Georgia Politics, Campaigns, and Elections for July 5, 2017

On July 5, 1737, James Oglethorpe sailed from England to Georgia with a warship and troop transports carrying a regiment to be stationed at St. Simons Island.

On July 5, 1742, Spanish forces based in Florida sailed past Fort St. Simon, bypassing English forces there. That night, Oglethorpe’s troops left Fort St Simon and fell back to Fort Frederica.

Union cavalry under Gen. Kenner Garrard reached Roswell, Georgia on July 5, 1864, setting the town alight.

Historians at Monticello in Charlottesville, Virginia, have identified the living quarters of Sally Hemings, a slave believed to have given birth to six children by Thomas Jefferson.

“This discovery gives us a sense of how enslaved people were living. Some of Sally’s children may have been born in this room,” said Gardiner Hallock, director of restoration for Jefferson’s mountaintop plantation, standing on a red-dirt floor inside a dusty rubble-stone room built in 1809. “It’s important because it shows Sally as a human being — a mother, daughter, and sister — and brings out the relationships in her life.”

Hemings’ living quarters was adjacent to Jefferson’s bedroom but she remains something of an enigma: there are only four known descriptions of her. Enslaved blacksmith Isaac Granger Jefferson recalled that Hemings was “mighty near white . . . very handsome, long straight hair down her back.”

Her room — 14 feet, 8 inches wide and 13 feet long — went unnoticed for decades. The space was converted into a men’s bathroom in 1941, considered by some as the final insult to Hemings’ legacy.

Fraser Neiman, director of archeology at Monticello, said Hemings’ quarters revealed the original brick hearth and fireplace, the brick structure for a stove and the original floors from the early 1800s.

“This room is a real connection to the past,” Neiman said. “We are uncovering and discovering and we’re finding many, many artifacts.”

Georgia Politics, Campaigns, and Elections

United States Senators Johnny Isakson and David Perdue are seeking changes to the Senate’s version of healthcare reform.

As key allies to Senate GOP leaders and President Donald Trump, both are viewed as relatively reliable “yes” votes for Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.

But that hasn’t stopped the two GOP lawmakers from looking to secure last-minute benefits for Georgia’s sickest children and some of the state’s medical providers as McConnell feverishly renegotiates portions of the Better Care Reconciliation Act to win over enough GOP holdouts.

Near the top of Isakson and Perdue’s wish lists is a change that could send more money to safety net hospitals such as Grady and South Fulton Medical Center in Atlanta. Another aims to have the government pay more to local health care providers who treat needy children.

One of the most pressing items on the to-do list for the state’s lawmakers has been ensuring that Georgia does not end up locked into a system that leads to far less federal money heading its way. The state has some of the country’s lowest health care spending per capita, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation, and had the nation’s second-highest uninsured rate in 2015.

The Senate plan would keep additional dollars flowing to the 31 states that chose to expand Medicaid through the end of 2023.

Isakson, with Perdue’s blessing, met recently with McConnell to ask him to tweak the way the government funds charity hospitals under the so-called Disproportionate Share Hospital program so that more funding would land in non-expansion states such as Georgia, particularly if there is an increase in uninsured patients.

A Congressional Budget Office analysis found the original Senate bill would increase payments to those safety net hospitals in Georgia and the 18 other non-expansion states by a total of $19 billion over 10 years.

Isakson’s proposed change seeks to send extra money to the charity hospitals that treat more low-income and uninsured people than their average counterparts. Those so-called safety net hospitals tend to operate on very thin financial margins because they often aren’t compensated in a timely manner — or at all — for the care they provide to the uninsured. That’s why the government often provides such hospitals additional funding.

“We want to make sure the medically complex kids that are in our children’s hospitals still have the benefits they have today and don’t get unintentionally cut or unintentionally reduced,” Isakson said, “and that the hospitals that provide those services don’t” wind up in the red.

Senator Perdue traveled to Afghanistan to visit U.S. troops stationed there.

The Georgia Senate Health Care Reform Task Force meets next Monday in Tifton.

Task force members — including state Sen. Chuck Hufstetler, R-Rome — are trying to craft a new foundation for the state’s health care system even as the U.S. Senate works to break a logjam on its overhaul of the federal program.

“Our intent is to have legislation ready in January for the Georgia General Assembly session,” Hufstetler said. “We will focus on what’s best for Georgia.”

When the eight-member Georgia task force under Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle meets in Tifton, they’ll first hear from Tift Medical Center about their ACO, accountable care organization, and what they’re doing with a new community grant from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.

Also on the agenda are presentations on telemedicine networks by a team from Emory University and recommendations from Dr. Keith Mueller, director of the RUPRI Center for Rural Health Policy Analysis at the University of Iowa.

Hufstetler said the session on preventative primary care would be in Rome, on Aug. 28. The task force’s last regional meeting, on mental health, will be in Gwinnett County.

Kristina Torres of the AJC writes about turnout in the 6th District Congressional Runoff Election.

