The House of Assembly, Georgia’s legislative body, held its second meeting after statehood on February 6, 1788 in Savannah.
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 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 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 6, 1985, Reagan gave the State of the Union. During the speech he announced what would be known as the “Reagan Doctrine.”
Georgia Politics, Campaigns, and Elections
Vice President Kamala Harris (D-CA) will speak about the “thriving Biden economy” in Atlanta on Wednesday, according to the AJC.
President Joe Biden during his State of the Union address next week is expected to describe an economy that is thriving under his leadership, and Vice President Kamala Harris will make a trip to Atlanta the day after to reinforce that point.
During his remarks Tuesday night, Biden is expected to celebrate what he views as indicators of a successful presidency after two years in office while also outlining how he will address pressing issues such as the debt ceiling, immigration, police accountability and rising prices. The speech, which will likely be watched by tens of millions, is considered a key step toward Biden’s expected launch of a 2024 reelection campaign.
It is this economic message that Harris will champion when she travels to Atlanta on Wednesday. Details about where and when she will be speaking have not yet been released.
Under the Gold Dome Today – Legislative Day 13
TBD Senate Rules : Upon Adjournment – 450 CAP
8:00 AM JUDICIARY NON-CIVIL – 132 CAP HYBRID
10:00 AM House FLOOR SESSION (LD 13) – House Chamber
10:00 AM Senate Floor Session (LD 13) – Senate Chamber
1:00 PM House Education Curriculum Sub – 506 CLOB
1:00 PM Senate Transportation – Mezz 1 CAP
1:00 PM Senate Government Oversight – 307 CLOB
1:00 PM Senate Agriculture & Consumer Affairs – 450 CAP
1:15 PM House Education Policy Sub – 506 CLOB
2:00 PM House Insurance Life and Health Sub – 406 CLOB
2:00 PM House HEALTH – 341 CAP
2:00 PM Senate Interstate Cooperation – Mezz 1 CAP
2:00 PM Senate Health & Human Services – 450 CAP
3:00 PM House Energy, Utilities and Telecom Special Sub – 403 CAP
3:00 PM Senate Finance – Mezz 1 CAP
4:00 PM Senate Judiciary – 307 CLOB
Senate Bill 8 by State Senator Carden Summers (R-Moultrie), the “Parents and Children Protection Act of 2023,” addresses school policies and trandgenderis, according to Atlanta News First via WALB.
Senate Bill 88, referred to as the “Parents and Children Protection Act of 2023,” would prevent schools from teaching a child if they are dressed in a “sexually provocative manner, applying current community standards.” The bill does not define community standards.
It also restricts schools from teaching children about gender identities “other than their biological sex” without the express written consent of the child’s guardians, or from referring to the child by a name other than the name on their birth certificate.
Violation of the bill would lead to the government cutting funds from the school.
The bill’s primary sponsors are Sens. Carden Summers, Brandon Beach, Randy Robertson, Clint Dixon and Colton Moore.
Anti-semetic flyers in the Atlanta suburbs may help renew a push for hate crime legislation, according to the AJC.
The flyers were thrown into yards in several neighborhoods with significant Jewish populations, including that of state Rep. Esther Panitch, D-Sandy Springs, the only Jewish member of the Georgia General Assembly.
“Welcome to being a Jew in Georgia,” Panitch tweeted on Sunday, along with a picture of the flyers plopped on her Sandy Springs front lawn. “I’m coming for you with the weight of the state behind me,” she added.
Panitch and John Carson, R-Marietta, recently introduced House Bill 30, a measure that would provide an official state definition of antisemitism. Its passage could trigger enhanced penalties under the state’s new hate crimes law. The bill also has the support of House Majority Leader Chuck Efstration, the Dacula lawmaker who authored the original hate crimes law.
We heard from a spree of lawmakers on Sunday who anticipate that Panitch’s bill will now get a hard look. State Rep. Shea Roberts, D-Sandy Springs, said she’s “up for whatever we need to do at the Capitol or elsewhere.”
