Georgia lawmakers get back to business

By Ernie Suggs and Nancy Badertscher


The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

They say it was not a “break,” but the two-week stretch that state lawmakers took to work on the budget has come to an end and the General Assembly is now in session — again.

Both the Senate and the House of Representatives are each expected to gavel in at 10 a.m. today with a hopper full of bills.

But the moment that lawmakers have been waiting for in the budget process could occur today or Tuesday, when Gov. Sonny Perdue is expected to release revenue details for February.

Those figures, which detail how much in tax revenue the state took in for February, will show whether the state appears to be climbing out of its economic hole or there will be a need for further cuts. While budget writers in the House and Senate spent the past two weeks searching for savings and deeper cuts, all of it will depend on whether Perdue lowers the official estimate of how much money the state has to spend.

“I am very anxious to see the February numbers because that is going to determine our course for the rest of the session,” said Rep. Mike Cheokas (D-Americus). “This has been a painful process. When you are cutting programs, it hurts because they are all important. If they weren’t important, we wouldn’t have them. This is the worst experience I have ever had.”

While that is going on inside the chambers, outside, backers of a cigarette tax — joined by Dr. Len Lichtenfeld of the American Cancer Society — will argue that a $1 levy would help solve the state’s $1 billion budget gap. On Tuesday, the anti-tax group Americans for Prosperity will rally on the steps of the Capitol. Economist Grover Norquist, the president of Americans for Tax Reform, is scheduled to be one of the speakers at the rally.

In the chambers, the House has a slew of committee meetings and six bills scheduled to come to the floor for debate today. The Senate will have five committee meetings and debate seven bills on the floor.

Among the key bills is SB 298 by Senate Minority Leader Robert Brown of Macon. Brown’s bill would make first-aid certification a high school graduation requirement.

SB 340, sponsored by Sen. Seth Harp (R-Midland), is another education-related bill that would require schools to adopt a reporting system for high school freshmen, sophomores and juniors to track their potential eligibility for HOPE scholarships.

On the House calendar are two high-profile bills.

One, supporters argue, could keep the Atlanta Falcons from moving out of downtown Atlanta. The second could benefit a nonprofit organization under investigation by the FBI.

HB 903, by state Rep. Mark Burkhalter (R-Johns Creek), would extend the hotel/motel tax collections that pay for the Georgia Dome from their current expiration in 2020 to 2045.

Burkhalter’s bill would allow the extension, contingent on the Falcons staying on the campus of the state-operated Georgia World Congress Center, which includes the Georgia Dome. An extension of the sales tax would remove a major hurdle to replacing the Georgia Dome, one of the oldest stadiums in the National Football League.

Also headed to the floor for a vote is HB 1054, legislation that would benefit a controversial nonprofit that is paying the bill’s sponsor, Rep. Len Walker (R-Loganville), $50,000 to set up a new program. Walker’s bill would allow Angel Food Ministries to sell groceries online to food stamp recipients.

The nonprofit sells more than $140 million a year in deeply discounted food to the poor and accepts food stamps. The FBI is said to be investigating allegations into financial irregularities by the group.

Among the bills before a House committee today is a bill that would make tampering with state student assessments a misdemeanor.

The impetus for the bill is last year’s cheating scandal involving the Criterion-Referenced Competency Tests.