On December 15, 1791, Virginia ratified the Bill of Rights, giving the first ten Amendments a three-quarter majority required to become law.
President George Washington died at Mount Vernon on December 14, 1799. Here’s an article about the nation’s mourning for our first President.
The Congress, in session at the capital of Philadelphia when Washington’s death was announced, immediately adjourned. The House of Representatives assembled the next day and resolved to shroud the Speaker’s chair in black and have members wear black during the remainder of the session. On December 23, John Marshall speaking for the joint committee of both houses, presented five points that became the foundation for the United States’ first “state” funeral. Resolutions structured mourning events around public commemorations that fostered unity and a sense of national identity among grieving Americans.
On December 15, 1859, Georgia Governor Joseph Brown signed legislation outlawing public execution of criminals. The previous day he signed legislation prohibiting slave owners from freeing their slaves on the owner’s death.
President William McKinley addressed the Georgia General Assembly on December 14, 1898.
On December 14, 1939, a parade was held through downtown Atlanta with stars from Gone With the Wind and the Junior League held a ball that night. The next day, December 15, 1939, Gone With the Wind held its world premiere at Loew’s Grand Theater in Atlanta.
President Jimmy Carter announced on December 15, 1978 that U.S. diplomatic recognition of the People’s Republic of China would begin on January 1, 1979.
The United States House of Representatives Judiciary Committee released a report on Dcember 15, 1998 that recommended impeachment against President Bill Clinton and introduced H.Res. 611.
Georgia Politics
The Macon-Bibb County Commission is like a spurned suitor, unable to understand that no means no, voting to ask the legislative delegation to reduce required budget cuts from 20 percent to 10.
The resolution asks the Macon-Bibb legislative delegation to reduce the budget cut mandated in the consolidation charter from 20 percent to 10 percent. It passed with no opposition. Commissioner Virgil Watkins was absent.
But Tuesday morning commissioners received a letter from state Rep. Bubber Epps, a Dry Branch Republican who is chairman of the Macon-Bibb delegation, saying the delegation won’t act on the request because commissioners can get around the budget cut themselves with a 6-3 vote.
Epps quoted the city-county charter, which says commissioners can exceed the budget limit by up to 25 percent if there are public safety needs or “extreme economic circumstances.”
This illustrates part of the squeeze on legislators surrounding transportation funding – many local governments want more money for infrastructure but are unwilling to raise taxes themselves.
Kathleen Foody at the Associated Press writes of the transportation funding conundrum.
The search for an estimated $1.5 billion new revenue — annually — is bound to create “some heartburn,” said state Rep. Jay Roberts, a Republican selected to lead a study committee on transportation this summer.
“We’re not looking for a two-year, three-year plan,” Roberts said. “We’re trying to come up with a solution for 20 years down the road so we’re not back facing this same situation.”
Georgia lawmakers are feeling the pressure from the state’s business community, including some of the state’s biggest players in Delta Airlines and UPS.
UPS pointed to its own debacle in 2013, when more than 1 million express packages handled by the company failed to be delivered on time last Christmas Eve, according to tracking firm ShipMatrix.
The company has since made some improvements, including hiring more people.
“UPS Inc. took care of the issues we had,” Frank Morris, UPS vice president of corporate public affairs, said at a legislative conference this week. “We’re hoping that you, as Georgia Inc., will do the same next month.”
Georgia Republicans have a healthy majority in both chambers, but Democrats expect to be needed if some Republicans balk at any new funding. State Rep. Calvin Smyre, a Democrat on the study committee, said lawmakers have to look at all modes of travel, including mass transit and rail.
“I think the only way for us to get there is to look across the aisle in a bipartisan way,” Smyre said.
Georgia Democrats’ stinging defeat at the ballot box last month appears to have only galvanized rank-and-file members ahead of the Jan. 12 legislative session. But while the flurry of proposals may energize their base, it has yet to bridge a strategic divide among Democratic leaders in the House and Senate that could ruin their chance at playing spoiler.
That matters because Democrats more than ever this year have a chance to influence policy on some of the state’s most pressing issues. Expected votes on raising money to repair and replace Georgia’s aging transportation network, for example, could cause some conservative lawmakers to balk because of expected tax or fee increases, giving the minority party leverage to ensure passage.
