Your Georgia Desk
From The Georgia Senate Press Office and Senator Josh McKoon
Senate in a Minute: Day 20
Your Georgia Desk
From The Georgia Senate Press Office and Senator Josh McKoon
Senate in a Minute: Day 20
Your Georgia Desk
From Senator Josh McKoon
Sen. McKoon: Point of Privilege – The End of the British Slave Trade
Your Washington Desk
From Senator David Perdue
Senator David Perdue Highlights Strategic Partnership With Israel, Meets With Prime Minister Netanyahu
U.S. Senator David Perdue (R-GA) traveled to Israel this week – his first international trip as a U.S. Senator and member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
“I’m grateful for the warm hospitality of the Israeli people,” said Senator Perdue. “As a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, I deemed it imperative that my first trip be to Israel.
“The United States-Israel relationship is significant because it is both special and strategic. It is special because we share the common values of freedom and democracy, and it’s strategic because Israel is America’s strongest ally in the most volatile part of the world.
Your Georgia Desk
From Senator Judson Hill
2015 Session Weekly Update # 5 – Capitol News from Sen. Judson Hill
Greetings From The Capitol
With another week coming to a close in the Georgia legislature, the Senate completed its 19th day of Session. I hope you managed to stay warm this past week with some of the lowest temperatures we have seen this year.
As the Session moves forward, Bills are more quickly passing from the House to the Senate and the Senate to the House. The Senate passed the Supplemental Budget, House Bill 75 on Thursday. The Bill has made it to the Governor’s office to review and signature.
We also had a good number of groups visit the Capitol this week, some of which were recognized on the floor by way of resolutions. Among those that visited are Leadership Cobb, Leadership Sandy Springs, LEAD Atlanta and Teen Pact (above). I would like to thank the members of these groups for taking the time to visit their Capitol Hill and for being such important leaders in their communities.
Below is a list of notable legislation that has been introduced in the Senate or passed the past week. Continue Reading..
Your Georgia Desk
From LG Casey Cagle
Legislative Update
This has been a wonderful week in the Senate and I wanted to take a minute to share it with you.
I’m dedicated to serving you, so I’ll be emailing our legislative updates weekly during the session.
You can watch my short clip to the right, or you can find some of the highlights below.
I look forward to staying in contact with you over the coming weeks as we seek to make Georgia a better place to live, work, and raise a family.
– Casey Cagle
Highlights of Legislation passed this week:
Your Washington Desk
Downplaying attacks on Christians
The Islamic State, or ISIS, just released its latest online snuff video on Sunday. It makes for disgusting viewing and tells us all we really need to know about the folks who are wreaking havoc in the Middle East in the name of Allah. In it, ISIS’ barbaric”warriors” line up and behead 21 Egyptian Christians on a beach in Libya. In case any of us in the West don’t understand or cannot comprehend why they do what they do, one of the executioners is seen in the video proclaiming the act “a message signed in blood to the nation of the cross.”
That proclamation had to be aimed directly at the president of the United States, who just can’t seem to accept the fact that what’s going on over there is not mere thuggery, but a religious war. Could the message be any clearer to President Obama? The Islamic State is waging global jihad against Christians, Jews, Shiites, Yazidis and any other any group that does not subscribe to its medieval worldview — even if he and his administration doesn’t seem able to utter the words “Islamic” and “terrorism” in the same sentence.
At a recent National Prayer Breakfast, the president himself tried to “explain” ISIS atrocities by reminding his audience of the Crusades 1,000 years ago. In an effort to obscure events occurring today, he offended thinking people everywhere, who know ISIS violence, however explained or excused, is inexcusable. Many Christian leaders were especially offended because they believe quite correctly that the
persecution of Christians in the Middle East is going almost unreported and is apparently of little concern to the Obama White House.
Instead of talking about events that took place in the region a thousand years ago, the president could have taken the opportunity to draw attention to the way Christians as well as Jews and others are faring today at the hands of a movement that hasn’t advanced in that same thousand years.
The Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt last year blamed that country’s Christian religious minority for the ouster of their Islamist leader and torched Christian homes and churches as part of what they called a national “Day of Rage.”
Last November, a mob of 1,200 in Pakistan lynched two Christians accused of burning a Koran and a judge sentenced a Christian to death for blasphemy.
A million of Iraq’s 1.5 million Christians fled that country between 2003 and 2010, as an early version of ISIS bombed their ancient churches in the”cradle of civilization,” and the well-known Sudan genocide — which is usually depicted as tribal in nature — was also a war by Islamist militants in the African country’s north against Christians in the south.
Your Georgia Desk
From Governor Nathan Deal
Deal: WebstaurantStore to create 150 jobs in Dougherty County
E-commerce site to invest $10 million into a new distribution and fulfillment center in Albany
Gov. Nathan Deal announced today that WebstaurantStore, an e-commerce brand that sells restaurant equipment and supplies, will create 150 jobs and invest $10 million into a distribution and fulfillment center in Albany over the next three years.
