Last night, Cobb County Commission Chairman Tim Lee may have become the first metro Atlanta leader to trash the new state House proposal to raise $1 billion for transportation by absorbing a significant proportion of the taxing powers of local governments.
… Lee said he spoke with Rep. John Carson (R-northeast Cobb), the newly elected chair of the Cobb Delegation, on Thursday and told him he could not support the bill because of the revenue the bill would take away from the Cobb County School District.
Lee made his remarks at a town hall meeting in Acworth, where another topic of conversation was an “$8 or $9 million” bridge across I-285 near the new Atlanta Braves stadium. A project likely to require both state funds and state cooperation.
Meaning that Lee may need to tread carefully.
Updated at 2:25 p.m.: Lee is now backtracking on the above comments. Cobb County spokesman Robert Quigley has sent our AJC colleague David Wickert the following clarification from his boss:
"My comments in Acworth yesterday were simply to state my concern that the restructuring of state revenue not be a burden to our schools and local governments. However, I also want to remain a constructive partner with the Cobb delegation to seek solutions on this important issue."
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The rest of the background and reaction you need on the transportation plan can be found on the premium site, courtesy of our AJC colleague Aaron Gould Sheinin. One important nugget:
The Georgia School Boards Association warned local school boards late Wednesday that the plan would cut revenue substantially at the local level, according to a copy of the email obtained by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
A Georgia Municipal Association examination of the costs of the tax shift can be downloaded here.
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House Speaker David Ralston on Thursday dipped into the debate over health insurance for bus drivers and other part-time school employees – in opposition to Gov. Nathan Deal.
The governor’s proposed budget includes the elimination of a $103 million state subsidy for premiums, affecting 11,500 workers.
Said Ralston:
"I don't expect that you'll see a budget that we approve here that has his recommendation, as presented."
Terry England, R-Auburn, the chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, and Jack Hill, R-Reidsville, chairman of the Senate budget committee, are steering toward a compromise in which the state contribution would be greatly reduced, but not eliminated.
The speaker’s remarks appear to be in line with that.
On the same topic, the Athens Banner-Herald reports that state Rep. Wendell Willard, R-Sandy Springs, has introduced H.B. 111, which would allow school buses to sport advertising. From the bill:
Commercial advertising permitted by this Code section shall not include the advertisement of alcohol or tobacco products, political campaign advertising, or individual food items that are prohibited by the local board of education or State Board of Education from being sold or offered for sale to students through vending machines.
Reports the Banner-Herald:
There's no school board currently asking for advertising. Willard said he drafted the bill and introduced it Wednesday at the suggestion of a marketing executive he knows.
The Democratic-leaning group Better Georgia has an explanation for why lawmakers of all stripes are objecting to Deal's plan to eliminate health insurance for part-time school workers. The group has an online petition to protest the proposal, and it's averaging more than 730 signatures a day.
“This is the fastest growing petition we've had in more than three years of advocacy,” executive director Bryan Long reported.
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Sally Quillian Yates is off to a fast start in her new role at the Justice Department.
The sole federal judge appointed by President Barack Obama to improve the use of forensic science in the court system resigned, criticizing a decision by Yates that he viewed as beneficial to prosecutors.
Yates, a former U.S. Attorney in Atlanta, was tapped to the Justice Department's No. 2 post last year.
Rakoff's e-mail came on the eve of the commission's Thursday meeting, where the evidence discovery proposal was to be discussed. Rakoff wrote that the decision was made by Sally Q. Yates, the department's acting deputy attorney general since James Cole's departure Jan. 8, after objections by a vice chairman on the commission, Nelson Santos, head of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration's Office of Forensic Sciences.
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The Center for Public Integrity's Dave Levinthal has a great roundup of "deadbeat politicos" who owe the federal government substantial debts in fines and taxes, long after their political careers are over.
That includes a couple of Georgia-related presidential hopefuls:
Taylor Swindle, chief financial officer for Gingrich's media company Gingrich Productions, said this week the Newt 2012 committee has "paid off the IRS since that October filing." An updated disclosure Newt 2012 made Wednesday with the FEC indicates the committee paid off most of its IRS debts in late 2014 but still owed the tax agency $1,007 as the new year began. ...
[Herman] Cain, in all likelihood, would welcome the $16,525 Gingrich's campaign owes him. That's because Cain's own 2012 presidential campaign committee, Friends of Herman Cain, still owes the FEC $12,500 stemming from a fine for accepting more than $186,000 in improper campaign contributions, then not refunding them in a timely manner. The Cain committee on March 27 settled with the FEC and agreed to pay a $19,000 penalty, which is due in full two months from now.
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Freshman U.S. Rep. Jody Hice, R-Monroe, is staking out legislative ground on immigration, dropping a bill to eliminate extended family visa categories -- criticized as "chain migration."
Said Hice:
"The American Dream is something that is worth fighting for and protecting, it's not a guarantee. In the spirit of the American dream, this legislation does not hinder the efforts of legal immigrants to reunite with their immediate families in America, but instead rather prevents abuse of our overwhelmed immigration system."
The bill is a priority of immigration-reduction advocates NumbersUSA. Hice picked it up from former Rep. Phil Gingrey, R-Marietta, who introduced it in the last Congress. Hice has brought on Gingrey's former chief of staff and legislative director.
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The life and times of John McCain: The Arizona Republican U.S. Senator began his day Thursday by calling Code Pink protesters "low life scum" at a hearing, then he went on to offer his "all-out complete support" to the kinda sorta presidential campaign by his buddy Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.
For those keeping count at home, Graham is the 1,854,987th Republican to consider a 2016 presidential bid.
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