Georgia Politics, Campaigns, and Elections for February 6, 2020

On February 7, 1733, the first Georgia colonists had been here a week and they finished building a hand-operated crane to move heavy supplies and livestock from their boats to the top of the forty-foot high bluff where they were building a settlement.

On February 8, 1751, the first session of the Georgia Provincial Parliament adjourned, having convened on January 15, 1751.

The House of Assembly, Georgia’s legislative body, held its second meeting after statehood on February 6, 1788 in Savannah.

On February 9, 1825, the United States House of Representatives elected John Quincy Adams as President of the United States, despite his having received fewer popular votes than Andrew Jackson. Congress voted for the President after no candidate received a majority of electoral votes in the 1824 election.

The 12th Amendment states that if no electoral majority is won, only the three candidates who receive the most popular votes will be considered in the House.

Representative Henry Clay, who was disqualified from the House vote as a fourth-place candidate, agreed to use his influence to have John Quincy Adams elected. Clay and Adams were both members of a loose coalition in Congress that by 1828 became known as the National Republicans, while Jackson’s supporters were later organized into the Democratic Party.

Alexander Stephens was elected Vice President of the Confederate States of America on February 9, 1861

Ronald Wilson Reagan was born on February 6, 1911 in Tampico, Illinois. In 1980, Reagan would be elected President of the United States, beating incumbent Jimmy Carter. When he was born, his father said, “he looks like a fat little Dutchman.  But who knows, he might grow up to be president some day.”

On February 9, 1926, the Atlanta Board of Education voted to prohibit teaching evolution in the Atlanta Public Schools.

On February 6, 1952, Governor Herman Talmadge signed resolutions of the General Assembly that included:

A resolution calling on Congress to call a convention to propose a constitutional amendment to repeal the Sixteenth Amendment and instead allow a maximum rate of 25 percent on any federal income, transfer, gift, or inheritance tax.

A resolution urging U.S. Senator Richard B. Russell to run for the presidency.

On February 8, 1955, Gov. Marvin Griffin signed a resolution by the General Assembly calling on Congress to require racial segregation in the military.

On February 6, 1956, Governor Marvin Griffin addressed a joint session of  the Georgia General Assembly, asking their support for House Resolution 1185, which introduced the idea of “interposition,” in which the State of Georgia would declare the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1954 and 1955 Brown v. Board of Education decisions “null and void” in Georgia. That day Griffin also signed a raft of legislation for his “massive resistance” agenda against integration of state schools.

On February 8, 1956, the Georgia State House adopted a resolution purporting to hold the Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education null and void.

On February 9, 1964, the Beatles debuted in America on The Ed Sullivan Show.

On February 7, 1980, Pink Floyd opened “The Wall” tour in Los Angeles.

On February 8, 1981, R.E.M. held their first recording session at Bombay Studios in Smyrna, recording “Gardening At Night,” “Radio Free Europe” and “(Don’t Go Back To) Rockville,” as well as others.

On February 6, 1985, Reagan gave the State of the Union. During the speech he announced what would be known as the “Reagan Doctrine.”

On February 7, 1990, the Communist Party Central Committee of the Soviet Union agreed to a proposal by Prime Minister Mikhail Gorbachev that is should give up its political monopoly.

The response from the United States was surprise and cautious optimism. One State Department official commented that, “The whole Soviet world is going down the drainpipe with astonishing speed. It’s mind-boggling.” Former Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger indicated that he was “personally gratified and astonished that anyone would have the chance to say such things in Moscow without being shot.” President George Bush was more circumspect, merely congratulating President Gorbachev for his “restraint and finesse.”

Ironically, the fact that the Communist Party was willing to accept political challenges to its authority indicated how desperately it was trying to maintain its weakening power over the country. The measures were little help, however–President Gorbachev resigned on December 25, 1991 and the Soviet Union officially ceased to exist on December 31, 1991.

Georgia Politics, Campaigns, and Elections

The Georgia General Assembly has decided to play hooky today, tomorrow, and next week. From the AJC:

Lawmakers originally had set the calendar through Monday — which would have been the 14th day of the the 40-day legislative session. Instead, lawmakers will take the rest of this week, and all of next week, off from holding floor session in the chambers to hash out the details of meeting Gov. Brian Kemp’s request to trim the state’s budget.

In a letter to House members, Speaker David Ralston told his colleagues to suspend all scheduled committee meetings that aren’t related to the budget over the next week and a half and focus all “time and energies on this important work.”

Lawmakers will return to the chambers Feb. 18, after the federal Presidents Day holiday.

