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Friday, April 20, 2007
Signs that tensions are easing, and the session is winding down
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
You can tell that the session is winding down, and the essential deals have been cut (i.e., the ‘08 budget) when bills belong to members of the leadership begin moving.
Even if a special session is now a certainty.
As mentioned below, the Senate just passed H.B. 487, the presidential primary bill belonging to House Majority Leader Jerry Keen (R-St. Simons).
Right now, the House is debating S.B. 10, the measure sponsored by Senate President pro tem Eric Johnson (R-Savannah) to provide school vouchers to disabled students.
UPDATE: On the other hand, at 8 p.m., the Senate just recessed until the House moves Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle’s charter school system bill.
Georgia moves closer to a Feb. 5 presidential primary
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
UPDATED: To remove error regarding Senate version of the bill.
The Senate just approved the bill to move Georgia’s presidential primary to Feb. 5, 2008 — by a vote of 47-2.
H.B. 487 originally sought to allow winners to be declared in races in which the leading vote-getter obtained 45 percent of the vote. The Senate, feeling the kick-back from many conservative and liberal voters that this appeared to be an incumbent protection act, erased that.
All primaries and general election winners would have to receive 50 percent of the vote, plus one, just as they do now, under the Senate version.
Because of the change, the bill now goes back to the House. If it doesn’t agree, there would be a conference committee. And it could still get bogged down in what may be a sloppy finish.
The risk-takers on the veto vote, and the definition of transmitted
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Five House members voted against the motion to override Gov. Sonny Perdue’s veto of the mid-year budget on Friday.
They were:
— Jim Cole (R-Forsyth), a floor leader for the governor;
— Rich Golick (R-Smyrna), another floor leader for the governor;
— Mack Crawford (R-Concord), who was stripped of a House committee chairmanship this session;
— Austin Scott (R-Tifton), whom we’ve told you about below;
— And Rob Teilheit of Smyrna, the only Democrat to vote against the override. His wife works for Gov. Sonny Perdue. We’re guessing it was either the governor or the couch.
Incidentally, Vance Smith (R-Pine Mountain) was the one floor leader of the governor who voted with House Speaker Glenn Richardson. Smith said he told Perdue first, and still has his job.
“He’s a good employer,” Smith said. So both Smith and Scott were allowed to vote the “wrong” way and obtained the forgiveness of their superiors. The world is a kind and gentle place.
Now, as to this issue of transmittal.
The senators we’ve talked to say they’re on firm ground here. Perdue has three days to transmit official news of his veto to the House and Senate.
The House is taking a more informal view of transmittal, citing reports in the public media, a press release issued in the governor’s name, and such.
But one senator we talked to said the House seems to be picking and choosing when it comes to definitions of transmission. Remember, he said, when the House first passed the ‘07 budget bill.
Cagle immediately told them he wanted to strip out all the pork. The House clerk was sent to fetch the budget bill back out of Senate hands. And House members said they could do so because it had so many hours to reconsider its transmittal of the bill.
Which was physically, if not officially, in Senate hands.
UPDATE: But because we’re not taking sides in this fight, allow us to include this tidbit from a real, live lawyer we found in the hallways, who actually read the state Constitution.
She said transmittal was only an issue between the governor and the chamber that originated the legislation. Which is the House. In other words, she said, that issue is none of the Senate’s affair. That chamber has no business deciding whether the House has been legally informed of the veto.
Here’s a forecast
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The negotiations over the $20.2 billion, ‘08 budget are the only thing holding this final day of the legislative session together.
But think about this: The Senate is siding with Gov. Sonny Perdue, who wants a combined ‘07 and ‘08 budget, now that the mid-year has been vetoed.
Which means the Senate has no incentive to reach a settlement on the budget. Our prediction: At some point, one side or the other will suddenly gavel this place away, so that lawmakers can go home and wait for Perdue’s summons to bring them back.
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The quick squeeze on Cagle begins: Dick Armey says he should override the veto
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
We’re told that former U.S. House majority leader Dick Armey has faxed a quick letter to Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle, urging him to override Gov. Sonny Perdue’s veto of the mid-year budget.
Armey is now chairman of FreedomWorks, an anti-tax group. Armey recently met with Cagle.
Here is the content of the letter:
On behalf of nearly 13,000 FreedomWorks members in Georgia, I am writing to strongly urge you to vote in support of the House position to override the Governor’s veto of the $142 million tax rebate for Georgia.
Given the recent growth of government spending in Georgia, and the rapid appreciation of housing prices and related property taxes, FreedomWorks believes this tax rebate is appropriate and necessary.
