Fresh Loaf

Pretty please? Wouldn’t it be nice to do the right thing and help metro Atlanta continue to sprawl? I mean, we did kind of pass legislation in 2008 saying we’d look into redrawing the border so we could tap that mighty river you got there. We could just avoid all that red tape and work it out, right?

Whattaya say?

Tennessee officials still have no intention of letting Georgia tap into the Tennessee River, despite a federal court ruling last week that set a three-year clock ticking for Atlanta to find a new water source.

“Tennessee officials are not rethinking this issue,” said Gov. Phil Bredesen’s spokeswoman Lydia Lenker on Monday.

$@%#! Oh well, maybe we can just learn to conserve the water we have. Wait, what? $@%#!

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State Environmental Protection Division Director Carol Couch announced today that Georgia’s drought — the headline-grabbing phenomenon that forced Georgians to take shorter showers and watch our lawns turn brown — was officially over.

That also means the watering restrictions, which irked lawn-doting residents and hamstrung metro Atlanta’s landscaping industry, have been eased. (Here’s Georgia’s new outdoor watering schedule.)

Couch said she hopes residents — who surpassed Gov. Sonny Perdue’s 10 percent conservation goal — will continue using less water. But Georgians have very short memories.

Keep in mind that a drought can — and will — happen again. And Georgia lawmakers, who were quick to jump on the crisis but hard pressed to create actual reforms, squandered several opportunities to make the state better prepared when the next one arrives.

(more…)

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Gold Dome sentinel Dick Pettys of InsiderAdvantage provides an excellent rundown of 2008’s state political stories, complete with links that give you a rare glimpse behind the online news service’s subscription firewall. If you want a good take on what happened this year, it’s all right there.

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The Georgia Conservation Voters released their annual scorecard grading our elected officials on how they voted when it came down to the environment. A preserved and clean Earth makes all the chichanery and favor-letting more possible, right guys?

From their press release (emphasis added, full version follows after the jump):

The latest scorecard shows the average score in the Senate dropped by two percent while the House average experienced a nine point increase. The Senate average was 64 percent in 2005-06, but it fell slightly to 62 percent in 2007-08. The House average rose from 54 percent in 2005-06 to 63 percent in 2007-08.

“We’re pleased with all the legislators who improved their scores over last year, but the General Assembly overall is still bringing home a scorecard that shows room for improvement,” said Georgia Conservation Voters Executive Director Chris Osborne. “Talking about the environment is not enough – measuring improvements and providing accountability for conservation-minded voters is a necessary task.”

This session, the conservation community made strides in expanding incentives for land conservation, obtaining funding to clean up dirty school buses, protecting part of Jekyll Island with easy beach access and defeating efforts to make it more difficult to remove billboards. However, efforts to create a funding mechanism for all forms of transportation, including rail transit options, and statutory criteria to protect communities from unnecessary water transfers failed during the last hours of the 2007-08 legislative session.

“We’re pleased to see a greater awareness of how environmental issues from water to transportation to energy affect the lives of Georgians every day. But there is still need for more leadership from the General Assembly if we are to tackle challenges before they turn into a crisis,” said Mr. Osborne.

Freshmen lawmakers scored better than the veterans, Democrats scored better than Republicans, and a round of applause should go out to Sens. Vincent Fort and Bill Jackson and Reps. Roberta Abdul-Salaam, Stephanie Benfield, Doug McKillip, Robert Mumford and Mary Margaret Oliver. They all scored 100 percent.

The rundown can be viewed on the organization’s website here.

(more…)

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State Sen. Jeff Chapman, R-Brunswick, fought hard and fast against members of his own party during the most recent legislative session to protect Jekyll Island, the state park and getaway.

The senator earned an Arnie award because he stood up to the powers that be during the legislative session and voiced the wishes of not only his constituents, but those around the state who protested the proposed Linger Longer development that critics said would’ve blocked public access to the beach and made the longtime vacation spot too expensive for the average Georgian.

Chapman released an editorial through the Senate Press Office that, because of space constraints, we may not be able to publish in next week’s print edition of CL. I’m posting the entire letter after the jump.

It’s a good read from a lawmaker, who along with several other legislators such as state Reps. Debbie Buckner, D-Junction City, and Stephanie Stuckey-Benfield, D-Decatur, pushed to preserve the state park.