Lawmakers are expected to approve the calendar through the 28th day, March 12 — the Legislature’s self-imposed deadline for bills to make it from one chamber to the next.

Lawmakers will again have to approve a calendar to set the end of the legislative session.

Here’s a look at the legislative calendar through day 28:

Feb. 18-21: legislative days 13-16

Feb. 24-28: legislative days 17-21

March 2-5: legislative days 22-25

March 9-10: legislative days 26-27

March 11: committee work day

March 12: legislative day 28

Under the Gold Dome Today – Maybe

8:00 AM HOUSE NATURAL RESOURCES AND ENVIRONMENT 606 CLOB

9:00 AM HOUSE APPROPRIATIONS ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT 406 CLOB

12:00 PM HOUSE JUVENILE JUSTICE 406 CLOB

1:00 PM HOUSE APPROPRIATIONS HEALTH 341 CAP

TBD SENATE RULES UPON ADJOURNMENT 450 CAP

2:00 PM SENATE REGULATED INDUSTRIES 450 CAP

FRIDAY

12:30 PM House Hospital and Short Term Care Subcommittee of Behavioral Health Innovation and Reform Commission 415 CLOB

The impromptu Spring Break appears related to escalating tension in the Capitol over the state budget and related processes. From the AJC:

The clash between Gov. Brian Kemp and House Speaker David Ralston reached new heights on Wednesday as state lawmakers abruptly voted to take a break to try to sort out the state’s strained budget situation.

Ralston and his allies said they needed more time to hash out the impact of Kemp’s proposed cuts of $500 million this fiscal year and next, as well as his push for $2,000 in teacher pay hikes that would cost nearly $400 million.

Two of the bigger hang-ups are also two of the biggest-ticket items in the spending plan. Ralston has been skeptical of Kemp’s push to bump teacher pay this year, which would complete the governor’s promise of a $5,000 pay raise in his first term.

The speaker has also led the charge for the second phase of an income tax cut that would decrease the top rate by a quarter-point – at the projected cost of at least $500 million in state revenue.

From the Associated Press via GPB News:

House and Senate leaders announced Wednesday that the chambers will adjourn until Feb. 18. During that time, House Appropriations Committee Chairman Terry England said House budget subcommittees will keep meeting.

“This year, I think the biggest question is ‘What do you cut?’” House Speaker David Ralston, a Blue Ridge Republican, told members Wednesday. “I don’t think it behooves us as a body to come down here and speed through spending $28 billion in taxpayer dollars.”

The recess underlines Ralston’s earlier statements that the General Assembly’s 2020 session might not wrap up as early as some members running for re-election might have hoped. Lawmakers can’t raise campaign money while they’re in session, and some of them will face a May 19 party primary. Slates won’t be set until March.

“The speaker has made it very plain we’re going to do the job we need to do,” said England, an Auburn Republican, when asked when the session would end.

[I]ncome tax revenues have lagged since the first cut. Lawmakers will get a report of January revenues next week, but England said he’s not hopeful that Kemp will raise the revenue projection that sets the spending limit for lawmakers.

“I don’t know if I could go to him and say ‘You need to adjust it up,’” England said. “It’s still pretty flat.”

From Beau Evans with Capitol Beat News Service:

After the House voted to approve the new session schedule, Ralston told reporters he’s particularly worried about proposed cuts to mental health services, public safety and criminal justice reform initiatives including accountability courts.

Ralston said it was negotiators for the House who convinced Senate leaders of the need to take a break and focus on the budget. He noted that since all spending bills originate in the House, members of the House Appropriations Committee get the first crack at reviewing the budget.

“They have the first real contact with the budget process,” Ralston said. “Department heads and agency heads have come in and said they don’t have the information to give us. … We started asking for this information as far back as late September. Some of the information we still don’t know.”

Senate Majority Leader Mike Dugan said the Senate agreed to the break to give lawmakers in the House more time to craft the budget before sending it to the Senate.

“We get one chance to get this right,” said Dugan, R-Carrollton.

The Georgia Senate Agriculture Committee voted to recommend passage of its version of HB 545, the Georgia Right to Farm Act, according to the Albany Herald.

Dubbed the Georgia Right to Farm Act of 2020, the bill would make it more difficult for property owners living in areas zoned for agricultural use to sue nearby agricultural operations such as a chicken house or pig farm for offensive smells or runoff from sludge lagoons.

“We’re just doing our job to protect the family farmers in Georgia,” state Rep. Tom McCall, chairman of the House Agriculture & Consumer Affairs Committee, said. McCall sponsored the bill in the House, which passed it last year and sent to the Senate for consideration.

