Home > Political Insider > Archives > 2008 > April > 04
Friday, April 4, 2008
Deal reached on transportation tax. But is it tied to a tax cut?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The House and Senate have an agreement on the sales tax for transportation.
At 10:50 p.m., Senate Transportation Chairman Jeff Mullis huffed into Room 450 of the state Capitol and announced, “Ladies and gentlemen, we have reached a deal.”
Copies of the two measures — one a proposed constitutional amendment and the other legislation to enact the results — are being printed.
But asked if this deal is dependent on a tax cut that looks ever more doubtful, Mullis replied, “That’s above my pay grade.”
A little more than an hour remains before the midnight deadline.
What about worries about a tax hike when a tax cut is on the verge of failure? The secret may be in the agreed-upon wording of the ballot question voters will see in November:
“Shall the Constitution of Georgia be amended so as to allow that all revenue currently collected from moter fuel taxes be designated to fund transportation and to provide for communities and regions to solve their transportation problems through a referendum?”
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment |
Young people drinking? Surely not.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
This note was sent out this evening, after Senate President pro tem Eric Johnson ordered some young ladies and their drinks off the chamber floor:
From: Peery, Stacy
Sent: Friday, April 04, 2008 8:04 PM
To: Peery, Stacy; Senate Interns; Senate Aides
Cc: Wallace, Shannon; Stockwell, Melanie
Subject: VERY IMPORTANT
I just received word that some intoxicated interns were wandering the senate floor. I have to say that I am very disappointed after such a great year. I really don’t know what to say—I am stunned…..
Stacy Peery
Director of Senate Intern and Aide Program
330 State Capitol
Atlanta, Georgia 30334
Permalink | Comments (7) | Post your comment |
Gun bill passes Senate in a hurry, and it was all over but the shouting
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The Senate just gave hurried passage to H.B. 89, the gun bill, and sparked a one-way shouting match between a Democratic and Republican senator.
State Sen. Chip Rogers gave the conference report, answered a few questions, and left the well. Senate Majority Leader Tommie Williams (R-Lyons), on the front row, immediately moved for a vote, cutting off any chance for opponents to speak against the gun bill.
One possible motive: We were coming up on the 10 and 11 p.m. TV news slots, and the big stuff was still in limbo. Video of lawmakers railing against the proliferation of guns in restaurants and on MARTA trains would have been very tempting.
In any case, after the vote, state Sen. Steve Thompson — a Democrat from Powder Springs dressed in a traditional, last-day seersucker suit — marched to the front of the chamber, put himself in Williams’ grill, and gave the Republican leader a good 30-second slice of his mind.
Cutting debate off like that was never done in the Senate, Thompson said, after he’d cooled down only slightly. “It’s unprecedented, and the must disgusting thing I’ve ever seen,” he said.
Permalink | Comments (28) | Post your comment |
Sweeping the guns-in-parking-lots language clean
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The conference committee report on H.B. 89, the all-encompassing gun bill, is out — but hasn’t been voted on in either chamber.
Opponents will still have heartburn. It allows those with concealed permits to carry in restaurants and public transport.
But an important part of the bill — the part that started the row in the Senate — has been neatly gutted. This is the section that permits employees to keep firearms parked in company lots.
Here’s the new language:
Nothing in this Code section shall restrict the rights of private property owners or persons in legal control of property through a lease, rental agreement, a contract, or any other agreement to control access to such property. When a private property owner or person in legal control of property through a lease, a rental agreement, a contract, or any other agreement is also an employer, his or her rights as a private property owner or person in legal control of property shall govern.
Now, I approached a National Rifle Association lobbyist about this, and he said he wasn’t bothered by it in the least. The language means nothing, he assured me.
The official NRA spokesman in Washington said this: “The most significant thing about this legislation is that it gives permit holders the right to keep guns in cars parked on any publicly accessible parking lot.”
But to my mind, the bill now says that employers must let employees keep guns in their cars on company land — unless they don’t want to. Very much like the city of Kennesaw gun law, which states that all residents must own a gun — unless they object.
Permalink | Comments (1) | Post your comment |
A bill to weaken the CEO of DeKalb County on the verge of passage
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Four and a half hours to go, and we’re still waiting on a tax cut deal that will, in turn, determine whether we have measures pass the Legislature addressing a statewide trauma network, a sales tax for transportation, and a host of other bills.
One big Gordian knot, and no governor in town to slice through it.
On the other hand, state Sen. Emanuel Jones (D-Decatur) is dancing on air. His measure to reduce the power of the DeKalb County CEO, has been signed off on by the DeKalb House delegation and is headed back to the Senate for final approval.
S.B. 52 “is coming back and we’ll definitely agree,” Jones said. It would make the CEO an executive only, and would strip away any authority he has on the county commission.
A referendum on the matter must be held by November of this year — which means the legislation wouldn’t have much impact on the tenure of the current CEO, Vernon Jones, who is leaving that office to run for U.S. Senate.
Permalink | Comments (1) | Post your comment |
Fleming’s tamping down rumors in Augusta
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
This just came from the campaign of House Majority Whip Barry Fleming, one of two Republican challengers to U.S. Rep. Paul Broun (R-Athens):
“Apparently due to some problems of my extended family members, a rumor was begun that I was withdrawing my name from the race for Congress. I have no intention of withdrawing from the race.
Today, I will finish my current business with the legislative session in Atlanta and then will continue my campaign for Congress.”
Permalink | Comments (7) | Post your comment |
The Republican House kills a Grady bill and a ban on abortions in a single stroke
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Just before noon Friday, an impromptu coalition of pro-choice Republicans and Democrats in the House, aided by business types, jumped up and killed H.B. 1299, which would have applied a list of ethical restrictions to the new non-profit board that governs Grady.