“E-commerce companies such as WebstaurantStore choose Georgia because they can trust that here they will find opportunities for innovation and growth,” said Deal. “With our skilled, dedicated workforce and business-friendly environment, I have no doubt that WebstaurantStore will remain highly competitive in today’s ever-changing market.”
WebstaurantStore will locate to an existing 472,000-square-foot facility. The company’s Albany distribution center will serve clients in the Southeast and will help meet the company’s goal of providing one-day shipping to its customers. Hiring is expected to begin in December 2015.
“We are very excited to be coming to the Albany area and look forward to being part of the community for many years to come,” said WebstaurantStore President Dave Groff.
WebstaurantStore, headquartered in Lancaster, Pa., is the leading restaurant supply store, with more than 4 million orders shipped to date. The company’s current three U.S. distribution centers provide restaurant supplies and equipment to the foodservice industry and individual customers worldwide.
Your Washington Desk
Isakson Co-sponsors Legislation to Restrict Amount of Union Business Federal Employees May Conduct While On Government Payroll
U.S. Senator Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., announced that he is a co-sponsor of legislation that would restrict the ability of federal employees to conduct as much union-related business as they want at the office while on the government payroll.
The Federal Employee Accountability Act seeks to curtail the amount of time federal employees are allowed to perform union-related activities while working on the government payroll. The legislation would allow federal employees to conduct union business at their government jobs only in rare circumstances when the federal agency and the union agree it is “reasonable, necessary and in the public interest.”
“While on the taxpayers’ dime, federal employees should not be allowed to spend the entire day, every day, conducting union-related business and not doing the government job they were hired for,” said Isakson. “This is commonsense legislation that would help ensure that taxpayer dollars are not being used for union activities that should instead be conducted during the employees’ paid time off, as would be demanded in the private sector.”
According to the Office of Personnel Management, the government spent more than $157 million paying federal employees for conducting 3.4 million hours of union business in 2012. The Government Accountability Office, in a November 2014 study, found that in just eight government agencies alone, there were 386 federal employees spending 100 percent of their time on union business.
Your Georgia Desk
From Senator Dean Burke
Expanding Access to Affordable Medications for Georgians
As a practicing physician, I have served the community of southwest Georgia for more than 25 years, dedicating my life’s work to providing patients with the best care available. Now as a State Senator, I have an expanded opportunity to help patients as well as my constituents by sponsoring SB 51, a piece of legislation that will improve patient care statewide. One of my priorities is ensuring that patients receive safe medications at a lower cost.
Medical innovation continues to advance, and more doctors are using complex drugs made from living organisms called biologic medicines, to treat their patients with chronic diseases such as arthritis and psoriasis. Humira, a biologic medication used to treat arthritis, can cost upwards of $3,000 for one refill. By allowing physicians to prescribe and pharmacists to dispense biosimilars —similar to a generic version of biologics— the cost of medication can be reduced by up to 80 percent.
The advent of biosimilars only furthers the expanded access of available medicine for doctors to prescribe to their patients. Currently, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is reviewing the first biosimilars application, and it is possible that these alternative treatment options will be on the market in the next few months.
Despite their promise—highly complex biologics are expensive, which is why I am excited that biosimilars will soon be on the market to provide more patients access to these innovative drugs. The more confident physicians are in prescribing biosimilars as separate, but equally viable treatment options to biologics, the more cost effective it will be for patients. My co-sponsor, Representative Sharon Cooper, and I have been working diligently to create a piece of legislation, SB 51, that ensures the proper framework is put in place to enable a safe uptake so physicians can prescribe medication that will be cost effective for their patients.
Your Georgia Desk
From Senator Tyler Harper
HARPER: Update from the Capitol
Another week has come and gone at the State Capitol as we continue our march towards the last day of the 2015 Legislative Session. This week was one that saw the senate pass several pieces of important legislation aimed keeping Georgia the best state to call home. We also had the honor of recognizing many upstanding Georgia citizens, many whom call Senate District 7 home.
With 2015 Legislative Session in full swing, I would like to share with you some of the highlights of the past two weeks:
The Georgia Senate unanimously passed SB 5, which amends legal language relating to the Georgia Ports Authority’s ability to accept federal loans in Georgia’s effort to deepen the Savannah Port. This is just one more step toward making one of Georgia’s best economic-development engines even more prosperous. We must continue invest in this essential project to ensure economic growth and employment opportunities in this great state for generations to come.
The General Assembly has set its working calendar for the rest of the session, which rarely gets done so early in a legislative year. I want to applaud the leadership in the General Assembly not only for being decisive about our schedule, but ensuring that we are a citizen legislature sent to carry out our limited responsibilities then return home to our districts. The resolution set Sine Die, legislative day 40, for Thursday April 2nd, which is just before the Easter holiday.