The bill essentially updates a law the General Assembly enacted during the 1980s. Supporters say farmers need greater protection against nuisance lawsuits than the current law provides because rapid suburbanization of Georgia means more non-farming homeowners are encroaching on farmland.

Under the new bill, property owners wishing to file a nuisance suit against an agricultural operation must be located within 5 miles of the source of the alleged nuisance. Lawsuits must be brought within two years after a nuisance occurs, down from four years under the current law.

Sen. Larry Walker III, R-Perry, put together the substitute version of the bill the Senate committee passed on Tuesday. He said he gathered feedback both from agribusiness organizations that supported the bill and environmental groups opposed to it.

The Senate Regulated Industries Committee recommended passage of Senate Bill 298 to regulate sales of vaping products, according to the Gainesville Times.

A state Senate panel in Georgia unanimously approved a proposal to restrict vaping products on Tuesday, amid growing concern about health risks and use among children.

Senate Bill 298 would raise the age a person must be to purchase vaping products from 18 to 21, impose licensing requirements on stores selling vaping products, increase penalties for illegal sales and require schools to teach students about the dangers of vaping.

The proposal could soon go to the full Senate for a vote.

Under current state law, retail stores in Georgia are not required to have a license to sell vaping products, according to Sen. Renee Unterman, a Buford Republican who sponsored the bill. Her legislation would require stores selling vaping products to be licensed in the same way that stores selling tobacco are currently licensed.

From the AJC:

The American Medical Association has called for a moratorium on sales, and Massachusetts has become the first state with significant prohibitions on flavor sales. The White House, prodded by the controversy, has imposed a partial ban effective Thursday, but it has so many loopholes that the American Lung Association told the Washington Post recently that it is “a joke.”

In Georgia, the Medical Association of Atlanta is hosting an event at North Atlanta High School Friday evening to warn about medical issues associated with vaping and the effect on youths. And the General Assembly is considering legislation. Senate Bill 298 would establish minor criminal penalties for sales to, and possession by, people under age 21 (the current minimum age is 18). House Bill 864 would introduce a sales tax.

Senate Bill 159 by Sen. Steve Gooch (R-Dahlonega) to allow local regulation of e-scooters passed the State Senate, according to the Valdosta Daily Times.

The bill defines an electric scooter in Georgia code as a device weighing less than 100 pounds that is powered by both an electric motor and human power, with a maximum speed of 20 miles per hour.

Regulating e-scooters is not a “one-size-fits all solution,” Gooch told lawmakers on the floor Tuesday after hearing study committee testimony.

“We want to encourage this new technology. First and last mile transit solutions are a big need in this state,” he said. “We didn’t want to over regulate the industry, we didn’t want to put a lot of barriers in the way; in fact, we want to encourage more development of this kind of technology.”

Left up to local governments, some cities and counties have chosen to promote electric scooters as an alternative means of transportation while some have chosen to ban them from their streets.

The bill gives “total local control” to cities and counties, Gooch said.

A last-minute amendment added to the bill allows local governments to consider imposing liability insurance requirements.

The bill passed in a vote of 47 to 0 and will move to the House of Representatives.

Georgia Senate District 14 voters will return to the polls in a special election runoff, according to WALB.

Carden Summers (R), Jim Quinn (R) and Mary Egler (D) were all vying for the Senate District 13 seat left open after the passing of Senator Greg Kirk in December.

On Tuesday, Summers garnered 43.11 percent of the votes while Quinn received 42.18 percent and Egler took 14.71 percent.

“We thought there was gonna be a runoff and that’s what tonight proved and with three people in the race, it was hard to get 50 percent,” said Quinn. “Go back tomorrow and start over again, knock on more doors, talk to more people and get the word out that I’m the true conservative candidate in this race.”

“I wanna thank everybody who voted for me. I’m grateful that we came out on top with the most votes,” said Summers. “My plan is in the next 30 days, is to reach out and touch everyone I can, touch and share my vision with them and ask them to go back to the polls and vote for me again.”

From the AJC:

The winner will fill the Senate District 13 seat previously held by state Sen. Greg Kirk, a Republican from Americus, who died in December after he was diagnosed with bile duct cancer.

The election was one of the first where voters used Georgia’s new voting system, which combines touchscreens and printed-out ballots. The system was previously tested during local elections in six counties in November and in a state House election last month.

Senate District 13 covers Crisp, Dodge, Dooly, Lee, Tift, Turner and Worth counties, as well as parts of Sumter and Wilcox counties.

