Georgia Politics, Campaigns, and Elections for July 1, 2019

The Second Continental Congress met in Philadelphia on July 1, 1776 to debate a resolution by Richard Henry Lee that the colonies declare their independence of Britain.

The first U.S. Postage stamps were issued on July 1, 1847 in New York City.

The Battle of Gettysburg began on July 1, 1863. July 2, 1863 saw day 2 of the Battle of Gettysburg, with Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia attacking Meade’s Army of the Potomac.

Theodore Roosevelt and the Rough Riders charged San Juan Hill in Cuba during the Spanish-American War on July 1, 1898.

Coca-Cola marketed its current formula for the first time on July 1, 1916.

On July 1, 1956, a new Georgia flag bearing the state seal and a version of the Confederate Battle Flag became effective after being adopted by the Georgia General Assembly in the 1956 Session.

The current Georgia Constitution became effective on July 1, 1983 after its approval in a referendum during the November 1982 General Election.

Georgia native Clarence Thomas was nominated to the United States Supreme Court by President George H.W. Bush on July 1, 1991.

Georgia Politics, Campaigns, and Elections

The threshold for online retailers to collect Georgia sales tax changes today from $250k per year to $100k, according to the Rome News Tribune.

The Gainesville Times looks at 14 new pieces of legislation that go into effect today.

House Bill 217: Exempts syringe services programs from certain criminal liability for possession, distribution or exchange of hypodermic syringes, regardless of knowledge of drug-related use.

House Bill 218: Extends the time period of HOPE scholarship eligibility to 10 years for students who receive the scholarship after July 1, 2019, and denotes rules for continued eligibility.

Senate Bill 9: Establishes definitions and penalties for people who commit sexual assault while supervising or caring for others, such as inmates or people under psychiatric care. Also establishes new rules prohibiting sexual extortion crimes, such as threatening to reveal a nude photo online.

Senate Bill 18: Allows physicians to provide health care to a patient through a direct agreement without being subject to insurance regulations.

Senate Bill 158: Authorizes DFCS to care for child victims of human trafficking and expands prohibitions against trafficking for labor or sexual servitude.

From the AJC:

Medical marijuana — House Bill 324

After approving the use of medical marijuana by registered patients in 2015, the General Assembly this year approved a way for the drug to be dispensed.

Still, the unique distribution system for medical marijuana could force patients to wait months or years before they’re legally able to obtain medical marijuana oil in Georgia.

Under the law, six private companies can grow medical marijuana, but no dispensaries will be allowed until a state board licenses them.

Pharmacies can provide medical marijuana oil to patients, but few pharmacies are likely to participate because doing so could jeopardize their federal permission to sell other drugs. And two proposed university-run marijuana programs will be dependent on federal approval.

Georgia’s “hands-free” driving law has saved lives, according to the Augusta Chronicle.

“It has raised awareness about the dangerous habit of people being on their smartphones while driving,” said Robert Hydrick, the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety’s communications director.

Under the law that went into effect July 1, 2018, no text-based communication is allowed on the devices while driving, but drivers are still able to use a phone for directions, and calls are allowed if a car is equipped with a hands-free device or Bluetooth.

Sgt. Mark Chestang, with the Richmond County Sheriff’s Office’s traffic safety division, said there have been a lot less violations compared with the first couple of weeks last year. He said officers see more hands-free devices on windshields and people obeying the law.

According to the Georgia Department of Public Safety, there have been 22,327 citations issued statewide from July 1 to May 31. A total of 8,389 citations were written from July 1 to Dec. 31 last year.

Hydrick said preliminary numbers show the traffic fatality rate for 2019 is down about 2% to 3% than this time last year, But he cautioned that it will take years of data to determine how effective the law has been in reducing such deaths.

According to the Georgia Department of Transportation, the state has had nearly 700 traffic fatalities this year. There were 1,514 traffic fatalities in 2018.