(more…)

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State tax credits for a variety of energy-efficiency improvements and installations on homes and businesses are now available. The eligibility criteria is available for viewing at the Georgia Environmental Facilities Authority’s website.

The perks cap out at $2.5 million each year and will be pro-rated among the applicants. The credits sprang from HB 670, a piece of legislation that Pam Davidson, one of the Republican candidates for the Public Service Comission, helped push through the notoriously un-progressive General Assembly this past session.

Here are some facts from a GEFA press release.

Consistent with Governor Perdue’s commitment to the Conserve Georgia campaign and the Governor’s Energy Challenge, the tax credit creates an income tax credit for a variety of energy efficient and renewable energy technologies including:

• Active solar space heating;

• Solar electric and solar thermal electric;

• Wind;

• Certain bio-electricity facilities (non-residential only);

• Geothermal heat pumps;

• Efficient lighting (non-residential only); and

• Energy efficient buildings (non-residential only).

“The Georgia Clean Energy Property Tax Credit is part of our state’s investment in a clean energy future,” said Chris Clark, executive director of the Georgia Environmental Facilities Authority (GEFA). “This incentive will accelerate Georgians’ adoption of energy efficient technologies and will help them to meet the Governor’s Energy Challenge.”

Most credits are capped at 35 percent of the cost of the property or a certain dollar amount established by the statute. There are different credit limits for residential and non-residential installations. The bill also provides tax credits for wood residuals delivered to qualified renewable biomass facilities. The Georgia Forestry Commission will establish the value of the biomass credits.

A total of $2.5 million in tax credits are available each calendar year from 2008 to 2012. The Department of Revenue will provide quarterly updates about the amount of available credits via its website – www.dor.ga.gov. GEFA will provide annual reports on the energy and economic benefits of the tax credit.

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Big surprise, but it looks like the areas in Georgia that received the most funding in budget earmarks are those whose representatives and senators carry clout. Like Columbia County, whose Rep. Ben Harbin, R-Evans, brought home 88.9 cents per person on average.

Fulton? We yanked 32.8 cents. Gooooo Fulton!

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During the legislative session, Rep. Bobby Franklin, R-Marietta, blogged for The American View, a conservative Christian web site whose organizers aim to create “Christian America, and a Christian world, a Christian galaxy and a Christian universe.”

But since there is no area of life outside of the Lordship of King Jesus, all votes cast are religious in nature and must be based on what the Bible says is the proper function of the civil government.

— Franklin, on Jan 31, explaining how he decides his legislative votes.

By a vote of 154-1 the House approved HB 1088, a bill to provide state central planning of “agricultural tourism.” The last time I checked, I could not find any Biblical role of the civil government in the function of tourism, agricultural or otherwise.

— Franklin, on Feb. 18.

HB 1043 amended an already bad law, the “Childhood Lead Exposure Control Act” by allowing the state to enter your property if some state agent thinks that your kid has been exposed to lead. Whatever happened to the Supreme Court’s “Roe” and “Casey” right to privacy?

— Franklin rails against a bill aimed at protecting children from lead-contaminated structures.

You are a person while in the test tube. But the state then can deny your personhood the moment you are implanted in a uterus. With so called right to life organizations promoting this type of abomination, no wonder roughly 40,000 babies are still being slaughtered in their mother’s womb’s each year in Georgia.

— Franklin criticizes a bill proposed by Georgia Right to Life that would designate embryos in test tubes as “people.”

While Georgia is throwing the book at people that use alcohol vaporizing devices, the butchering of the unborn continues[.]

— Franklin writes about a House bill that would ban alcohol-vaporizers.

This bill allows the commissioner of the Department of Natural Resources (why there is such a department is another story) to prohibit all commercial and recreational fishing for blue crabs.

— Franklin questions the importance of an agency charged with protecting the environment.

Why is the Georgia House of Representatives concerning itself with any sport when tens of thousands of babies are slaughtered in the womb each year here in Georgia?

— Franklin expresses disgust with a bill that would urge the NCAA use a playoff system to determine a national college football champion.

First, individuals do not have any natural rights — which transitions to the second point: rights are given by God and are not privileges handed out by the state. It is very dangerous when those elected to office begin to believe and govern as if the State is God.