After next month’s runoff, the seat will be on the ballot again for a regularly scheduled election in November.

Former Republican State Rep. Bill Hembree will run for the 14th Congressional District seat being vacated by the retirement of Rep. Tom Graves (R-Ranger), according to the AJC.

The former state legislator is one of a half-dozen Republicans competing to succeed U.S. Rep. Tom Graves in one of the most conservative House districts in the nation. Graves, the senior-most Republican in Georgia’s delegation, announced late last year he wasn’t running for another term.

“I am excited about the changes happening in our country under President Trump’s leadership, and I will serve as a strong conservative voice for Georgia and a valuable contributor to that change,” said Hembree, who served two stints in the Georgia House before losing a close race to state Sen. Mike Dugan in 2014.

From the Rome News Tribune:

Former state school superintendent and candidate for governor John Barge filed his statement for organization with the Federal Election Commission on Monday.

He’d not sent out a statement or an announcement as of late Wednesday, but several local Republicans said former U.S. Rep. Jack Kingston had been reaching out on Barge’s behalf.

Also, Andy Gunther, a retired Army veteran and U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development inspector from Bremen, announced he’s running for the post on Wednesday. Gunther is the vice chair of the Haralson County Republican Party.

That makes eight Republican candidates who have said they’re vying for the post.

The Georgia Criminal Street Gang Database is online, according to Valdosta Today.

Through the collaborative efforts of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI), the Department of Community Supervision (DCS), and the Georgia Department of Corrections (GDC), the Georgia Criminal Street Gang Database (GCSGD) is now operational.  The GCSGD is a statewide repository and intelligence database that contains information about various criminal street gangs, criminal street gang members, and associates and criminal street gang activities.

The statute for the GCSGD was enacted in 2010.  Under Governor Kemp’s administration, the implementation of this database has been made a priority.   The following agencies participated in the pilot program: DCS, GDC, Hall County Sheriff’s Office, Morrow Police Department, South Fulton Police Department, Cobb County Police Department, Cobb County Sheriff’s Office, and the GBI. The statistics associated with the data remain fluid; but as of today, the system contains over 100 gangs and over 17,000 gang members & associates.

From the Gainesville Times:

The database currently contains more than 100 gangs and more than 17,000 gang members and associates.

According to the Georgia code, the database’s purposes include increasing “officer safety by improving the sharing of information among multiple jurisdictions using computer intelligence database technology” and enhancing “community security through the prosecution of criminal street gangs and their members/associates.

The Georgia Ports Authority announced an expansion at the Port of Savannah, according to the Savannah Morning News.

The Georgia Ports Authority has announced the acquisition of 145 contiguous acres to the Port of Savannah, enough land to accommodate more than 1 million twenty-foot equivalent container units in annual capacity.

“This is the largest addition of container terminal space in Savannah in more than 20 years, and represents a powerful opportunity for Georgia to take on new trade.” [said GPA Executive Director Griff Lynch].

In order to improve service, Savannah’s Ocean Terminal will be partially converted to handle containers. Renovations at Ocean Terminal, located just down river from the main container port, will include a new truck gate, upgraded container yards and rubber-tired gantry cranes for container operations.

“The expansion at our deepwater ports in both Savannah and Brunswick is helping to fuel growth, and in turn investment, jobs and increased competitiveness on the global stage,” added GPA Board Chairman Will McKnight.

“With the kind of investment and infrastructure development announced today, Georgia’s ports will undoubtedly stay ahead of the curve and the competition.”

In September 2019, the GPA announced plans for the new Savannah Container Terminal, a nearly 200-acre facility to be built across the Savannah River on Hutchinson Island. The new facility will have a capacity of 2.5 million TEUs when fully developed. Phase I is projected to come online in 2025.

Three new Right Whale calves have been spotted off the coast, according to the Savannah Morning News.

Survey crews with the Georgia Wildlife Resources Division and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission found the new calves and their moms, nicknamed Arrow, Echo and Calvin, said Allison Garrett, a spokeswoman for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Fisheries division.

Arrow and her calf were sighted 15 nautical miles off Amelia Island. She is 18 years old and this is her second calf. Her first was born in 2009.

Echo and calf were sighted approximately 10 nautical miles off Atlantic Beach. She is 24 years old and this is her third calf. Her last was born in 2010.

Calvin and her calf were sighted approximately 8 nautical miles off Georgia’s Blackbeard Island. She is 28 years old and this is her fourth calf. Her last calf was born in 2015.