local charter schools use empty school buildings, under a bill the House Education Committee unanimously approved Thursday.
HB 555, sponsored by David Casas (R-Lilburn), would let charter schools rent the buildings for free. Local school boards and charter schools would negotiate the terms of the lease, such as who would pay utility bills and maintenance costs.
Charter schools are funded with taxpayer money and can operate independent of local school districts. About 43,000 Georgia students attend 113 charter schools.
Charter schools often struggle to find facilities and must pay rent or purchase vacant buildings. Some school districts already charge to rent buildings to charter schools. For example, Atlanta Public Schools leases building to three charter schools, charging between $2,200 to $12,000 a month.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment | Categories: Legislature
Top teachers could keep bonuses
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Georgia teachers with national board certification would continue to get bonuses, under a substitute HB 243 the House Education Committee approved Thursday.
The revised bill, introduced by Rep. Ed Setzler (R-Acworth), keeps the 10 percent salary increase that about 2,500 Georgia teachers currently receive. It also promises the supplement to teachers who are in the process of earning certification.
The bill represents a change from the original HB 243, which eliminated the bonus. Rep. Jimmy Pruett (R-Eastman) filed the legislation on behalf of Gov. Sonny Perdue, who has said eliminating the bonuses could save the state about $12 million.
Teachers across the state opposed the change, saying the money was promised to them.
Rep. Jan Jones (R-Milton) offered an amendment that would prohibit teachers from receiving the bonus when they renew the certification, which lasts for 10 years. The amendment failed.
The National Board for Professional Teaching Standards runs the certification program, which often takes more than a year to complete.
The education committee approved the bill, 13-6.
Permalink | Comments (1) | Post your comment | Categories: Legislature
Senate panel sends ‘octuplet mom’ bill to study committee
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
A bill that would have limited the number of embryos that doctors could create and then transfer into a woman was slow-tracked Thursday in a state legislative committee.
Senators on the Health and Human Services Committee voted 12 to 3 to send the bill to a study committee in a subcommittee, dimming its chances of passing this session.
Senate Bill 169 was introduced in reaction to the California woman who gave birth recently to octuplets through in-vitro fertilization. Nadya Suleman already had six children and was on public assistance.
Before a packed room, senators heard testimony in favor of the bill. Supporters said women were not meant to bear “litters” and that egg-stimulating medicines harm women.
A longer list of opponents signed up to speak, arguing that the bill would greatly limit an infertile woman’s chances of conceiving and would effectively shut down the practice of in-vitro fertilization in Georgia, sending patients to other states where they would have better chances of success in achieving pregnancy.
The bill would limit the number of embryos created to the amount that would be implanted in a woman at any one time. Women under 40 would be limited to receiving two embryos at a time, and women over 40 would be limited to receiving three embryos.
Several senators said they supported the idea of regulating fertility treatments, but felt the idea needed more study. Supporters said they will continue working to pass the bill in the future.
Permalink | Comments (8) | Post your comment | Categories: Legislature
UPDATED: Richardson wants to give state leaders power to perform marriages
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
UPDATED THROUGHOUT
The Rev. Sonny Perdue?
Legislation approved in the Georgia House on Thursday would allow the governor and other top elected state officials perform wedding ceremonies after Speaker Glenn Richardson (R-Hiram) told his colleagues Perdue recently learned he was barred from doing so.
Richardson did not elaborate on whom it was Perdue wanted to help get married, and a request for details from the governor’s office has not yet been answered, but could it be recently ousted transportation honcho Gena Evans?
Evans, nee Abraham, who until recently was commissioner of the Department of Transportation, married Mike Evans, who had been chairman of the DOT board, in a ceremony in September in Alabama. Perdue sort of co-presided along with an official circuit court judge in that neighboring state.
Richardson used this issue for his first foray into the well of the House to address his colleagues.
“It wasn’t very long ago I noticed our governor was asked to perform a marriage ceremony and he wasn’t allowed to do that,” Richardson said.
The speaker said other states allow the governor, lieutenant governor, speaker and constitutional officers to preside at wedding ceremonies.
He asked the House to approve an amendment to HB 184 giving Georgia’s top officials that ability. HB 184, sponsored by Rep. Gloria Frazier (D-Hephzibah), urges couples to get tested for sickle cell disease before marrying.
The amendment, and the bill, were approved by a vote of 155-1, with Rep. Bobby Franklin (R-Marietta) casting the lone “no” vote.
