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DEL.ICIO.USDeal close on ‘private cities’ legislation; taxation power removed
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
This afternoon, supporters of “private cities” legislation have dumped a provision that would allow developers to levy taxes on the inhabitants of their project, as a last-minute attempt to bring Democrats on board and reach the two-thirds majority needed in the House to pass a constitutional amendment.
We just finished talking to DuBose Porter of Dublin, the House minority leader who has been heavily lobbied for his support. He says a deal is being worked out that should give bill supporters the 120 votes they need in the 180-member changer.
Opponents of the legislation, designed to allow developers to raise more upfront money for massive projects in rural areas, have bandied about an effective slogan for the bill that has given conservatives in both parties heartburn.
They’re calling it the “let the developers tax’ bill. (Actually, the legislation is a matched set, S.B. 200 and S.R. 309.
Porter said the taxation portion of the legislation has been replaced by one that permits developers only to present purchasers with an upfront “assessment.”
Also beefed up in the new version of the bill is language intended to make sure it excludes Oaky Woods, a 20,000-acre, black-bear habitat next to Gov. Sonny Perdue’s home in Houston County.
During Perdue’s re-election campaign last year, critics charged that Perdue’s administration failed to buy and protect Oaky Woods from developers. The original bill excluded Muscogee and Houston counties.
Porter says a third county will be added.
Democrats in a furious Senate debate over the issue said the constitutionality of the excluding these counties was questionable. In the drafts he’s seen, Porter says a “severability” clause has been removed — meaning that if the exclusions are found unconstitutional, the entire legislation becomes unconstitutional.
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