Transportation Overhaul Passes House

Day 39 of Georgia's legislative session saw arm-twisting and drama, as lawmakers are running out of time to get bills passed this year.

The state House voted today on a version of transportation governance that looks a lot different than the original bill favored by Governor Perdue.

House Speaker Glenn Richardson asked his colleagues to support this version which sets up one person to become a transportation planner and give his chamber the power to distribute gasoline taxes, which now flow directly to the DOT.

He urged House members to take charge of transportation money.

"The one thing we don't have the power to appropriate is the billions of dollars in this state that gets to be put on the roads of this state for our citizens to travel on and who do you think they call when they have a problem with their roads? They call you..."

After about an hour of debate, Speaker Richardson called for the vote.

But when it didn't look like the bill had enough votes to pass, the voting machines were left open. And after some arm-twisting on the floor, a few 'No' votes changed to 'Yes.'

Once the machines were locked, the bill was one vote shy of a needed constitutional majority, leaving Richardson to cast the tie-breaking vote.

Now the bill heads back to the Senate. A spokesperson for Governor Perdue called the vote "a step in the right direction," but suggested that changes might be made in a conference committee.

Lawmakers OK Budget, Restore Medicaid Cuts

Budget writers in the Georgia House have restored deep cuts to Medicaid funding that officials warned could have forced some hospitals to shut their doors.

In the spending plan adopted by the House Appropriations Committee on Wednesday, legislators funneled about $200 million in federal stimulus dollars to hospitals and doctors to help offset Medicaid costs. Gov. Sonny Perdue had recommended a 10 percent cut.

Healthcare groups had complained in recent days that while the state was receiving hundreds of millions of dollars in Medicaid money from the federal stimulus package, Georgia was diverting much of that money to other items in the budget that were unrelated to healthcare.

(AP)

State Lawmakers Want to End Session in April

Georgia lawmakers are planning to end their 40-day legislative session in April after all.

The House voted to end the session on Friday, April 3, and the Senate is expected to consider the schedule changes later Thursday.

It's a departure from the current schedule, in which both chambers were scheduled to adjourn in late March and return in June to deal with the federal stimulus package.

House Majority Leader Jerry Keen says the schedule will "mean some long days" between through early April.

He also outlined another change that would impact the final day of the session, a marathon day that usually lasts until midnight.

He says this year the final day will be reserved to consider bills already voted on by the chambers instead of any new legislation.

(AP)

Ga. House Wants Politicos to Perform Weddings

Georgia's top politicians would have the power to perform marriages under a proposal that easily passed the House.

House Speaker Glenn Richardson made a rare trip to the well of the House Thursday to support an amendment that would allow the governor, lieutenant governor, speaker of the House and constitutional officers to preside at weddings.

Georgia law now allows justices of the Georgia Supreme Court and some other jurists to officiate weddings, but it does not extend to elected politicians. Richardson says the measure was prompted when Gov. Sonny Perdue recently was told he could not preside at a wedding.

The measure, which was approved 155-1, was tacked onto a proposal designed to urge couples to get tested for sickle cell disease before marrying. It now goes to the Senate.
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On the Net:
House Bill 184: http://www.legis.ga.gov
(AP)

Atlanta-Area Cyclists Hit The Road For Bike Trails

(Courtesy MAMA)

Hundreds of bicyclists, led by dozens of metro Atlanta mayors and officials, rolled into town and up the steps of the Capitol on Monday. All part of a grassroots gathering to improve bicycling conditions in Georgia.

Scores of police motorcycles escorted upwards of 1,000 cyclists, from school kids to seniors in the fourth-annual “Georgia Rides To The Capitol” event.

Bicyclist Mike Laurie lives in Grant Park, and joined riders from as far as Covington and McDonough, Roswell and Decatur:

"It's a nice turnout today! It's nice seeing people you normally see on your daily commute on your bike - you see them all riding together at the same time in one place - and I think it's a great sight."

They rode everything from clunky newspaper delivery bikes, to state-of-the-art road bikes weighing less than ten pounds, and costing more than some cars.

The event was co-sponsored by the Metropolitan Atlanta Mayors Association.

The message delivered at the Capitol steps was as simple as, well, falling off a bike: To rally support for a better, safer bicycle network across the state.

Legislators (in blue windbreakers) and biking enthusiasts addressed the group of close to 1,000 bicyclists at the state Capitol in Atlanta, on Monday, Mar. 3, 2009 (Photo: Dave Bender)

Mike Thomas, Division Director of Field Services at the Georgia Department of Transportation told the group that his office supports that aim:

"We presently in Georgia have 768 miles of signed bicycle routes; we also have 158 miles of multi-use trails, which we hope to be increasing as different projects come forth…(applause)."

