Georgia Politics, Campaigns, and Elections for December 11, 2023

On December 11, 1777, during their movement to Valley Forge for the winter, Washington’s colonial forces engaged British troops under General Cornwallis as the Americans were crossing the Schuylkill River.

Indiana became the 19th State on December 11, 1816.

Governor Charles McDonald signed legislation on December 11, 1841 to prevent a person from having his or her testimony excluded in court because of the individual’s religious beliefs.

The first use of nitrous oxide as a dental anesthetic took place on December 11, 1844.

On December 11, 1872, Pinckney Benton Stewart Pinchback took office in Louisiana as the first black Governor in the United States.

A memorial service for Jefferson Davis, former President of the Confederate States of America, was held in the Georgia State Capitol on December 11, 1889 while his funeral was that day in New Orleans.

On December 11, 1941, Germany declared war on the United States.

On December 11, 1960, a civil rights demonstration including 8000 African-American citizens was held in Atlanta as part of the movement to boycott stores that remained segregated.

The Libertarian Party was founded on December 11, 1971 in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

Georgia Politics, Campaigns, and Elections

The Atlanta Journal Constitution writes about how shortages of dementia care in Georgia affect patients and caregivers.

Jones’ turbulent final months with her mom highlight an experience many caregivers in the United States face when their loved ones are diagnosed with dementia: one marked with frustration, isolation and fear of what’s next. The state is making strides to improve care for Georgians with dementia, and has poured funds into efforts focused on diagnosing people earlier, with the hope of slowing the disease’s progression. And there are signs of real progress: the state has opened clinics across the state to diagnose people with dementia, and hopes to start administering Alzheimer’s drugs that are coming onto the market.

But significant challenges remain. Dementia care is costly, and there’s currently a dearth of health care workers, as well as few specialists that focus on dementia.

Access to dementia expertise is a problem across the United States. National reports have shown that only a small portion of older people are being properly screened for the symptoms of memory loss. There are also issues around the public’s basic understanding of dementia.

According to [Dr. Jim Lah, associate professor for the Department of Neurology in the Emory University School of Medicine], there are only a handful of neurologists in the state of Georgia who have specialty expertise in dementia, most of whom are at the Emory Integrated Memory Care Clinic. This means primary care doctors are often responsible for diagnosing patients with dementia.

“There’s no way that we can meet the demand,” Lah said of Emory’s clinic. “And so eventually we wind up booking out, booking out, and several times we’ve booked out so far that our scheduling system — which only goes 13 months — was now full. Access has been a real big problem.”

Other barriers to access include the cost — Medicaid doesn’t cover some of the more intensive services — and a lack of places providing services, according to Nancy Pitra, director of government affairs for the Alzheimer’s Association, Georgia Chapter. During the pandemic, many health care workers left their low paying, high stress jobs for better positions, resulting in a health care workforce crisis.

This will be my generation’s great battle: fighting to care for our parents.

Governor Brian Kemp’s office released November tax revenue numbers, according to a Press Release.

The State of Georgia’s net tax collections in the month of November totaled $2.32 billion for an increase of $33.7 million, or 1.5 percent, compared to November 2022, when net tax collections totaled almost $2.29 billion for the month. Year-to-date net tax revenues total $13.02 billion for an increase of $412.1 million, or 3.3 percent, over the same five-month period last year, driven principally by the collection of the state motor fuel tax that was suspended during much of the same period in 2022. Net of motor fuel tax changes, revenues for the five months ended November 30 were down 1.7 percent from this time a year ago.

The changes within the following tax categories account for November’s overall net tax revenue increase:

Individual Income Tax: Individual Income Tax collections for November totaled nearly $1.29 billion, up from a total of $1.28 billion in fiscal year 2023, for an increase of $6.8 million or 0.5 percent.

The following notable components within Individual Income Tax combine for the net increase:

• Individual Income Tax refunds issued (net of voided checks) increased by $25.5 million or 46.6 percent
• Income Tax Withholding payments increased by $50.7 million or 4.1 percent over November FY 2023
• Individual Income Tax Estimated payments decreased by $5.9 million or -31.1 percent from FY 2023
• All other Individual Tax categories, including Tax Return payments, were down a combined $12.5 million

Sales and Use Tax: Gross Sales and Use Tax collections for November approached $1.51 billion, for an increase of $25.4 million or 1.7 percent over FY 2023. Net Sales and Use Tax increased by $11 million or 1.5 percent, compared to FY 2023 when net Sales Tax totaled $735.9 million. The adjusted Sales Tax distribution to local governments totaled $751.9 million for an increase of $12.3 million, while Sales Tax refunds increased by $2.1 million.

