Brock Clay Capitol Report, Week 10

Fiscal Issues: The week after Crossover Day began quietly with the Senate taking up three pieces of House legislation and the House reciprocated by considering two pieces of Senate legislation. In the meantime, committees in both chambers began earnestly working on the bills and resolutions that DID meet the Day 30 deadline successfully. The process to consider the state's 2010 budget started with a bang this week, as Rep. Mickey Channell (R - Greensboro) moved to erase the Medicaid cuts on healthcare providers proposed by Governor Sonny Perdue. The Governor's budget had included rate cuts of 10% for hospitals and 6% for "other healthcare providers." Rep. Channell restored those cuts to previous funding levels.

As the state continues to try to address a challenging budget environment, some lawmakers are recommending that public school officials should plan furloughs for some of their teaching staff next year in an attempt to save the state money. Rep. Ed Lindsey (R - Atlanta), Chairman of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Education has suggested that schools plan to furlough up to 125,000 teachers on planning and training days in an attempt to save the state up to $200 million over the next fiscal year.

On Thursday, the House voted to pass House Bill 119, which contains a state budget that, at $18.5 billion, is $1.6 billion smaller than when originally proposed in January. The trimmed down budget immediately went to the Senate for consideration. During the House debate on the budget, Speaker Glenn Richardson took to the well, speaking passionately about conservative principles of government and fiscal responsibility. He also warned lawmakers that it's extremely likely they'll be called back at some point for a special session to deal with the budget deficit.

JOBS Act: Several weeks ago, Rep. Tom Graves (R - Granger) introduced the Jobs Opportunity and Business Success (JOBS) Act of 2009. This legislation, in the form of House Bills 481 and 482, would do the following: create and preserve jobs by phasing out the corporate income tax; eliminating the sales tax deposit; eliminating the state inventory tax and giving businesses a $500 credit toward unemployment insurance tax and $2,400 income tax credit for each eligible employee hired. The legislation passed the House with a groundswell of support, and was quickly moved to the Senate. On Tuesday, both House Bill 481 and 482 passed out of the Senate Finance Committee to the praises of Senate Majority Leader Chip Rogers (R - Woodstock) and Senate President Pro Tempore Tommie Williams (R - Lyons). On Thursday evening, the Senate Rules Committee voted to send House Bill 481 back to the Finance committee for a small change dealing with the requirement on businesses to carry worker's compensation insurance. On Friday morning, Senator Chip Rogers presented the amendment and the bill passed back out of the Senate Finance Committee.

Transportation: Currently, there are competing proposals from both the House and the Senate dealing separately with the issues of governance and funding. Under Chairman Jeff Mullis' plan, the metro Atlanta area would join together in one region, and the rest of the state of Georgia would be free to vote on transportation projects on either a county by county basis, or join together in regions. This plan would raise approximately $10 billion over the next ten years. There are no projects guaranteed, but project lists would have be agreed upon by counties who wished to join together. Under the Senate plan, the money would be administered by the Georgia Department of Transportation. Senate Bill 39 and Senate Resolution 44 (the accompanying constitution amendment) passed the Senate by votes of 52 - 3 and 53 - 2 respectively.

Rep. Vance Smith, the Republican chair of the House Transportation Committee, has proposed a statewide 1% sales tax that will raise roughly $25 billion over the next ten years. His legislation also contains a very specific set of projects that would be completed with that money. His legislation also sets up an 11 member legislative oversight committee to make sure the funds are spent correctly. The House passed Chairman Vance Smith's House Bill 277 by a vote of 149 - 18 and the accompanying constitutional amendment, House Resolution 206 passed by a vote of 153 - 15.

Since that time, Senator Mullis' Senate Bill 39 was gutted by the House Transportation Committee and replaced with language that eliminates the requirement that MARTA spend at least 50% of their revenue on capital expansion. It currently sits in the State Senate awaiting action. House Bill 277 and House Resolution 206 was assigned to the Senate Finance Committee. Last week, the committee gutted House Bill 277 and replaced it with the language of Senate Bill 39. That legislation also awaits action by the Senate. On Friday, the Senate Rules Committee suspended their standard meeting, ostensibly due to a GOP caucus meeting taking place at the same time.However, the Committee eventually reconvened and quickly put House Bill 277, House Resolution 206, and House Bill 226 on the Senate debate calendar for Monday.

Earlier this session, Senator Doug Stoner introduced Senate Bill 120, which removed all previous restrictions on how MARTA could organize their budget. Later, the language of Senate Bill 120 was inserted into Senator Jeff Mullis' Senate Bill 39 by the House Transportation Committee. This week, MARTA raised the stakes in their struggle to obtain more flexibility in budget practices. MARTA General Manager Beverly Scott warned the General Assembly this week that if such measures aren't pass, MARTA may be forced to drastically alter the services they are able to alter.

This week, the House Transportation Committee took up consideration of Senate Bill 200, a bill sponsored by Senate President Pro Tempore Tommie Williams (R - Lyons) that would change the Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) by transitioning the planning and funding functions of GDOT to the newly created State Transportation Agency. As introduced, the legislation also proposes that the new STA would take over GRTA and SRTA and would be governed by an 11 member board appointed by the Governor, the Lt. Governor, and the Speaker of the House. The Governor would also appoint a Secretary of Transportation who would serve as the administrator of the new STA.

This week, the House Transportation Special Subcommittee voted on several amendments that will drastically alter Senate Bill 200 as introduced. The amendments established that the Legislature would assume the responsibility for electing the 11 member board of the new STA, and made the Governor's appointment of the Transportation Secretary subject to a 2/3 ratification vote by the Transportation Committees of the House and Senate. This is clearly indicative of the concern the House has with giving up their ability to directly influence who controls transportation in Georgia.

