State AG Exempts Agencies From Storm Water Regs

Georgia's attorney general says state agencies are exempt from local regulations concerning storm water runoff. The state is still bound by rules of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources and the federal Environmental Protection Agency to protect streams, rivers and lakes from silt. But environmentalists objected to Tuesday's opinion. Muddy runoff from construction sites threatens aquatic vegetation and wildlife. The Georgia Department of Transportation was concerned it would be subject to permit-requirements in each of the state’s 159 counties.

(Associated Press)

DHR furloughing employees as part of budget cuts

Governor Perdue has asked all state agencies to show they're cutting their 2009 - 2010 budgets between six and ten percent.

The Department of Human Resources is one of the agencies slashing costs, in order to meet a mid-September deadline.

DHR is the largest state agency, employing 19,000 people. It's ordering employees to take a one-day furlough a month, in order to save between $92 million and $150 million dollars.

DHR officials say that,

"All employees earning $35,569 or more (pay grade 15 and above), including all leadership and the DHR Commissioner, will take one furlough day each month."

Exemptions from the furloughs include:

"Child welfare and adult protective services caseworkers [DFACS] and their direct supervisors, all direct-care staff at state hospitals and employees earning less than $35,569 (pay grade 14 and below)."

DHR says they're tightening their belt in other ways, as well, including cutting:

"non-essential travel for state business, suspending all vehicle purchases until further notice, suspending non-critical equipment and supplies purchases for the next 90 days and suspending non-critical hiring unless approved by DHR Commissioner, SPA and OPB."

The new policy goes into effect on September 16th.

Click here for more GPB News coverage of the state economic crisis.

Report: State Employees Misusing Credit Cards

Georgia government employees have used state-issued purchasing cards for everything from tattoos to concert tickets. That's according to an Atlanta Journal-Constitution analysis of three years of records.

The analysis shows the program started as a way for workers to buy office supplies, but now it has turned into a spending spree that could rack up 370 million dollars this year.

There are now more than 23,000 of the so-called p-cards – which are credit cards billed to government agencies.

Georgia's p-card policy makes entertainment off-limits, and specifically bans personal use of the cards.

The cards have come under increased scrutiny after an October audit showed widespread abuse of the cards. The report prompted Governor Perdue to order all 129 state agencies using the cards to review their purchases.

The state's latest review in November of p-card payments have turned up no new cases of abuse.

(The Associated Press)