'Bridge Act' Passes House

State House lawmakers passed the Bridge Act on Monday. The bill requires high schools to offer college and career program tracks to students.

The bill requires students in the ninth grade to have an individual graduation plan. Supporters say curb the number high school dropouts by letting students decide which focus of study fits them best.

The bill's sponsor, Republican Fran Millar from Dunwoody, says right now, two out of every three high school students fail to graduate. And that, he says, shapes Georgia's image.

"The biggest problem we have in this state for economic development is not transportation, it's not water. It's the fact that our work force is perceived as uneducated. And until we can prove to people we have an educated workforce, we'll continue to have two Georgias."

Millar says no matter which path is chosen, each student would receive the same rigorous diploma.

The bill garnered near-unanimous support in the House and now moves on to the Senate.

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.
---
On the Net:
House Bill 184: http://www.legis.ga.gov
(AP)

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.

Ga. House Panel Approves Budget

The House Appropriations Committee has approved an $18.9 billion budget that funnels hundreds of millions of dollars in federal stimulus money into Medicaid and education.

The amended budget for the current fiscal year passed by a voice vote Wednesday. It cuts more than $2 billion in state spending to fill a deficit. The federal stimulus money coming from Washington is helping blunt some of those cuts.

The budget restores $1.3 million to the state Department of Revenue to keep it from having to furlough auditors.

State lawmakers say that with tax revenues plummeting the state needs the auditors more than ever to make sure that Georgians are paying their fair share.

The full House is set consider the budget Thursday. It still must pass the state Senate.

On The Net: H.B. 118: www.legis.ga.

(AP)

Isakson Opens Re-Election Bid

Georgia’s Johnny Isakson will address members of the state Senate Tuesday--this to mark the beginning of his re-election campaign for a second 6-year term in the U.S. Senate. The 64-year-old Isakson’s political career has also included serving in the U.S. House, as well as in Georgia’s legislature. Isakson plans to tour the state beginning tomorrow with stops in Augusta, Albany and Columbus. On Thursday, he's drop in on Macon and Savannah.

State Senate Again Tries Seat Belt Measure

The Georgia Senate approved a measure to require adults in pickup trucks to buckle-up. In recent years, proposals to change seat belt requirements have been passed by the Senate, but they’ve then been tied-up in the House. Georgia is the only state in the nation to specifically exempt adults in pickups from wearing seat belts. That has cost the state millions of dollars in federal highway funds.

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)

Shakeup in Georgia state Senate

Georgia Senate Republicans selected new leaders heading into the coming legislative session.

Sen. Tommie Williams, of Lyons, has been nominated for president pro tempore. The full Senate must vote on Williams when the legislature returns Jan. 12, but the chamber is controlled by Republicans.

Williams would replace Sen. Eric Johnson of Savannah, who's stepping down to run for lieutenant governor.

Sen. Chip Rogers of Woodstock will take the reins as Senate Republican majority leader.

State Legislature--post election

Republicans seem to have withstood attempts by Georgia Democrats to put a major dent in their majority in the state Legislature.

Most incumbent legislators in the state Senate coasted to an election victory Tuesday night. And Democrats seem likely to make only marginal gains in the state House.

Republicans currently control the House with a 107-73 majority. Republicans held on to 104 seats, with another one tilting their way. Democrats locked up 72 seats, and another three are leaning their way.

The state Senate, meanwhile, is in a holding pattern. Republicans control the chamber by a 34-22 margin and that didn't change Tuesday.

--Associated Press--

Senate runoff in the offing?

The "what-if" scenario gaining currency in Georgia political circles goes something like this: After all the votes are counted on Election Day none of the three U.S. Senate candidates gets a majority.

Republican Senator Saxby Chambliss speaking at a press conference in Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, Oct 2, 2008. (Carl Zornes)

The race heads into a Dec. 2 runoff between Republican incumbent Saxby Chambliss and Democrat Jim Martin. Democrats have picked up enough Senate seats nationally to pull within striking distance of a filibuster-proof 60-member supermajority.

Democratic Senate race candidate Jim Martin, talking to reporters at a press conference in downtown Atlanta, Sept, 16, 2008. (Dave Bender)

If it happens, the harsh glare of the national spotlight would turn to Georgia. Big money and big-name politicos would descend upon the state. Attack ads would flood the airwaves for weeks in what could be one of the nastiest political races the state has seen in recent years.

While he wouldn't say that scenario is likely, Emory University political scientist Alan Abramowitz says "it is definitely more than a remote possibility."

(Courtesy buckleyforsenate.com)

He says Libertarian candidate Allen Buckley would only need to pull a few percentage points if the contest between Chambliss and Martin is close.

There's certainly a statewide precedent: Libertarian Garrett Michael Hayes won just shy of 4 percent in the race for Georgia governor's race two years ago.

It wasn't long ago that Chambliss was considered a safe bet to coast to re-election in Republican-friendly Georgia.

But that was before the nation's economic turmoil upended the political landscape.

Chambliss angered some conservatives with his vote for the $700 billion financial bailout bill, and the economic woes have created a wave of anti-incumbent frustration among angry voters.

