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Remaking parts of the state tax code
Lawmakers spent much of the 2011 session trying to build consensus on a major overhaul of the tax code, but were unable to negotiate a deal in the closing hours of the session. The effort faced difficulties, in part because it was based on a plan created by a super committee of business leaders and academics the General Assembly formed the year before. Also, the 2011 effort was launched before Gov. Nathan Deal was elected, giving him little reason to buy into the effort. That will change this year. The governor this week will unveil his own plans for tax reform and Republican leaders are sure to have their own ideas, ranging from eliminating the sales tax manufacturers pay on energy to raising the state sales tax to adding sales tax to groceries.
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Prospects
It is very likely that some sort of reform will pass. The elimination of the manufacturing tax is all but certain. Lawmakers see tax reform as one of the best things they can do to help create jobs and with state unemployment still outpacing the national rate, they have to do something in an election year.
Key players
Deal; House Ways and Means Chairman Mickey Channell, R-Greensboro; Senate Finance Chairman Bill Heath, R-Bremen; Senate Minority Leader Steve Henson, D-Tucker
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Criminal justice reform
Georgia now spends more than $1 billion a year on state prisons and has seen its inmate population double in the past 20 years. A special council of legislators, judges and other officials determined the state can save money by removing some nonviolent offenders from prison. It has recommended changes in sentencing for some low-level offenders and beefing up alternatives to prisons, such as drug, mental health and veterans’ courts.
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Prospects
If nothing is done, the special council said, taxpayers will have to pay an additional $264 million for more prison beds over the next five years. The issue has strong bipartisan support.
Key players
The governor says sentencing reform is a priority. House Speaker David Ralston, and other leaders, have said the time has come for Georgia to follow other Southern states that have taken steps to reform their justice systems and cut prison costs.
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State insurance exchanges
A key provision of the federal health care law allows states to set up insurance marketplaces — called exchanges — where small businesses and individuals who don’t get insurance at work could shop for health plans. If the state doesn’t set up its own exchange, the feds will do it. Deal opposes the federal health care law, but believes a Georgia-run exchange would be better than one run by the feds. Many experts say Georgia should pass legislation this year if it wants to meet federal deadlines.
Prospects
Dim. Deal and other key leaders have said they want to wait until the Supreme Court decides whether the law is constitutional before planning for a Georgia exchange — even though waiting would put the state in a very tight time frame. Georgia is among the states challenging the law in court.
Key players
Deal; Ralston; tea party activists
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Moving the date of the regional transportation referendums
Voters across the state are set to decide in July whether to levy an additional 1 percent sales tax to fund transportation improvements in their regions. But concern over low turnout for primary elections caused many supporters of the referendums to call for the vote to be moved to the November general election. With no high-profile races on the primary ballot, supporters hope that a presidential election would bring out more Democrats, whom they believe more likely to support the transportation tax.
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Prospects
Dim. Republicans in the General Assembly last summer appeared set to agree to move the date during August’s special session on redistricting. Deal said he supported the move, but then tea party activists, who oppose the transportation tax plan, pressured the GOP to block the bill. Republican leaders have shown little interest in revisiting the issue.
Key players
Deal; Ralston; Senate Transportation Chairman Jeff Mullis, R-Chickamauga; House Transportation Chairman Jay Roberts, R-Ocilla; House Minority Leader Stacey Abrams, D-Atlanta
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Capping the amount lobbyists can spend on lawmakers
When lawmakers in 2010 passed ethics reform, many watchdog groups and some Democrats were disappointed they didn’t include a cap on the value of lobbyist gifts to legislators. Ralston opted instead for increased reporting by lobbyists as well as sharp increases in fines for lobbyists and legislators who break the law. While the bill was largely cheered as a good step, the voices calling for gift limits continued. Common Cause Georgia and the Georgia Tea Party Patriots have since formed an alliance with other groups to push for further reform.
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Prospects
Progress likely, passage doubtful. While tea party involvement could force a debate on the topic, leadership in the House and Senate have yet to signal they are on board. Ralston continues to say he favors transparency and disclosure over caps.
Key players
Ralston; House Ethics Chairman Joe Wilkinson, R-Sandy Springs; Common Cause Georgia director William Perry; tea party activists Julianne Thompson and Debbie Dooley
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Personhood: Concept that a fetus should be considered a person with legally protected rights at the moment of conception
Proposed personhood amendments or bills have popped up in many states over the past year, most notably in Mississippi, where voters in November rejected a personhood constitutional amendment. Rep. Rick Crawford, D-Cedartown, introduced a similar measure in Georgia late in the 2011 session.
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Prospects
Dim. While the measure could gain strong support, a constitutional amendment requires two-thirds approval from the House and Senate, which it is unlikely to get. Also, Ralston takes a dim view of legislation designed primarily to generate court challenges, which this surely would.
Key players
Crawford; Sen. Barry Loudermilk, R-Cassville; Ralston; Rep. Mary Margaret Oliver, D-Decatur
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Requiring hospitals, public schools to report number of illegal immigrants served each year (state agencies would publish the data on websites)
House Bill 296 would require the State Board of Education to tally the expenditures, by school district, for illegal immigrants in public schools. It would also require hospitals, nursing homes and other health care facilities to report how many of their patients are illegal immigrants, what treatment they received, the cost of treatment and whether they paid for their care. State Rep. Josh Clark, R-Buford, introduced the bill last year and plans to push it again, saying it could help determine how much illegal immigration is costing Georgia taxpayers.
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Prospects
Dim. Alabama has a similar law in place for counting illegal immigrants in its public schools, but a federal appeals court has put that provision on hold. Georgia House leaders said they are willing to look at Clark’s bill, but Ralston has said that he was “not sure we are ready to move forward on it because of the constitutional challenge to the other bill” in Alabama.
Key players
Clark; Ralston; state Rep. Rich Golick, R-Smyrna, the chairman of Georgia’s House Judiciary Non-Civil Committee
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Drug-test parents applying for welfare
Rep. Jason Spencer, R-Woodbine, has said state taxpayers should not have to subsidize “drug addiction” among applicants to the federal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program. TANF provides temporary financial help to low-income families with children who cannot meet basic needs. Spencer’s bill, HB 668, would require the state Human Services Department to oversee the drug tests before applicants were approved.
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Prospects
While Spencer is not the most powerful member of the Legislature, he’s found some powerful allies who could push the bill through. Sen. John Albers, R-Roswell, has filed a sister bill. The Senate version includes a drug-testing provision for Medicaid, too.
Key players
Spencer; Albers; Majority Leader Chip Rogers, R-Woodstock, who has signed on to the Senate version of the bill, SB 292.
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Legalize gambling on horse racing
Rep. Harry Geisinger, R-Roswell, is pushing to legalize gambling on the sport in Georgia, saying it would bring in new revenue for popular programs — such as the state’s HOPE college scholarship program, pre-k classes and trauma care — without raising taxes.
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Prospects
Geisinger’s resolution, now before the House, has bipartisan backing. The resolution, HR 186, would allow a public vote on amending the state Constitution to allow pari-mutuel betting. It requires a two-thirds vote of the Legislature to pass. Deal does not support expanding gambling in Georgia, but legislators can vote to put the measure on the ballot without his signature.
Key players
Geisinger brought in former Breeders’ Cup board Chairman Bill Farish and Nick Nicholson, president and CEO of Kentucky’s Keeneland Association, to talk about potential economic benefits for Georgia. House Majority Whip Edward Lindsey, R-Atlanta, has also backed the measure.
