Darth Vader is a Boxer/Beagle mix looking for a new home. He is available for adoption through Angels Among Us Pet Rescue and is current on his shots. If you’re looking specifically for a Boxer, Angels is currently fostering 21 Boxers and Boxer mixes.
Angels Rescue is currently in need of foster homes, which is the current limit on their ability to save dogs from euthanasia in local animal controls.
Angels is holding an adoption day at Sarah Smith Elementary School tomorrow from 11 AM to 2 PM and their “Spayghetti and No Meat Balls” fundraiser is all day Monday.
Legislative News – Sine Die has been set
Monday, March 26, legislative day 38
Tuesday, March 27, legislative day 39
Thursday, March 29, legislative day 40, SINE DIE
Monday’s Senate Rules Calendar for Day 38 is available here.
The Senate Reapportionment Committee will meet at 8:30 AM Monday in Room 450 of the Capitol.
Monday’s House Rules Calendar for Day 38 is available here.
The House Appropriation Committee will meet at 8 AM Monday in Room 341 of the Capitol
Sine Die is generally the longest legislative day, often approaching midnight in the final rush for bills that must pass this session. Bills that fail to pass both houses will not be carried over to next year.
Senator Don Balfour (R-Snellville) wins the “Hero of the Voters” award for this week for moving the Brookhaven incorporation bill onto the Rules Calendar for Monday. House Bill 636 by Rep. Mike Jacobs (R-Brookhaven again) and Rep. Tom Taylor (R-Dunwoody) has been amended to restore the proper name to the area.
The version of the Brookhaven incorporation bill that the Senate will vote on also changes the composition of the governing body to four city council members elected from districts, plus a mayor elected citywide. An addition to the bill prevents any member of the General Assembly from serving as city attorney for a period of four years. Observers of the Senate State and Local Government Operations Committee meeting have questioned whether DeKalb County’s lobbyist did the county more harm than good when he testified against the incorporation bill.
Senate Passes Tax Structure Reform
The Senate unanimously passed the tax structure reform bill created by a special joint legislative committee, and that passed the House earlier this week with near unanimity.
Governor Nathan Deal lauded passage of the tax measure, saying, “This package is good news. “It means our state is more competitive and is a state where we can grow jobs,” and that assurances that the legislature was serious about addressing the removal of the state sales tax on energy used in manufacturing was part of luring Caterpillar’s new manufacturing plant.
For a good discussion of the sales tax on energy used in manufacturing, Georgia Public Service Commissioner Chuck Eaton wrote an Op-Ed that ran in the Athens Banner-Herald earlier this session. Eaton, who is seeking reelection this year, wrote:
Georgia is one of only 10 states, and the only state in the Southeast, to charge a full sales tax on energy. This places Georgia at a competitive disadvantage when it comes to attracting new jobs and investment. The hidden cost of Georgia’s tax on energy also puts existing manufacturing jobs at risk by increasing production costs.
The entire Public Service Commission supported repealing this sales tax in a letter to legislators.
Kelly McCutchen of the Georgia Public Policy Foundation wrote a review of the tax reform measure on GPPF’s forum. McCutchen notes that the bill passed by the legislature was not the broad reform initially sought last year, but lauded the energy sales tax removal.
Ray Henry of the AP has a breakdown of winners and losers under the tax plan:
— Married couples would get a $2,000 increase in the amount of income they can shield from the state’s income tax.
— The state would slowly phase out the annual property tax on motor vehicles. People who buy new or used cars or trucks after March 1, 2013, would pay a one-time tax that tops out at 7 percent.
— The sales tax that manufacturing, mining and newspaper companies pay on the energy used to produce their goods would be phased out over four years…
— Tax credits for the agriculture industry, the state’s largest economic sector, would expand.
— Companies building projects that bring new jobs to the state would be exempt from the sales tax on construction materials.
Some would lose out under the plan:
— Major Internet retailers would be required to collect the state sales tax on purchases made by Georgia residents. While consumers must now pay that tax, few do.
— Film productions would lose their sales tax exemption.