Polls suggest the Senate race in Georgia has tightened considerably.

The Chambliss and Martin campaigns maintain they're working hard to win the race outright.

Click here for more GPB News Election coverage.

(AP)

Strong turnout for early voting in Cobb Co.

Looking over the sample ballots at the West Park Government Center, Monday, Oct,13, 2008. (Dave Bender)

Today, early voters in Cobb County waited patiently on line to cast their ballot in over 60 national, state and local races.

Voters waited upwards of an hour and a half to cast their ballots – a process that took about ten minutes.

Shannon Dunn is the director of elections and registration for Cobb County:

"As of Friday evening, we had voted 17,000 plus, in person here.”

Election officials at the West Park Government Center kept order as the line of voters snaked towards the entrance.

Numerous signs forbid electioneering within 150 feet of the building.

No campaigning with 150 feet of the West Park Government Center polling station, Monday, Oct 13, 2008. (Dave Bender)

One voter who appreciated that strictly-enforced rule is Florence Cadran, Massachusetts -born, but now a resident of Cobb County:

“I don’t remember them having the early voting in Massachusetts – but when I’d go there’d be 30-40 people from every different politician that was there with their signs – in your face – so it was almost like walking through a corridor to get to the voting place, so this is much nicer.”

Voters waited patiently in line to cast their ballots, Monday, Oct. 13, 2008, (Dave Bender)

Dunn she’s not spooked by the prospect of early voting concluding on October 31st -- Halloween eve.

Click here for more GPB News election coverage.

GOP leader: Chambliss in 'fight of his life'

Republican Senator Saxby Chambliss, talking with reporters about his election prospects and his Wall Street bailout vote at a press conference at Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, Oct 2, 2008. (file/Dave Bender)

This central-Georgia military town outside Robins Air Force Base should be a cakewalk on Election Day for Republican Sen. Saxby Chambliss. But ask people here if they support him and one finds surprising ambivalence, even hostility.

The mood has changed so much in recent weeks that Georgia Republican Party Chairwoman Sue Everhart says Chambliss is in "the fight of his life."

"I think he will win," Everhart said prior to Georgia's GOP Victory Dinner in Atlanta last Tuesday. "But not by the large margin we expected early on."

Once considered a safe bet for re-election to a second term, Chambliss suddenly appears vulnerable amid a wave of anti-incumbent frustration and economic turmoil.

"I think everybody is just so totally dissatisfied with what's going on in Washington now that we feel like you probably can't get much worse, so you might as well try somebody new," said Jean Hammock, a longtime Republican who listens daily to conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh.

His newly troubled candidacy is giving Democrats visions of approaching a 60-vote, filibuster-proof majority in next month's election, instead of just the four or five seats they had expected to take from Republicans. Democrats control the Senate 51-49.

Chambliss' "yes" vote for the $700 billion financial package earlier this month is the latest in a series of positions that haven't sat well with the conservatives who make up his base. He also faces a potential surge of newly registered Democratic voters excited about Barack Obama's presidential campaign, and a general anti-Republican sentiment after eight years of the Bush administration.

Without question, Georgia remains a GOP stronghold, and Chambliss is still favored over Democrat Jim Martin. The state supported President Bush with 58 percent of the vote four years ago. Martin would need impressive turnout — and perhaps a strong assist from Libertarian candidate Allen Buckley — to win.

But recent polls show Chambliss with a modest lead, but the race tightening. And Democrats relish the possibility of revenge against the man who, in a 2002 campaign ad, criticized Democratic Sen. Max Cleland's commitment to national security even though Cleland lost three limbs in the Vietnam War. Chambliss defeated Cleland with 53 percent of the vote.

Sen. Charles Schumer of New York, head of the Democrats' Senate campaign committee, said Martin and Chambliss are virtually tied, even in polls that Schumer believes don't fully capture Obama's effect on African-American and young voters.

"We're doing extremely well in places we didn't expect to do well," said Schumer. "Georgia was a surprise to us."

The Democratic committee, however, still doesn't list the state as a battleground, and so far hasn't put much money into the race. Schumer declined to say whether it will run ads in Georgia as it has in other competitive races. Georgia is "a state we're taking a very close look at," he said.

Martin has been running television ads throughout the state but trails Chambliss in fundraising. The Democrat has stepped up his attacks in recent days, criticizing Chambliss for his bailout vote and loyalty to Bush.

Chambliss said he always predicted the race would be tight. He knew he had not endeared himself to conservatives by supporting a compromise immigration package that drew him boos at a state GOP function last year and, more recently, championing a bipartisan energy measure criticized by Limbaugh and other conservative commentators.

He also was well aware of the political risks of supporting the bailout package. But he said Congress had little choice but to respond and try to contain economic losses. He's hoping sharp market declines in recent days will strengthen his case that action was urgently needed.

The senator downplayed suggestions that the bailout vote would make or break him.

"I've cast hundreds and hundreds of votes over the last 14 years," Chambliss, a former House member, told reporters before the GOP Victory dinner in Atlanta. "To say any one is going to cost me the election, that's just not the case."

