On August 6, 1787, delegates to the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia began debating the first draft of the Constitution of the United States.
On August 6, 1958 the wagon train carrying gold from Dahlonega to gild the State Capitol dome reached Atlanta, where city officials were not prepared to receive them.
On August 6, 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act; Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. was in attendance and was given one of the pens Johnson used to sign the Act. Here is an auction for one of the pens used in the VRA signing. And another pen auction.
John Hughes, director of every meaningful teen angst movie of the 1980s (except Say Anything and Better Off Dead) died on August 6, 2009.
Molly Ringwald wrote in The New Yorker about working as a young woman with John Hughes.
USA Today looks at the history of the Voting Rights Act and the role black women played in its passage.
“Men always got the attention, but the ones who were really organizing it and were really making it work were women,” [author Lynn] Olson said. “And that was true going back to the time of the time of abolitionists.”
When Boynton Robinson’s husband died in 1963, she used his memorial service at Tabernacle Baptist Church as the first mass meeting for voting rights in Selma.
“Mrs. Boynton [Robinson] really was the organizer of this and I think the person who actually wrote the letter that invited Dr. King and SCLC to come to Selma to help them with the voting rights movement,” Dawson said.
Georgia Politics, Campaigns, and Elections
Governor Brian Kemp will call the General Assembly into Special Session to address Hurricane Michael tax issues, according to AccessWDUN.
Gov. Brian Kemp said Wednesday that he plans to call a special session of the state legislature in order to fix a technical error on a bill that exempts hurricane relief payments from certain taxes.
Kemp said in a statement that he signed House Bill 105 despite the problem.
The bill, passed by the legislature in June with bipartisan support, shields farmers from having to pay state income tax on relief payments received after Hurricane Michael, which caused widespread damage across southern Georgia in Oct. 2018. It also imposes a 50-cent tax on ride-hailing service, taxi and limousine rides instead of leaving them subject to higher, regular sales taxes.
“When House Bill 105 was amended, it appears an incorrect legislative counsel number (i.e., tracking number) was assigned to the draft,” Kemp said in a signing statement. “Whereas this error is not necessarily a fatal flaw, this bill is far too important to our state to leave room for a legal challenge on its legitimacy.”
Governor Kemp signed House Bill 838, designed to protect first responders, according to the Capitol Beat News Service via the Gwinnett Daily Post.
The bill Kemp signed into law sets out punishments for those who commit crimes against police officers, firefighters and medics because of their “actual or perceived employment as a first responder.” Crimes would have to involve serious physical injury or property damage.
Backers of the legislation have highlighted it as a show of support for police and other first-responders amid nationwide protests against police brutality and racial injustice that have prompted tense and at times violent encounters between officers and protesters.
Late Wednesday, Kemp said he had “attended the funerals of far too many law enforcement officers who were killed in the line of duty,” and that the bill aims to help “those who are risking their lives to protect us.”
“While some vilify, target, and attack our men and women in uniform for personal or political gain, this legislation is a clear reminder that Georgia is a state that unapologetically backs the blue,” Kemp said in a statement.
“It’s disappointing that supporting law enforcement has become a partisan issue,” House Speaker David Ralston, R-Blue Ridge, said Wednesday. “We value and stand with the men and women who wear the badge in Georgia, and House Bill 838 demonstrates that unequivocally.”
Shortly after the bill’s passage in June, Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan called it necessary to help distinguish between officers who have violated the public’s trust on the job from those who have carried out their duties properly.
“At a time when officers feel under siege, when police fear politically motivated prosecution, when extreme voices are calling to ‘defund the police,’ our state must stand up for those who put their lives on the line for us,” Duncan said
Gov. Kemp signed Senate Bill 359 addressing business liability for issues arising from the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the Rome News-Tribune.
SB 359, sponsored by Sen. Chuck Hufstetler, R-Rome, absolves a wide range of entities from damages unless the injury or death stems from gross negligence, willful and wanton misconduct, reckless infliction of harm, or intentional infliction of harm.
“It waives liability if someone is substantially abiding by the rules,” Hufstetler said. “I thought it was a pretty reasonable balance.”
It applies to a wide range of premises, covering healthcare facilities, medical providers and other business, nonprofit and government entities.
They can post signs on the door of their building stating that, under Georgia law, people are assuming the risk of contracting COVID-19 by entering.