U.S. Representative Buddy Carter‘s votes don’t match his statement on opposing offshore drilling, according to the Savannah Morning News.

U.S. Rep. Buddy Carter pleased anti-drilling advocates in April when he pivoted from a long-held stance and formally requested that Georgia be excluded from federal offshore energy plans. But those same advocates are disappointed after recent votes in which the coastal Republican once again supported offshore exploration and drilling.

Carter said in an email that he hasn’t rescinded his request to exclude Georgia from offshore activities, but he still supports drilling elsewhere.

“After the Georgia House of Representatives passed a resolution opposing offshore energy exploration earlier this year, I sent a request to the Department of the Interior asking them to exclude Georgia from offshore energy plans until the concerns of the legislature are addressed. This request still stands,” Carter wrote in an email response to the Savannah Morning News. “The Democratic amendments to the funding bill are broad and will have wide-reaching impacts on states beyond Georgia. While I don’t believe we should move forward with offshore energy exploration off the coast of Georgia until the concerns of the Georgia State Legislature are addressed, I will not tie the hands of other states. I’m in Congress to represent the First District, and that is my focus.”

Seventeen local governments in Georgia, mostly coastal municipalities from Tybee Island to St. Marys, have passed resolutions opposing offshore drilling and/or seismic testing. As Carter noted, state lawmakers followed suit in the last legislative session.

“Elected representatives of Georgia have voted, and I believe that the federal government should respect the people of Georgia to make this critical decision for themselves,” Carter wrote in April to the Department of the Interior. “That is why I write today to request that Georgia be excluded from offshore energy plans until the concerns of the legislature are addressed.”

Bulloch County State Court Judge Gary L. Mikell will retire September 1, 2019, according to the Statesboro Herald.

After 19 years as the judge of the Bulloch County State Court, which followed four years as its solicitor general, Judge Gary L. Mikell will retire Sept. 1.

That, he said, will be one day after his potential return on investment in the state judicial retirement system reaches its maximum, with 24 years creditable service, and by then he will be 65.

“A couple of years ago I started putting people in jail who were not born when I started this job,” Mikell said in an interview last week. “That’s when you start thinking, well, maybe my shelf life is starting to expire.”

His current four-year term would expire at the end of 2020. So, the Judicial Nominating Commission of Georgia recently sent notices to lawyers – members of the state bar – in Bulloch County seeking applicants to fill the unexpired term. Friday was the deadline for nominations from citizens, but July 10 is the deadline for completed applications from nominated lawyers.

The Glynn County Commission and the Brunswick-Glynn County Joint Water and Sewer Commission both canceled meetings scheduled for Thursday, July 4, according to The Brunswick News.

The Glynn County 2016 Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (SPLOST) Oversight Committee released a progress report, according to The Brunswick News.

Voters approved the penny sales tax at the ballot during the 2016 election. The tax will run for four and a half years or until the total target amount, $71,595,000, is collected.

Of that, Glynn County will see about $40.5 million and the city of Brunswick $13.8 million.

Chatham County Commissioners approved a FY 2020 budget, according to the Savannah Morning News.

Commissioners approved a 11.543 millage rate for the general fund. While the millage rate is the same as last year, the rate is an increase over the last budget cycle.

This year’s tax digest increased in value, meaning it will take a lower millage — a rollback rate — to produce the same revenue as produced last year. The tax digest is a total of the assessed value of all property in a county.

This rollback rate for the general fund this year is 11.267 mills, .276 mills or 2.45% lower than the approved millage rate.

The $203 million budget was revised from its original presentation including adding $15,000 for the District Attorney’s office, $54,364 for the public defender’s office, almost $477,000 for Curtis V. Cooper Primary Health Care for indigent health visits, $36,205 for the probate court, $10,000 for the Summer Bonanza program and $100,000 for the Greenbrier Children’s Center. An amount equal to the budget additions was subtracted from the contingency line item, making the budget total the same as previously discussed.

