Brock Clay Capitol Report, Week 3

The struggle over the Georgia state budget and state tax laws continued this week as the General Assembly met from Monday, January 26th, and adjourned on Friday, January 30th, concluding the week with Legislative Day 10. This week, the House and Senate Rules Committees began meeting, signaling that the fanfare and "niceties" are all but over. The standing committees began meeting on a regular basis, and started to consider numerous pieces of legislation, including:

- SB 41 (Seth Harp, R - Midland) would place a new set of regulations on the daytime television advertising currently purchased by trial attorneys. The proposed law would require them to display certain information during the advertisements, prohibit the use of actors, and would also institute a series of reporting and disclosure requirements on any clients they accept as a direct result of any television advertising.

- Rep. Tim Bearden (R - Villa Rica) is currently drafting a bill that would place additional requirements on the lobbying industry. Rep. Bearden’s bill, currently being circulated for co - signers, would require all registered lobbyists to track not just what they spend, but the contacts with whom they meet, the topic that is discussed, and the names of anyone else who is in the meeting.

- Senator Cecil Staton (R - Macon) is preparing to file a piece of legislation that would require proof of citizenship when an individual registers to vote. While the bill has not yet been filed, it currently has over 20 co-sponsors. Representative Roger Williams (R – Dalton) has introduced similar legislation.

A Dozen budget hearings took place as agencies and various state entities met with their respective Appropriations subcommittees to discuss the supplemental budget. The House Ways & Means Committee spent the majority of the week considering two pieces of legislation: HB 143 and HR 1. HB 143 would require the state to fund the Homeowner’s Tax Relief Grant for 2009, therefore stopping local governments from having to send out additional tax bill to property owners. The bill also ties the future funding of the HTRG to growth in state revenue and moves the appropriation of the grant to the supplemental budget. While this puts funding of the grant in future year’s in question, it also will not put local governments in the quandary that they are facing this year. HR 1 is a constitutional amendment to limit the growth in property tax assessments to 3%, or 9% if the property is only assessed every three years.

HB 143 passed the House on Friday by a vote of 117-55. While HR 1 was on the rules calendar for Friday, the House adjourned without taking up the measure.

The fight to adequately fund Georgia’s trauma care network continues. This week, several pieces of legislation were dropped with funding sources identified. Rep. Harry Geisinger (R - Atlanta) introduced HB 183 and HR 139. His legislation, titled the Georgia Trauma Hospital Support Act of 2009, would implement a graduated series of surcharges on phone lines to fund Georgia's trauma network (this would ultimately require cell phone users in Georgia to pay $1.00 per month on their cell phone bills).

Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Austin Scott (R - Tifton) and Economic Development Committee Chairman Ron Stephens (R - Savannah) have introduced HB 148, which would place an additional $10 on each car tag purchased in the state of Georgia. This measure would raise approximately $80 million each year for Georgia's trauma network, and is supported by a wide variety of stakeholders and decision makers. The Government Affairs Council’s (an extension of the Georgia Chamber of Commerce) Healthcare Committee has recommended opposing HB 183 and HR 139, and to support HB 148.

Representative Fran Millar has filed HB192 and HR162. These pieces of legislation would take the quarter mill of property tax levied by the state and deposit it into the Georgia Trauma Trust Fund. These pieces of legislation were assigned to the House Ways and Means Committee.

Governor Sonny Perdue has made his intentions clear to propose several pieces of legislation in relation to trauma. First, the governor's office is again proposing a measure that would place an additional $200 fine on those who speed in excessive amounts or have multiple speeding offenses. For now, at least, the revenue projections on that measure are somewhere between $10 and $20 million.

The governor has also been collaborating with the Georgia Trauma Care Network Commission (GTCNC) to produce a piece of legislation that would enhance and clarify the code section dealing with the GTCNC. Among other things, this piece of legislation is expected to enhance the commission's ability to distribute money and broaden the array of options they have to expand Georgia's trauma network. The "S.B. 60 rewrite," as some are calling it, has yet to be released and does not yet have a sponsor. Speaker Glenn Richardson has mentioned to several high level sources that he intends to float a new trauma funding concept sometime next week.

