On January 20, 1788, the First African Baptist Church was established in Savannah, Georgia, one of the first black churches in the United States.
John Marshall was nominated as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States by President John Adams on January 20, 1801.
On January 20, 1920, DeForest Kelley was born in Atlanta and he grew up in Conyers. Kelley sang in the choir of his father’s church and appeared on WSB radio; he graduated from Decatur Boys High School and served in the United States Navy. Kelley became famous as Dr. Leonard “Bones” McCoy in the original Star Trek series.
On January 20, 1928, Franklin Delano Roosevelt visited Warm Springs, Georgia for the tenth time, staying through February 11th. During the visit, he spoke to the Chamber of Commerce of Americus and Sumter County, telling them
“In Georgia the movement towards the cities is growing by leaps and bounds and this means the abandonment of the farms or those farms that are not suited to the uses of agriculture. It means that we will have vacant lands but these can and should be used in growing timber.”
January 20th became Inaugural Day in 1937; when the date falls on a Sunday, a private inauguration of the President is held, with a public ceremony the following day. The Twentieth Amendment moved inauguration day from March 4 to January 20. Imagine six additional weeks of a lame duck President.
Roosevelt was sworn-in to a fourth term as President on January 20, 1945 and died in Warm Springs on April 12, 1945.
On January 20, 1939, Paul D. Coverdell was born in Des Moines, Iowa. Coverdell was one of the key figures in the development of the Georgia Republican Party.
On January 20, 1977, former Georgia Governor Jimmy Carter was inaugurated as the 39th President of the United States.
On January 20, 1981, Ronald Wilson Reagan was inaugurated 40th President of the United States.
Georgia Politics, Campaigns, and Elections
Under the Gold Dome Today: 8:30 AM – JOINT APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE – 341 CAP HYBRID
Governor Brian Kemp yesterday released January’s state tax revenue numbers.
The State of Georgia’s net tax collections in December totaled $2.98 billion, for an increase of $582.9 million, or 24.3 percent, compared to December 2020 when net tax collections totaled $2.40 billion. Year-to-date, net tax revenue collections totaled $14.85 billion, for an increase of $2.28 billion, or 18.1 percent, over FY 2021 after six months.
The changes within the following tax categories account for December’s overall net tax revenue increase:
Individual Income Tax: Individual Income Tax collections for December increased by $297.1 million, or 23.9 percent, compared to December 2020 when net Individual Tax revenues totaled $1.24 billion.
The following notable components within Individual Income Tax combine for the net increase:
• Individual Income Tax refunds issued (net of voided checks) decreased by $13.4 million or -24.6 percent
• Individual Withholding payments increased by $202.6 million, or 17.1 percent, compared to last year
• Individual Income Tax Non-Resident Return payments increased $52.7 million, or 169.7 percent, over last year
• All other Individual Tax categories, including Estimated Return payments, were up a combined $28.4 millionSales and Use Tax: Gross Sales and Use Tax collections totaled $1.37 billion, for an increase of $243.4 million, or 21.6 percent, over last year’s total of nearly $1.13 billion. Net Sales and Use Tax for the month increased by roughly $120.2 million, or 20.9 percent, compared to last year, when net Sales Tax revenue totaled $574.5 million. The adjusted Sales Tax distribution to local governments totaled $670.4 million, for an increase of $120.9 million, or 22 percent, over FY 2021. Lastly, Sales Tax refunds increased by $2.2 million, or 48.2 percent compared to FY 2021.
Corporate Income Tax: Net Corporate Income Tax collections increased by $125.5 million, or 44.7 percent, up from FY 2021 when net Corporate Tax revenues totaled $280.9 million in December.
The following notable components within Corporate Income Tax make up the net increase:
• Corporate Tax refunds issued (net of voided checks) decreased by $5.1 million or -21.4 percent
• Corporate Income Tax Estimated Return payments were up $82.8 million, or 33.9 percent, over last year
• All other Corporate Tax payments, including Corporate Return payments, were up a combined $37.6 millionMotor Fuel Taxes: Motor Fuel Tax collections for the month increased by $17 million, or 11.4 percent, over last year’s December total of $149.1 million.