Corporate Income Tax: Corporate Income Tax collections for the month increased by $13.8 million, or 48.4 percent, compared to last year when net Corporate Tax revenues totaled $28.5 million in November.

The following notable components within Corporate Income Tax make up the net increase:

• Corporate Income Tax refunds issued (net of voids) were up $12.4 million or 73.6 percent over FY 2023
• Corporate Income Tax Return payments increased by $7.8 million or 219.3 percent from November 2022
• All other Corporate Tax payments, including Corporate Estimated payments, were up a combined $18.4 million

Motor Fuel Taxes: Monthly Motor Fuel Tax collections fell slightly by $0.1 million from last year, when Governor Kemp’s Executive Order to suspend the Motor Fuel Excise Tax was also in effect during the entire month. Governor Kemp extended the suspension of the collection of the state motor fuel tax beyond the Thanksgiving holiday with his November 8th Executive Order, with the suspension ending on November 29.

Motor Vehicle – Tag, Title & Fees: Motor Vehicle Tag & Title Fee collections for the month increased by $2.8 million, or 10.1 percent, while Title ad Valorem Tax (TAVT) collections increased by $5.1 million, or 7.7 percent, over FY 2023.

United States District Court Judge Steve Jones (ND-GA) will decide whether new redistricting maps meet the criteria he laid down in ordering the redrawing, according to the Georgia Recorder via the Albany Herald.

The three maps were quickly ushered through the legislative process during a special session. The high-stakes congressional map received a final vote Thursday after a bitter debate in the House over how GOP lawmakers went about creating the court-ordered new black majority district in west metro Atlanta.

Republicans argue the congressional map complies with the judge’s order to create the new district. Democrats blasted their GOP colleagues for chopping up the racially and culturally diverse 7th District in the north Atlanta suburbs in the process. The 7th District is represented by U.S. Rep. Lucy McBath, who is a black Democrat.

The district’s current form has a voting-age majority made up of a combined 66% black, Latino and Asian people. The new map would make it about 66% white.

“So you put blacks into the 6th District, but are you diluting the vote strength of Asian-American and Latino voters in Gwinnett County, which is also kind of an important thing?” Emory University political science professor Andra Gillespie said. “Are you, for all intents and purposes, fixing one problem but then creating another problem?”

Jones ordered lawmakers to redraw the maps in October after finding that Georgia’s district lines did not reflect the growth of the black population. The state’s growth over the last decade was due to the minority population, yet no new majority black congressional or legislative districts were created.

Rep. Sam Park, another Lawrenceville Democrat, argued Republicans cannot say they are complying with the order when they are dismantling a majority minority congressional district.

“This open defiance of a federal court order is alarming. It is reminiscent of the refusal to accept the outcome of the 2020 presidential election that led to the Jan. 6 insurrection,” Park said.

Charles Bullock, a political science professor at the University of Georgia, said that Jones used very clear and precise language throughout his 516-page court ruling, distinguishing black majority districts from minority opportunity districts.

A court hearing has been scheduled for Dec. 20 to review the new maps.

The Biden Administration plans to fund three rail projects affecting Georgia, according to the Capitol Beat News Service via the Gwinnett Daily Post.

The Federal Rail Administration has awarded $1.5 million in grants to explore linking Atlanta with Savannah; Charlotte, N.C.; and Chattanooga, Tenn. The grants are part of $8.2 billion in new funding for passenger rail projects announced Thursday.

“Creating new transit options with routes connecting Atlanta to Savannah, Charlotte, Chattanooga, and cities in between would be a boon to our state and economy,” said U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock, D-Ga., a member of the Senate Commerce & Transportation Committee.

The money comes from the bipartisan infrastructure spending legislation Congress passed two years ago.

The Atlanta-to-Savannah route — championed by U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff, D-Ga. — would include potential stops in Athens, Augusta, and Macon. The $500,000 grant announced Thursday is in addition to $8 million in congressionally directed spending on the project approved in March of last year.

“Through the bipartisan infrastructure law, Senator Warnock and I are accelerating progress toward passenger rail networks to serve Georgia and the Southeast region,” Ossoff said. “This is a long-term project that will require cooperation and strong execution at all levels of government, but it has the potential to unlock huge gains in mobility and quality of life for Georgians.”

The Atlanta-to-Savannah project is envisioned as a high-speed rail project, as is the planned route between Atlanta and Charlotte. It, too, would include potential stops in Athens and Augusta and would terminate at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.

From WRDW:

Augusta could gain a rail link to Atlanta’s airport as a bonus when Amtrak upgrades its Atlanta-Charlotte route to high-speed service.

The project is included in $8.2 billion in grants from the U.S. Department of Transportation for 69 rail corridors in 44 states.

A portion of those grants is earmarked to upgrade the service between Atlanta and Charlotte to high-speed rail.

