Georgia Politics, Campaigns, and Elections for March 19, 2015

On March 19, 1916, the first American military air combat mission began in support of an incursion into Mexico under President Woodrow Wilson.

On March 19, 1947, the Georgia Supreme Court ruled in Thompson v. Talmadge on the “Three Governors Affair.” The Court held that the Georgia General Assembly lacked authority to elect Herman Talmadge as Governor, and that because of the death of Eugene Talmadge before he took office, no successor to Gov. Ellis Arnall was in place until the newly-elected Lt. Governor Melvin Johnson was sworn in and became Governor, succeeding Arnall.

On March 19, 2003, President George W. Bush announced the start of Operation Iraqi Freedom in order to depose Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein and eliminate the country’s ability to produce weapons of mass destruction.

In my post and email for March 19, 2014, I noted that Georgia has no Official State Dog and pondered what breed would be best. The last time it was voted on, in 1991, the Georgia Senate rejected the Golden Retriever on a 37-10 vote against. South Carolina’s official State Dog is the Boykin Spaniel, a breed developed for hunting in the Palmetto State and most commonly found there today.

This year, State Rep. Joe Wilkinson introduced HB 561 to name the “Adoptable Dog” as the Official State Dog of Georgia.

Under the Gold Dome Today

7:30am – 8:30am	House Natural Resources & Env’t – 606 clob
8:00am – 9:00am	Senate Insurance & Labore – 125 cap
9:30am – 10:00am	House Rules Committee – 341 cap
12:00pm – 1:00pm	Senate Rules Upon Adjournment – 450 cap
1:00pm – 2:00pm	House Industry & Labor – 506 clob
1:00pm – 2:00pm	Senate Science & Technology – 310 clob
1:00pm – 2:00pm	Senate Interstate Cooperation – 123 cap
1:00pm – 2:00pm	Senate Health & Human Services – 450 cap
1:30pm – 2:30pm	House Game, Fish, & Parks – 406 clob
2:00pm – 3:00pm	Senate Finance Committee – Mezz 1
2:00pm – 4:00pm	House Transportation – 506 clob
3:00pm – 4:00pm	Senate Higher Education – 310 clob
3:00pm – 4:00pm	Senate Veterans, Military, & Homeland Sec – 125 cap
3:00pm – 4:00pm	Senate Natural Resources & Env’t – 450 cap
3:00pm – 4:00pm	House Admin/Licensing Sub of Insurance – 515 clob
3:00pm – 4:00pm	House State Properties – 403 clob
3:00pm – 5:00pm	House Ways & Means Committee – 606 clob
4:00pm – 5:00pm	Senate State & Local Gov’tal Ops – mezz 1
4:00pm – 5:00pm	Senate Judiciary – 307 clob

Senate Rules Calendar

HB 184 – Banking and finance; extensively revise Title 7; provisions (As Passed House) (B&FI-18th) Williamson-115th

HB 246 – Accountants; provide for powers and actions granted to other licensing boards; provisions (As Passed House) (RI&U-27th) Knight-130th

House Rules Calendar

HB 16 Education; no high school which receives funding from Quality Basic Education Act shall participate in or sponsor interscholastic sports events unless students enrolled in magnet schools can participate under certain conditions; provide (Postponed)

HB 34 Georgia Right to Try Act; enact

HB 50 State property; statues, monuments, plaques, banners, and other commemorative symbols; provide additional protection

HB 54 Tuition grants; children of officers killed in line of duty who attend University System institutions and meet certain requirements; provide

HB 69 Motor Vehicle Event Data Recorder Act; enact

HB 81 Taxation; property; require confirmation of certain redemptions

HB 93 Motor vehicles; law enforcement retaining license plate data obtained from automated license plate recognition systems for certain periods; prohibit

HB 115 Foreclosure Cure Act; enact

HB 120 Local option sales tax; provide for an additional purpose for tax

HB 126 Motor vehicles; use of global positioning or navigation system mounts on windshields under certain circumstances; allow

HB 169 Motor vehicles; temporary operating permit when vehicle fails to pass federal emissions standards and certain conditions have been satisfied; provide

HB 182 Motor vehicles; acquisition of evidence; clarify provisions

HB 194 Elections; advance voting times and dates; revise

HB 196 Criminal procedure; reversal on appeal when a judge expresses an opinion regarding proof in a criminal case or as to accused’s guilt; change provisions

HB 216 Occupational diseases; define certain terms; provisions

HB 219 Health; swimming pools; exempt certain privately owned pools from inspection and licensing requirements

HB 228 Sheriffs; collect and deposit certain fees; provide

HB 231 Property; state revenue commissioner to deduct certain funds from deposits to the state treasury; authorize

HB 240 Community Health, Department of; provide that at least two members of board shall also be members of state health plan; provisions

HB 243 Education Savings Account Act; enact

HB 264 Juvenile Code; voluntary acknowledgements of legitimation; repeal

HB 267 Property; witnessing requisites of deeds, mortgages, and bills of sale; change and clarify provisions

HB 271 Education; charter-schools-in-the-workplace; provide

HB 280 State Sexual Offender Registry; individual convicted of trafficking a person for sexual servitude; require registration

HB 289 Motor fuel tax; exemption for a limited period of time for certain public mass transit vehicles; extend