Georgia Senate Democrats will pursue an agenda this year that would, among other issues:
- Raise the state’s minimum wage to $10.10 an hour.
- Allow same-day voter registration.
- Independently appoint state ethics commission members.
- Strengthen Georgia’s whistleblower statute.
- Restrict “no knock” police warrants.
- Require all police departments to use body cameras and “dash cams.”
If you were listening to “Political Rewind” on Georgia Public Radio on Friday, you would have heard the first preview of the Georgia Senate Democrats’ 2015 Legislative Agenda from Liz Flowers, who works with the Democratic Caucus.
A couple of those measures, like a minimum wage hike, would actually cause even more Republicans to back away from the bargaining table. And frankly, having run the table, taking every single statewide office, and not losing a single legislative incumbent in the general election, I suspect Republicans don’t feel the need to compromise.
Senator Renee Unterman (R-Buford) pre-filed legislation to aid in prosecuting those who traffick in children for sex by providing immunity and therapeutic services to victims of child sex trafficking, again from Kathleen Foody with the AP.
A prominent Republican lawmaker wants child victims of human trafficking to be immune from prosecution in Georgia, building on the state’s 2011 crackdown on prostitution and other sexual crimes.
Supporters said they expect claims from some opponents that the bill legalizes child prostitution — an argument that has killed similar legislation in recent years.
Jennifer Swain, executive director of youthSpark, said prosecuting a victim serves no purpose. The organization works with at-risk girls and teenagers in Fulton County and intervenes to prevent them from becoming victims of child prostitution, she said.
“This is just adding another layer of protection so that those victims who have been prostituted are not treated as criminals on any part of their journey,” Swain said.
The bill is paired with a constitutional amendment to create a fund helping children who are victims of trafficking pay for health care, housing and other services. A governor-appointed commission would manage that effort, funded by higher fines against people convicted of sex trafficking and related crimes.
Fulton County homeowners should brace themselves for yet another property tax increase from the County Commission.
Thousands of Fulton County residents could see their property tax bills increase next year under a proposed budget that the Board of Commissioners will consider Wednesday.
Georgia’s largest county would keep its countywide tax rate at 11.781 mills under the proposed 2015 budget. But with property values expected to rise 2 percent, homeowners from Milton to Chattahoochee Hills may see bigger tax bills. This year, residents saw a 17 percent property tax hike.
“We made the right decision, in terms of the millage rate increase,” said County Commission Chairman John Eaves. “The monies are coming in now and we’re better positioned to provide the services our citizens want.”
Critics say Fulton should focus more on cutting costs than raising and spending money.
Georgia’s Environmental Protection Division approved a permit for Plant Vogtle’s two new nuclear reactors to withdraw an additional 74 million gallons per day from the Savannah River when they begin operation.
The over-budget $15.5 billion nuclear expansion has been delayed until at least 2018 for the first reactor. Ratepayers began paying in 2011 for the expansion of Plant Vogtle, located on the Savannah River near Waynesboro.
The expansion is a joint project of Georgia Power, Oglethorpe Power, the Municipal Electric Authority of Georgia and the city of Dalton. The operator is Southern Nuclear Operating Company.
Environmentalists have argued that water usage is an additional hidden cost of nuclear. A massive volume of water is needed for cooling, with a loss of up to 88 percent to evaporation in the process.
The new reactors will have one not-so-hidden effect on Savannah. The permit requires that Southern Nuclear Holding Company install an oxygen injection system, such as a Speece Cone, in the Savannah Harbor to make up for the effects of the water withdrawal upstream.
These “bubblers” are also required for mitigation of the Savannah harbor deepening project, though in that case the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers must demonstrate that the system is working to increase oxygen in the water before the inner harbor dredging can go forward.
If you haven’t noticed, gas prices at the pumps have continued to drop. Delta Air Lines and its shareholders will notice the change, as lower fuel prices will boost pre-tax profits more than ten percent.
Atlanta-based Delta said Thursday at its investor conference it projected a net $1.7 billion benefit in 2015 from fuel-price declines, but said that includes a loss of $1.2 billion on its fuel hedges caused by the recent sharp drop in fuel prices, reports Reuters.