At least one self-described lifelong Republican thinks otherwise. Ron Davis of Dallas, Ga., said he was so infuriated by Chambliss' bailout vote that he set up a Web site http://www.FireSaxby.com

"I never really followed politics closely. This was a wake-up call to me," the 31-year-old information technology administrator said.

Davis said he'll vote for Buckley in November, adding that GOP friends in his neighborhood are also disillusioned with Chambliss.

"I think he should be worried," Davis said.

(The Associated Press)

Click here for more GPB News political coverage.

Martin ad takes aim at Chambliss

Democratic Senate candidate Jim Martin has stepped up his attacks on Saxby Chambliss with a new ad suggesting the Republican incumbent is out of touch with the economic woes of the middle class.

In the spot, Martin says Georgians need to reverse the George Bush's failed economic policies that Chambliss has supported for years.

The Martin campaign said Monday that the television ad will be running statewide.

It's the first ad that has taken direct aim at Chambliss, suggesting the Senate race is heating up with less than two months to go until election day. Chambliss is running his own ad that highlights his biography and his record from his first term in the Senate.

(The Associated Press)

Click here for more GPB News election coverage.

Families of crime victims testify before senate c'tee

Family members and crime victim advocates on Thursday testified before the Senate Victim’s Rights Study Committee in Douglas County.

The panel is charged with examining how Georgia’s criminal justice system deals with those left behind when a loved one is the victim of a violent crime.

Heard county resident Kelly Wiggins testified before the panel, which met in the Douglasville County Courthouse.

Wiggins' testifies before the panel: allowing pretaped testimony will allow "closure" for grieving families. (Dave Bender)

Wiggins' sister Marie was shot to death in Douglas County in 2004.

Wiggins implored the panel to consider pretaped video testimony for family members traumatized in court trials:

“…it would give people in the future, and parents the opportunity to say, ‘You know what? That was my right. That’s the only right I have as a victim to speak. And I did it. I couldn’t speak words at the time, but I did it in advance and the jury heard, in my own words, how this crime has affected me.’ It’s really, really important.”

Carrollton Republican Senator Bill Hamrick chairs the five-member committee, which was established in May, 2008. The committee will report its findings to the 2009 General Assembly.

Click here for more GPB coverage of criminal issues.

Legislative Day 37.... from the Senate

The Senate voted to take a ten dollar Trauma Care fee to the polls. If passed by Georgia voters it would bring in in 74 million dollars for Trauma Care throughout the state, something needed in South and West Georgia were little is available.

Senator Cecil Staton (R.), has been pushing for a way to fund trauma care. Staton said the issue needs to be solved now.

"It is unacceptable that 700 Georgians die needlessly - if we would just reach the national average- but even that's not good enough," said Staton.

Senate leaders said 75 percent of trauma care cases come from car accidents and the license plate fee was the most practical place to begin raising funds.

And, while both chambers agree with the ten dollar fee, they disagree on the rest of the taxes attached to cars; the Senate wants to keep them and leaders in the House said they need to go.

They only have three days left in the session to iron out their differences.

State Senate seeks income tax cuts

Georgia Senate Republicans introduced yesterday a plan to cut state income taxes by 10 percent over five years. Lieutenant Governor Casey Cagle announced the proposal, which immediately caused a stir among House Republicans who have been pushing their own tax cut plan.

Last week, the House GOP passed a measure to eliminate the state’s car tax and the state portion of property taxes. The Senate plan, introduced in the final days of the legislative session, is expected to deepen tension between the two chambers and Governor Sonny Perdue, who has been skeptical of tax cuts during the current economic slowdown.

Bill to weigh kids passes Senate

The State Senate passed a bill today that would require public schools to take the Body Mass Index of each student and compete with other schools for the lowest average score. It's meant to improve the health of children, but oponents argues it's too much government intrusion.

The bill's sponsor Republican Joseph Carter argued that 1 in 3 kids in Georgia is either obese or at risk of becoming obese. He hopes to improve the situation with an online competition. Each school's collective Body Mass Index would be posted on a Department of Education website. It also calls for the governor to establish a recognition program. Republican Seantor Preston Smith of Rome says that leaves too much room for bullying because schools eyeing state funds could put pressure on heavier kids.

Smith says it should be parents, not government's, role to keep children healthy. Each child's BMI would be kept private by the school and released to parents upon request. The measure now goes to the state House for consideration.

GA senator accepts TN water as 'down payment'

Audio:

Georgia Senator David Shafer (R-Duluth) addresses state Senators, after accepting symbolic shipment of bottled water from Chattanooga (TN) Mayor Ron Littlefield.

Click on the media player below to hear the segment:

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Click here for more GPB News coverage of the epic drought.

Assembly to address Grady woes

The Georgia Senate is set to debate a proposed oversight committee to monitor the finances of Atlanta’s Grady Memorial Hospital. The measure is intended to help the hospital avert closure from mounting budget shortfalls. Yesterday, the Fulton County Commission approved a change in governance structure at Grady that could help the hospital raise funds.