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AJC.com > Legislature > Georgia Beat > Archives > 2005 > March > 11
Friday, March 11, 2005
Faith-based initiative bill fails in Senate
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Gov. Sonny Perdue’s plan to ensure that religious organizations can compete for state dollars lost again in the Senate Friday, the second time it has failed to get enough votes to make it onto the ballot.
Proposed changes to the state Constitution need to get two-thirds of the vote in both chambers. The vote was 32-21 Friday, six votes short of the 38 needed to move it to the House for consideration.
However, lawmakers said the House could try to suspend its rules and pass a version of the proposed amendment next week.
The measure has widespread support among church leaders, but has run afoul of Georgia’s two largest teacher groups — the Professional Association of Georgia Educators and the Georgia Association of Educators — whose members fear it could pave the way for private school vouchers. Perdue’s proposal contains no language about vouchers.
The Faith and Family Services Amendment had little chance Friday because it needed at least four Democrats to join the chamber’s 34 Republicans to pass the plan. Democrats promised not to go along with the Republican governor’s proposal if the GOP majority didn’t include provisions making it clear that private school vouchers would be outlawed.
Republican senators voted down the proposed language, essentially assuring the measure’s defeat. “It is not the fault of the Democrats. It is the fault of the governor himself,” said Sen. Doug Stoner (D-Smyrna), who proposed the anti-voucher language.
Republicans didn’t even bother debating the proposed amendment.
But Perdue was unhappy with the outcome.
“An unfortunate legacy of this session of the General Assembly will be a few members voting in opposition to faith-based organizations that provide aid to needy Georgians,” Perdue said in a statement. “Thanks to those who opposed this measure, these faith-based groups will remain subject to the threat of legal action that could halt their valuable programs.”
The proposed constitutional amendment would ensure religious organizations could perform social services to compete for state dollars. Some do so now, in a roundabout fashion, by setting up separate foundations. Proponents argue that those arrangements could be invalidated by the courts. Some critics say the proposed amendment isn’t needed and that Perdue filed it to score points with religious conservatives.
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Democrats walk on bill requiring photo ID to vote
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Twenty-one of 22 Democrats walked out of the Senate chamber for about 30 minutes Friday evening following a vote that lowered the number of pieces of identification acceptable for voting. Senate Bill 84 would require photo identification from the Department of Motor Vehicle Safety to vote.
Democrats said they had serious voting rights concerns about the bill and worried that elderly and the poor wouldn’t be able to get photo IDs.
Tim Golden (D-Valdosta), head of the Democratic Caucus, said, “White Democrats joined black ones to show their solidarity.”
He spoke of “the irony of getting rid of Jim Crow laws tomorrow while putting another on the books today.”
Republican sponsors of the bill said it was an effort to cut down on voter fraud. But Democratic critics compared it to the poll taxes, literacy tests and other laws aimed at suppressing black votes during segregation.
Most of the Democrats returned when the time came to vote on Sonny Perdue’s faith-based initiative, which would allow religious institutions that provide social services to compete for state funding. Critics say the resolution’s language could lead to school vouchers. The resolution calls for a constitutional amendment which would require a two-thirds majority. Some Democrats would have to support the resolution for it to pass.
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