If approved by the Senate and signed into law, the speaker, governor, lieutenant governor, speaker pro tem, president pro tem and all current and former constitutional officers would be authorized to legally marry couples.
Current state law says any judge, city recorder, magistrate, minister “or other person of any religious society or sect authorized by the rules of such society to perform the marriage ceremony” can legally marry two people (of the opposite sex, of course).
The measure approved Thursday caused Rep. Roger Bruce (D-Atlanta) to wonder if they would have to now refer to the speaker as “reverend.”
Speaker Pro Tem Mark Burkhalter (R-Johns Creek) said that would only occasionally be necessary.
“Only if you want to get married,” Burkhalter said.
Permalink | Comments (30) | Post your comment | Categories: Legislature
House sets new calendar; session to end in April
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The House has approved a new calendar for the rest of the legislative session that has the 2009 session ending Friday, April 3.
The calendar, presented this morning by House Majority Leader Jerry Keen (R-St. Simons Island), is a change from the one approved in February that had the General Assembly meeting through late March and then breaking for several months, before returning to finish up in late June.
The schedule, in the form of a House resolution, will be considered by the Senate this afternoon, although Keen said it was worked out in consultation with Senate leadership.
The earlier schedule was created to offer lawmakers flexibility to deal with worrisome changes to state revenue forecasts and to provide a chance for them to receive and spend federal stimulus money.
Most of that has now been taken care of, Keen said.
The proposed schedule would set Day 30 as next Thursday, March 12. That’s the last day that any bill can go from one chamber to the other and still be considered this year.
The final week of the session, lawmakers would meet Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
“You will probably be on the floor quite a long time between now and then end of this month,” Keen said.
Permalink | Comments (1) | Post your comment | Categories: Legislature
UPDATED: Legislature to meet Monday
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Changes are coming to the General Assembly’s meeting schedule, as the House Rules Committee moments ago picked bills to debate on Monday.
The House and Senate had been meeting Tuesday through Thursday for the past several weeks, under a compromise schedule designed to add flexibility. The currently approved schedule has the Legislature meeting through March 25, and returning for a few days in late June.
That schedule was designed in case lawmakers needed more time through the spring to deal with a further eroding state budget scenario or to accommodate federal stimulus dollars.
There was no immediate word on what the decision to convene Monday means for the overall schedule, but if lawmakers meet Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, it would make Wednesday the all-important 30th day of the session.
The 30th of the 40 days that the Legislature is in session is the last day that a bill can pass from one chamber, and often sets off a frenzy of action as lawmakers sprint to get their bills sent across the Capitol in time.
UPDATE: OK, so when all else fails, consult the schedule.
According to House Resolution 238, which lawmakers approved back in February, which set the schedule for the year, the Legislature had already planned to meet Monday, Tuesday and Thursday next week.
That makes next Thursday the all-important Day 30.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment | Categories: Legislature
Sunday sales bill withdrawn
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The sponsor of legislation allowing voters the chance to vote on Sunday alcohol sales at stores withdrew his bill when he realized he could not get it passed out of the Senate Regulated Industries Committee Wednesday.
The committee was supposed to vote on the bill Wednesday, but supporters knew by the time the meeting began that they wouldn’t have enough votes to pass it.
It marked the third consecutive year the bill to allow Sunday sales has stalled in the Senate.
Sen. Seth Harp (R-Midland), said he would bring the bill back up in the future and supporters hinted they would make it a campaign issue next year.
Permalink | Comments (79) | Post your comment | Categories: Legislature
House kills homestead hike
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
A Senate bill that would double the state homestead exemption for property owners and provide for future increases was defeated in the House on Wednesday.
The bill required a two-thirds majority to pass but the vote of 98-63 was not enough.
Rep. Ed Lindsey (R-Atlanta), the vice chairman of House Appropriations, sponsored the bill in the House and said it would provide additional and needed relief to homeowners.
“It’s good politics and good policy all over the state,” Lindsey said.
And while he said it would have limited impact on local governments, that was the concern of opponents who urged members to vote against it.
House Majority Leader Jerry Keen (R-St. Simons Island) gave notice that he will seek to have the vote overturned and reconsidered when the House next meets.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment | Categories: Legislature
House, like Senate, votes to require voters prove citizenship
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
As the Senate did a day ago, the House on Wednesday adopted legislation requiring people registering to vote to prove their citizenship.
