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.

Plan Could Merge Two-Year Colleges with Tech Schools

A plan that would merge the state’s two-year colleges with the Technical College System of Georgia is in front of the Governor. Sonny Perdue could consider it as part of his budget proposal to lawmakers next week.

The proposal is part of a report just-released late last month by a Perdue-appointed panel aimed at Georgia's educational future. The report concludes by spinning-off the two-year schools from Board of Regents oversight, the University System could focus squarely on four-year and research institutions, and graduate degree programs.

Mike Light with the Technical College System says if the plan got the Legislative go-ahead, a lot of issues would have to be worked out:

"It’s everything from the fact that the technical college system is currently on a quarter system vs. a semester system. We’d have to look at teacher and instructor pay...tenure...things like that."

There are eight two-year colleges in the state, with several others offering both two and four-year degree programs.

The system of 33 technical schools is currently preparing for an internal merger down to 27 schools by July 1st of this year.

Early bill takes on property taxes

Today a Georgia lawmaker filed the first "pre-bill" in anticipation of the upcoming 2009 legislative session. Republican Representative Ed Linsdsey wants to cap property tax assessments. House Speaker Glenn Richardson had sought to wipe out property taxes in the last legislative session but the plan died. The legislative session begins Jan. 12.

(Associated Press)

Lawmakers expect long final day of General Assembly

It is expected to be a long and busy day on this 40th and final day of the Georgia General Assembly session. Under the Gold Dome, lawmakers will try to push through as many of the 300-or-so bills as they can to Governor Sonny Perdue’s desk. The 21.2 billion dollar state budget for fiscal 2009 must get hammered-out. Perdue has already requested lawmakers cut out 245-million dollars in spending. A new challenge for the budget was the news from Thursday that state tax collections were down 1.6 percent, or 19-million dollars in March--from the same time last year.

Stay with GPB for all the latest from the Capitol on this final day. GPB Radio will have news updates this afternoon during All Things Considered at 4pm, and again at 6pm during Georgia Gazette. You can get Capitol updates anytime by clicking our website gpb.org, and going to the Georgia News page.