Motor Vehicle – Tag & Title Fees: Motor Vehicle Tag & Title Fee collections for December increased by $2.1 million, or 6.5 percent, compared to FY 2021 when Motor Vehicle fees totaled $32.3 million. Title ad Valorem Tax (TAVT) collections increased by roughly $7 million, or 13.7 percent, compared to last year’s total of $51.2 million.
Former United States Senator David Perdue wants a special election police unit, according to FoxNews.
“What happened in 2020 should never happen again,” Perdue said on Thursday morning as he announced his proposal to create a law enforcement unit that would investigate election crimes and fraud in Georgia and would have the authority to make arrests.
The former senator took aim at Kemp in explaining why the proposed election law enforcement unit is needed.
“When Georgians had legitimate questions about the November election, Kemp refused to investigate or fix problems before the January runoff,” Perdue charged in a statement to Fox News. “Leave it to a 20-year career politician like Kemp to sit on his hands when we needed him most. He failed us, and Georgians lost confidence that their vote would count.”
Perdue emphasized that “the purpose of this law enforcement unit is to give Georgians confidence that only legal votes will be counted, and that anyone who tries to interfere with our elections will be arrested and prosecuted.”
And he described his call for elections to be independently audited before they are certified as “a commonsense step to safeguard our election integrity and ensure transparency and accountability in our system. When I’m Governor, we’ll have the safest and securest elections in the country.”
Cody Hall, a senior adviser with the Kemp allied Georgians First Leadership Committee, fired back, charging that “David Perdue is repeatedly lying to the people of Georgia – without facts or evidence.”
“By proposing this unit, Perdue is finally admitting what state law and the Georgia constitution have made abundantly clear: the Governor has no legal authority regarding the oversight, investigation, or administration of elections in our state,” Hall emphasized.
Kemp spokesman Cody Hall said the proposal amounted to an admission from Perdue that “his entire campaign is a lie.“
“His proposal recognizes that governors have no legal authority in the oversight, administration, or investigation of elections under current state law and constitution,” he said.
The idea of a separate law enforcement unit devoted to investigating elections would go far beyond a proposal by House Speaker David Ralston that would allow the Georgia Bureau of Investigations to probe allegations of fraud.
Ralston recently said if the GBI had taken the lead on investigations rather than the secretary of state’s office, there might not be so many questions about the validity of the election.
Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger (R-ish) announced the state will transition to a new voter registration system ahead of the 2024 elections. From 11Alive via 13WMAZ:
Raffensperger said the system – the Georgia Registered Voter Information System, or GRVIS – would be online by March.
The secretary’s office clarified that the system was a back-end, data management system and would not affect how voters individually register to vote.“Nothing about the registration or voting processes changes from the voter perspective,” a statement said.
Raffensperger said that the software and data servicing company Salesforce would provide the “baseline architecture” for the “backbone” of the new system, and that the state would be partnering with a technology consulting firm, MTX Group, in implementing the new system.
“This new system is more advanced, more secure, and more user-friendly and will give our election directors and my office new tools to better manage our election efforts,” the secretary said.
Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger is partnering with Salesforce to build the new system. Raffensperger said the new voter registration system will be built on the “highest security servers with faster processing power and the most up-to-date secure technology.”
“Since day one, I have taken action to secure the vote in Georgia,” Raffensperger said. “This partnership with Salesforce and MTX Group will help ensure Georgia’s voting system is secure, reliable, efficient for years to come.”
“The new system, called the Georgia Registered Voter Information System, will sit on secure, Salesforce servers using cloud technology services authorized by the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP) at the highest level of security. FedRAMP was introduced in 2011 and ensures standards of security for the use of cloud services across the federal government. FedRAMP ensures that private sector partners are using top-tier secure technology for any cloud storage services provided to the federal government,” Raffensperger’s office said in a release.