The measure also would have slapped a near-total ban on abortions performed at public hospitals. In a Republican-controlled Legislature, this is news.
Here’s the version of events offered to us by the two protagonists — state Rep. Sharon Cooper of Cobb County, chairman of the House Health and Human Services committee, and state Rep. Mike Jacobs of Atlanta.
In the middle of the session, there were signs that the board governing Grady hospital was balking at turning operations over to a non-profit corporation.
Cooper she asked Jacobs to submit legislation to give the Grady board a nudge. Jacobs says it was his idea. (He has the first signature on the bill, and she has the second.) In its original version, H.B. 1299 denied state trauma care funding to public hospitals not governed by a non-profit corporation.
On all-important Day 30, when a bill must have the approval of one chamber or die, Cooper took the well to push for a vote.
If the Grady board agrees to shift control of the hospital to a non-profit corporation, she promised, H.B. 1299 would stop in its tracks.
“She said that on her own,” Jacobs said.
The bill was the last to pass the House that night.
But in the Senate, H.B. 1299 was loaded up with the ethics requirements. State Sen. David Shafer (R-Duluth) was the author. He also backed a provision that banned abortions in public hospitals unless they are funded by Medicaid.
Medicaid, Jacobs acknowledged, does not fund abortions except in cases of rape, incest or when the life of the mother is at stake. So most abortions would have been barred.
The Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce began lobbying against H.B. 1299 — not because of the abortion provision, but because the group interpreted the good-government sections as an unnecessary slap at the high-ranking business types who now make up much of the new, non-profit Grady board.
Cooper agreed, and wanted to keep her promise. Jacobs did not agree, and didn’t feel bound by Cooper’s words.
While he didn’t like the anti-abortion provision added in the Senate, Jacobs felt it could be stripped off — if he could get H.B. 1299 to a House-Senate conference committee.
Jacobs liked the parts that prohibit conflicts of interest among board members, and another section that prevented whistleblower lawsuits from being settled in secret. “I feel strongly about that,” he said, “since my DeKalb County constituents have been paying the freight for years.”
This morning, Cooper worked furiously against her own bill. The vote to push H.B. 1299 to conference failed, 48 to 103. Seeing the writing on the wall, even Jacobs voted against it.
As the seconds ticked by, state Rep. Jill Chambers (R-Atlanta), held her thumb downward as a signal to others. “I’m tired of men in the Capitol playing vaginal politics,” she said later.
Jacobs switched to the Republican party only last spring. Minutes after H.B. 1299 was sent down the tubes, Cooper said that Jacobs walked up to her desk, tossed her a brochure from his Democratic opponent and said, “You might as well have written him a check.”
Jacobs did not dispute the account.
Permalink | Comments (11) | Post your comment |
More on transportation: Sonny phoned home
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Several people have told us that Gov. Sonny Perdue, currently en route from China, had a conference call with House and Senate leaders this morning.
The legislation for a transportation sales tax was one of the topics discussed.
Two things of note: We’re told the governor was in favor of shifting the fourth penny sales tax on gasoline, which currently goes into the state’s general fund, toward road projects for rural Georgia. That’s considered the essential sweetener to get a two-thirds vote in the House.
The governor also indicated he was willing to be convinced to sign the enabling legislation. For more info, see this previous post.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment |
Something to read on your way back to your district
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
You can love them or hate them, but you can’t not read them. Here’s the link to Creative Loafing’s annual Golden Sleaze awards.
Permalink | Comments (2) | Post your comment |
Transportation sales tax update
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The current hang-up, we’re told, is not over whether the governor will commit to signing the enabling legislation that will spell out the details not covered by the proposed constitutional amendment.
An indication of support by Sonny Perdue has been requested by House negotiators, but no one’s counting on the answer.
No, right now the sticking point is that fourth penny of sales tax on gasoline that goes into state’s general fund. House Minority Leader DuBose Porter (D-Dublin) has insisted that it go toward transportation projects, and insisted it become part of the deal.
The Senate wants to see that placed in enabling legislation. Porter insists that the redirection of that penny be incorporated into the November ballot question — and state Rep. Vance Smith (R-Pine Mountain), chairman of the House Transportation Committee, is backing the Democratic demand.
“It doesn’t mean a thing unless it’s in the constitution,” Porter said just a few minutes ago. Future legislators, and governors, would be able to change the flow of the money with a majority vote of the Legislature.
Porter said that penny could become extremely important to cities and counties throughout Georgia — as the state Department of Transportation, trying match current commitments to available funds, begins cutting assistance to local governments.
Permalink | Comments (1) | Post your comment |
Martin alleged to have raised nearly $350,000
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Tondee’s Tavern is apparently on Jim Martin’s exclusive e-mail list. Blogger Jon Flack has this, which he said was received from the Martin campaign:
Jim Martin, Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate, announced today that he raised nearly $350,000 in less than two weeks after entering the race for U.S. Senate last month.
Martin, who launched his campaign March 19, raised $346,675 through March 31, the end of the first quarterly filing period for the Federal Election Commission. Martin ended the month with more than $330,000 cash on hand.
If true, this is an amount that’s meant to send a signal. It’s more than the five other Democrats in the race, led by DeKalb County CEO Vernon Jones, raised in all of 2007.
More important, and still unknown, is who gave Martin his money — and whether any of it is puffery from personal loans. Candidates won’t be required to show all the details of their first-quarter fund-raising until the middle of this month.
