Proposal to shorten early-voting period advances
A revised bill that would limit early voting to 12 days passed a key committee vote Wednesday.
The House Governmental Affairs Committee voted 9-5 to advance House Bill 194. Sponsored by Rep. Mark Hamilton, R-Cumming, the bill originally would have required every county to be open on the Sunday during the early-voting period. But in an effort to please religious conservatives, the bill now makes Sunday voting optional.
Any county choosing not to open the polls on Sunday would be required to allow access to the polls on an additional Saturday.
Current law calls for 21 days of early voting and mandates polls be open on at least one Saturday, but it does not prohibit voting on Sundays. Eleven counties last year chose to open polling locations on Sundays, which led to calls from Republicans for statewide uniformity in voting.
— Aaron Gould Sheinin
Bill would ease restrictions on tax credit for film industry
New legislation in the state House would allow movie and television productions in Georgia to claim a state tax credit even for certain kinds of work done outside the state.
House Bill 285, filed Wednesday by Economic Development Committee Chairman Ron Stephens, R-Savannah, would delete a requirement for the credit: that post-production footage be shot in Georgia. It also would lower the threshold for qualifying for the credit, from $500,000 in investments in Georgia down to $250,000.
The film production business in Georgia is booming, thanks largely to the tax credits Stephens previously helped shepherd through the Legislature. A state report issued in August said the industry shot 158 projects in Georgia during a 12-month period that ended in June, up 11 percent from last year.
Direct spending surged to $1.4 billion from $934 million a year ago, largely because of bigger-budget flicks.
Production companies can earn a credit of up to 30 percent of what they spend on qualifying projects.
Film tax credits cost the state at least $250 million from 2008 to 2011, according to an analysis by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. The state did not provide the value of incentives for 2014 in August’s report on spending.
— Aaron Gould Sheinin, J. Scott Trubey
Legislation would let voters elect local school chiefs
A Senate bill could ultimately allow counties to decide whether they want their local school superintendent to be elected by voters, with school board members appointed by a grand jury.
Senate Bill 81 and a corresponding resolution, sponsored by Sen. John Wilkinson, would establish a constitutional amendment for a statewide vote to allow county residents to vote on the school system changes.
“We hear a lot in education about one size fits all, and I think there are some counties where it would best if the people could elect their superintendents,” said Wilkinson, R-Toccoa. “There’s lots of diversity of our counties in Georgia. This is just giving another way to let the people decide how they want their schools governed.”
The legislation would go against the legislative positions of the Georgia School Boards Association, which is urging lawmakers not to pass legislation that would remove the authority of local school boards to appoint local superintendents. The GSBA is also supporting nonpartisan elections of local school board members.
— Janel Davis
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