•  Data showed 37 percent of early voters this round had voted in the 2016 Republican presidential primary, versus 22 percent for the Democratic presidential primary.

•  In total, 38 percent of electors in the 6th District runoff had voted in the Republican presidential primary. Those who voted in the Democratic presidential primary dropped to 18 percent. 93 percent of all voters also voted in the 2016 presidential election.

•  A federal judge in early May extended voter registration in the district through May 21, part of an ongoing lawsuit over how Georgia handles voter registration ahead of federal runoff elections. Of all ballots, less than 1.4 percent — or 3,520 voters — were from those who registered in May. Among the 8,000 or so voters who were added to the rolls after the judge’s order, 44 percent turned out.

•  White, older voters continued to outperform their share of the electorate., and were the dominant force among all voters Turnout among younger voters, however, notably increased between early voting and Election Day.

Gwinnett County Commissioners are considering raising the property tax millage rate nearly 12 percent.

Officials are proposing a 7.4-mill rate, which is up from the rate of 6.826 mills that was adopted last year. Officials said the millage rate, or property tax, increase will give officials the opportunity to do two things. One is to balance the budget, and the other is to begin setting aside money that can be used in the future to address hiring and retention issues.

“All parts of the County organization made cuts that we knew were not sustainable for the long-term but which were necessary to cope with the effects of the recession,” commission Chairwoman Charlotte Nash said. Over the last two or three years, we have restored funding to critical functions and have provided funding to address the ability of the justice system to handle increased demands.”

The public hearings will be held at 8:30 a.m. and 6:30 p.m. on July 10, and at 6:30 p.m. on July 17 at the Gwinnett Justice and Administration Center, 75 Langley Drive in Lawrenceville. Public comment will also be accepted at www.gwinnettcounty.com. The Board of Commissioners is expected to vote on adopting the rate at 2 p.m. on July 18.

Sea Turtle nests appear headed for a lower number than 2016, but higher than average.

Solar power is being used increasingly for power at municipal wastewater treatment plants.

Woodbine recently approved a $192,600 bid for a solar power plant with a tracking system that will follow the sun across the sky and power the wastewater treatment plant between U.S. 17 and Interstate 95.

Jesup is getting ready to bid its own plant and has already spent $70,000 on the project, City Manager Mike Deal said.

In Southeast Georgia, Baxley was among the first cities to go to solar power spurred partly by 1.03 percent financing for “greenovation,” City Manager Jeff Baxley said.

Baxley began looking at solar power in 2013 as a way to save money at “the biggest consuming facility we have,” Baxley said. “We needed to stop the bleeding out there. It was such a large user of energy.”

Pooler City Council adopted the rollback property tax millage rate for the new fiscal year.

Officials in Pooler this week rolled back the city’s millage rate for 2017 — keeping flat the level of taxes charged to property owners in the west Chatham town.

The City Council voted unanimously at its meeting Monday to adopt this year’s rollback rate of 3.849 mills — which, because of new construction reflected in the local tax digest, will actually increase the amount of property tax revenue brought in by more than $150,000 over the 3.909 mills levied in 2016, City Finance Director Michelle Warner said.

Valdosta adopted new fine levels for more than a dozen offenses, inclding DUI, littering, and public intoxication.

New Laws in Effect

New legislation passed in the last state legislative session and signed into law went into effect July 1.

After two years of debate, the campus carry bill is the law of the land in Georgia, allowing handguns on any campus in the state’s public college or university system.

Medical marijuana is expanded under another new law in the peach state, with more conditions eligible for treatment with cannabis oil, which is derived from marijuana.

House Bill 338 gives the state the power to step in if a school is under performing. If the school continues to do poorly, the state can convert it to a charter school.

Expanded tax credits for film and video production and post-production also kicked-in over the weekend.

House Bill 199 will provide a 20 percent tax credit for post-production companies – which perform services such as editing — with at least a $250,000 payroll in Georgia. The companies must also spend at least $500,000 per tax year. While the state has offered generous tax credits to the film industry since 2008, the post-production portion of the business has been excluded until now. The new credit will be capped at $5 million next year, $10 million in 2019 and $15 million from 2020 through 2022. No single company can get more than 20 percent of the total statewide credit available in a given year.

Video gaming companies will have an easier time qualifying for tax credits as well. It reduces the total Georgia payroll requirement to qualify for a credit from $500,000 to $250,000 if the gaming company makes a base investment of at least $200,000 during a two-year period.

Marijuana – Medical and Otherwise

Washington, DC smells like marijuana smoke, and not just on April 20th.

[M]ore than two years after the District legalized marijuana possession, it seems that everywhere you go in the nation’s capital, you catch a whiff of weed. And it’s often in the places where you least expect it.

On H Street downtown, as you wind your way between officeworkers rushing back from lunch.

At 10th and E, in the shadow of the FBI headquarters.