— Franklin states his views on basic rights.

Does it surprise you that the question never lets the voter know that if the Governor so chooses that not a dime of the tax could go toward transportation? Republicans – gotta love’um [--] NOT!

— Franklin channels Wayne’s World in his final post of the legislative session.

Rep. Franklin then said that the folks that wanted to end slavery were called “crazy” and “radical”, but they were doing “what was right”, so he didn’t mind being called crazy because he’s doing what’s right.

— Andre Walker in a Jan. 2007 GeorgiaPoliticsUnfiltered blog post after he asked Rep. Franklin about pro-choice groups labeling him as “crazy.”

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According to the fine print on the back of Georgia gun permits, it’s currently illegal to carry an “explosive compound, firearm, or knife” to “athletic or sporting events, churches or church functions, political rallies or functions, publicly owned or operated buildings, or establishments at which alcoholic beverages are sold [sic] for consumption on the premises.”

On Friday, state lawmakers modified this no-gun-zone list.

If Gov. Perdue signs the legislation, Georgians with permits-to-pack will soon be able to carry concealed guns (but not samurai swords) on MARTA, into some restaurants and bars, and to state parks.

The law is obnoxious and Gov. Perdue should veto it — but not for the reason you might think.

I do not believe the new law will increase the number of restaurant and/or MARTA shoot-outs.

And as a gun permit holder myself, (more…)

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Pfft. In the final hours of sine die, the Georgia General Assembly let loose like a balloon. Inflated egos and petty bickering between chambers over tax reform held hostage the most important of issues, such as transportation and trauma care. Once Speaker Glenn Richardson declared the issue dead an hour before he gaveled the session to a close, it left a lot of people wondering if progress even occurred. No worries, though — some of the Senate interns had a good enough time and the insurance lobbyists have plenty to bring home to their employers.

Here’s some of what happened:

TADs: Despite objections, the resolution calling for a constitutional amendment that would allow voters to decide in November if school funds could be used for development projects such as the Beltline, passed. High point: Rep. Brian Thomas, D-Lilburn, asked Rep. Steve Davis, R-McDonough, if he objected to the idea of TADs solely on ideological grounds or for practical reasons. Thomas was one of the most intelligent speakers in the House on sine die, addressing such issues as the drought and what it means for Georgia in the long-term with clarity and depth.

TRANSPORTATION: No go. SR 845, a constitutional amendment that would’ve allowed voters in a region to levy a local option sales tax for transportation projects, passed the House but ultimately failed by three votes in the Senate. Fingers are pointing all over the place, but most are aimed at Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle.

WATER: Let’s dig us some holes, indeed. Legislation that would make more money available to cities and counties wanting to build reservoirs passed. Opponents of the bill derided it because it lacked concrete language about interbasin transfers — taking water from one basin and putting it into another, a practice legislators outside the metro region fear will rob them of the resource. Tax credits for water-saving fixtures failed. A resolution that calls for the governors of Georgia and Tennessee to sit down and gab about moving the border a wee bit north passed. The statewide water plan, three-year effort that culminated poetically with this year’s drought, was passed earlier in the session. Gov. Sonny Perdue signed it into law last month.

FIREARMS: The Capitol was a little like the Wild Wild West on Friday night. Lots of pretty drunk girls and big-bellied legislators running on stiff drinks and braggadocio. They gave firearms enthusiasts across the state something to smile about, too. It was HB 89 and it passed. You can now carry your gun in restaurants, state parks, MARTA trains and the parking lot at work — if your boss lets you. Boss, is it cool if we do that?

HEALTH CARE: No statewide trauma-funding network. All thanks to disagreements about a car tax.

BOOZE: You can now bring home bottles of wine you purchase in a restaurant, provided it’s sealed and locked up in the trunk or glove compartment. Also, you can order wine off the Internet. Minor-league baseball fans in Gwinnett can sip on Sundays at the county’s planned stadium. In other words, all measures passed. A constitutional amendment that would let Georgians decide if the state should repel its nonsensical blue laws was pulled so as not to hinder politicians running for re-election this year if they voted for it. Really, that’s what happened. Ample reason to vote against them if you ask me, but you didn’t, so next topic.

ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION: The bills aimed at harassing illegal immigrants out of Georgia failed.

