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AJC.com > Legislature > Georgia Beat > Archives > 2005 > January > 12
Wednesday, January 12, 2005
Divorce process may get longer
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Spouses who want a divorce may have to wait longer to call it quits, and husbands and wives who commit adultery could lose their rights to marital property.
Several members of the state Senate and House are pushing bills they say will strengthen marriage by making divorce a longer, and perhaps, more costly, process.
State Sen. Mitch Seabaugh (R-Sharpsburg) introduced a bill Wednesday that would extend the waiting period for an uncontested divorce for a couple with children younger than age 18 from 30 days to six months. The waiting period for a divorcing couple without children younger than 18 would be four months.
“The General Assembly finds that children are the innocent victims of legal separation and divorce and that, when two parties separate or divorce, there is a devastating impact on their children who have had no voice in the decision to disrupt the family,” the first section of the bill reads. “Oftentimes, these children of divorce are negatively affected academically, socially, emotionally, and psychologically as a result of the stress and trauma placed on the family by the separation or divorce.”
The bill also would require divorcing parents with children to attend classes that focus on the effects of divorce and separation on children. Many judicial circuits in Georgia already require such classes.
“The social impact of divorce is overwhelming,” Seabaugh said. “I think it is important to do what we can to help families.”
In the House, state Rep. Nikki Randall, a Macon Democrat, prefiled a bill that would prohibit a divorcing man or woman from receiving any marital property if he or she committed adultery, leading to the break-up of the marriage.
The bill also would require the person who committed adultery to attend 12 hours of counseling on marital issues within six months of the final order granting divorce.
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House Republicans designated as ‘hawks’
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Three Republican House members will serve as “hawks” in the first year of GOP control of the Legislature.
Reps. Tom Graves of Fairmount, Stacey Reece of Gainesville and John Lunsford of McDonough have been given the new designation by House Speaker Glenn Richardson (R-Dallas).
Richardson has said the hawks will be allowed to drop in on any committee and vote on any issue before it.
House members, voting along mostly party lines, gave Richardson the authority to make sweeping changes to the chamber’s rules, including the addition of the hawks.
House Democrats have said the hawks could undermine the committee system and give the speaker too much power to influence the committee process, where bills can be approved or pushed along.
They say the hawks will guarantee Republicans can win any dispute in committee.
Richardson has promised not to abuse the power the hawks give him.
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Bill aims to limit Atlanta’s anti-discrimination law
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Legislation was introduced in the Georgia House today that would bar the city of Atlanta from fining Druid Hills Golf Club for not treating partners of gay members the same as spouses of married members.
The bill, filed by state Rep. Earl Ehrhart (R-Powder Springs), new chairman of the House Rules Committee, would have broader implications than just the city of Atlanta. It would prohibit similar actions by the state, any local government, agency or authority.
Ehrhart said Mayor Shirley Franklin’s threats of fines against the golf club were the driving factor behind his bill.
He called it a “non-discrimination bill” to assure private organizations the right of freedom of association.
“You can’t abrogate those, and you shouldn’t have to sue your political subdivision to get your rights,” Ehrhart said.
He said club members “knew going in what the rules were.”
Ehrhart said he introduced a similar bill last year, but did not push it because he thought the city had decided not to go after the club. “Then all of the sudden they decided to enforce [the 2000 human rights ordinance],” he said.
He said the bill does not indicate a rift between the new GOP-controlled Legislature and Franklin.
“I think there’s an excellent working relationship with Mayor Franklin. We had no relationship with her predecessor.”
He said he thinks this might put Franklin in a good position. “She can say to one constituency that’s very important to her: ‘I’m supporting this.’”
But Franklin also can say the Legislature took it out of her hands, Ehrhart said.
The legislation, House Bill 67, specifically states: “It is the policy of this state that any organization or person in this state may elect to, or elect not to, contractually provide to unmarried persons one or more benefits, rights or privileges in the same manner that such organization or person contractually provides benefits, rights or privileges to married persons.”
It further states: “State and local government shall not impose any penalty on or withhold any benefits, rights or privileges from any organization or person on the basis of such organization’s or person’s election to or election not to contractually or otherwise provide to unmarried persons one or more benefits, rights, or privileges in the same manner that such organization or person contractually or otherwise provides benefits, rights or privileges to married persons.”
Translation — the city would not be able to fine or otherwise punish private clubs that deny privileges to umarried members that are offered to married members.
The new law would apply to the state, any political subdivision of the state and to any department, agency, authority, commission, or other entity of the state.
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Brooks urges investigation into 1946 lynchings
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
In the hour or so the House was in session this morning, members heard plans for a tribute to late U.S. Rep. Bo Ginn and discussed activities to honor the late Dr. Martin Luther King.
The slain civil rights leader’s 76th birthday would be Saturday. The state will hold an official tribute to him Friday and will close Monday for the King holiday.
State Rep. Tyrone Brooks (D-Atlanta) said the best tribute to King would be for prosecutors to take the decades-old case of the Moore’s Ford Bridge lynchings in Walton County to a grand jury.
Brooks said he has read reports by the GBI and FBI and said, “In my opinion, there’s sufficient evidence for prosecutors to move forward to the grand jury and seek indictments.”
Brooks pointed out that authorities in Mississippi just recently charged Edgar Ray Killen, 79, in the slayings of three civil rights workers there.
“If Mississippi can close out one of the most horrendous cases in its history … I’m calling on the state of Georgia to do likewise.”
At Moore’s Ford Bridge, four blacks — George and Mae Murray Dorsey and Roger and Dorothy Dorsey Malcom (reportedly 7 months pregnant) — were brutally beaten and shot by an unmasked mob on the afternoon of July 25, 1946.
The lynching followed an argument between Roger Malcom and a local white farmer. These unsolved murders played a crucial role in both President Truman’s commitment to civil rights legislation and the ensuing modern civil rights movement.
In 1998, a biracial memorial service honoring the victims was held at Moore’s Ford Bridge.
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Members to reconvene tonight for Perdue speech
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
After hearing the devotional message, several announcements and a quick reading of a few bills and resolutions, the House and Senate recessed before 11 a.m. today.
They will reconvene at 8 p.m. tonight, when both chambers will hold a special joint session for Gov. Sonny Perdue’s State of the State Address.
The Senate will not meet again until Monday, Jan. 24th at 1 p.m. Next week, House and Senate committees will review the state’s $17 billion budget.
The new Republican-controlled House ended its morning session today in song. As a cake was wheeled into the chamber, members sang “Happy Birthday” to new Speaker Glenn Richardson (R-Dallas). He turned 45 today.
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