General Assembly 2008 — Much ado about nothing
Monday, April 7th, 2008Pfft. 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.
From the state Senate President Pro Tem’s 