In response to the recent deadly crashes involving tractor trailers on I-16 leading to Savannah, U.S. Rep. Buddy Carter, R-Pooler, has joined Georgia's four House Democrats in requesting new safety regulations for truck drivers.
chief Mark Rosekind urges the agency to move on a pending regulation that would require vehicles that weigh more than 10,000 pounds to install "forward collision avoidance and mitigation braking systems." Wrote Reps. Sanford Bishop, D-Albany; Hank Johnson, D-Lithonia; John Lewis, D-Atlanta; David Scott, D-Atlanta; and Carter:
"With the forecasted growth in population and the corresponding increase in movement of freight and passengers, truck and bus traffic on our roadways will only continue to rise and so will the potential for additional accidents. At approximately $500 or less per vehicle, the cost of implementing the technology pales in comparison to the costs -- in terms of injury, loss of life, and lost productivity."
Georgia's Republican senators, meanwhile, are pressing the Department of Transportation to require speed limiting technology on trucks.
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A group calling itself Refugee Resettlement Relief has launched a pressure campaign urging Georgia lawmakers to end resettlement programs that have come under scrutiny.
Specifically, the group targets four Republicans: State Sens. Fran Millar of Dunwoody and Rene Unterman of Buford; and state Reps. Tom Taylor of Dunwoody and Katie Dempsey of Rome.
The image they use, which you can find at right, is provocative to say the least.
Georgia ranks among the leading destinations for refugees, and the state received nearly 2,710 in the fiscal year ending in September. They came from places like Iraq, Myanmar and Bhutan. But the U.S. State Department confirmed earlier this year it had limited the number of refugees coming to Georgia, based partly on requests from Gov. Nathan Deal's administration for sharp cuts.
State officials have cited state and local taxpayer costs associated with taking in the refugees, school budget shortfalls and other concerns. And Deal claimed in a letter late last year that Georgia has received a “disproportionate number of refugee placements over the past few years.”
Local resettlement agencies, though, have pushed back. They contend that refugees create a net gain for the state by working and paying taxes and attracting millions of dollars in federal aid money to Georgia, and contend that many have created businesses in the Atlanta area.
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Next week the Duluth-based Faith and Freedom Coalition, headed by Ralph Reed, will host its annual Washington "Road to Majority" event that has become a major event on the political calendar.
A look at the speakers list shows 12 of the 2016 Republican hopefuls will get their shot to woo conservative activists. Even though no Georgians are running for president this time, the event still will have a Peach State accent. The FFC docket includes:
-- U.S. Rep. Tom Price, R-Roswell, chairman of the Budget Committee and a mainstay at these kinds of gatherings.
-- U.S. Sen. David Perdue, R-Ga., in what will be his biggest stage since joining the Senate this year.
-- Former Atlanta Fire Chief Kelvin Cochran, whose firing this year sparked a conservative outcry. Cochran was sacked by Mayor Kasim Reed after self-publishing a religious book critical of gays. Reed said the fire chief failed to follow proper City Hall protocol.
-- The Rev. Benny Tate, pastor of Rock Springs Church in Milner, who is politically active and was a big backer of Perdue last year.
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U.S. House Transportation Chairman Bill Shuster is in Atlanta this morning for a roundtable on transportation policy with members of the Georgia delegation, state officials and businesses such as UPS and Coca-Cola.
Shuster penned an op-ed in our pages discussing how he's traveling the country to pick up ideas for a new transportation bill:
"We've also heard, no matter where we've gone, that states don't want the federal responsibility of providing for a national infrastructure system to be eliminated and thrust solely upon them. In fact, they have made clear that severing this partnership with the federal government would be fundamentally unworkable."
We also spoke to Shuster for a piece that ran over the weekend on the real problem of how to pay for it all:
And a gas tax hike, the simplest solution, has no prayer of passing.
Shuster frames the issue in terms of "user fees," not taxes.
"If you use the system, you should pay for the system," Shuster said.
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For those of you who want to soak up every last drop of Georgia's water wars fight with Florida, the transcript of last week's hearing was posted online Monday. And it ends with the admonition from the court-appointed special master, Ralph Lancaster, that one of your Insiders highlighted last week.
Here's Lancaster's final message to the two warring states:
"You will not be surprised that as I finish up, I urge you again to try to settle this matter. I assume we have some media in the room, and so we won't get into a discussion on that; but whatever the result is, whatever the Court does with this case after I make this report, we're talking a lot of money and a result that I suggest neither one of you may be very happy with. So, again and again, and again, I'm going to urge you to discuss settlement seriously."
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The New York Times dishes on the Senate's Thursday GOP lunch tradition, in which senators bring home-state goodies for their colleagues. It's turned competitive, and the consensus winner is Georgia's own Johnny Isakson:
But local delicacies notwithstanding, Republicans all tip their hats to Senator Johnny Isakson of Georgia. On his day, a team descends the night before to smoke meats across the river in Virginia, then arrives at the Capitol with a spread of pulled pork, beef brisket and baby-back pork ribs. Sam's BBQ-1 in Marietta, Ga., delivers baked beans, coleslaw, rolls and macaroni and cheese. Mr. Isakson opens his lunch to Republicans and Democrats, as well as the Capitol Police, his office staff, members of the Georgia Congressional delegation and, ostensibly, any reporter obsessively monitoring whatever is for lunch on Thursday.
Consider this another facet of Isakson's bipartisan appeal. Sam Huff, the pit master in question, is a retired Democrat who ran for district attorney back in the '80s, just as Cobb County was turning Republican. Fortunately, he lost. Defeat ultimately allowed Huff to cultivate his inner meat artist.
His west Cobb establishment had a special on short ribs Saturday. Pure heaven.
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