The ubiquitous plastic bag used by retailers across the country may be the surprise issue of the 2015 session of the Legislature.
Our AJC colleague Kristina Torres noted the first shot fired last week:
The Georgia Senate on Thursday voted to prohibit cities and towns from banning plastic bags, saying it would be too expensive and "confusing" for local retailers to worry about.
Savannah appears to be ground zero in the battle. The Morning News has taken exception to the whims of "Atlanta bullies." From the newspaper editorial:
S.B. 139, authored by state Sen. Tyler Harper, R-Ocilla, covers "reusable bags, disposable bags, boxes, cups, and bottles which are made of cloth, paper, plastic, extruded polystyrene, or similar materials which are designed for one-time use or for transporting merchandise or food from food and retail facilities."
One can be forgiven for suspecting we're part of someone's national campaign. From an Associated Press report filed last week:
The American Progressive Bag Alliance, which represents bag manufacturers, had about 50,000 more valid signatures than the 505,000 needed to qualify the referendum after a random sample of the signatures was tallied, said Bill Mabie, chief deputy for Secretary of State Alex Padilla.
The group had submitted more than 800,000 signatures at the end of last year.
Gov. Jerry Brown signed the bag ban last fall after one of the fiercest legislative battles of 2014, pitting bag-makers against environmentalists. It was scheduled to be phased in starting in July at large grocery stores and supermarkets as a way to cut down on litter and protect marine life.
In Georgia, environmental lobbyists are engineering a push-back today, given that a similar House bill, H.B. 444, pitched by state Rep. Tom McCall, R-Elberton, has a 2 p.m. unveiling before the House Agriculture Committee in Room 415 of the CLOB. Some sort of plastic bag monster is involved.
Good luck getting him past the metal detectors.
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Maybe you went to bed early this weekend. If so, you missed this provocative video clip on NBC's "Saturday Night Live":
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On Friday, former attorney general Michael Bowers was on GPB's "Political Rewind," the hour-long political radio program hosted by Bill Nigut. The topic, of course, was the religious liberty bills now before the Legislature.
Bowers has been hired by Georgia Equality, the LGBT group, to make a case against S.B. 129 and H.B. 218. Listen to the entire conversation here, but this is what the former attorney general had to say about his contention that the bills could have important unintended side effects:
"…Somebody said, 'That's reflective of your age, Bowers. You're 73 years old. The Klan's dead.' The Klan might be dead some places. But it ain't dead everywhere."
But perhaps this was most important point that came out of the conversation was this tidbit of Bowers biography: “The head of Judiciary in the House is a high school classmate of mind. And he’s a good man. I’ve known him since the middle of the ninth grade in 1956.”
The House Judiciary Committee, over which Willard presides as chairman, now has custody of H.B. 218, the religious liberty bill authored by state Rep. Sam Teasley, R-Marietta.
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Gov. Nathan Deal must really like former Rep. Phil Gingrey.
He appointed him last month to serve on the Georgia World Congress Center's board - considered a primo gig in state government. And last week he tapped him to sit on the Georgia Regents Health System's board of directors.
Gingrey, a physician, has more time on his hands following his defeat in last year's crowded GOP primary for an open Senate seat.
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Georgia tonight is set to execute 46-year-old Kelly Renee Gissendaner, the sole woman on the state's death row.
Consider this story by the New York Times about her theological awakening. Read the whole thing, but take note of this key passage:
She was also moved by the work of Professor Moltmann, who is 88 and lives in Germany. When she learned that Jennifer McBride, her teacher, knew him, Ms. Gissendaner decided to reach out.
"She asked if it would be appropriate to write him," recalled Professor McBride, who now teaches at Wartburg College, in Iowa. "I said, 'Absolutely.' She wrote to him, and a friendship developed."
Ms. Gissendaner sent Professor Moltmann a paper that she had written on Bonhoeffer. He was impressed, and he wrote back. The two Christians — a convicted murderer in Georgia and a retired theologian in Tübingen — became pen pals. In four years, they have exchanged “20 or 30 letters,” Professor Moltmann said, speaking from his home in Germany.
They discuss “theological and faith questions,” he said. “And I have found her very sensitive, and not a monster, as the newspapers depicted her. And very intelligent.” She has been rehabilitated, he said. “She has changed her mind, and her life.”
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This was posted on our subscriber's site late Friday, so perhaps you missed it:
Mike Berlon pleaded guilty Wednesday and faces a maximum of 20 years in federal prison. He is due to be sentenced May 6.
Berlon was indicted last year on eight counts of wire fraud and three counts of mail fraud. The guilty plea to a single charge was part of a negotiated agreement. Prosecutors said he defrauded clients and others who sought his legal advice.
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Over the weekend, our subscriber site had a piece on an attempt in Greenwood, S.C., to amend a bit of segregated history. From the Associated Press:
Mayor Welborn Adams and the local American Legion raised $15,000 for new plaques on the town's war memorial to replace ones that designate the dead from World Wars I and II as "Colored" or "White."
The article includes this of local note:
The South is dotted with towns haunted by the past. In Georgia, the towns of Waynesboro and Thomaston have similar war memorials, and other Southern memorials designate black veterans with a "C."
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We don't expect any Georgians in the presidential field this time, while our neighbor to the South has all the fun. The Associated Press reports that Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., is undaunted by former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush's candidacy:
"I think that's reflected in both our travel and some of the staffing decisions that we've made," the Florida senator told The Associated Press. "We — if in fact I make that final decision on a run — want those elements to be in place." ...
Nearly a dozen people close to Rubio, including GOP officials, fundraisers and his advisers, say Rubio has told them he is in the final stages of planning the launch of his presidential run and will formally join the crowded field of Republican hopefuls as early as April. All spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss their private conversations with Rubio.
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