HB 45, sponsored by Rep. James Mills (R-Gainesville), is similar to SB 86, which the Senate adopted on Tuesday. HB 45 passed the House 102-63.
Mills’ bill generated heated debate over the course of about two hours. Mills said it is a measure that “protects the voting systems and the integrity of the system we now have in place.”
Mills said that last year nearly 5,000 voters had their citizenship questioned by Secretary of State Karen Handel. Those voters received letters demanding proof of citizenship. The fact that only 57 percent responded, Mills said, means more than 2,700 people whose citizenship was in doubt “did not respond, yet they voted and participated in our past election.”
But, under questioning from Rep. Stephanie Benfield (D-Atlanta), Mills was able to only offer a single example of anyone being caught trying to violate existing citizenship rules for voters.
Rep. Pedro “Pete” Marin (D-Duluth) accused Mills and the bill’s supporters of “playing the race card” by pursuing legislation he said was designed to suppress voter participation by minorities and legal immigrants who gain citizenship.
But Mills and Rep. Austin Scott (R-Tifton) rejected statements from Marin and others and said opponents were the ones injecting race into the issue.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment | Categories: Legislature
Bill would prohibit octuplet mother scenario in Georgia
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
A bill intended to make sure Georgia never has a mother like the Californian who recently gave birth to eight children is scheduled to come before a Senate committee today.
Senate Bill 169 would limit the number of embryos fertility clinics may implant in a woman. It could be among the first legislation of its kind in the nation, said bill sponsor Sen. Ralph Hudgens (R-Hull).
Hudgens said he proposed the bill after reading of Nadya Suleman’s decision to have multiple children through in-vitro fertilization when she already had six children and was on public assistance.
“I think it’s totally immoral,” Hudgens said of “I think the doctor ought to be prosecuted, and the woman should give them [the children] up for adoption.”
The bill has drawn opposition from out-of-state advocacy groups, including a Virginia organization that sought to rally opposition to the bill Wednesday by e-mail.
The McLean, Va.-based Resolve: the National Infertility Association argues SB 169 would make it much harder for infertile women to have children by limiting the number of embryos that could be implanted.
The proposal was drafted by the Arizona-based Bioethics Defense Fund, which opposes embryonic stem cell research, abortion, human cloning and assisted suicide.
It also has drawn opposition from the American Society for Reproductive Medicine and Georgia supporters of abortion rights who argue that the bill is a back-door attempt to outlaw abortion.
A key reason is because the bill defines embryos conceived outside the womb as “biological human beings.”
Chad Smith, a former Snellville city councilman and father of three, said that under the proposal, his wife would have been barred from having the four embryos implanted that gave the couple their triplets.
“It’s government getting into personal lives,” Smith said. “These bills take all decisions out of the hands of the doctors. The bills are incredibly irresponsible and uneducated bills.”
Under Hudgens’ bill, women older than 40 would be limited to three embryonic implants. Women younger than 40 would be limited to two.
The bill would also limit creation of embryos to the number that would be implanted at any one time. Hudgens said this would eliminate the creation of multiple embryos that are then frozen.
Hudgens said he wants to prevent disputes between ex-husbands and ex-wives over what to do with left-over frozen embryos.
Permalink | Comments (1) | Post your comment | Categories: Legislature
House votes to give math, science teachers more money
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Math and science teachers in Georgia public schools could see more money under a House bill adopted moments ago.
HB 280, sponsored by Education Committee Chairman Brooks Coleman (R-Duluth), is part of Gov. Sonny Perdue’s legislative priorities for the year and is designed to encourage more teachers in what Coleman said were critical areas.
Coleman said the state’s colleges and universities are not producing enough teachers in these subjects and the bill would offer incentives.
“We’re having to go out of state to recruit,” he said. “You can’t teach what you don’t know.”
The bill would cost the state $9.5 million a year, he said, although no money for it has been budgeted this year.
Permalink | Comments (8) | Post your comment | Categories: Legislature
Senator introduces ethics bill on tax evasion
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
A bill introduced this week would let state senators more quickly investigate tax scofflaws who serve in the state Legislature.
Sen. Eric Johnson (R-Savannah) introduced Senate Resolution 452, which would allow the state’s Commissioner of Revenue to file a complaint with the Senate Ethics Committee on slacker legislators.