Establishments also may print their admission tickets with the warning that a person “waives all civil liability against this premises owner and operator for any injuries caused by the inherent risk associated with contracting COVID-19 at public gatherings, except for gross negligence, willful and wanton misconduct, reckless infliction of harm, or intentional infliction of harm, by the individual or entity of the premises.”
Senate Bill 313 regulates Pharmacy Benefits Managers and was signed by Gov. Kemp, according to the Rome News Tribune.
The bill Kemp signed into law requires companies called pharmacy benefits managers to set drug prices within a national average, a move aimed at reining in excessively high prescription prices.
PBMs act as go-betweens for prescribers and insurance companies that contract with health insurers to negotiate lower drug prices for patients. But critics have long accused them of muddying the process, prompting increases in drug prices and unnecessary delays in filling prescriptions.
Senate Bill 313, by state Sen. Dean Burke, R-Bainbridge, also forces PBMs to offer up full rebates to health plans that are typically given by drugmakers, rather than pocketing a portion.
And PBMs will need to submit to new audits by the state Department of Community Health as well as requirements for publishing data on prescription prices online.
Gov. Kemp vetoed a bill to address the question of whether Glynn County should maintain its own police department, according to The Brunswick News.
Gov. Brian Kemp vetoed Wednesday a Senate bill that would place a non-binding referendum on the ballot asking Glynn County voters whether they would prefer to see the Glynn County Police Department merged into the Glynn County Sheriff’s Office.
Senate Bill 504 was passed by both houses of the Georgia General Assembly earlier this year as part of a package of three bills that would allow registered voters in the county to abolish the GCPD.
Sen. William Ligon, R-White Oak, said Kemp indicated earlier in the day that he would sign the other two, placing the question in the hands of the electorate.
The bills came as the direct result of alleged police misconduct that led the city and county to scrap a joint narcotics enforcement team in 2019. Several past and present GCPD leaders have been charged with crimes in connection with the scandal.
Kemp vetoed three other bills, according to the Gwinnett Daily Post.
The most significant of the vetoed bills called for the creation of an oversight committee to review the performance and conduct of all contractors and subcontractors working for the insurance plan that covers Georgia teachers and state employees.
In a veto message issued late Wednesday, Kemp argued the committee would violate the separation of powers provision of the Georgia Constitution.
A third vetoed bill would have authorized Georgia to enter into a compact with other states to regulate the audiology and speech-language pathology professions. Kemp wrote the measure was not put before a state council that reviews occupational regulations.
Finally, Kemp nixed a local bill for Gwinnett County at the request of its sponsor, Rep. Chuck Efstration, R-Dacula, that would have added senior judges to the county Recorder’s Court.
Georgia State House Speaker David Ralston (R-Blue Ridge) says states need $500 billion in COVID-19 relief, according to the AJC.
“The COVID-19 pandemic continues to challenge us on the state level regarding the delivery of services,” Ralston wrote in a letter to U.S. Sens. David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler, both Georgia Republicans.
“With additional financial assistance from the federal government to mediate the depth, breadth and immediacy of declining state revenues, we will continue to work together at our level to implement state responses that mitigate the disruption to Georgians’ needs for health, education and economic support,” wrote Ralston, R-Blue Ridge.
The association representing the nation’s governors asked for a $500 billion relief package to states in April, and Georgia House Appropriations Chairman Terry England, R-Auburn, and Senate Appropriations Chairman Blake Tillery, R-Vidalia, also urged Congress to act months ago.
“Georgia’s economy is typically a strong network of diverse revenue streams, but the pandemic has affected all of them, even those like motor fuel that typically tend to resist downturns,” Ralston wrote. “The lagging effect on our largest revenue sources, income and sales taxes, is presenting us with additional challenges for months to come.”
Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard has been fined by the Georgia State Ethics Government Transparency and Campaign Finance Commission, according to the AJC.
Days away from facing a re-election runoff, Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard agreed to pay a $6,500 state ethics fine for failing to disclose his role as CEO of two non-profits, one of which netted him $195,000 in city grant money.
The state ethics commission approved a consent agreement with Howard imposing the fine at a Capitol Hill meeting Thursday.
The Atlanta-Journal Constitution reported earlier this year that Howard padded his pay with $195,000 of the $250,000 in grant money the city of Atlanta signed over to the DA’s Office in two checks. Those checks were then deposited into the bank account of Howard’s People Partnering for Progress nonprofit, which then wrote out checks to the DA over the next four years.
Democrats are suing in federal court seeking changes to election procedures, according to the AJC.