In the hallway of your apartment building. In the foyer of your gym. In Aisle 9 of the Walmart, wafting in through the beach towels. (Wait, Walmart?)

Maybe these fumes are just what the District needs. “I like the idea of D.C. being on one big contact high,” mused Adam Goodheart, a D.C.-based writer. “Some member of Congress may be walking down the street, fuming about health care, getting themselves worked up into a partisan fury, and find themselves mysteriously mellowing.”

Well, maybe that explains a lot.

State Rep. Allen Peake (R-Macon) spoke about the availability of medical cannabis oil, which is legal in Georgia, but for which no in-state source exists.

Representative Peake says there’s a huge problem for those families because there’s really no place to purchase the oil in the state.

“There’s no ability to access the product and so we’re having folks come to us and say ‘I have a medical marijuana card. I’m registered with the state but I don’t know how to get the product’,” says Peake.

The state allows for 14 medical conditions which can be legally treated with cannabis oil but the state doesn’t allow any cultivation of cannabis or the oil and Peake says there’s a gaping hole left by lawmakers.

“I am not involved in the transportation of oil here to Georgia. I honestly have no idea how it gets here,” said Peake. “We’ve provided a vehicle for them to basically access a product that we know has been lab tested, is safe and consistent and has been proven to be successful with many Georgia families. We don’t provide a product that’s above the 5 percent THC level that’s allowed in Georgia law. We’re only providing product to those who are properly registered with the state. And we’re not selling the product, we’re giving it to folks.”

“Our law, as it’s structured right now, is causing parents to either violate federal law by bringing it back themselves or having someone else do it and provide it to them,” said Peake. “That’s why I’m not involved in the transportation of the product across state lines. But it does show the fallacy and the gaping hole in our existing law. That we have to look at breaking federal law in order to provide relief to Georgia citizens who are properly registered in the state to possess this product.”

Also, skeptics have said that Peake is only fighting this to score political points, something he disputes. He says he’s not running for federal office or governor. He says he’s not even likely to be a state representative for much longer. He says he’s doing it simply because it’s the right thing to do.

Legislation passed this year expands the conditions eligible for Georgia’s in-state cannabis program.

Senate Bill 16 makes six more conditions eligible for treatment with a limited form of cannabis oil allowed in Georgia: AIDS, Alzheimer’s disease, autism, epidermolysis bullosa, peripheral neuropathy and Tourette’s syndrome. It also allows patients in hospice care to possess the oil.

Some in Savannah are discussing decriminalizing possession of small amounts.

2018 Elections

Straw poll season is upon us once again.

Cobb County Republican Party Straw Poll Results:

Governor
Hunter Hill	103	40.6%
Brian Kemp	84	33.1%
Casey Cagle	37	14.6%
Michael Williams	30	11.8%

 

Lieutenant Governor
David Shafer	138	61.3%
Geoff Duncan	64	28.4%
Rick Jeffares	23	10.2%

 

Secretary of State
Buzz Brockway	96	48.0%
Brad Raffensperger	61	30.5%
David Belle Isle	23	11.5%
Rick Knox	20	10.0%

Former Johns Creek City Council member Kelly Stewart announced on Facebook that she will run for State Representative in District 50.

After the announcement of State Representative Brad Raffensperger (R-Johns Creek) to run for Georgia Secretary of State, former Johns Creek City Council Member and Mayor Pro Tem Kelly Stewart announced on Tuesday, July 4th that she is a Republican candidate for Georgia House District 50.

“I have been proud to serve the citizens of Johns Creek since they first elected me to the City Council in 2010,” said Stewart.” “I am excited about the opportunity to run for this seat and to continue to work for them as their conservative voice of change in Atlanta.”

Kelly is a lifelong conservative who believes in limited government and individual responsibility. She will bring strong leadership, fiscal responsibility, and her ability to build broad coalitions to work through complex issues to the Georgia House of Representatives.

Stewart ran for the seat previously in a January 2015 special election, coming in first, but lost the runoff to Raffensperger.

Gwinnett County Democrats are laying the groundwork for contesting more elections, including the 7th Congressional District.

Training seminars organized by the Gwinnett Democratic Party for first-time office seekers fill up in hours. Events are packed with new members. And Okoye, the party’s chairman, no longer has to spend months begging candidates to run for Congress; this year he expects a bumper crop.

“We will probably end up with seven to nine candidates. All these people aren’t fools. They see the handwriting on the walls. So we must be doing something right,” Okoye said. “This time they actually believe.”

“The Jon Ossoff model, to be fair, is to have absolutely no record at all and to find somebody willing to pay $30 million to help you,” Woodall said. “That is absolutely a powerful model. That is not what we’re going to have in the 7th District of Georgia.”

Shaped a bit like a backward Pac-Man, the district gobbles up much of Gwinnett from Snellville and Lilburn to the south through I-85 to the banks of Lake Lanier. It darts west to ensnare the southern half of less-populous — and deeply conservative — Forsyth County.