Wendy Davis, a member of the Democratic National Committee, wants Atlanta considered seriously for their national convention, according to the Rome News Tribune.
“It’s huge… It’s a big deal economically; it’s a big deal politically for our state and our leaders,” said Wendy Davis of Rome.
Davis is a member of the Democratic National Committee, which voted Saturday at their winter meeting in Philadelphia to change the order of their state presidential preference primaries. South Carolina would be first, on Feb. 3, followed by Nevada and New Hampshire on Feb. 6, then Georgia and Michigan.
“My feeling is that our Republican leaders are national Republican leaders… It’s not about helping (Democratic President) Joe Biden, it’s about getting that money, getting that influence in Georgia,” she said.
GOP Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger has said he won’t move the Democratic primary without moving the GOP primary, too. But national Republicans have promised to penalize any state that gets out of the current GOP nominating order, including Georgia.
The result seems to be an impasse for now, although national Democrats have extended the deadline for states to make necessary changes, even if there’s little path for those changes to happen.
A bipartisan group of Georgia members of Congress wrote the Interior Department seeking protection for the Okefenokee Swamp, according to The Brunswick News.
U.S. Sens. Jon Ossoff, D-Georgia, and Raphael Warnock, D-Georgia, along with U.S. Rep. Buddy Carter, R-1, and other House members from the Peach State, are requesting that Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge be designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
“A UNESCO World Heritage Site designation for the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge would encourage environmental protection and economic prosperity for the region,” the delegation wrote. “It would support efforts to protect and preserve the refuge’s natural and cultural resources, and further important scientific exploration and analysis.”
The request comes at the heels of an application from an Alabama company, Twin Pines Minerals, to the state to mine an area outside the swamp for minerals. Environmental groups and a state hydrologist claim the extraction process would be harmful to the swamp.
Other members of the U.S. House of Representatives signing the letter, all Democrats, are Sanford D. Bishop Jr., Hank Johnson, Nikema Williams, Lucy McBath and David Scott.
Georgia legislators also are taking steps to protect the swamp. In January, state Rep. Darlene Taylor, R-Thomasville, introduced the Okefenokee Protection Act.
Valdosta State Prison wants to be able to jam cellphones, according to the Valdosta Daily Times.
In 2022, prison authorities in Georgia confiscated 229 phones from prisoners at Valdosta State Prison, said Joan Heath, spokeswoman for the Georgia Department of Corrections.
Statewide, more than 8,000 phones were seized from prison inmates that year, she said.
Attention to the problems of inmates with cellphones was highlighted recently when 22 state attorneys general, including Georgia’s Chris Carr, urged congressional leaders to change federal law to allow prisons to use cellphone jamming technology, which is forbidden under the Federal Communications Act of 1934. The act forbids jamming of any and all authorized radio frequencies.
Georgia’s corrections department fully supports the effort to get cellphone jamming tech into prisons, Heath said.
“Cellphones are considered contraband and there are no exceptions for an offender possessing them,” she said.
Lowndes County Sheriff Ashley Paulk — who oversees the Lowndes County Jail — said a major problem with tackling the inmates-with-cellphones problem is finding the source. He said prisoner work details outside of jails or prisons can sometimes get their hands on phones. Reports abound on news websites about families and friends of prisoners hiding phones in spots where work details are headed.
The Augusta Utilities Department will temporarily drain the Augusta Canal, according to the Augusta Chronicle.
The canal draining will allow the Utilities Department and Georgia Power to do some needed work.
Dayton Sherrouse, executive director of the canal authority, said he expected the draining to last several weeks.
“Right now we’re planning for it to be refilled March 20,” he said.
The work, according to Sherrouse, will include boring under the canal to run new conduit for the installation of additional electrical cables. Augusta Utilities will use the opportunity to repair an embankment near the pumping station that was damaged by two uprooted trees, as well as some repairs to the Long Gate Spillway and some testing for seepage.
Some Savannah residents protested against the Savannah College of Art & Design, according to WSAV.