To read CL’s minute-by-minute live blog of the final night’s dysfunction, click here. It’s nine hours of lovetaps, really. That Other Paper also has a summary of what passed and failed this legislative session.

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Transit advocates had high hopes for SR 845, the constitutional amendment that would’ve allowed voters in a region to levy a local option sales tax to generate funding for transportation projects. Backed by a variety of diverse and influential interests, it was tagged as an innovative approach to financing projects and a shoo-in to pass.

Only, it didn’t. The House approved it, but the funding strategy failed the Senate three votes shy of a necessary majority. And with that disappointment now behind them, so begins the Monday-morning chagrin of advocates who pushed for the bill.

From Citizens for Progressive Transit, an Atlanta-based grassroots advocacy group whose members viewed the resolution as a fresh way to bolster the region’s lackluster transit system and invest in its future expansion.

Atlanta, GA – Citizens for Progressive Transit expressed disappointment over the Georgia Senate’s failure to achieve a two-thirds majority on a new transportation funding measure, but also expressed confidence that transit expansion plans will continue.

“This is a setback, but while we did not get two-thirds in the Senate, we still won overwhelming majorities in both chambers,” said Lee Biola, president of the transit advocacy group. “This is proof there is broad consensus about how to resolve our transportation problems.”

Biola credited hard work and good faith negotiations between members of the business community, county commissioners, transportation contractors, engineers, environmental organizations, and transit advocates that got as close as possible to a solution that would give Georgians a way out of traffic and rising gas prices.

(more…)

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From the state Senate President Pro Tem’s sine die post on his now-shuttered blog:

* I hope you enjoyed this blog because I will never do another one. Man, it was hard. I don’t know how reporters and columnists do this day after day. I wanted to educate and entertain. I hope I did a little of both. So, I am outta here “sine die”.

Yes, senator, educate and entertain you did, indeed. Johnson’s daily summaries of the legislative process were enlightening and a daily stop for me and many other writers. But it was after reading that nothing makes him more psyched for a day of legislating than hearing “Stairway to Heaven” on the drive to the Capitol that I was hooked.

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No sooner after the Senate approved HB 130 — a bill that would give consumers greater control over their credit reports that’s summarized here by Scott Henry — did Equifax start soliciting their customers with a credit-protection program opponents call “redundant.”

Here’s what the AARP, who pushed for cheaper credit-report freezes for seniors, had to say about Equifax’s offer:

The solicitation, in part, offers “the ability to lock and unlock your … credit file online quickly and easily; the flexibility to temporarily unlock your … credit file for all or specific companies; comprehensive monitoring and alerts within 24 hours of key changes to your Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion credit files” for $14.95 per month.

…

“AARP reminds Georgia citizens that many of the bundled services that the credit reporting agencies may offer are unnecessary with the successful passage of Georgia’s credit freeze legislation. Research and examine any sales tactics closely before spending money needlessly on a monthly basis,” said AARP State Advocacy Director Kathy Floyd.

After the jump, view the e-mail that Equifax customers received.

(more…)

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Per the usual custom, the Georgia General Assembly waits ’til the last minute to pass a boodle of bills. “Guns in petting zoos” passed this morning, but we’ve still got a bunch of issues to resolve. We’re there watching. Feel free to chime in and send comments or questions.

[liveblog]http://www.coveritlive.com/index2.php?option=com_altcaster&task=viewaltcast&altcast_code=adaf9cfcde&height=550&width=470[/liveblog]

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Yes, Christa, we can’t help ourselves! What better way to enjoy the cluster#$@! that is sine die, the 40th and final day of the legislative session, than with your cyberfriends? We’ll be heading to the Capitol in the next hour, setting up the proverbial shop, and hammering away at our keyboards while the House and Senate lob amendments back and forth at one another. If you work at one of those really cool places where you can curse and drink while you sit at your desk, please uncap the jug and take a swig every time one of our distinguished Golden Sleaze recipients stands before his or her colleagues.

Feel free to chime in and contribute your thoughts. If you want to watch the festivities, click here and select your chamber of choice.

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The Helping Marta Is Smarta Award

[One in a series of accolades doled out to the legislators who managed to do good -- or at least try to -- during this year's legislative session. View the other winners, as well as their more poor-minded colleagues, in this week's CL or online here.]

