The budget process starts to crank up

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The Legislature is sure to spend considerable time on issues such as casino gambling, religious liberty and even the HOPE scholarship.

But the General Assembly’s job description really has only one actual, absolute requirement: passing a budget. This past week, legislators started slowly turning the cogs and pulling the levers to set the process in motion with a series of budget hearings.

During an appearance Tuesday before House and Senate budget-writers, Gov. Nathan Deal focused much of his attention on a $20 million sliver of his $23.7 billion spending proposal. His checklist was full of requests aimed at smoothing the transition of released offenders back into society, such as opening more charter schools in prisons and expanding high school coursework and vocational programs in county correctional facilities.

Deal started the overhaul in his first term with the goal of directing nonviolent offenders toward alternative programs, keeping them out of expensive prison beds. As a result, the state saw its inmate population drop from about 56,000 in 2011 to slightly under 52,000. Further, the state saw a similar drop in the number of inmates who were staying at county jails on the state’s dime while awaiting more traditional residence in a state facility — from about 5,000 in 2009 to less than 400 late last year.

‘Bad guys, bad guys,’

what they gonna do?

Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp also had a hearing Tuesday before the House and Senate budget committees.

But instead of talking about spending plans, Kemp spent a good deal of his time talking about what has come to be known as the “Peach Breach,” the exposure in October of personal data of all 6 million-plus registered voters in the state.

As he has said before, Kemp told the legislators that all 12 data discs involved in the breach have either been recovered or destroyed.

Kemp then said he didn’t think the problem was as big as some have feared.

“My personal opinion is that if that information had made it out to the bad guys, we would already have had some issues,” Kemp said. “I am very confident that the information never reached the public domain.”

State Sen. Vincent Fort, D-Atlanta, decided to follow up on this "bad guy" theory by asking Kemp why his office offered the state's voters only one year of credit monitoring and credit restoration following the release of their Social Security numbers, birth dates and driver's license numbers.

“The bad guys are going to wait a year and use that information,” Fort said.

More liberty legislation

of a religious nature

As noted above, religious liberty is sure to see some type of legislative action this session. The state's lawmakers are about to receive another opportunity, thanks to state Sen. Greg Kirk, R-Americus.

Kirk plans to introduce what he calls the First Amendment Defense Act of Georgia, or FADA. Under the bill, religious nonprofit organizations in the state that object to gay marriage would not have to serve gay couples or meet government anti-discrimination requirements.

The former Southern Baptist pastor said that could include a faith-based adoption agency, local youth groups or preachers who are vocal about their views. Under the bill, Kirk said, no one could have their tax exemption status, education scholarship or school accreditation status challenged because of their views on gay marriage.

“No one wants these organizations to be criminalized because of their beliefs,” Kirk said Thursday at a press conference. “We’re ensuring all Georgians are tolerant of each other’s beliefs.”

Jeff Graham, the executive director of Georgia Equality, responded in a statement that Kirk’s bill “sets a dangerous precedent.”

“We can’t pick and choose which laws we want to follow based on our personal beliefs,” he said.

Medical marijuana

moves through pipeline

Something moving faster than the budget process, so far, would be state Rep. Allen Peake's new medical marijuana legislation, House Bill 722. Its first hearing is scheduled for Wednesday in the House Judiciary Non-Civil Committee.

The bill has two parts. One would add nine more disorders and diseases — including Alzheimer's disease, post-traumatic stress disorder and HIV — to the eight that already qualify for treatment. The second part would license up to six sites to produce and distribute marijuana. A problem for people who have met Georgia's standards for medical marijuana use is that possession of the drug remains a violation of federal law, making it difficult to bring it in from other states that have legalized its use.

Peake, a Macon Republican, also sponsored the medical marijuana law that the General Assembly approved last year. He started pushing for the treatment of seizures and other disorders with cannabidiol oil after meeting Georgia families who have moved to Colorado, where they can legally obtain the marijuana to treat their children. He still travels frequently to see those families.

He already has more than 100 co-signers in the House, enough to clear the chamber. Things could be more difficult in the Senate, as it was for last year’s bill, and Deal is no fan of expanding the law.

Still, Peake appears confident enough to tell The Atlanta Journal-Constitution's Jim Galloway in Thursday's Political Insider column that he has in the past "delivered product."

Not all marijuana

is medical

State Sen. Harold Jones II has introduced Senate Bill 254, which could provide some relief to Peake if he were caught holding. Possession of marijuana would still be a criminal offense under the bill, but it would eliminate the severe penalties that can come with a felony arrest and conviction, such as the suspension of voting rights and the loss of eligibility for food stamps.

Possible sentences under SB 254 would include a year in jail, but think about the educational possibilities.