A federal lawsuit filed Thursday asks the courts to step in to prevent hours-long lines in Georgia’s presidential election.
The lawsuit, brought by the Democratic Party and three voters, says a judge should require more polling places, better-trained poll workers and emergency paper ballots.
“The issues we saw in Georgia in the primary cannot be repeated in November,” said U.S. Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, a Democratic senator from Nevada and chairwoman for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit. “This is a problem with a clear solution, and there is no reason elections officials should not take the reasonable steps to make sure Georgians don’t stand in line for hours to vote.”
The lawsuit was filed by the DSCC, the Democratic Party of Georgia, two Fulton County voters and a Cobb County voter.
Floyd County voters continue early voting in Runoff Elections for Sheriff and the 14th Congressional District, according to the Rome News-Tribune.
Over the last few weeks, more than 2,600 voters have come to the Community Room on the second floor of the Floyd County Administration Building to cast their ballots early.
With no Democratic opposition in the Floyd County sheriff’s race, the Republican primary will determine if Tom Caldwell or Dave Roberson will take the office after Sheriff Tim Burkhalter retires in December.
The runoff will also determine if Marjorie Greene or Dr. John Cowan will be the Republican candidate for the U.S. House 14th Congressional District seat held by Rep. Tom Graves, who is not running for reelection.
All voters registered by July 13, except those who voted in the Democratic primary, are eligible to vote in the runoff.
Savannah Mayor Van Johnson wants to open part of the search for a new City Manager to public participation, according to the Savannah Morning News.
The mayor later said he will recommend to council members that once finalists are chosen they will be asked to come to Savannah for in-person interviews by council and with a group representing the public.
“My idea is that we gather people from various parts of the community,” Johnson said. “For example, each council member could choose a neighborhood association member and we could have representatives from media, business owners, someone with the preservation community and more as part of a round robin-type meeting.”
Mayor Johnson blasted several members of the city council after confusion over a property tax rate vote, according to the Savannah Morning News.
The University of Georgia President and the Board of Regents are defending reopening plans, according to the Athens Banner Herald.
University of Georgia President Jere Morehead and University System of Georgia Chancellor Steve Wrigley defended UGA and university system re-opening plans in letters to UGA faculty groups Tuesday.
“These plans prioritize the health and safety for students, faculty and staff, while recognizing the value and importance to students of the on-campus educational experience as one that is simply richer and more well-rounded,” Wrigley noted.
Morehead’s letter also said that the two faculty senates are not the proper bodies “for providing formal input on institutional matters.”
That authority “clearly rests with the University Council,” Morehead wrote.
The University Council has scheduled a special online meeting next Tuesday to consider whether to adopt the resolution the faculty senates adopted last week. The council will also vote on appointing an ad hoc “COVID-19 Crisis Response Committee” composed of elected members of the council, and excluding ex-officio members.
Columbia County public schools are reporting COVID-19 cases to parents, according to the Augusta Chronicle.
Harlem and Lakeside high schools sent letters to several parents Tuesday informing them of “a student or staff member who may have been in contact with your child/children tested positive for COVID-19.” and that their children might have been “in proximity” to the positive person.
Since then, superintendent Sandra Carraway said, a third student — also from Harlem High — has been identified as testing positive.
Jessica Barrs’ son started his first year of high school at Harlem on Monday. She said she let him choose whether to return to in-person classes, but the decision was made “back in June before we started hearing of children with the virus.”
Barrs said “the school system forced us to make our decision by July 1,” which was the original deadline set by the school district for parents to commit to either in-person or all-online learning.
She said she thinks she and other parents should get “immediate notification” from their children’s schools by email, text or phone call when a positive case is confirmed.
Carraway said the school district’s policy is to notify only parents and guardians of children who might have been exposed.
Effingham County students returned to the public schools yesterday, according to the Savannah Morning News.
More than 13,000 Effingham County students returned to school Wednesday, as administrators smoothed scheduling snafus and nearly one-quarter of the students began their studies online.
Effingham is the first county in the Savannah area to return to school during the coronavirus pandemic.
About 400 of the nearly 2,000 ECHS students opted for virtual school rather than in-person learning, which some administrators call “brick” students for short.
Augusta plans to begin enforcing the mask mandate, according to the Augusta Chronicle.
Law enforcement will immediately begin citing people for not wearing masks and businesses that ignore social distancing and occupancy requirements, Mayor Hardie Davis and Richmond County Sheriff Richard Roundtree said Wednesday.