Early Sunday afternoon, community members came together to bring attention to what they say are ongoing issues SCAD has failed to recognize.
Resident Lindsey Grovenstein says the reason behind this comes from their treatment of African American communities.
“The SCAD museum is doing a special where they are conducting tours, like actual bus tours of the city where they’re claiming that they have a commitment and they’re preserving black history and they’re showing how they have shown their commitment, they’ve actually done the exact opposite,” Grovenstein said.
Leaders such as Dr. Amir Jamal Toure, a professor at Savannah State University, said the college has continued to devalue black communities—forcing families out of their homes and businesses.
The City of Valdosta will host its 14th Annual Government 101 Citizens Orientation, according to the Valdosta Daily Times.
It is scheduled for April 10 through May 15, city officials said in a statement.
The Valdosta mayor and City Council initiative includes the participation of up to five high school seniors with a parent or legal guardian also enrolled in the program.
The City of Valdosta is accepting applications through March 24.
Participants will meet 5:30-8:30 p.m. on seven consecutive Mondays and will be exposed to the programs and services of city government.
The sessions include presentations on city government overview, public safety, municipal court, engineering, public works, utilities, financial administration, industrial and economic development, recreation, community development, planning and zoning, and neighborhood development, in addition to several facility tours and guest presentations.
Applicants will undergo a background investigation as part of the application process and must also complete a separate criminal history form that may be obtained upon submission of the completed application, city officials said.
The Valdosta Government 101 Orientation is one of three volunteer programs in the City of Valdosta available to residents — the other two are the Citizens Police Academy and Citizens Fire Academy — designed to give residents valuable knowledge of resources through a behind-the-scenes view inside local government.
Savannah City Council approved revisions to their alcohol ordinance, according to the Savannah Morning News.
A server training provision is part of Savannah’s updated alcohol ordinance, approved by City Council in the Jan. 26 meeting. The law requires anyone who pours alcohol in the city to receive training and a certificate of completion from the city and is a new spin on the city’s controversial bar card law, which was repealed in 2018.
The new ordinance sets a training requirement for any individual who mixes, serves or dispenses alcohol in the city. This will include alcohol awareness training, sex trafficking awareness training and sexual assault awareness training.
Some Columbus leaders blame gangs for rising homicide numbers, according to the Ledger-Enquirer.
Both the county sheriff and coroner said young men involved in gang battles were a driving force behind 70 homicides reported here in 2021, a recent peak. Police officers also have said a series of gang retaliations boosted the numbers.
“That was the year that we basically got one about every week,” said Muscogee County Coroner Buddy Bryan, who has watched his homicide caseload grow since he took office in 2013. “The majority are gang related. There are a few domestics.”
Domestic or family violence over the years has accounted for around 12% of Columbus’ homicides, according to a 2021 Ledger-Enquirer analysis. But a single incident, as when one parent kills the other and their children, can boost the percentage in a year’s tally.
“If you look at the homicides for 2021, the majority were gang related,” [Muscogee County Sheriff Greg Countryman] said. “It was black males retaliating against other black males.”
“The upshot is that it’s just not being able to handle conflict,” said Mayor Skip Henderson, who’s also the city’s public safety director. “When they end up with a situation where somebody’s dating somebody else’s girlfriend, or they just disrespect one another, these kids for whatever reason think the only response is to shoot a gun.”
Savannah City Alderman Kurtis Purtee announced he will run for reelection to his District 6 seat, according to WTOC.
Purtee and his supporters, including fellow Alderman Nick Palumbo and Alderwoman Linda Wilder-Bryan, gathered at Mohawk Park for the announcement.
“One thing that I’ve asked for in this campaign and I’ve asked for for city council members is unity. We need to be one moving forward. We can be civil, and I’ve put that out there before there’s a civility pledge we’ve taken. I think it’s important that we are respectful for each other. We can always disagree, but we must do it in a way that’s civil and that’s my commitment to the city, that’s my commitment to the city, that’s my commitment to the district and to my counterparts,” Alderman Kurtis Purtee said.
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