Such a move would speed up the flow of information on legislators who don’t pay the piper and could result more quickly in a public reprimand or a recommendation for removal from office, Johnson said.
The move comes after a recent Georgia Department of Revenue report revealing that 19 Legislators have not filed their returns. The report did not name the legislators.
Johnson said three are in the Senate.
Right now the Senate can censure a member for not paying taxes only after a final adjudication is made, and that could take five or six years, Johnson said.
“They’re gaming the system,” Johnson said of legislators who don’t file their tax returns. They have plenty of time of not paying taxes before the word gets out, he said.
Johnson’s bill would change the clubby atmosphere of the Senate, opening it up to more scrutiny.
“This would allow him [the Commissioner of Revenue] to say senator so-and-so is refusing to pay his taxes,” Johnson said.
Currently, only a senator can file an ethics complaint against another senator.
Senate Minority Leader Robert Brown (D-Macon) opposes the legislation saying it could give birth to political persecution using personal information.
Brown offered himself as an example of someone who filed an extension on his 2007 tax return. He told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution he technically did not pay his taxes, but he added that filing an extension is a legitimate option.
Brown cited his health from keeping him from making money in his real estate business, but added, that it is “only a reason and not an excuse.”
“It’s not that I’m not paying taxes,” Brown said. “I probably don’t owe any,” he said.
“I don’t want to give political hacks on a committee” the power to start looking into personal information about other senators, Brown said.
Brown did not know if his name was one of three senators on the DOR list.
Johnson, chairman of the Senate Ethics Committee, said he, himself, is not one of them.
Revenue Commissioner Bart L. Graham is scheduled to speak before the Senate Rules Committee at 3 p.m. Wednesday to give examples of the kind of information he would explore or the kind of complaint he might file if given the power.
Permalink | Comments (5) | Post your comment | Categories: Legislature
House goes 3-for-3 on transportation
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
All three transportation measures up in the House on Tuesday were — finally — approved and sent to the Senate.
HR 206, which asks voters to amend the state constitution, would levy a 1 percent state sales tax to fund transportation projects. It also changes how sales tax from motor fuels are distributed — the fourth penny of the tax from fuel sales would go to transportation rather than the general fund.
HB 277 creates a trust fund for that sales tax money and a new committee to oversee it. It also designates the DOT as the organization to receive federal transportation funds.
SB 39, as amended, would allow MARTA to use a little more of its money for operations. Current law requires half to go toward operations and half toward maintenance; the bill as adopted in the House would increase that to 60-40 operations-to-maintenance.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment | Categories: Legislature
Senate passes stricter voter registration requirements
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Voters would have to prove their U.S. citizenship with documents when registering to vote under a bill that passed the Senate Tuesday.
Supporters say the bill would prevent illegal immigrants from voting in Georgia and prevent voter fraud. Opponents say the measure amounts to a poll tax on poor Georgians who don’t have identification papers and would have to pay money to get them.
County voter registrars would be required to reject any voter registration application that does not include a birth certificate, passport, naturalization document, or driver’s license that proves U.S. citizenship, according to Senate Bill 86. Other documents could be accepted as well, such as a Bureau of Indian Affairs card number or tribal enrollment number. The measure passed the Senate 34 to 20 and must now go to the House.
Secretary of State Karen Handel applauded the bill’s passage, calling it “common sense legislation that will further strengthen the integrity and confidence in our elections by ensuring that only U.S. citizens are able to vote.”
Many African-American legislators argued with passion that Senate Bill 86 reminds them of tactics used in the state during the time when people were denied the right to vote because of their race.
“We’re harkening back to a time that many of us thought was a by-gone time,” said Sen. Vincent Fort (D-Atlanta).
“It will create an impediment to registering and ultimately an impediment to voting,” Fort said.
The League of Women Voters opposes the legislation, as well, saying birth certificates are easily forged. The group also argued that citizenship documents often do not reflect an immigrant’s current name.
Right now, all people registering to vote have to swear that they are a citizen, but they don’t have to prove it with paperwork.
The new procedures would take effect Jan. 1, 2010. The requirements would not apply to anyone already registered to vote in Georgia before the end of this year, so long as they remain continuously on the voter rolls.
Secretary of State Karen Handel ran into opposition last fall when her office began verifying citizenship of voters.
Voting rights groups sued Handel in U.S. District Court in Atlanta last fall to seek to halt the state’s attempt to verify the identities and citizenship of registered voters close to the Nov. 4 election.