— Georgia would freeze a tax exemption on retirement pay at $65,000 instead of allowing it to become an unlimited exemption. In practice, that means retirees who earn more than $170,000 annually will face a state tax bill.
House Passes Juvenile Justice Reform
Gov. Deal also made juvenile justice reform a priority of his administration this session, and the House passed HB 1176, approving lesser prison sentences for some nonviolent offenders who instead receive alternatives such as accountability courts and substance abuse treatment for drug offenders.
The reforms aim to reduce the cost to state taxpayers of housing nonviolent offenders and reduce repeat offenses. The reforms are projected to save the state more than a quarter billion dollars over the next five years.
Congratulations to Rep. Rick Golick (R-Cobb County), a primary sponsor of the legislation, and to the many organizations that worked together on this modernization of juvenile justice in Georgia.
The Columbus Ledger-Enquirer commemorates the life of Cecilia Harbison, late wife of Senator Ed Harbison. Mrs. Harbison was an educator in the Muscogee County School System for a number of years and developed a Counseling Curriculum Module for the state Department of Education.
Tilapia will not join the list of native fish that may be raised in farm ponds in Georgia, as the House Game, Fish & Parks Committee tabled the bill. Currently, tilapia are classified as an exotic species in Georgia and may not be raised in ponds. Tilapia who are pulled over by law enforcement are subject to an immigration status check, and Rep. Mark Hatfield is preparing a lawsuit to prevent a tilapia from being elected President.
Campaigns, Elections and Events
Congressman Tom Price (R-6) will speak to the DeKalb Republican Party on Saturday morning at the DoubleTree Hotel at l-285 and LaVista Road beginning at 9 AM. Rep. Mike Jacobs (R-Brookhaven) will introduce Congressman Price. Breakfast begins at 8 AM. The cost is $15 at the door or $12 if you pay online today at the DeKalb GOP website.
Georgia Revenue Commissioner and Young-looking Republican Doug MacGinnitie will speak to Atlanta Young Republicans on Wednesday, March 28 meeting at 7 PM at 5 Seasons Restaurant & Brewery, 1000 Marietta Street in Atlanta.
Bryan County Commission Chair Jimmy Burnsed will seek reelection this year, running for a third term.
Liberal Washington DC-based “Ethics watchdogs” are accusing Congressman Paul Broun (R-10) of paying himself more than $28,000 in interest on loans he made to his campaign. The liberal groups accuse more than half the members of Congress of doing things that are legal, but that they just don’t like.
Local news
Land needed for the widening of Georgia 20 across Gwinnett County will be the subject of condemnation proceedings in court.
The Chatham County legislative delegation adopted new district lines for the board of education and county commission.
Hall County Commisioners raised questions about the impact of Georgia’s tax reform bill on local finances.
“There has been so little discussed about this, we don’t even know what passed,” said [Commissioner Scott] Gibbs at the Hall County Commission meeting Thursday night. “We may be better off; we may be worse off; we don’t know.”
White County elementary school principal Roger Fitzpatrick is joining the Republican field for Congress in the new Ninth District, after initially announcing as a Republican.
The Coweta County Commission approved two Sunday Sales questions for the July 31 primary election. One ballot question will allow package sales of beer and wine, the other will allow restaurant and hotel sales by the drink.
Officials of Bremen City and Haralson County schools believe the proposed Charter School Amendment threatens funding for traditional public schools.
“I feel it would create two school systems in the state of Georgia: the haves and the have-nots,” [Haralson County Superintendent] Stanton said, “and public education would be the have-nots…. When this happens, ultimately it will be the students who suffer.”
Weekly Ron Paul update
Republican party leaders in Athens filed police reports of harassing messages left on their voicemail, allegedly by Ron Paul supporters.
The party members — a 28-year-old man and a 66-year-old man — turned over emails and Internet postings that included statements that the men should be shot, killed and have their houses burned down.
One of them also played two voicemail messages. In one, an unidentified man says that a group is coming after the party leaders. In the second voicemail, a man identifies himself by name and says “his generation is the revolution, that they will fight, they have militias, and are willing to die for their cause to take America back,” according to the officer’s report.
No, Senator, that is not the new iPad
Photo by Eric Gay, of the AP.
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