This week, steady progress on transportation funding continued as Senator Jeff Mullis' (R - Chickamauga) SB 39 and SR 44 passed easily out of the Senate Transportation Committee. SR 44 creates a constitutional referendum to establish a TSPLOST and SB 39 is the enabling legislation. In the meantime, Chairman Vance Smith (R - Pine Mountain) continues his work on legislation that will create a constitutional amendment on a statewide model. His legislation is also expected to include a list of specific projects and programs that will be funded by a statewide SPLOST. Several people have been told that both Speaker Glenn Richardson and Majority Leader Jerry Keen intend to sign onto this bill as co-sponsors. Conventional wisdom would suggest that Chairman Smith has spent this week gathering the support of his caucus before he actually files the bill. It appears at this point that the House Bill will be introduced during the first part of next week. The Senate is expected to bring SB 39 and SR 44 to the floor for a vote on Monday or Tuesday of next week.

On another transportation front, the General Assembly appears to have backed off any plans to change the governance structure of MARTA during the 2009 session. However, the governor continues to prepare a governance bill that would drastically alter the way transportation money is administered in Georgia.

Keep in mind that any sort of constitutionally provided transportation funding cannot be voted on until the 2010 election, so that gives the General Assembly two years to accomplish such a goal.

Through all of these developments, the Get Georgia Moving Coalition continues their posture of positive support for the funding efforts taking place on both sides of the General Assembly.

Little movement was seen on the Sunday sales issue this week. SB 16 was introduced by Senator Seth Harp (R - Midland) and currently sits in the Senate Regulated Industries Committee waiting for a hearing. One item to note on this issue is the impressive list of co - signers, with which the bill was introduced, including: Senate Rules Chairman Sen. Don Balfour (R-Snellville), Majority Leader Sen. Chip Rogers (R-Woodstock), and Senate Democratic Caucus Chairman Tim Golden (D-Valdosta).
Representative Roger Williams (R-Dalton) has also introduced a Sunday sales measure, HB 138. This bill has been assigned to the House Regulated Industries Committee, which is chaired by Representative Williams.

Commonly referred to as the "card check" bill, the proposed Employee Free Choice Act, introduced in Congress in 2005 and again in 2007, has been introduced yet again. This legislation is garnering the opposition of many pro - business groups. Under this legislation, the National Labor Relations Board would recognize a union's role as the official bargaining representative if a majority of employees have authorized that representation via card check and without requiring a secret ballot election. If this law were passed, it would bar a secret vote within a union. Instead, Unions would use a system termed "card check," in which union operatives would solicit workers to sign a membership card which then serves as a favorable vote for unionizing. When the union organizer has cards signed by a simple majority of the employees, then the employer is required to recognize all employees as a union. This week, former Senate President Pro Tem Eric Johnson (R - Savannah) introduced a constitutional amendment addressing that issue. SR 108 would guarantee the right of votes by secret ballots in all circumstances. One interesting item of note is that one of the top co-sponors of the bill is former Senate Transportation Committee Chairman, ally of former Gov. Roy Barnes and senior Democratic Senator Steve Thompson (D - Marietta).

On the political side, there are a few developments to report this week. Earlier this week, House Government Affairs Committee Chairman Austin Scott (R - Tifton) announced his intention to run for Governor in 2010. Governor Sonny Perdue also appointed a new administration floor leader in the House this week, Rep. Matt Ramsey (R - Peachtree City). Rep. Ramsey is filling the spot vacated by Rep. Rich Golick (R - Smyrna), who was earlier appointed Chairman of the House Judiciary Non - Civil Committee.

Finally, the schedule: the latest rumors indicate that the leadership of the General Assembly intends to be in session for 5 days for the next two weeks. Though it is subject to change at any time, this would put Legislative Day 20 on Friday, February 13th.