Raffensperger said county and local elections officials around the state have already been introduced to the new system and will be trained on it in the coming weeks and months. Following training, the new system will be launched statewide.
“This system has a lot higher capability so we know that lines will be much shorter,” he said. ” And I think the average voter will see something that’s more responsive, they’ll get more timely information.”
“Security is the key to truly assuring that all voters and all candidates know and understand that the winner is the winner and the the loser simply came up short,” said Raffensperger.
The state’s current system is nearly a decade old, and was blamed for slowdowns during the first few days of early in-person voting in the 2020 primary elections, when the system could not access data fast enough to handle a large volume of voters.
“This new system is more advanced, more secure, and more user friendly and will give our election directors and my office new tools to better manage our election efforts,” Raffensperger said.
Officials say the new system will cost less than $5 million, with funding split between leftover bond funds the state borrowed to buy new voting machines and federal money.
More than a dozen county election directors appeared with Raffensperger to back the change. Douglas County’s Milton Kidd said the change would be a challenge, but expressed confidence that “Douglas County will be ready.”
Democrat Stacey Abrams said that the federal election bill could be passed, according to the Associated Press via AccessWDUN.
Abrams was noticeably absent from Biden’s visit last week to Atlanta, where he called for an end to the filibuster to pass voting legislation. An aide blamed a scheduling conflict, and in a statement released after Biden spoke, Abrams said she welcomed his commitment to changing the filibuster for voting bills.
On Wednesday, Abrams said she was a “proud Democrat, and President Joe Biden is my president.” She took questions from the media at the headquarters of the Georgia AFL-CIO union, which announced that it was endorsing her campaign for Georgia governor
“I believe legislation can be passed because I know that we’ve done it before,” she said.
“But we also have to remember that civil rights and voting rights took a long time,” she added.
The Lincoln County Board of Elections chose to make no changes to early voting, according to the Augusta Chronicle.
The Lincoln County Board of Elections chose not to decide Wednesday whether to close all but one polling place after opponents from across the state gathered hundreds of signatures for a petition and attracted national media attention.
Freeman said the board’s action impacts voters of all colors and persuasions across the rural county, and noted the struggles many endured to secure the right to vote.
“We are not going backward, but we will show you, we will teach you, we will walk you through the process of what it takes to go forward,” she said. “This is not a legacy that we want our children and our grandchildren to have to fight this fight again.”
Under state law, if at least 20% of voters in an affected precinct register their opposition, the board is prohibited from taking the action. According to the Secretary of State, Lincoln County has over 6,000 registered voters spread across seven precincts.
The Savannah Morning News looks at upcoming election contests from state-level to local.
Longtime Rep. Buddy Carter doesn’t have any conservative opponents for the primary yet, but the Democratic nominees are lining up.
Joyce Marie Griggs, the Democratic nominee Carter ran against in 2020, is running again. p
Savannah Lawyer Wade Herring, spurred to run after Carter’s vote to not certify the 2020 presidential election, has out-fundraised all of Carter’s previous Democratic opponents since he announced his run last year.
A third Democrat has joined the race as well: Richmond Hill resident Michelle Munroe, a retired Army veteran and former CEO of Winn Army Community Hospital.
Former State Senator Vincent Fort (D-Atlanta) will challenge U.S. Rep. David Scott (D-I-285), according to the AJC.
Vincent Fort, once the second-ranking Democrat in the state Senate, said Thursday he was challenging Scott because the district needs someone “who is present and progressive.”“It needs someone who believes in Democratic ideals, and someone who doesn’t vote like a south Georgia Republican,” Fort added. “It needs someone who believes in Medicare for All and doesn’t side with the big banks and predatory lenders.”
He entered the race days after Politico published a lengthy report that questioned whether Scott, 76, is fit to lead the powerful House Agriculture Committee. Scott, who was first elected in 2002, described himself in the report as “strong and vibrant as a roaring lion.”