Dekalb’s 83rd District Representative, Democrat Mary Margaret Oliver, says despite severe state budget cutbacks – such projects can get federal funding:

"The federal transportation statutes have some mandatory minimums for alternative transportation, so, even when everything is cutback, there’s still some money available for bike paths. We also have a lot of philanthropy going on in Atlanta, that’s promoting greenspace and bike paths – the beltline as an example."

But funding might not be easy to come by. As bikers mingled outside, inside the Capitol lawmakers passed HB 277.

(Courtesy MAMA)

The bill is a state penny sales-tax for transportation, with no provision for bike trails or alternate transportation options.

Click on the streaming audio player below to hear this report:

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Coming Up in the GA General Assembly...

Some of what's being heard in the General Assembly this coming week...

The House Energy Subcommittee will hold hearings on a proposed resolution, which if approved, will be sent to President Obama urging him to come up with an energy plan to reduce the nation's foreign oil dependence by at least 30 percent in the next decade.

State House lawmakers will also hold hearings on a measure allowing the state to conduct an inventory of oil and natural gas off Georgia’s coastal areas and to investigate the possibility of exploration and drilling.

And, later this week, the House Science & Technology Committee will hear from science, technology, engineering and math education experts. The goal is to try and increase the number of teacher in those subjects. In 2008, the Georgia Department of Education certified over 4,000 teachers to teach grades K-12. Only eight of those were certified chemistry instructors. Only three received their certifications in physics.

In the state Senate, the Senate Appropriations Committee will consider House Bill 118, Governor’s Perdue 2009 supplemental budget. The measure passed the house late last week by a vote of 168 to 5. With the state’s current revenue shortfall nearly 2 billion dollars, hundreds of millions in federal stimulus money have been figured into the nearly 19 billion dollar midyear budget to help cushion the blow of across the board spending cuts.

The Senate Appropriations committee will consider a measure splitting the state employee’s retiree health benefit fund into two separate funds. One to be named the Georgia State Retiree Health Benefit Fund. The other will be named the Georgia School Retiree Health Benefit Fund.

For a list of pending committee meetings in the Georgia General Assembly, visit: http://www.legis.state.ga.us.

Unity Begins the 2009 Legislative Session

Democrats in the Georgia State Legislature opened the first day of the 2009 session with a sign of unity. With Republicans holding a majority of seats in the House, Republican Speaker Glenn Richardson was re-elected – but not with the usual “yeas” or “nays.” He was elected by process of acclamation, where no formal vote was held.
Minority Leader Dubose Porter says Democrats in Georgia are taking a page from President-elect Barack Obama.

"We, at this important crossroads in Georgia's history, want to show just as our president-elect in Washington is putting the country's welfare ahead of partisan politics, we too, the Democratic caucus in Georgia, put aside the partisan rancor and ask that we move forward with the work of this state."

The gesture did not go unnoticed by Republicans. Majority Leader Jerry Keen says that both sides of the House need to work together as the Democratic-controlled government will soon begin helping the states' ailing budgets.

Cagle: Expect a 'Painful Session' Over Recession

Show us the money.

That'll be the refrain when Georgia's Legislature returns to Atlanta on Monday and lawmakers will grapple with a massive budget shortfall that will color nearly every decision that's made under the Gold Dome.

Gov. Sonny Perdue has already ordered most state agencies to slash their budgets by 8 percent. State workers have been furloughed. Fees at public colleges are rising. Health benefits for the poor are being scaled back.

And the cuts could go deeper if the economy continues to worsen. Tumbling state revenues have ripped a deficit in the budget that's expected to top $2 billion for the current fiscal year. It comes as the recession pumps up the demand for government services like Medicaid, food stamps and unemployment benefits.

At the same time, Georgia is wrestling with vexing - and costly - infrastructure needs to keep up with booming growth in metro Atlanta. Roadways are clogged with traffic. Additional reservoirs are needed to quench the region's fast-growing thirst.

"It's going to be a painful session," predicted Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle.

Tax increases to fill the budget gap appear to be off the table. Republican legislative leaders have been cool to proposals that would slap new levies on strip club patrons, cigarettes or groceries.

Instead, they're talking about capping the rate at which home assessments can rise, a move that would hobble the ability of cash-strapped local governments to raise revenue.

Conservative Republicans cast the budget woes as an opportunity to "right-size" state government and get back to basics.

"It gives us the chance to really prioritize and figure out what government is here for," said Kelly McCutchen, vice president of the Georgia Public Policy Foundation, an Atlanta-based conservative think tank.

