The British Parliament repealed the Stamp Act on February 22, 1766.
Georgia’s first Governor Archibald Bulloch died mysteriously on February 22, 1777.
[Bulloch] became a leader in the state’s Liberty Party and was elected to the Commons House of Assembly in 1768, to the post of speaker of the Georgia Royal Assembly in 1772 and finally to the Continental Congress in 1775.
On June 20, 1776, Bulloch was elected the first president and commander in chief of Georgia’s temporary government, posts he held until February 5, 1777, when Georgia adopted its state constitution. Just over three weeks later, on February 22, 1777, Georgia faced a British invasion, and the state’s new government granted Bulloch executive power to head off the British forces. A few hours later, Bulloch was dead. The cause of his death remains unknown but unsubstantiated rumors of his poisoning persist.
[H]e is also known as the great-great-grandfather of America’s 26th president, Theodore Roosevelt.
The first Georgia state law allowing divorce was signed on February 22, 1850 by Governor George Towns.
The Cyclorama painting of the Battle of Atlanta went on display on Edgewood Avenue on February 22, 1892. The Atlanta History Center recently began the process of moving the Cyclorama to a new building from its long-time home in Grant Park.
On February 22, 1976, a series of U.S. Postage stamps commemorating the Bicentennial was issued, featuring the state flags.
Georgia Politics, Campaigns, and Elections
COMMITTEE MEETING SCHEDULE – LEGISLATIVE DAY 22
7:30 AM SENATE APPROP – Human Dev, Behavioral Health & Developmental Disabilities, and Public Health Sub 341 CAP
8:00 AM SENATE APPROP – Judicial Sub 307 CLOB
8:00 AM House Transporation Subc State Highways 515 CLOB
9:00 AM HOUSE RULES 341 CAP
10:00 AM HOUSE FLOOR SESSION (LD 22) HOUSE CHAMBER
12:00 PM SENATE RULES- Upon Adjourment 450 CAP
1:00 PM SENATE SPECIAL JUD’RY 125 CAP
1:00 PM SENATE NAT’L RES AND ENV’T 450 CAP
1:00 PM SENATE INSURANCE AND LABOR 310 CLOB
1:00 PM HOUSE Education Sub Education Admin & Planning 606 CLOB
1:00 PM HOUSE INTERSTATE COOPERATION 403 CAP
1:00 PM HOUSE Local Gov’t Sub Gov’tal Affairs 406 CLOB
1:00 PM HOUSE Ways and Means Public Finance Sub 133 CAP
1:30 PM HOUSE GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS 406 CLOB
1:30 PM HOUSE JUD’Y NON-CIVIL 132 CAP
1:30 PM HOUSE Ways and Means Income Tax Sub 133 CAP
1:30 PM HOUSE ECON DEV & TOURISM 341 CAP
2:00 PM SENATE FINANCE 125 CAP
2:00 PM SENATE EDUCATION AND YOUTH 307 CLOB
2:00 PM HOUSE ETHICS 506 CLOB
2:00 PM JOINT HOUSE & SENATE TRANSPORTATION 606 CLOB
2:30 PM HOUSE Ways and Means Tax Reform Sub 133 CAP
2:30 PM HOUSE Resource Management Sub 515 CLOB
3:00 PM SENATE AG & CONSUMER AFFAIRS 450 CAP
3:00 PM SENATE BANKING AND FINANCIAL INST 310 CLOB
3:00 PM SENATE STATE AND LOCAL GOV’T OPS MEZZ
3:00 PM HOUSE HIGHER EDUCATION 403 CAP
3:00 PM HOUSE SPECIAL RULES- CANCELLED 515 CLOB
3:30 PM HOUSE Ways and Means Sales Tax Sub 133 CAP
4:00 PM SENATE HIGHER EDUCATION 310 CLOB
4:00 PM SENATE JUD’Y -Subcommittee B 307 CLOB
4:00 PM SENATE PUBLIC SAFETY – General Welfare Sub MEZZ
4:15 PM HOUSE APPROP – Criminal Justice and Pub Safety Sub – CANCELED 123 CAP
SENATE RULES CALENDAR
SB 102 – Emergency Medical Services; emergency cardiac care centers; designation; Office of Cardiac Care within Department of Public Health; establishment (Substitute) (H&HS-49th)
HB 42 – Elections; election superintendents to correct mistakes and omissions on ballots for a primary or election; authorize (Substitute) (ETHICS-52nd) Lumsden-12th
