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Wednesday, August 8, 2007
Balfour named vice president of legislative group
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
State Sen. Don Balfour (R-Snellville) was elected vice president of the National Conference of State Legislatures on Wednesday at their annual meeting in Boston.
The NCSL is a fairly significant group, a kind of bipartisan clearinghouse for vetting many of the bills that come up in individual state legislatures each year.
The election of Balfour — who in Georgia is chairman of the all-powerful Senate Rules Committee — as vice president puts him on track to be named president of the NCSL in two years.
Here’s where it gets a bit strange. A kind of rival to the NCSL (though many have dual memberships) is the American Legislative Exchange Council — which pitches itself as a much more conservative organization.
State Rep. Earl Ehrhart (R-Powder Springs), chairman of the likewise all-powerful House Rules Committee, served as the leader of that organization in 2005.
Ehrhart got some face time with George W. Bush with his job. Balfour’s position is bipartisan. So he may still get time with a president.
Sounds like a crack job for our state Legislature: A ban on droopy drawers
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Last night, Julius Stroud of Monroe County, a military retiree, spoke for an entire, baffled generation.
He asked his county commission — think Forsyth, Ga., down I-75 way — for a prohibition on young men who can’t keep their pants pulled up. Stroud wants an amendment to the county’s indecent exposure law, according to today’s Macon Telegraph.
“When I see these young men with their pants down on their hips or lower with their boxer shorts showing, or sometimes the tops of their butts, I tell them to pull them up,” he said. “Most of them do. I’ve done it enough, they see me coming, they pull them up. But some don’t. They just look at you.”
Stroud didn’t say anything about punishment, but I’m thinking suspendered sentences.
Commissioner Jim Ham perhaps had the most pertinent question: “Would this also cover plumbers?”
Sam Olens in Cobb: Speaker’s tax plan would suffocate home rule
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
In today’s Marietta Daily Journal, Cobb County Commission Chairman Sam Olens takes a polite shot — but an shot nonetheless — at House Speaker Glenn Richardson’s plan to convert the entire state to a sales tax system centralized by the state Capitol.
This may be the first detailed objection hung out for public debate by a local (and Republican) government official, so pay attention.
Some excerpts:
The basic tenets of this proposal…undermine “home rule,” granting much control to the General Assembly in determining the levels of services local governments ought to provide its citizens. If Richard’s House Resolution 900 / “The GREAT Plan” passes, the General Assembly will adopt a formula for determining the revenue available to each and every local government….
Should the state dictate:
— Whether a school system can offer Advanced Placement courses, magnet schools, International Baccalaureate degrees or other specialized programs?
— The salaries for school teachers, policemen, etc., despite differences in the cost of living?
— The level of parks and senior service programs, whether to establish a drug court or work-release center, or other services to improve the quality of life?
—Which zoning applications should be approved, in order for the local government to obtain the additional dollars to serve said projects? (Absent funding to provide for additional services, the plan could discourage new development to our state.)
How will the formula take into account:
— The differing costs for right-of-way for road projects?
— The service levels needed by local governments with significant job centers, which need more public safety employees during the day than communities with lower day-time populations?
— The existing exemption for Cobb residents 62 and over who currently pay no school property taxes?
— That Cobb County, for instance, handles fire service for three of our cities, and that our service delivery strategy, approved by the Department of Community Affairs, permits for many other sharing arrangements to optimally provide for city and county services?