Gwinnett County Commissioners are preparing to raise the property tax millage rate, according to the Gwinnett Daily Post.

County commissioners are planning to raise the county government’s general fund millage rate from 7.209 mills to 7.4 mills. A public notice was scheduled to run in the Sunday edition of the Daily Post and three public hearings will be held later this month.

Commissioners had recently heard a presentation which showed the impact of leaving the rate at its 2018 level or reducing it to its rollback rate of 6.876 mills, but they were to make the ultimate decision on what the rate should be set at, including whether to instead raise it.

“Whenever possible, the county has reduced the General Fund millage rate and has done so three out of the last five years,” county commission Chairwoman Charlotte Nash said in a statement. “However, the demand for services and the cost of providing them to our residents and businesses continue to grow. This proposed millage rate will allow us to maintain our current service levels and meet increased demand.”

The public hearings on the proposed rate will be held at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. July 8, and at 6:30 p.m. July 15 in the auditorium at the Gwinnett Justice and Administration Center, which is located at 75 Langley Drive in Lawrenceville.

Commissioners will vote on adopting the proposed millage rate at their 2 p.m. meeting July 16.

Lee Thompson announced he will run for the Democratic nomination for County Commission Chair, according to the Gwinnett Daily Post.

He serves as attorney to the cities of Lawrenceville, Duluth, Sugar Hill and Grayson as well as the Gwinnett County Board of Education.

“Within the next decade our county will grow to more than one million residents and be one of the most diverse counties in the country,” Thompson said in a statement.

“We now need new leaders with the vision and imagination to equip Gwinnett County to lead the nation in regional transportation planning, creative redevelopment, creation of green jobs, protection of our natural resources and inclusion of all members of our community in decision making.”

He is at least the third Democrat to announce plans to run for the seat. Also running are former state Sen. Curt Thompson, also an attorney, and Art Sheldon.

The Macon Telegraph looks at Middle Georgia local government preparedness for cyber attacks.

Cybersecurity involves training, testing, developing policies and teaching employees how to detect various types of malware like bots, bugs and viruses that can infect electronic devices and spread to others, officials said.

One of the people working on the front line of cybersecurity for Macon-Bibb is Don Moody, the systems and network manager for the IT Department.

“Your weakest link in cybersecurity is between the keyboard and the seat,” he said. “Your people are the weakest link because they get in a hurry. People have work to do and they’re trying to process that work so fast, they get an email and just immediately click on it.”

An attack on Savannah government in 2018 is believed to have started when an employee opened an email that had a virus that infiltrated other computers, according to WSAV.com.

Atlanta’s cyberattack in 2018 had a widespread impact ranging from damaging City Hall and court computers, to wiping out some of the Atlanta police dash cam videos and preventing people from paying water bills online. The cost to recover from the breach was projected at $17 million, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.

The Dalton Daily Citizen notes that local sales tax rates should go down since the Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (SPLOST) expired.

After four years, Whitfield County’s Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (SPLOST) came to an end at midnight Sunday. Starting at 12:01 a.m. today, the sales tax on many goods sold in the county falls from 7% to 6%. But some local officials say customers might want to make sure that’s what they are actually paying.

Business owners who collect sales tax should be well aware it has changed, Whitfield County Tax Commissioner Danny Sane said.

“The (Georgia Department of Revenue) sales tax division sends every business owner who collects the tax a notice to make sure they are reducing it to the proper amount,” he said. “They send that notice one month before prior to the change, and it is also on the form that they fill out to collect the tax and send it in.”

Still, Sane suggests that customers keep an eye on their receipts.

In March 2015, Whitfield County voters easily approved a new SPLOST by a 67.26% to 32.74% vote. In March of this year Whitfield County voters defeated a referendum that would have extended the SPLOST for six more years. That SPLOST, which was projected to raise $100 million, was rejected by a 57.94% to 42.06% vote.