A federal three-judge panel later ruled that Handel could continue checking citizenship, but the system ultimately would be subject to pre-clearance by the Department of Justice.
Handel celebrated the ruling at the time.
The suit came the day after the U.S. Department of Justice said the state’s actions to verify identity and citizenship appear to violate the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The law requires states with a history of discriminatory voting practices to get approval from the federal government before making certain changes to voting and election policy.
The DOJ has requested more information about the program, said Matt Carrothers, a spokesman for Handel. Handel’s office is working with the Georgia Attorney General’s office to provide that information, he said.
Handel’s office asked counties to check the status of about 5,000 individuals statewide whose driver’s license records indicated they were not citizens, but who had registered to vote, according to Handel’s office.
The Secretary of State’s office double-checks information on all newly registered voters and also on established voters if they change their name, driver’s license number or Social Security number, Carrothers said.
Bill sponsor, Sen. Cecil Staton (R-Macon) said the legislation is necessary to prevent illegal immigrants from voting.
He could not say how many illegal immigrants may have voted in Georgia, but he said it could be “hundreds.”
Out of 599 people who voted challenge ballots in the presidential election because of questions about their citizenship, 230 ballots were rejected because of lack of documentation of citizenship, Staton said.
Sen. Steve Thompson (D-Marietta) said the bill is not about illegal immigrants but about hindering access to the polls for poor Georgians.
“This is about the poor, the elderly, the infirm, who have a hard time getting out to vote,” Thompson said. This bill would harm their ability to vote because it would be difficult to get the proper paperwork, Thompson said.
Record-keeping in Georgia is not always what it should be, Thompson said. Others argued that births were often recorded in the family Bible, not the town hall.
Sen. Nan Orrock (D-Atlanta) said Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin’s own mother did not have the correct documents to register to vote when she moved here from North Carolina. The elderly woman was born in a rural area and did not have a birth certificate, Orrock said.
Sen. Gloria Butler (D-Stone Mountain) rose to say that she herself did not have a proper birth certificate and had to pay money to get one. “My mother’s maiden name was spelled wrong, so I had to spend some extra money,” Butler said.
Sen. Kasim Reed (D-Atlanta) added that about 300,000 Georgians didn’t even have Georgia driver’s licenses.
Sen. Gail Buckner (D-Morrow) said many people in her district would be affected by this legislation, especially the elderly, who often don’t have documents.
“The elderly see this as an affront to their honesty,” Buckner said.
Permalink | Comments (4) | Post your comment | Categories: Legislature
UPDATED: House approves first transportation bill; two more to go
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The House has approved legislation creating a statewide 1-cent sales tax to fund transportation projects, the first bill in a series of measures dealing with roads and bridges lawmakers will consider today.
HB 277 required a simple majority to pass. The bill, adopted 149-18, creates a transportation trust fund, and a requisite oversight committee to manage the new money.
The bill also creates a wish-list of projects that features road construction and improvement, passenger and high-speed rail and smaller, more local projects. But not even the bill’s sponsors argue that the sales tax will raise enough money to fund all the projects.
Before the vote, the House adopted a pair of amendments proposed by House Minority Leader DuBose Porter (D-Dublin) that would have the effect of making the Department of Transportation the designated recipient of federal highway funds. The second amendment gave House and Senate Democrats each an appointment to the trust fund oversight committee.
The outcome sets up a showdown with the Senate, which has adopted its own transportation funding plan. The Senate chose a regional approach, allowing regions to vote to add a new sales tax. Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle has called the House plan a huge tax increase.
If a lot of this sounds familiar, it should. That’s because last year the House approved a similar funding plan (although that was a regional approach the House wanted, while the Senate wanted a county-by-county approach), but it died in the waning days of the session.
UPDATE: The second one is down now, too, as the House voted 151-15 to approve HR 206, constitutional amendment that actually levies the 1-cent sales tax. the vote was never in doubt, after all. But it sure is interesting to note that Senate Majority Leader Chip Rogers (R-Woodstock) was standing in the back of the chamber when teh vote took place.
HR 206 also included a Democratic-proposed amendment, one that captures $180 million in sales tax from the sale of motor fuels and takes it from the general funds and puts it toward transportation.
While the vote was anti-climatic, it is one of the House leadership’s top priorities.