The first salvo in the budget battle will come Wednesday when Perdue unveils his spending plan. He's pledged to include an aggressive bond package to kick start the state's economy by borrowing to fund road projects and school construction.

Legislators will be able to tinker with how the money is spent. But they won't be able to change the overall amount the state may spend. The governor has the sole authority to set that figure and the state is constitutionally prohibited from running a deficit.

The latest news from state money managers was bleak. On Friday, they reported that tax collections plunged 8.9 percent for December from the same month the year before. For the fiscal year that began July 1 revenues slumped by 2.7 percent, dragged down by sluggish sales and income taxes.

Already, advocates are jockeying to shield their pet issues.

"We are extremely concerned about how these budget cuts will affect Georgia's children," said Pat Willis, executive director of Voices for Georgia's Children.

David Blanchard, who lobbies for Georgians with developmental disabilities, summed it up this way: "We're bracing for the worst."

"The state is not meeting the needs (of the developmentally disabled) today. The idea that we would go backward really does make so many people nervous," Blanchard said.

The focus on the budget meltdown is likely to mean other legislation will take a back seat this session.

"I think everyone is so focused on the budget, that I really don't expect this to be a banner year for new legislation," said state Sen. Cecil Staton, a Macon Republican. "I don't hear a lot of people talking about lots of new bills."

Of course, there will be some exceptions.

A plan to fund transportation improvements could move quickly this session after falling just short of the needed votes last year. The plan would likely allow local governments to band together to assess a one-cent sales tax to fund road improvements.

School vouchers could also emerge as a politically charged brawl. State Sen. Eric Johnson, a Savannah Republican, has said he wants to give parents in failing school districts more options.

But the top Democrat in the state Senate predicted "the nuclear fight over universal vouchers will be more explosive than the Republican budget crisis."

"After years of deliberate underfunding, Republicans have severely weakened our public schools," said state Sen. Robert Brown, of Macon. "Now, they are aiming to drive a stake in the heart of our children's future with universal vouchers."

But for the most part, it will be a session focused on the state's pocketbook.

"It's going to be a legislative session of making cuts where it hurts the least," said state Sen. Don Thomas, a Dalton Republican.

Click here for more GPB News coverage about the Georgia Legislature.

(AP)

Developers Could See Looser Regulations

Georgia House members are considering loosening regulations for builders as a way of stimulating the economy.


With the housing market in the gutter, and unemployment rates following the nose dive of the construction industry, state lawmakers like Rome Republican Representative Katie Dempsey say looser building regulations could aid the economy. Dempsey says the key would be to make construction guidelines uniform throughout the state.

"Just one area in particular, buffers. Different counties sometimes create different amount of buffers. Even just your fencing and landscaping can be added on and can be cost prohibitive for development," Dempsey says.


Buffers are generally no-build areas designed to protect the environment and are often costly to developers.

Meanwhile, the national public is opposed to reduced economic regulations, according to recent polling. Last month an LA Times/Bloomberg poll showed half of all respondents blamed the economic fallout on lax governmental regulations throughout the economy.

Legislative Session.... Day 38

Today, the State House sent a controversial school voucher bill back to committee with out voting on it. Senator Eric Johnson (R.), sponsor of the legislation told GPB reporters that he has fragile bipartisan support for the bill. He said he is trying to grow that support.

The bill, if passed, would have allowed students who attend school systems that loose accreditation to choose another school, public or private, using state funds.

The bill grew controversial after a recent threat of the loss of accreditation to Clayton County Schools, leaving students with little or no options for graduation if it does occur. Clayton County's neighbors worry that if the voucher bill passes, schools in their district could become over crowded.

Opposing a taxing proposal

Opposing a taxing proposal from Dave Bender and Vimeo.

A statewide fiscal watchdog group is taking issue with a far-reaching tax-reform plan to impose a state sales tax instead of property taxes.

The Georgia Budget and Policy Institute (GBPI) is fronting a coalition of groups opposed to a plan by House Speaker Glenn Richardson to abolish property taxes. Instead, Richardson's proposal would tax all goods and services sold in Georgia.

Alan Essig, who heads the Atlanta-based think tank spoke at Columbus State University Tuesday. He says Richardson's plan is ill-advised:

“Right now it's all guesswork, and are we going to blow up the tax system based on guesswork? Again, it's something we really need to think about before we do it.”

Along with Essig, a panel of city, school and local hospital officials discussed the plan's pros and cons with close to 100 Columbus residents.


Essig addressing the audience at
Cunningham Center at CSU.
(Dave Bender)