Indeed, according to the latest rankings from the Tax Foundation, Georgia’s state and local tax burden of 10.3 percent is higher than neighboring states Florida, Tennessee, and Alabama.
It is time to put taxpayers first, and to remember that it is their hard-earned money that is under discussion. As such, I urge your support for the $142 million in tax relieve for Georgia taxpayers.
Thank you in advance for your continued support of lower taxes and limited, responsible government.
Austin Scott says he has his chairmanship back
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Just ran into state Rep. Austin Scott (R-Tifton) in the state Capitol.
He was one of a handful of Republicans who voted against overriding Gov. Sonny Perdue’s veto of the mid-year budget. We’d been told he’d lost his chairmanship of the House Governmental Affairs Committee as a result.
But at 2 p.m., Scott was wearing his chairmanship badge, and said Speaker Glenn Richardson had handed it back to him. Scott referred to the loss as a “temporary domestic dispute.”
A spokesman for the speaker called it a matter of “miscommunication.”
It’s not a surprise for Scott to hang out on a limb. The Tifton lawmaker was the only Republican in Gov. Roy Barnes’ circle of confidantes who plotted the removal of the ‘56 state flag and its Confederate battle emblem.
By the way, Scott predicted the Dunwoody bill would be taken off the table, and would pass.
Hear the speeches: House votes 163 to 5 to override governor’s veto; state Rep. Austin Scott canned
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Shirking any mention of partisanship and proclaiming this a fight for its independence, a somber House on Friday morning voted 163 to 5 to override the governor’s veto of the $700 million, ‘07 mid-year budget.
State Rep. Austin Scott (R-Tifton) was immediately stripped of his chairmanship of the House Government Affairs Committee for casting one of the five votes against the override.
“I was given a choice between my vote and my chairmanship,” said Scott.
House Speaker Glenn Richardson immediately appointed a bipartisan squad of top lawmakers to take the vote to the Senate, and proclaimed that the constitution obliges the the upper chamber to act on it.
The Senate refused. “We cannot respond to a veto until we are in receipt of it. A press conference by the governor does not constitute transmittal,” Cagle said. Here’s the sound.
The House made the veto override the first order of business, handled in a matter of 30 minutes. Five lawmakers spoke: Majority Leader Jerry Keen (R-St. Simons Island; Speaker pro tem Mark Burkhalter (R-Alpharetta); Appropriations Chairman Ben Harbin (R-Evans); Minority Leader DuBose Porter (D-Dublin); state Rep. Calvin Smyre (D-Columbus); and finally, Richardson, the speaker.
Click on a name to hear what they said. Pardon the roughness of the audio.
Of the set, Richardson and Porter were the most eloquent.
More than any other, Richardson dwelt more on the $142 million tax cut contained within the bill, and spoke most personally of Gov. Sonny Perdue.
Said Richardson:
“I respect the man. I’m his friend. First thing he did when he came into office here was to introduce a tax increase that he asked me to carry, and I did. I have voted and supported every position he’s had since he’s been governor.
“But on this one, I respectfully disagree and say its time to stand up and say, ‘No more.’”
Porter gave House members a brief history lesson, tracing the independence of the General Assembly to 1966, when — after Republican Howard “Bo” Callaway failed to win a majority of the vote in the race for governor - the Legislature handed the office to Democrat Lester Maddox.
“The only way to stay relevant in this process is to keep the independence of the House,” Porter said.
Georgia Right to Life says it will pursue “no abortions, no exceptions” next year
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
This week’s decision by the U.S. Supreme Court against partial-birth abortion has fired up those who would like to do away with abortion entirely — even in cases of rape and incest.
Dan Becker of Georgia Right to Life says his group next year will push a state constitutional amendment to declare the unborn as legal “persons” worthy of protection.
Becker is quoted on WorldNetDaily, a religious-oriented network, as saying that the effort is only a vote or two short of the two-thirds that would be needed to put the measure on the ’08 ballot.
Here’s the gist:
Becker told WND that’s the key, and since pro-life legislation in the state Senate already has been collecting about 39 votes, two more than would be needed to approve such a constitutional provision, and in the state House, the pro-life votes number about 116, just four shy of the needed number, the issue is within “striking distance.”
We’ve talked with other anti-abortion figures at the Captiol. They’re waiting until they get through this session to figure out their next moves.
House override vote comes first thing this morning
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The House will make an override of Gov. Sonny Perdue’s veto the first order of business this morning, which could put the start of the debate in the 10:30 a.m. to 11 a.m. time slot. They’ve just started up.
Here’s the link the the video.
We haven’t talked to Democratic leaders yet, but we’re presuming enough will side with their colleagues to get to the necessary 120.
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