Scott has carved out a moderate record in the U.S. House. He’s a member of the Blue Dog Coalition, and he’s broken party lines to support George W. Bush’s tax cuts and back Republican-led foreign policy efforts. He also endorsed then-Sen. Johnny Isakson’s reelection bid in 2016.
By contrast, Fort has embraced his party’s left wing. He earned the backing of Sanders, a democratic socialist, during his mayoral bid by calling for the decriminalization of marijuana, free tuition at Atlanta city colleges and other left-leaning initiatives.
Savannah and Chatham County are in disagreement over a potential Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (SPLOST), according to the Savannah Morning News.
The question of whether the county will collect $420 million in penny sales tax to fund transportation infrastructure improvements is murky after a contentious municipal meeting flared tensions between Chatham County and City of Savannah officials Wednesday morning.
“Don’t come for Chatham County,” Chatham County Chairman Chester Ellis told Savannah City Manager Jay Melder, adding, “at some time down the line, y’all need to get on the page with the rest of us.”
The conflict came after Ellis posed the reality that if Savannah opts out of the referendum, then a majority of the sales tax dollars wouldn’t be shared with the rest of the county, since the majority of spending occurs in Savannah city limits. The City of Savannah wants to be a part of the sales tax revenue stream, but needs more time to gather public input and pass a city council resolution.
The referendum in question is TSPLOST, the special local option sales tax referendum. It is a tax revenue source Georgia municipalities can use to fund public capital improvement projects, from arenas and bridges to school buildings. The county is looking to raise $420 million for transportation-related improvements over the next several years, with projects coming to fruition in the long-term.
County and municipal leaders, along with the business and development community had been on the same page that a referendum in May was the way to go.
But Monday morning, the president and CEO of the Savannah Economic Development Authority said that changed when David Perdue decided to run for governor, creating a high-profile GOP contest during the May primary – a development he thinks could result in TSPLOST being voted down.
“And that’s a county-wide election that’s going to drive out a lot of conservative voters in Savannah. And last time I checked that block does not like tax increases,” Savannah Economic Development Authority President/CEO Trip Tollison said.
While saying he’s flexible and willing to look at moving the referendum to November, County Chairman Chester Ellis says his concern is the November ballot might be too full for a TSPLOST vote to get voters’ attention.
“Folks who work with the voter folks can tell you, a lot of times a referendum and stuff at the bottom don’t even get checked, don’t even get looked at, cause folks get tired or trying to decide up top what’s going on,” Ellis said.
The Gwinnett County Sheriff’s Office will receive a state grant to pay for de-escalation training, according to the Gwinnett Daily Post.
County commissioners agreed on Tuesday to accept a $196,770 state grant, on behalf of the Gwinnett Sheriff’s Office, from the Governor’s Office and Criminal Justice Coordinating Council for the training.
There is no requirement for the county to provide matching funds to obtain the grant.
“The grant provides funding to enhance training in the areas of use-of-force (and) de-escalation, including funding for related equipment and supplies,” Chief Deputy Cleo Atwater told commissioners.
Brunswick City Commissioners pushed off a vote on a proposed short term rental ordinance, according to The Brunswick News.
Bunswick city commissioners deferred a vote on a short-term rental ordinance until the Feb. 16 meeting to give new city officials and the public more time to understand how it could affect the city.
[City Attorney Brian] Corry said he used short-term rental ordinances from Atlanta, Savannah and Glynn County as templates for the city ordinance.
Commissioner Felicia Harris expressed concerns about the growing number of short-term rentals in the city and the impacts they could have on the city’s housing stock and neighborhoods.
“Short-term renters may not care about neighborhood relationships,” she said. “We’re trying to build housing stock. We want long-term residents to help build the city in a positive manner.”
Talbot County Probate & Magistrate Judge Sherrell Terry was found dead at home, age 45, according to WTVM.
She was elected in 2020 and followed in the footsteps of her father and predecessor, former Judge John R. Terry. She was the first female probate judge in Talbot County.
Officials say no foul play is suspected.
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