With lawmakers eyeing reelection in November, many were hesitant to pass any solution to Atlanta’s transportation mess that might remotely sound like a tax increase. So Sen. Curt Thompson, D-Norcross, had the clever idea that counties hugging MARTA’s service areas be allowed to contract for the transit agency’s services and live up to its connectivity potential in the auto-oriented region. His bill made it through the Senate and was struggling at press time to get to the House floor.

(Photo courtesy of the Senate Press Office)

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Travis Fain of the Macon Telegraph, who’s perhaps the best journalist covering General Assembly shenanigans without actually having to step foot under the Gold Dome’s evil shadow, has an astoundingly thorough post on his Lucid Idiocy blog about General Assembly leaders’ talk of water-conservation legislation and what’s actually taken shape.

Before the session began, both Gov. Sonny Perdue and Speaker of the House Glenn Richardson told me that, in addition to new reservoir funding this year, they expected water conservation legislation to move.

This was Gov. Perdue’s comment, in January:

Perdue said new building codes “for the future” and tax credits for more efficient water usage are both likely. But the governor twice noted that the state doesn’t want to usurp local power over water resources.

And the Speaker in November:

I’m not going to pass legislation to tell people you’ve got to have a low-flow toilet. I think we could change our policies on EPD, with wastewater treatment, to point discharge instead of sprayer irrigation. I think we can change some really basic things that have to do with leakage. … You do realize that leakage in existing pipes is somewhere between 10 and 12 percent loss per day, just leaking out of pipes. And that’s a problem. … I do see a possible piece of legislation in addition to the reservoir piece that might look into the viability of creating a water resource division to work with Environmental Protection Division. Clearly Environmental Protection Division has not done an adequate job of protecting Georgia’s water resources over the last 10 or 15 years.

…

Reservoirs were definitely addressed, with $40 million included in the 2008 budget adjustment for new reservoirs and $500,000 there for existing reservoir maintenance.

As for conservation, it doesn’t seem like a lot of legislation came to fruition. There are several bills dealing with water usage that have either passed or are still alive. Most of them seem to make it easier to use more water as opposed to encouraging conservation, but you should judge for yourself.

Two caveats: 1.) Things change fast these last few days, and bill language is no exception. 2.) The vote status comes from the General Assembly’s Web site Wednesday evening, which may be a little behind.

Read here for more.

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The 19th annual Golden Sleaze Awards, our annual serving of the knuckleheaded misdeeds of the state Legislature, has now gone live. The awards cross party lines and recognize our state’s politicos for a variety of offenses — be it pushing legislation whose benefactors contributed to your campaign, or just plain playing nasty politics.

Let us also not forget that there are saints among the sinners. Click here to view the recipients of the illustrious Arnie Awards.

If we missed someone, fret not — the General Assembly still has a couple of days left to hash out some mischief. But please also feel free to chime in and let us know who we overlooked.

Enjoy!

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The Long Train Coming Slowly Down the Track Award

[One in a series of the 2008 Golden Sleaze Awards. View the rest of this legislative session's winners in this week's CL or online here.]

Rep. Steve Davis, R-McDonough, needs to spend less time on his Doogie Howser-esque blog and more time researching the merits of commuter rail. The representative, who is so dead-set on building roads that he plugs his ears anytime he hears the word “rail,” just plain hates trains. When a House bill that could infuse much-needed cash into the state’s transportation projects was discussed in committee, Davis dragged the meeting into a four-hour affair and made a case for waiting out funding until the DOT’s new commissioner could whip the agency into shape.

(Photo by Joeff Davis)

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That’s what That Other Paper’s Jim Galloway is reporting.

According to his report, legislators on the conference committee in charge of tying up the loose ends are now pulling back and establishing a framework that next year’s session — and perhaps an entirely new breed of politicians — can finalize.

In this week’s CL, we hand out Arnie Awards to two legislators who pushed the funding strategy that would allow regions to impose a local option sales tax on themselves to generate funding that would help get them out of this congestion mess. If this resolution gets pulled, don’t be surprised if we do the same to their award.

I’m sure that’s got them shaking in their boots.

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The Doing His Career No Favors Award

[One in a series of online awards for Georgia lawmakers. You'll find the rest in CL's Golden Sleaze issue Wednesday both in print and online.]