In a joint new conference, Davis said enforcement will include his newest order which is effective through Sept. 8. The order affirms his earlier order requiring masks be worn in all government buildings and public spaces, with the exception of churches.
Brunswick City Commissioners decided against adopting a mask mandate, opting instead to consider an urging resolution, according to The Brunswick News.
Some local governments are receiving federal aid for addressing the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the Gainesville Times.
Flowery Branch City Council, for one, is set to vote Thursday, Aug. 6, on a funding agreement, which could mean as much as $435,795 for the city. Technically, it is voting on whether to accept the terms and conditions for the CARES Act’s Coronavirus Relief Fund.
The city got $130,738 as an advance to the total amount and must document for the federal government by Sept. 1 how it has spent that money since March 1 and/or how it has been earmarked as an expense through Dec. 30.
“If local governments do not spend the 30% advancement, the monies remaining must be returned, and they do not qualify for the next tier, 70% reimbursement,” said Alisha Gamble, Flowery Branch’s finance director, on Wednesday, Aug. 5.
According to the CARES Act, eligible expenses include personal protective equipment, testing, overtime for staff working in direct response to the pandemic, sanitization supplies or cleanings in excess of routine purchases.
Also eligible are regular pay and benefits costs for employees “who are substantially dedicated to COVID-19 mitigation, costs associated with purchasing or deploying equipment to enable telework or online instruction as part of social distancing, or increased risk pool or health care costs associated with pandemic response.”
Dalton will use federal COVID-19 funding public safety pay increases for hazardous conditions, according to the Dalton Daily Citizen News.
City Administrator Jason Parker said Tuesday during a meeting of the city’s Finance Committee that the city will receive about $1.72 million in CARES (Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security) Act funding. The CARES Act was signed into law by President Donald Trump in March.
The city will receive $528,685 of that money in the next few days, and City Council members say they will use it to reimburse the city for hazard pay the city has been paying to firefighters, police officers and Public Works Department employees who may come into contact with coronavirus patients or waste during their work.
Parker said the remaining $1.2 million has to be spent before the end of the year and must be spent on certain items.
“We can continue to use it for hazard pay,” Parker said. “We can use it for the equipment that we need to clean and disinfect public buildings. We can use it for community programs — support for food or mortgage or rent. We are actually still waiting for a lot of the guidance. Once we understand that more fully, the council members can make a decision on how they wish to spend the money.”
Congressmen Sanford Bishop (D-Albany) and Tom Graves (R-Ranger) are spearheading efforts to change one of Georgia’s statues in the U.S. Capitol from Confederate Vice President Alexander Stephens to the late Congressman John Lewis, according to 11Alive.
Lewis, Rep. Sanford Bishop said on a press call Wednesday, was someone who “inspired millions of people across Georgia, America and the world.”
“There’s no better person we have to represent our state in the Capitol than John Lewis,” he said.
While a growing movement has called for the removal of Confederate statues around the country, Republican Rep. Tom Graves said that states will, from time to time, change out their representation in the hall. The Stephens statue has remained there for nearly 100 years (it was placed there in 1927) and, he said, it’s time to honor modern legacies.
“As we go through time in our country and state we have great leaders, and I refer to John Lewis as one of those giants that we stand on the shoulders of, who are part of positive change and have a positive impact on lives, not only in our state but in the country only,” he said. “It’s fitting that you recognize that, it’s okay.”
Macon-Bibb County has been enjoined from removing a confederate statue in a lawsuit, according to the Macon Telegraph.
Rucker Smith, the chief judge of the Southwestern Judicial Circuit, granted a temporary injunction to Martin Bell, who filed the lawsuit in Bibb Superior Court. The injunction prevents the county from doing anything to “move, obscure, deface” or let “harm of any kind” come to the two Confederate monuments, one at the intersection of Cotton Avenue and Second Street and a second at Poplar Street near city hall, both in downtown Macon. Smith hasn’t scheduled a hearing for Bell’s lawsuit yet.
Bibb County commissioners voted 5-4 on July 21 to move the two monuments to Whittle Park, near Rose Hill Cemetery after Maconites called for the statues’ removal following the killings of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery and Breonna Taylor.
In his lawsuit, Bell cites a Georgia law that restricts where local governments can relocate Confederate statues. He said he has received nothing but positive reactions to his lawsuit.
“I thought this is exactly the way it would go, the law is very specific on what it requires,” he said. “All responses have been very, very positive, haven’t heard any negative responses.”
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