SB 73 – Recorder’s Court of Chatham County; chief judge; revise the responsibilities (SLGO(G)-1st)
SB 47 – Physicians; visiting sports teams’ physicians; provide for licensure exemption; requirements; limitations; agreements with other states (Substitute) (H&HS-52nd)
SB 6 – Georgia Regional Transit Council; definitions; membership; powers; duties; create (Substitute) (TRANS-51st)
HOUSE RULES CALENDAR
Modified Open Rule
HB 40 – Evidence; confidentiality of certain medical information of animals within a veterinarian’s care; provide exception (A&CA-Turner-21st)
HB 41 – Architects; allow certain students to take examination; change qualifications (Substitute)(RegI-Harrell-106th)
HB 168 – Upper Oconee Basin Water Authority; abolish Upper Oconee Resource Management Commission (NR&E-Quick-117th)
HB 224 – Quality Basic Education Act; military student may attend any school in local system; provide (Ed-Belton-112th)
HB 262 – Insurance; standalone dental plans; exempt from requirement of printed directories for certain entities (Ins-Lumsden-12th)
HB 303 – State Commission on Family Violence; terms and qualifications of members; change provisions (GAff-Ballinger-23rd)
Modified Structured Rule
HB 37 – Education; private postsecondary institutions in Georgia shall not adopt sanctuary policies; provide (HEd-Ehrhart-36th)
HB 86 – Domestic relations; definition of sexual abuse; expand (JuvJ-Oliver-82nd)
HB 150 – State Road and Tollway Authority; failure to pay tolls; place hold on motor vehicle registration (Substitute)(Trans-Powell-32nd)
HB 243 – Minimum wage; require additional pay to employees based on schedule changes; preempt local government mandates (I&L-Werkheiser-157th)
HB 268 – Elections; time period for certification of election officials; provide (Substitute)(GAff-Fleming-121st)
Structured Rule
HB 238 – Ad valorem tax; use of property for solar power generation; provide exception to a breach of covenants (W&M-Hatchett-150th)
HB 247 – Sales and use tax; machinery used to mix or transport concrete; exempt (Substitute)(W&M-LaRiccia-169th)
HB 290 – Ad valorem tax; definitions related to exemption of certain agricultural equipment; revise (W&M-Watson-172nd)
House Bill 205 by House Rules Committee Chair John Meadows (R-Calhoun) passed out of the Energy Subcommittee of House Energy, Utilities, and Telecommunications, and would regulate the practice of fracking.
Rep. John Meadows, R-Calhoun, says his bill seeks to put in place protections for the state’s water resources — before the oil and gas industry starts using hydraulic fracturing, or fracking. Fracking uses a mixture of water, sand and chemicals to break up rock and free natural gas or oil underground,
“Until the price of gas goes up, there won’t be any drilling for gas,” Meadows said at a recent committee meeting.
But that day, he said, is likely to come.
“We’ve been at high gas prices before. We’ll be at them again some day,” he said.
Legislators are weighing-in on the question of tax proceeds from an area that is subject to a border dispute between two counties.
State lawmakers are getting into the border dispute between Macon-Bibb and Monroe counties.
A new bill would keep tax money from the disputed area in escrow — held by a third party — until the yearslong dispute is settled.
“I hope it brings the sides to the table to compromise and negotiate because it’s all about the money,” state Rep. Robert Dickey, R-Musella, said just after he filed the bill.
