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Friday, February 8, 2008
House pitches a statewide, one-cent transportation plan, with a 15-year sunset
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The House late Friday dropped its version of a transportation plan, to match the one dropped by Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle and his Senate on Thursday.
The Senate version is a county-by-county, one-cent special local option sales tax. The House is a statewide plan - one penny collected on the dollar in 159 counties, with a 15-year sunset.
The Senate version rakes off 20 percent of the take in every county and ships it to the state Capitol — a nod to Gov. Sonny Perdue, who thinks poor Georgia counties lose out on sales taxes, because the cash flows to rich ones with massive retail centers. Half of that 20 percent must be spent on something other than bridges and roads — i.e., mass transit.
“Ninety percent of the amount collected in a regional commission area…shall be spent for transportation purposes in the regional area where it was collected,” says H.R. 1226.
The House version rakes 10 percent off the top — and the General Assembly decides where that money goes. The House also includes an increase in the state motor fuel tax.
Don’t focus on the details. The real action will take place in a House-Senate conference committee. And here you could see a new dynamic.
Promoting the Senate version of the transportation plan with Cagle on Thursday were two suburban Democratic senators — Doug Stoner of Smyrna and Valencia Seay of Riverdale. This was important.
Both the Senate and the House are proposing constitutional amendments, which require two-thirds majorities for placement on the November ballot. Democrats will be needed by both Cagle and by House Speaker Glenn Richardson — first to pass each chamber’s version, then to sign off on a compromise.
Look for Democrats to quietly require two seats in the six-person conference committee — one Senator and House member. Which would set a very, very different tone for bargaining.
It’s a protest, but they’re not out to pick another fight
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The House on Friday approved a mid-year budget that added $300 million in spending for the remaining five months of the fiscal year. Six lawmakers, all Republican, voted against it.
They are members of the 216 Group: Steve Davis of McDonough, Bobby Franklin of Cobb County, Tom Graves of Ranger, Doug Holt of Social Circle, Barry Loudermilk of Cassville and Martin Scott of Rossville.
“During the 2007 session of the General Assembly, the House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly to return surplus revenues back to the taxpayers to whom it belongs,” the Budget Half-Dozen said in a signed letter of intent just released.
The six lawmakers think it’d be a good idea to do that again.
The thing is, two of the six — Graves and Scott — were disciplined by House Speaker Glenn Richardson this week for failing to cast their votes for members of the state board of transportation in the enlightened fashioned that the speaker required.
Both were stripped of all leadership positions. Graves was removed from his state Capitol office.
But this had nothing to do with that, the Budget Half-Dozen wanted to make clear.
“Our votes against H.B. 989 are not a negative comment upon the chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, House leadership, the governor or members of the appropriations committee,” the document states.
Because even state lawmakers need to be protected from themselves
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
You’ll recall that last year, during the Genarlow Wilson hoopla, evidence used in the young man’s trial began circulating around the state Capitol — specifically a video of Wilson and his male and female friends partying, with several caught in flagrante delicto.
This circulation continued until it was pointed out that such action fit the definition of “distribution” contained in state anti-child pornography laws.
Obviously, we needed a law to protect lawmakers from themselves in such cases. And now we have.
State Reps. Rich Golick (R-Smyrna) and David Ralston (R-Blue Ridge) have introduced H.B. 1020, which would bar the release of obscene and sexually explicit evidence used in a criminal prosecution.
Particularly worrisome to the Georgia Press Association is a provision that would permit judges to clear the courtroom when such evidence is presented during trial.
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Looks like that DOT vote will percolate through the weekend
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The Gainesville Times has this:
The Hall County Republican Party has called on Glenn Richardson to reinstate state Reps. Doug Collins, Tom Graves, Martin Scott and John Meadows to their former leadership positions.
The four were stripped of their committee assignments and other leadership positions after they voted for incumbent Mike Evans and not Glenn Richardson’s chosen candidate, Stacey Reece of Gainesville, as the DOT board member for the 9th Congressional District.
It’s worth noting, as we’re sure many of you have, that this is the home turf of Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle.
Reed, the Post and a baseless GOP nominee
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Sometimes you stand so close to history that you can’t see it happening. These two paragraphs stand out in today’s Washington Post, in a Ruth Marcus column:
It’s hard to recall a presidential nominee so at odds with his party’s base. “This is the first time in 32 years that anybody’s won the Republican nomination without support from conservatives and evangelical voters in the primaries,” former Christian Coalition head Ralph Reed said before [John] McCain’s appearance at the Omni Shoreham.
Reed may have reason to dislike McCain — the senator’s probe into the dealings of lobbyist Jack Abramoff showed him in none too flattering a light — but it is hard to disagree with his analysis.