HOT lanes on I-85 hit the $10 mark for a trip south from Old Peachtree Road to Shallowford Road.
SRTA has found the need to increase prices in the HOT lanes to at least $10 at the worst times of morning drive on I-85/southbound, meaning that demand for those lanes is likely more than ever. That is yet another indicator that traffic these days is as bad or worse than it ever has been in Atlanta. So keeping those HOT lanes moving at a reasonable speed is harder and harder.
We fly over those lanes every weekday and examine them on traffic cameras – they often are not much faster than the free lanes. But enough people are buying (literally) into the idea that they are and paying dollars to shave precious minutes off of their commutes.
Georgia’s transportation funding conundrum is another big reason the HOT rates continue to increase. SRTA and the GDOT added those lanes on I-85 to, yes, try and alleviate traffic, by making the HOV lane accessible to anyone willing to pay. But the bigger reason is because they need the money for Georgia’s roads.
Department of Irony: two would-be forgers tried to pass fake dollar bills at the Dollar General store in Rome.
Department of Unintended Consequences: the elimination of yearly ad valorem taxes for automobiles in favor of a massive one-time title fee has also impacted revenues to MARTA.
“With this new process, the dollars are going straight to the state and so as an unintended consequence MARTA’s not seeing the dollars we once saw and so we’re asking for those dollars to be returned to MARTA,” said Ridley.
She delivered that message to the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Overview Committee, MARTA’s legislative oversight committee.
The committee tried to figure how no one raised the issue before the change went into effect.
“I don’t remember anybody talking about, from MARTA, the consequences and for that I apologize,” said Sen. Fran Miller, R-Dunwoody. “We at Fulton and DeKalb should have thought of it but I don’t think we ever did to be honest with you.”
Former Macon Mayor and Democratic Congressman Jim Marshall was roasted at an event with the Boy Scouts of America Central Georgia Council.
There were several references to Marshall’s 1997 foot chase that helped police catch a would-be thief who ran off from a downtown health club. But there also were recollections of other less familiar episodes, including a pickup hauling horse manure (“You shoveled a lot of stuff during your political career, too.”)
Rumor has it Hyundai is considering building a new plant in the United States.
During the 2014 Annual Dinner of the Korea Southeast U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Mr Kim let it be know that he had heard the Hyundai Motor Co. was considering building a new plant in the U.S.
“I’ve heard Hyundai is considering another big facility around here,” he told the Dec. 11 gathering at the law offices of Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough LLP in Atlantic Station.
“I don’t know where,” he admitted, but said that he suspects one of the six states that his consulate represents would be a leading candidate.
Those states are: Alabama, Florida, Georgia, North and South Carolina, and Tennessee.
Israel’s Consul General was in Savannah last week, touring a local business and meeting with Mayor Edna Jackson.
Aviran, who was recently promoted to the rank of ambassador, met Jackson in 2012 when the Savannah Jewish Federation sponsored her trip to Israel to attend an international conference of mayors.
“She came with a group, but everyone was talking about Mayor Jackson,” Aviran said. “So many people wanted to meet her that we had to extend her stay.”
Jackson made such an impression upon Israeli business and government leaders that, a short two months later, Uriel Lynn, president of the Federation of Israeli Chambers of Commerce, along with Aviran and other top Israeli officials, came to Savannah to hold a seminar with area business leaders on exporting goods and services to Israel.
Turns out, the two areas have discovered a number of economic drivers in common and the potential to tap even more.
The state of Georgia has had continuous economic and trade representation in Israel since 1994 as part of the Georgia-Israel exchange established by then-Gov. Zell Miller to explore emerging technology, enhance trade, encourage tourism and jointly participate in bilateral economic programs, Aviran said.
Jefferson, Georgia has one of the best reductions in its crime rate, according to research based on FBI crime statistics.
Across Georgia, more than $70 million worth of military gear has been deployed to local law enforcement agencies.
Here in metro Atlanta, the list of weapons and hardware includes:
- Two Humvees for the Fulton County Schools Police Department;
- Thirty M14 and M16 machine guns for the Clayton County Police Department;
- A grenade launcher for the Douglasville Police Department.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has provided readers a searchable database of the gear at myAJC.com.
Comments ( 0 )