Dickey said the bill covers both property taxes and sales taxes from a wedge of land that Macon-Bibb now counts as a piece of its territory on the northwest edge of the county. Monroe County has argued through several courts that the true county line is a little farther southeast, giving Monroe a little part of the Bass Pro Shops property as well as some houses and other properties on both sides of Interstate 75.
House Bill 324 by Rep. Alan Powell would place the phrase “noncitizen” on some driver’s licenses.
A House subcommittee discussed the bill on Tuesday but didn’t vote.
Rep. Alan Powell, a Hartwell Republican, said he’s willing to consider another phrase. But Powell said the state’s current approach is too vague.
People in the country illegally are not eligible to receive driver’s licenses in Georgia. But state officials have said Georgia must grant temporary licenses for people granted “deferred action status.”
University System of Georgia Chancellor Steve Wrigley opposes changes to state law to permit campus carry.
“With respect to ‘campus carry,’ we feel strongly that current law strikes the right balance to create a safe environment on our campuses,” said Steve Wrigley, the chancellor of the University System of Georgia’s Board of Regents, before a committee of mostly Republican lawmakers friendly to expanding gun rights.
“This position is supported by our presidents and campus public safety departments who are closest to the day-to-day realities and operations of the state’s public colleges and universities. We therefore respectfully oppose any change to current law,” he said.
The university system also opposed a “campus carry” bill passed by the state Legislature in 2016. It was ultimately vetoed by Gov. Nathan Deal after he requested lawmakers tweak the measure, which legislative leaders refused. Last year’s measure said guns wouldn’t be allowed in dorms, fraternities, sororities or sporting events.
Senate Bill 233 by Sen. Marty Harbin (R-Tyrone) would apply the federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act to Georgia state government actions.
The federal law requires that governments being sued prove that a law meets a “compelling” interest and doesn’t substantially restrict someone’s ability to practice their religion. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1997 that the law didn’t apply to states, prompting a wave of state-level legislation that picked up again in recent years.
Deal, who was in the U.S. House before running for governor, voted for the federal law. Supporters of the bill hope this year’s approach will convince him to sign off, said Mike Griffin, public affairs director for the Georgia Baptist Mission Board. The organization has been among the chief supporters of previous legislation and vowed to try again this session.
“The (governor’s) veto of the 2016 legislation has just caused us to work even harder at trying to pass minimum standards of religious liberty like he voted for in Congress,” Griffin said. “We feel this is the best bill we can give him.”
Officials with the Georgia Chamber of Commerce and Metro Atlanta Chamber issued a joint statement on Tuesday indicating opposition.
“Gov. Deal clearly stated in his veto statement last year why this type of legislation was already a constitutional right, unnecessary and would distract from our strong performance in creating new jobs in our state,” the statement said. “While there’s no new evidence to suggest this legislation is needed to strengthen a right guaranteed by our constitution, there is plentiful data other states have suffered and will continue to suffer long-term economic harm for enacting a law that many see as discriminatory.”
The Georgia Council on Criminal Justice Reform reported to Gov. Deal on the results of criminal justice reform and recommended further steps.
State officials are recommending changes to help reduce what they say is the highest rate of felons on probation in the country.
In a report submitted to Gov. Nathan Deal on Tuesday, the Georgia Council on Criminal Justice Reform said doing so would have several positive results, including reducing heavy caseloads for probation officers and allowing the officers to focus more on higher-risk offenders.
Currently, the council’s report noted, probation is widely employed in Georgia as a sentence, either in lieu of or combined with imprisonment. Georgia also imposes relatively long felony probation sentences, the report says.
The report notes positive results of policies implemented in previous years, including a decrease in the prison population from 54,895 in July 2012 to 52,962 at the end of last year. It also highlights a change in the type of inmates who are in prison, with the most serious offenders now making up 67 percent of the state’s inmates, versus 58 percent at the start of 2009.
Accountability courts, which numbered 139 across the state at the beginning of this year, have seen a 147 percent increase in new participants from 2013 to 2016, the report says.