UPDATE: Chaos has descended on the House. SB 39, which gives MARTA greater flexibility in spending its revenues, was on the track toward passage.
But then Rep. Jill Chambers (R-Atlanta) proposed an amendment preventing the system from investing its money in speculative stock market or real estate development deals. Chambers, who chairs a MARTA oversight committee, was concerned over past investments.
Her amendment passed, but then several lawmakers began to realize her amendment could prevent MARTA from building new stations, expanding rail lines or investing in park-and-ride lots.
Chambers’ amendment was reconsidered and confusion set in. Finally, lawmakers agreed to table the bill and come back to it some other time. But House Speaker Glenn Richardson (R-Hiram) said it won’t be today.
UPDATE: OK, we’re back on the Yo-Yo and we’re back on SB 39. Don’t ask how or why. We just are.
Chambers pulled her offending amendment and replaced it with a substitute that makes clear she only wants to prevent MARTA from risking public funds on the stock market or speculative real estate deals. It allows the system to build stations or parking lots, etc.
Her amendment was approved and now we’re on to more amendments.
Permalink | Comments (2) | Post your comment | Categories: Legislature
Dems force changes to transportation overhaul
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
House Democrats have won concessions from majority Republicans on a series of major transportation bills.
The House Rules Committee, which decides what bills are considered on the House floor, moments ago met and agreed to a series of amendments suggested by the Democratic leadership. Those concessions would give Democrats two seats at a new transportation funding table, designate more state sales tax to transportation and designate the Department of Transportation as the recipient of federal funding.
The House was set to consider three pieces of legislation today dealing with transportation: HR 206, which would levy an additional 1-cent state sales tax; HB 277, which would create a new oversight committee for spending the money; and SB 39, which would free MARTA from state-mandated requirements that it spent half its money on maintenance and half on operations.
SB 39 was considered to be the “Democrat-friendly” bill in this package, because it’s an issue that many urban Democrats wanted as it would allow the beleaguered transit system to spend a greater percentage of its money in places it believes it needs it. However, there is going to be an amendment to SB 39 considered on the House floor, sponsored by Rules Chairman Earl Ehrhart (R-Powder Springs). Democratic leaders said that amendment would not eliminate the split, but change it to allow 60 percent for operations and 40 percent for maintenance.
But it became clear as the House gathered this morning that Republicans had a head-count problem; specifically, it did not have the Democratic support necessary to gain the two-thirds majority necessary to approve HR 206, which requires a constitutional amendment.
That resolution is a centerpiece of House leadership’s agenda for the year.
Thus, the new concessions became necessary.
The amendments give the House minority leader and Senate minority leader an appointment to the oversight committee created in HB 277, require the fourth penny in the state sales tax — but only the money raised from the sale of motor vehicle fuel — to go to transportation uses, whereas currently it now goes to the general fund.
Finally, the compromise requires that all funds go to the agency designated by the federal government as the recipient — which is the Department of Transportation, and not the state tollway authority.
Permalink | Comments (2) | Post your comment | Categories: Legislature
Perdue to announce stimulus budget
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Gov. Sonny Perdue will make one of the biggest announcements of the session this afternoon: he will likely detail how much federal stimulus money he’ll include in the fiscal 2010 budget.
He’ll also likely lower the state tax collection estimate for fiscal 2010, which begins July 1.
The state is expecting to receive $6 billion in federal stimulus money over the next few years.
With tax collections slowing due to the recession, Georgia state officials are in desperate need of money to help avoid catastrophic spending cuts.
Agencies are already slashing spending 10 percent of more this year, and 25,000 state employees are either taking furloughs or will be taking them in coming months. Perdue has said he may not accept some of the stimulus money with costly strings attached. This afternoon at 3:30, he is expected to give a clearer indication of what the $20 billion fiscal 2010 spending plan will look like.
Permalink | Comments (25) | Post your comment | Categories: Legislature
UPDATED: Dems make gains on transportation bills?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The House moments ago agreed to send the three major transportation bills that were to be debated on the floor today back to the Rules Committee.
The move was made, Speaker Glenn Richardson (R-Hiram) said, to allow new amendments to be considered to the bills, which would create a new 1-cent statewide sales tax to pay for transportation projects and change how MARTA is allowed to use its revenues.
Word in the House is that the bills were returned to Rules as a deal made with House Democrats. What those Democrats want we don’t yet know, but we will soon, as the Rules Committee will meet in 15 minutes — 11 a.m. — to consider new amendments.