Ron Johnson, the newest member of the Dalton City Board of Education, is interviewed by the Dalton Daily Citizen.

A Whitfield County grand jury on Thursday named Ronald “Ron” Johnson to fill the unexpired term of the late Thomas Barton, the District 1 representative on the school board who passed away in May. District 1 represents parts of south Whitfield County. Johnson must be sworn into the position before he officially becomes the next school board member. Superintendent Judy Gilreath says she isn’t sure when Johnson will be sworn in as District Attorney Bert Poston must file paperwork with the governor’s office in Atlanta.

Barton passed away unexpectedly on May 17 at the age of 61. He had served on the school board since 2008. The term ends on Dec. 31, 2020.

Michael Kinsey, Charles Oliver and Nicky Starling also applied for the seat. The grand jury interviewed all four last week.

“They asked really good questions,” Johnson said about the grand jury. “We talked about finance. We talked about curriculum and extracurricular activities. They took it very seriously.”

The Gulfstream G600 received its FAA certification, according to a press release.

General Dynamics announced today the all-new Gulfstream G600 earned both its type and production certificates from the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). The certifications clear the way for the first completed G600 deliveries to customers as scheduled this year.

“Getting both authorizations on the same day is evidence of the maturity of our G600 production processes and speaks to the safety and reliability of the aircraft’s design,” said Gulfstream president Mark Burns. “Even more remarkable is the fact that we achieved these simultaneous certifications less than a year after completing another major program, certifying and delivering the Gulfstream G500, another testament to the engineering expertise and manufacturing excellence that are hallmarks of Gulfstream. The hard work by our team, including nearly 100,000 hours of flying in our labs and more than 3,200 hours of flying in the air, shows our dedication to safety and our customers.”

“These rigorous and thorough certification processes ensure we deliver a first-rate aircraft that exceeds expectations. We can’t wait to put the newest member of our aircraft family – one that spectacularly combines performance, efficiency, technology and comfort that are second to none – into the hands of our worldwide customers.”

The Ledger-Enquirer looks at the cleanest and dirtiest public schools.

MCSD inspectors use a standardized system to evaluate the condition of the schools each month. Downtown’s average score on the 100-point scale during the 2018-19 school year was 99.2, an increase of 2.8 points from the 2017-18 ratings.

[F]or the third straight year, no MCSD school is in the 70s. Two were at that level in 2015-16, the first year the district released such scores: Rigdon Road Elementary School was at 78.2 then but is at 90.4 now; Rothschild Leadership Academy, a middle school, was at 79.9 then but is at 89.8 now.

Robert “Mr. Bob” Dickey is the state’s oldest peach grower, (and father of State Rep. Robert Dickey) according to the Macon Telegraph.

At 91 years old, Robert “Bob” Dickey still gets to work at 7 a.m. sharp every day.

He is the oldest peach-grower in Georgia and the patriarch of the state’s oldest continuously operating peach-packing house, Dickey Farms.

The Dickey peach-packing house in Musella was built by his grandfather from trees cut down on the property and hewn into lumber. Dickey remembers watching it get built and how his grandfather hired neighboring farmers to help.

Dickey said one of the best advances for the peach industry was the creation of the U.S. Department of Agriculture Southeastern Fruit and Tree Nut Research Laboratory in Byron. For decades, the Elberta peach was the standard for Georgia, but Dickey said the lab developed many new and better varieties that extended the season. The peach season at one time lasted from around early June to mid-July, he said, but now it goes from mid-May to mid-August.

“He just taught me so much,” said state Rep. Robert Dickey. “He loves peaches. He loves planting new trees and loves seeing the harvest.”

Right Whale researchers say six recent deaths points to problems for the state’s official marine mammal, according to GPB News.

Researchers estimate that just 411 North Atlantic right whales remain, so six of them dying is significant.

“This is devastating for these animals, and really reduces the potential that this population can recover,” she said.