“In implementing these common sense reforms, we are taking steps to preserve families, address the underlying issues associated with incarceration and provide offenders with meaningful second chances,” Deal said.
Governor Deal visited Macon yesterday to recognize Navicent Health for its verification by the American College of Surgeons as Georgia’s only Level I trauma center.
The Medical Center is the only Level I trauma center in the state, and the only one of 17 hospitals in the Southeast, to achieve this national recognition. Of 185 hospitals in Georgia, 30 are trauma centers, according to the hospital.
“This is indeed a very special occasion,” Gov. Nathan Deal said to about 100 people, mostly hospital personnel, gathered near the outside of the emergency center. “You are in a unique category and the people of this part of Georgia should be extremely proud of what you’ve done to achieve this certification.”
“Health care is one of those great challenges,” he said. “It is a challenge at the federal level. It is also a challenge at the state level, and as we go through the delivery to new approaches to the delivery of health care which I know we’re going to be doing in the next couple of years in particular, there are going to be challenges that we all face. … Your work will go a long way toward improving the quality of life for our entire state.”
Navicent Health President and CEO Ninfa Saunders said the trauma center serves about 3,000 patients annually with about one-third of those patients being transferred from other health care facilities. Last year, the hospital’s trauma center cared for 91 of Georgia’s 159 counties, she said.
Congressman Buddy Carter held a Town Hall meeting in Savannah yesterday. From the Savannah Morning-News.
“Obamacare is collapsing,” the Savannah Republican said at Armstrong State University, prompting shouts from the crowd asking him to refer to the 2010 health care law by its formal name, the Affordable Care Act.
Many of the constituents who packed the meeting wore T-shirts bearing slogans in support of Planned Parenthood, and Carter’s answers during the hour-long meeting often drew jeers from the crowd. Occasional chanting could be heard from an overflow crowd of dozens waiting outside the at-capacity auditorium where the meeting was held. There were also people who showed support for Carter’s comments, and audience members frequently shouted at each other to sit down or wait their turn to ask questions.
When the meeting concluded, Carter left through a side exit with staff rather than meet the crowd, which at the time was chanting for him to come out — something he attributed to safety concerns and the need to get to a scheduled dinner event.
“I would have liked to have stuck around, but security was concerned about the safety,” Carter said in a phone call after the meeting. “I regret that. I was really happy about the turnout. Everyone has the right to speak, and I want to give them that right. I wish we could have been more cordial.”
Local Options
Federal investigators seized items in an Atlanta City Hall office as part of an ongoing bribery investigation.
Atlanta’s chief procurement officer was fired on Tuesday, escorted out of City Hall and had items in his office seized by federal agents.
A terse, two-sentence statement from the mayor’s office said Adam Smith had been “relieved of his duties.” A spokeswoman for Mayor Kasim Reed later said Smith’s was a “normal termination,” that includes being led out of the building by city personnel.
The seizure of items from Smith’s office appears to be an escalation of the federal investigation into bribes paid by contractors to obtain business with the city. A law enforcement source told Channel 2 Action News that a subpoena was served and that items taken from Smith’s office included a computer and phone.
A representative of the FBI, which conducted Tuesday’s operation, did not immediately return a message seeking comment.
The Augusta Commission will rewrite the waste management plan to include a new landfill.
The Augusta Commission voted 6-2-2 to begin the revision process, with commissioners Ben Hasan and Andrew Jefferson opposed and commissioners Sammie Sias and Marion Williams abstaining.
The proposal is opposed by Environmental Services Director Mark Johnson as a drain on revenue with a potential wide impact on how Augusta manages waste. Johnson was the chief author of the existing 2008 waste management plan, which requires all waste to go to the city landfill near Blythe.
Attorney Wright McLeod pitched the proposal to commissioners last week on behalf of Kirk Laney, who obtained the 150-acre former inert landfill on Dixon Airline Road from Jeffrey Harris in 2015.
Augusta University Medical Center’s Center for Rural Health Support and Study is working to expand its services to rural providers through the use of telemedicine.
