Dozens of bills passed Thursday in the state Legislature on Crossover Day, which comes every year on the 30th day of the Legislature’s 40-day session. To become law, a bill must be passed in the chamber where it originated by that day. Then it crosses over to the other chamber. Among the winners:
Senate Bill 92: Would allow local governments to fund public transit through rental car taxes.
Senate Bill 236: Would require health insurance companies to include on consumers' premium statements the amount of rate increase, if any, resulting from the 2010 Affordable Care Act.
Senate Bill 85: Says physicians may prescribe vaccines to be administered by pharmacists.
Senate Resolution 371: Would ask Congress to call a convention to propose an amendment to the U.S. Constitution requiring a balanced federal budget.
State sees dramatic rise in salmonella
Georgians are at greater risk of contracting salmonella food poisoning today than a decade ago, according to figures from the federal Centers for Disease Control.
Last month, authorities announced federal charges against officials of a south Georgia peanut processor linked to a 2008-09 salmonella outbreak that sickened 700 people nationally and killed nine.
The state was linked to another national outbreak in 2007, when salmonella from ConAgra Foods in Sylvester, the maker of Peter Pan peanut butter, sickened more than 600 people.
State and federal health officials don't know why Georgia's rate of reported salmonella infections jumped by almost half from 2000 to 2011. The number of reported cases, not adjusted for population growth, jumped by 77 percent.
Appeal of auto values likely
The state may see a surge in appeals of motor vehicle valuations this year, a result of a change in state law that took effect last week requiring a one-time fee for title transfers.
Gwinnett County tax commissioner’s office expects between 3,500 and 5,000 appeals over the next 12 months, compared to the 100 to 120 the office normally processes in any given year. That’s because people transferring title must pay 6.5 percent of the “fair market value” assigned to the vehicle by the state.
Other counties aren’t expecting such a radical increase in the number of appeals. Cobb and Fulton have added a few additional staff.
Metro Atlanta
Local DAs target corrupt officials
A growing number of district attorneys are designating one or more employees to investigate complaints about public corruption full time. The moves come on the heels of a series of scandals involving misdeeds of government officials that have touched nearly every metro county in recent years.
Gwinnett: Commission Chairman Charles Bannister resigned and Commissioner Kevin Kennerly was charged with taking bribes after a 2010 special grand jury investigation of park land purchases. Commissioner Shirley Lasseter is in prison for taking a $36,000 bribe for supporting a proposed development.
DeKalb: Former School Superintendent Crawford Lewis, former schools chief operating officer Pat Reid and her former husband, Anthony Pope, are awaiting trial, accused of steering millions of dollars in construction work toward Pope’s firm.
Clayton: Clayton County Sheriff Victor Hill is awaiting trial on racketeering charges. John James Lampl, former Morrow city manager, is accused of circumventing the contract bidding process for a commercial development.
Small street gangs growing threat, police say
Three shootings in metro Atlanta since December —- one of them fatal —- have been traced to what police refer to as “hybrid gangs, ” small, neighborhood-based groups.
While some subsets of traditional organized gangs like the Bloods are still active locally, police say it's the hybrid gangs that dominate Atlanta's gang landscape. These nontraditional groups lack the rigid structure, rules, hierarchy and multi-generational reach of the organized gangs.
Hybrid gangs are more difficult for police to track because they can form one year and disband the next.
Atlanta
Streetcar dream taking shape
Following a year of underground preparations, streetcar track has returned to Atlanta for the first time in more than six decades. On Wednesday, huge pincers dropped 80-foot-long pieces of steel track onto Edgewood Avenue, creating the first pieces of a 2.7-mile line that passengers are scheduled to be riding in just over a year.
That will be just the beginning of a much larger streetcar system if city officials have their way. They hope additional lines can sprout from the seed being built now, expanding through downtown and Midtown in the future.
DeKalb County
Police crack down on unlicensed care homes
DeKalb County police on Thursday shut down four group homes for the elderly or disabled and arrested two caregivers in the first major effort to shut down unlicensed personal care homes.
Unlicensed personal care homes are a growing concern for local and state officials because they house a vulnerable group of people who are ripe for financial exploitation, since many residents receive monthly government disability or Social Security checks. Unlike nursing homes, personal care homes do not handle medical care. They provide services such as lodging, food, bathing, toileting and grooming, and can help residents manage their medications.
A state law that took effect in July makes it a misdemeanor to operate a personal care home without a license from the state Department of Community Health. A repeat offense is a felony.
Fulton County
Mixed-use development planned for Sandy Springs
A Houston development firm is planning a massive mixed-use development in Sandy Springs that would be one of the largest new developments in the Central Perimeter area in many years.
The development will include a blend of high-rise office space, as well as retail space, 500 residential units and a 250-room hotel, according to a Development of Regional Impact filing with the Georgia Department of Community Affairs.