Rep. Robbie Mumford, R-Conyers, spends so much time outside the GOP fold that you wonder if it wouldn’t be easier on him simply to switch parties. Then again, he might not be as valuable a voice in challenging some of the really bad policy that his fellow lawmakers propose. Again this year, Mumford was one of a lonely few Republicans who spoke out against a bill to allow a divided jury to impose a death sentence. And he was the only GOP member of a House committee to sign on to a minority report on Rep. Jerry Keen’s reworked bill to establish residency restrictions for sex offenders. As such, Mumford offered not only his lawyerly opinion that the bill is unconstitutional, but he also criticized the House majority leader’s legislation on well-documented grounds that it actually could make Georgia’s children less safe from sexual abuse. He also introduced a bipartisan bill to strengthen rights for victims of sexual assault. Let’s hope Mumford isn’t shooting his political career in the foot.

(Photo: Courtesy of Georgia House)

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[One in a series of the 2008 Golden Sleaze Awards. View the rest of this legislative session's winners Wednesday in the paper or online here.]

The Watch Out for Those Shovels and Pitchforks Award

It’s a shame the video of Matt Dollar presenting his much-ridiculed billboard legislation, which would place cities and counties at the mercy of the owners of massive signs and potentially hamstring local zoning decisions, is oddly listed as “not working” on the House’s Web site. News reports said the baby-faced Republican legislator from Marietta had difficulty defending his bill to colleagues; witnesses said he gave such a cringe-worthy performance that people were waiting for a trap door to open. The bill Dollar stammered about, which thankfully failed in a House vote, was a billboard owner’s dream. Essentially, if a road had to be widened and a billboard stood in its way, cities or counties would have to recoup the owner of the roadside monstrosity for any lost revenue incurred while its loud advertisements were silenced – stretching on into the future ad infinitum. According to one estimate, a stretch of I-75 would cost Marietta and Cobb County – Dollar’s stomping grounds – up to $75 million. Who helped put Babyface in his place? The Garden Club of Georgia, the soft-spoken band of well-connected ladies who wield power as handily they do spades. Dollar’s bill worked in Florida, but thankfully, this ain’t the Sunshine State.

(Photo courtesy of the House of Representatives)

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Gov. Sonny Perdue says voters in the state’s 93rd District get to vote someone new into office on May 13. If a run-off is necessary, it will take place four weeks later on June 10.

Here’s what sucks, via a press release from the governor’s office:

State law also requires the 93rd House District seat to be up for election as part of the regular 2008 election cycle. Anyone wanting to run in the regular election cycle must separately qualify for the General Primary, which will be held July 15th. The qualifying period to participate in the General Primary is set for April 28th through May 2nd. The General Election will be held on November 4th.

So you win the special election, get business cards printed up, and then you gotta run for office again? How’s a guy supposed to live up to his predecessor’s legacy in that short window of time? Not fair, guys.

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The state House of Representatives approved a resolution that would allow Georgians to vote on a state Constitutional amendment that lets them levy a local-option sales tax to generate funding for transportation projects. The vote on SR 845 — which passed 136-35 — was immediately transferred across the Capitol to the Senate.

InsiderAdvantage reported Gov. Sonny Perdue told rural lawmakers last night that he would rally against the tax increase in the months running up to the November referendum.

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From the Savannah Morning News:

What hasn’t been so easy is gathering the roughly $380 million to build the rail line to Athens, something the DOT board in August asked the department staff to pursue.

Seven months later and with a new commissioner at the helm, DOT is facing a $7.7 billion funding shortfall and is asking cities to reconsider and prioritize projects that have not seen progress, said Crystal Paulk-Buchanan, DOT spokeswoman.

About $107 million may be available for the first three years of a route to Lovejoy, but no funding – for the Athens-Atlanta line – has been identified, Paulk-Buchanan said.

The federal government wants DOT to identify how much the project would cost over 20 years, and DOT has not begun looking at ways to divvy the cost, she said.

Opponents say that means the project is bound to show up in tax bills of the cities hosting the train. Rep. Steve Davis, R-McDonough, who voted against the resolution Tuesday, said it amounts to an unfunded mandate for the cities and counties it would roll through.

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