Catherine Clary, just beginning her third week on the job, was headed to Atlanta on Monday to see about $250,000 in funding to help the center provide more services to struggling rural hospitals. The Georgia House of Representatives has already approved the money in its version of the budget, and Clary was to meet with Senate leaders to ensure it makes their version, too.
One of the programs it would support is a swing bed program with rural providers, in which patients from rural areas who are being discharged from the hospital but are too sick to send home directly can be transferred to a rural hospital to finish out their care.
“On our end, we want to free up the bed here because we are a tertiary (highly specialized care) hospital, but then that also builds revenue for the rural hospitals,” Clary said. “Studies have found that patients do much better when they are closer to family and they have the pride of being back in their home hospital. We feel like it helps our hospital, it helps the rural hospitals and it also helps the families and the patients in keeping them close together.”
The health system also has a new affiliation with Washington County Regional Medical Center to staff its Emergency Department and to provide a hospitalist for inpatient coverage. The center is working to help set up a general surgery rotation through the Sandersville hospital, too, Clary said.
Through the College of Allied Health and College of Nursing at Augusta University, the center is hoping to set up rural rotations for physician assistants and advanced practice nurse practitioners and could have something set up within the year, she said. Those providers can deliver care in rural areas that often struggle to attract physicians.
Warner Robins City Council is stewing over the question of whether to allow backyard chickens.
In 2015, the City Council voted down allowing chickens. Elijah Lewis, a leading supporter of urban chicken keeping, approached the council at Tuesday’s meeting with a different idea that seemed to have some traction.
He asked the council to consider allowing a referendum on the issue, and some who had opposed it before were agreeable to that idea. If the council approves it, the referendum would be on the ballot for the city election in November.
Seriously, folks, a chicken referendum.
Georgia Department of Natural Resources has introduced an incentive system for hunters of coyotes and opponents are howling.
The Georgia Department of Natural Resources wants hunters to kill more coyotes from March to August, and it’s offering them an incentive to do so.
The “Georgia Coyote Challenge” allows trappers to turn in up to five carcasses a month for a chance to win a lifetime hunting license.
While the contest runs for the next seven months, there is no closed season for the harvest of coyotes in Georgia because they did not historically live in the state, according to the DNR’s Wildlife Resources Division.
But the Atlanta Coyote Project, a group of scientists who research coyotes in the area, contends that’s an oversimplification.
“While it is true that coyotes are relatively recent immigrants into the southeastern U.S., they are here because humans eliminated native wolves,” the organization said in a Facebook statement rejecting the “killing contest as both inhumane and unwise.”
Also opposing the “Georgia Coyote Challenge”? This guy:
Lowndes County Sheriff Ashley Paulk is not prioritizing immigration enforcement.
Paulk made it clear that Lowndes County is not a sanctuary for illegal immigrants, but he said he’d rather go after active criminals as opposed to undocumented immigrants who make an honest living and don’t cause trouble.
“Do you want to concentrate on the criminals, who are doing the shooting and everything else, or go out and try to get people out in the fields picking vegetables?”
He added that rounding up illegal immigrants could lead to steep jail costs for the county while the immigrants await deportation.
“If (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement) comes out with some warrants, yeah we’ll help them. But if you were to go out and make a sweep, put 50 of them in jail … it’ll cost you $2,500 a day (to hold them),” Paulk said.
“I’m not saying we’re a sanctuary, but we’ve got more important things to do as far as cleaning up this county.”
Howard French will serve as the next Chairman of the Board of Directors for Chatham Area Transit.
Chatham County Commissioners will consider adoption of a new 20-year Chatham County-Savannah Comprehensive Plan.
Gwinnett County Commissioner Tommy Hunter remains embattled by partisan Democrats criticizing a Facebook post.
Gainesville City Council finalized the renaming of Touchdown Drive to Deshaun Watson Way.
Lou Byars will serve as the new Superintendent of Rome City Schools.
University of North Georgia students urged a boycott of some local businesses over a KKK sign.
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