All of the members of the current Board of Transportation were present at the meeting, and they elected Board Member Sam Wellborn to speak on their behalf. Mr. Wellborn spoke passionately about the value of maintaining the current system, pointing to a severe lack of funding as the root of the many problems being faced by the current Department of Transportation.

On Friday, the subcommittee met and considered a final amendment that clarified the ability of the new STA in situations involving public private initiatives, design build, and construction management at risk contracts. The subcommittee unanimously passed the bill as amended on to the full Transportation Committee. The full Transportation Committee will most likely have first consideration on Senate Bill 200 on Monday, March 23.

Trauma Care: Last week, Governor Sonny Perdue cut his proposed budget for trauma care in the face of a wilting revenue estimate. His previous budget proposal had proposed $60 million for the Georgia Trauma Care Network Commission but the revised budget numbers have cut that number to $23 million. The Georgia Trauma Care Network Commission is yet another victim of the budget slashing the state of Georgia currently under way as a result of an additional budget deficit of $1.6 billion.

Senator Greg Goggans has sponsored Senate Resolution 277, which proposes an amendment to the Georgia Constitution adding a $10 surcharge on all car tag purchases. The proceeds of that surcharge would be used to fund Georgia's trauma network. The bill passed the Senate by a vote of 48 - 8. In the meantime, Representative Harry Geisinger (R - Atlanta) and Representative Tom Rice (R - Norcross) have continued to work on a trauma funding mechanism contained in House Bill 480 . This legislation would eliminate the unpopular "birthday tax," and also eliminate sales taxes on the purchase of automobiles. Instead, it would institute a one time title transfer fee of 7% capped at $2,000.00. A portion of those funds would be returned to local governments, and a portion will be sent to the state treasury. For the previous fiscal year, approximately $50 per title transferred will be appropriated for the Georgia Trauma Care Network Commission; however, that amount will be capped at $150 million. This bill passed the House by a vote of 133 - 39.

This week, the House Appropriations Committee added another $10 million to the appropriation for the Georgia Trauma Care Network Commission. On Thursday, the Governor's super - speeder proposal passed the Senate Public Safety Committee unanimously. Currently, Senator Goggans' Senate Resolution 277 is scheduled for a hearing in the House Committee on Monday, March 23.

This week, the Georgia Trauma Care Network Commission held it's monthly meeting at the State Capitol. The agenda included discussion on the ambulance grant program, the statewide communications system, and the potential of modeling a stroke system of care after Georgia's trauma care network.

Political News: In political news, this week Senator Ralph Hudgens (R - Hull), chairman of the Senate Insurance Committee, announced his intention to run for Georgia's Insurance Commissioner in 2010. In the wake of that announcement, Tim Echols announced that he was considering a run for Hudgens' State Senate seat. Echols is known in Georgia political circles as the President of Teenpact, a conservative youth government education program.

This week, an Insider Advantage Poll showed that if former Governor Roy Barnes entered the governor's race for 2010, it would make an easy victory for the Republican candidate a GOP pipe dream. In a poll taken this week (sample size of 550, margin of error +/- 4%), Barnes polled extremely well when matched up against Lt. Governor Casey Cagle, Secretary of State Karen Handel, or Insurance Commissioner John Oxendine. More information on the poll can be found here.

On Thursday, fireworks erupted on the floor of the State House as Rep. Austin Scott (R - Tifton and Chairman of the House Government Affairs Committee) moved to block a consensus resolution to make President Barack Obama an honorary member of the Georgia Legislative Black Caucus. Chairman Scott objected to the resolution on the grounds that it implied the entire House approved of President Obama's decisions. After he asked for a vote of the full House, the resolution failed by a vote of 70 - 68. However, the House voted 143 - 2 Friday to reconsider the vote, and Speaker Glenn Richardson immediately sent the resolution back to the House Rules Committee for further consideration of potential compromise language. After that action, several members of the House Black Caucus walked off the House floor in protest.

Schedule: Remember, Legislative Day 40 and adjournment of the session Sine Die is April 3, 2009.



...and in other news...

A national poll conducted by Public Policy Polling indicated that in a 2012 matchup between President Barack Obama and Governor Sarah Palin (R - Alaska), President Obama would win by a margin of 55% - 35%.

This week, Governor Sonny Perdue (R - Georgia) filed an amicus brief in the case of Northwest Austin Municipal Utility District Number One v. Holder. The case, scheduled to be heard in April before the Supreme Court of the United States, challenges the constitutionality of Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act. The brief was authored by Anne Lewis, deputy council of the Georgia Republican Party and the lawyer who successfully defended Georgia's voter ID law. Among other arguments, Governor Perdue contends that President Barack Obama's performance last November is proof that Georgia should no longer be subject to Section 5.

A man walked into the downtown Bank of America and on the back of a deposit slip wrote, "this iz a stikkup. Put all your muny in this bag." While standing in line, waiting to give his note to the teller, the man began to worry that someone may have seen him write the note and might call the police before he could reach the teller. So, the criminal left the Bank of America and walked across to the street to Wells Fargo. After waiting in line for several minutes there, he handed his note to a teller. After reading it, the teller told him that his note was written on a Bank of America deposit slip. He would either have to fill out a Wells Fargo withdrawal slip or go back to the Bank of America. The man said he understood and left. The Wells Fargo teller promptly called the police, who arrested the man, who was waiting in line at the Bank of America.

Have a great weekend.

Seth Millican
Brock Clay Public Affairs