The likely outcome is that the compromise versions of these bills will come back to the floor today and still be debated, and most likely adopted, in the House some time today.
UPDATE: Rules Committee is about to meet. They are expected to approve an amendment giving House and Senate Democrats each a seat at the table with the new transportation fund oversight committee.
Also, it is expected that the amendment will require all four cents of the state fuel tax to go to DOT, whereas currently one penny now goes to the general fund.
Finally, the compromise is said to require that all funds go to the agency designated by the federal government as the recipient — which is the Department of Transportation, and not the state tollway authority.
More to come …
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment | Categories: Legislature
University system could furlough, raise tuition
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
University System Chancellor Erroll Davis set Capitol tongues a wagging in January when he told a House-Senate budget committee that he was “philosophically opposed” to furloughing employees.
Legislators were irate. After all, lawmakers were facing more than $2 billion in spending cuts and 25,000 state employees either have or will have to take days off without pay in coming months.
Davis realized that “philosophically opposed” wasn’t what legislators wanted to hear, so Monday he told a House budget panel, “That was probably a bad choice of words.”
He said furloughs are possible in the 40,000-employee University System if it has to make fast, deep spending cuts. Davis also is letting schools decide how they will cut spending, and presidents on those campuses may decide to furlough employees.
One of Davis’ problems is that about a fourth of the system’s employees are professors and others on contracts. Those contracts say nothing about furloughs. However, the subcommittee’s chairman, Rep. Bob Smith (R-Watkinsville), said that employees with a contract could be furloughed if the state essentially declares a fiscal emergency.
Davis said that could damage the state’s ability to recruit top professors. However, he said in the future, professor contracts will have “more flexibility.” He didn’t say whether that means the possibility of furloughs will be included.
The system has had to cut spending about 10 percent because of the recession, but few of the 40,000 employees have lost their jobs. Davis said 62 system workers have been laid off so far this fiscal year, which began last July 1. In the coming year, he said, “I expect that number will go higher.”
Students will also likely have to pay more in the coming year to attend University System schools.
“I don’t see any way tuition is probably not going to go up,” Davis told the subcommittee.
Permalink | Comments (23) | Post your comment | Categories: Legislature
Transportation reorganization bill comes before Senate this week
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
A bill that would gut much of the authority of the state Department of Transportation should come to the floor of the Senate for a vote this week, Senate Majority Leader Chip Rogers (R-Woodstock) said Monday.
He added that the bill would pass, but did not say by what margin.
Senate Bill 200, would create a new State Transportation Authority, merging into one agency the State Road and Tollway Authority (SRTA) and the Georgia Regional Transportation Authority (GRTA).
The new State Transportation Authority would take over the identification and construction of new transportation projects from the state Department of Transportation. The new agency’s 11-member board would be appointed by Governor Sonny Perdue, House Speaker Glenn Richardson and Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle. The bill would give those three more control over the more than $2 billion in state transportation spending.
Last week, the Department of Transportation board voted to fire DOT leader Gena Evans, who was hand-picked by Perdue for the job.
Evans was perceived by the board to be more attentive to the governor’s positions than the board’s, at times.
Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle blasted the DOT board for firing Evans, saying the bill to remake the department would come before the Senate soon. Firing Evans would be the board’s “last hurrah,” Cagle said.
Permalink | Comments (2) | Post your comment | Categories: Legislature
Legislative session could end earlier than expected
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The General Assembly has tinkered with its schedule this year, and could tinker again, depending on revenue estimates expected in the next week.
Senate Majority Leader Chip Rogers (R-Woodstock), said Monday “It’s likely that we will change the schedule.” He mentioned the possibility of ending the session in April, rather than in June, now that lawmakers have a better handle on the budget and how much stimulus money may come to Georgia.
The Legislature is scheduled to work until March 25, and then take a break until the last week of June. Legislators would come back into session to finalize the budget before the end of the fiscal year.
But if lawmakers feel they can get the budget into order sooner, they won’t need to stand in recess until June, Rogers said.
It depends on the state’s February revenue numbers which are expected out in the next week or so, he said. If they are bad, the session could last longer, but if not, it could be an earlier release.
“If we see some glimpse of stabilization, we’ll close out in early April,” Rogers said.
Permalink | Comments (1) | Post your comment | Categories: Legislature