The upgraded route would also serve Augusta and Athens before ending at a new station at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.

The Georgia State House Study Committee on Fishing Access to Freshwater Resources issued a final report, according to WALB.

A final report was issued on Dec. 1 with the following recommendations:

1. Determine and delineate the navigability of each of Georgia’s rivers and streams based on the statutory definition;

2. Preserve the definition of the state’s navigability set forth in the Official Code of Georgia Annotated (OCGA) 44-8-5a;

3. Maintain the underlying purpose of Senate Bill 115 while removing references to the public trust doctrine in statute and recognition of the doctrine’s standing as a common law provision;

4. Clarify the statutory language in regards to trespass and stiffen the penalty under the Hunting and Fishing Code to enforce existing law;

5. Ensure the protection of the right of passage for navigable stream as found in OCGA 52-1-31;

6. Recognize the importance of the Georgia trout industry, including its unique ecological needs and economic benefits, and seek to the protect state’s trout waters;

7. Support additional investment in public fishing properties.

Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens and his adminstration discussed the city’s priorities in the next legislative session, according to the AJC.

“Before the session I tried to go in and meet with the Speaker and Lieutenant Governor to get to know what they’re thinking,” Dickens told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

“And they can know what I’m thinking in terms of the things that the city needs and I can get a head start on any kind of bills they may be trying to present,” he said.

But many of the biggest requests of state lawmakers from Dickens and City Council focus on what they don’t want the General Assembly to do — not what they want.

“I’m not as concerned about Buckhead as I was in 2022,” he said. “I think that we’ve done our work with the constituents of Buckhead and also with the state leadership to make sure that that is gone for a good time.”

Despite his confidence, the Dickens administration told City Council members that they are dedicated to fighting any cityhood initiative that might rear its head.

The issue was top of discussion for Kenyatta Mitchell, the mayor’s director of intergovernmental affairs, during her presentation last month to council members on the city’s legislative priorities.

Dickens administration is also sending a clear message to lawmakers that it will push back on any attempts by the state to takeover Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport — a move that would spark a political war between the city and state officials.

Mitchell told City Council members that the city will strongly oppose any bills that transfers ownership of the airport or creates any board that would provide oversight of the massive transportation hub.

Another legislative initiative that’s troubled city leaders is efforts to make sleeping on city streets illegal. A small group of Republican lawmakers who represent areas outside of metro Atlanta have pushed bills that advocates say criminalize homelessness and tie the hands of nonprofits who help get Atlantans off the street.

“Adding additional people to our already burdened criminal justice system is ineffective,” Mitchell said.

Some judges are seeking pay raises from the state, according to the AJC.

Top state judges urged Capitol budget writers last week to back a plan to tie their pay to that of their federal colleagues, giving them a big salary boost well above what other state employees have received in recent years.

The judges say the salaries of members of the Supreme Court, Court of Appeals and superior courts often can’t compete with what big law firms pay, and that prevents some qualified candidates from applying for the jobs when they are open.

The message last week at a joint hearing of the House and Senate budget committees was delivered mostly by Supreme Court Chief Justice Michael Boggs and Justice Charlie Bethel — both former state lawmakers — and Presiding Justice Nels S.D. Peterson, a counsel to Sonny Perdue when he was governor. All have experience dealing with the politics of state budget writing.

Peterson told the committees: “Retention has become a serious problem. I can list anecdote after anecdote of judges who have left the bench because they can’t afford to serve anymore.

“In my court, the Supreme Court, in just the last three years, we have seen three of our justices in a position where they needed to leave to be able to afford college for their kids.”

The proposal approved by an ad hoc Judicial Council committee earlier this year would raise the base pay of Supreme Court justices from $186,112 a year to $223,400, Court of Appeals justices from $184,990 to $212,230, and Superior Court judges from $141,970 to $201,060.

The superior court pay is somewhat misleading because $141,970 is what the state pays. Counties can supplement those salaries — some do much more than others.

Even today, the Judicial Council’s report said 69 superior court judges earn more than $201,060, the new base rate that is being proposed.

But many rural judges don’t get anywhere near the supplements paid to metro judges.

“The reliance on county supplements often provides a structural obstacle to increasing state salaries,” Peterson said. “Because if you are trying to increase salaries to take care of the people at the lower end, you also wind up increasing the salary for folks at the highest end, and while we want to pay our judges equitably, we don’t want to pay our judges the highest in the country.”

Peterson said the top state judges and 86% of superior court judges expressed support for the new compensation plan, which didn’t shock lawmakers.

“I was not surprised to see 86% approval,” said Rep. Clay Pirkle, R-Ashburn, a subcommittee chairman on the House Appropriations Committee. “There is nothing like rallying the troops with an increase in pay plan.”

Chatham County District Attorney Shalena Cook Jones agreed to a consent order with the Georgia State Ethics Government Transparency and Campaign Finance Commission, according to WSAV.

They say she’s failed to file several financial disclosures since 2020, which was revealed today at the Chatham County courthouse during a preliminary state ethics hearing.

The penalty she’s agreed to, according to her representative, is $3,000 in fees.

However, it was confirmed at the hearing that Cook Jones has not yet filed the missing disclosures for personal and campaign expenses.

“In the consent order, it says she has taken active steps to be in compliance…What does that mean,” David Burge, a member of the State Ethics Commission, questioned.

News 3 reached out to District Attorney Cook Jones’ office for comment.

They said, quote “Though I am not the first elected in this situation and likely won’t be the last, I did what I would expect any person to do which is to be responsive, be transparent, be accountable and be proactive so it doesn’t happen again. Thankfully, I now have a dedicated team to manage my financial and campaign affairs.”

Cook Jones’ office said that since assuming her position she has been focused on quote “DA matters rather than campaign matters.”

The scrutiny on Chatham County’s current DA comes amid criticism regarding her conviction rate and employee turnover from state republicans as well as a pending sexual discrimination case from one of her former employees.

Cook Jones has confirmed she will run for reelection in 2024.

Floyd County Commissioners will elect a Chair, according to the Rome News Tribune.

The Floyd County Commission is expected to elect its 2024 chair and vice chair on Tuesday, its last business meeting of the year.

Board members also are scheduled to meet Wednesday with members of the state legislative delegation to discuss priorities for the upcoming session, and hold a public hearing Thursday with Rome and Cave Spring officials on the update for the Joint Comprehensive Development Plan.

The Northwest Georgia Regional Library System is going “fine free,” according to the Dalton Daily Citizen News.

The Northwest Georgia Regional Library System (NGRL) includes the Dalton-Whitfield County Public Library, the Calhoun-Gordon County Public Library and the Chatsworth-Murray County Public Library. NGRL Director Darla Chambliss said members of the four boards (NGRL and the three libraries) unanimously agreed to continue the program during a recent collective meeting.

“We were one of the three pilot programs in the state and our boards agreed that this pilot program is good for the libraries, but more importantly good for users of the library. It removes a burden to the public and specifically to students in our area,” she said.

State Librarian Julie Walker commended the boards for their decision.

“I know a lot of hard work went into making this happen, and I appreciate the wisdom of your trustees in removing barriers to library service for your communities. Well done!”

The program does not forgive patrons who have lost or damaged books, but it does forgive fines for books that are overdue. It also does not forgive patrons who abuse the system. Also, items checked out of other library systems are still subject to fines.

Dalton City Council voted to approve the addition of more surveillance cameras, according to the Dalton Daily Citizen News.

The City Council voted 4-0 recently to update a five-year, $91,300 agreement with the Flock Group of Atlanta to add those cameras. Mayor David Pennington typically votes only when there is a tie.

“This will lock in our current rate,” said Police Chief Cliff Cason.

Cason said the cameras “capture data in areas where we frequently have retail theft, vehicle thefts, that sort of things. It will send us alerts for vehicles wanted in crimes. It will also let us go back and look at that data. We can put in the physical description of vehicles and go back and pull the vehicles that match that. That increases the solvability factor for those cases considerably.”

“Several months back we were alerted to a stolen car from Indiana that had been reported stolen by runaway juveniles,” said Long. “The car was tracked in Dalton via the Flock cameras and a pattern was noticed. We located the vehicle at a local hotel with all five juveniles in a hotel room. One had a firearm and all were documented gang members from Indiana.”

Large ships off the Georgia coast ignoring speed limits are threateingn whales, according to the Savannah Morning News.

A recently released report by the conservation organization Oceana found that 85% of watercraft at least 65 feet in length exceeded the maximum of 10 knots (11.5 mph) in a designated protective area stretching from Brunswick to Wilmington, North Carolina.

The National Marine Fisheries Service issued the speed regulations in 2008 when it created whale conservation zones for large vessels up and down the East Coast. The limits run from mid-November to mid-June.

That period is considered calving season, when right whales from as far away as Canada travel to the shallow waters off southern Georgia and northern Florida to birth their young.

“The lack of compliance with the speed limits off Georgia and the Southeast U.S. is alarming and presents a clear threat to the future of North Atlantic right whales,” Gib Brogan, campaign director at Oceana, wrote in an email response to the Savannah Morning News. “The warm waters of this area are especially important for … right whales because it’s their calving grounds – where mothers travel to give birth and nurse their calves. Mothers and calves spend a lot of time at the water’s surface where they are especially vulnerable to boat strikes.”