HB 295 Corporations, partnerships, and associations; change certain provisions relating to definitions; provisions

HB 358 Legislative Oversight Committee for State Contracts; establish

HB 364 Real estate transfer tax; change certain provisions

HB 367 Superior courts; fourth judge of Western Judicial Circuit; provide

HB 377 Courts; collection of delinquent fees and statutory surcharges; provide

HB 381 Revised Georgia Law on Notarial Acts of 2015; enact

HB 405 Contracts and marriage; change provisions relating to agreements required to be in writing; provisions

HB 411 Highways; provide maximum total gross weight for vehicles hauling unfinished wood products when traveling on noninterstate highways; provisions

HB 414 Education; collection and disclosure of student data; establish and implement policies and requirements

HB 417 Motor vehicles; require drivers to stop at crosswalks with pedestrian activated rectangular rapid flash beacons; provisions

HB 422 Georgia Public Defender Standards Council; change council name to Georgia Public Defender Council

HB 430 Criminal procedure; search and seizure; revise and modernize law; provisions

HB 437 Brunswick-Glynn County Water and Sewer Commission Act; enact

HB 450 Food products; in-person sales of meat from certain requirements; exempt

HB 455 Motor vehicles and traffic; parking vehicle in manner preventing emergency vehicles from accessing private property without an identifiable driveway; prohibit

HB 483 State symbols; shoal bass as official state native riverine sport fish; designate

HB 494 Peace officers; retired officers shall not pay any fees or costs for any permit or card evidencing his or her registration or certification with Georgia Peace Officers Standards and Training Council; provide

HB 500 Employment security; services performed by individual for wages shall be deemed to be employment unless Department of Labor makes a contrary determination based on evidence submitted; provide

HB 534 Incest; relationships between relatives; change provisions

HB 541 Eminent domain; telephone companies; actual recurring local service revenues; specify accounts or portions thereof considered to be included

HB 564 Medical practice; physicians complete continuing education training on prescribing controlled substances and the development of addiction; require

HB 578 Public order; offense of harassing phone calls to offense of harassing communications; change

HOUSE RESOLUTIONS

HR 4 Municipalities; establish by local law an independent school system; authorize – CA

HR 281 Republic of Turkey and the Turkic American Federation of Southeast; recognize contributions; encourage creation of Georgian-Turkish Friendship Task Force

HR 302 Congress of the United States; enact significant reforms to nation’s federally financed graduate medical education programs and to provide states with additional resources to meet the health workforce needs of the future; urge

HR 473 Joint Study Committee on Cyber Security; create

HR 474 House Study Committee on Grandparents Raising Grandchildren and Kinship Care; create

SENATE BILLS

SB 2 Education; student who completes certain requirements relating to postsecondary coursework awarded a high school diploma

SB 51 Pharmacists and Pharmacies; provide for substitutions of interchangeable biological products

SB 101 Soil Erosion and Sedimentation; provide for buffer against coastal marshlands within which certain land-disturbing activities are prohibited

SB 139 Selling and Other Trade Practices; provide regulation; auxiliary

Committees

Today, the House Juvenile Justice Committee will hear Senate Bill 8 and Senate Resolution 7 by Senator Renee Unterman from 4-6 PM in Room 505 of the Coverdell Legislative Office Building.

Last month, the Senate Judicary Committee passed out Senator Renee Unterman’s Senate Bill 8 and Senate Resolution 7 with a single dissenting vote in each case. From Kristina Torres at the AJC:

Proposals to combat Georgia’s child sex trafficking problem passed out of a Senate committee Monday after a victim testified publicly for the first time about her plight and received support from religious, law enforcement and child advocates.

“I am a survivor,” said Rachel, who has inspired lawmakers to nickname their legislation the “Safe Harbor/Rachel’s Act.” Now in college, she says she was 17 when a sex trafficker befriended her on social media and then deceived her.

“I was afraid to breathe, I was afraid to rest, I was afraid to trust, I was afraid to be seen, I was afraid to dream,” said Rachel, who declined to give her last name and current age. “I hid in my own skin. Today, I see myself in a new light.”

That turnaround, Rachel said, came as a result of extensive counseling and support services — the very kind the legislation aims to provide statewide.

The proposal would establish a new Safe Harbor for Sexually Exploited Children Fund, which would get money through new $2,500 fines on convicted traffickers and an annual $5,000 fee on adult entertainment establishments. The money would then pay for physical and mental health care, housing, education, job training, child care, legal help and other services for victims.

Georgia Bureau of Investigation Director Vernon Keenan testified that the GBI supports the two bills, and that “the number one need in fighting sex trafficking is services for victims.” Keenan noted that the GBI first brought up the fact that convicted sex traffickers are not currently required to register as sex offenders, which the bill would change.

At 1 PM, the Senate Health and Human Services Committee will hear House Bill 1 by Rep. Allen Peake (R-Macon), a more-expansive version of Medical Marijuana legislation. Committee Chair Senator Renee Unterman (R-Buford) has said she will present a Committee Substitute combining elements of HB1 with Senate Bill 185 by Sen. Lindsey Tippins (R-Marietta), which has already passed the Senate.

Both bills passed overwhelmingly to the Senate’s Health and Human Services committee. Chairwoman Renee Unterman, R-Buford, said last week she would like to see a compromise, perhaps adding some additional diagnoses to Tippins’ measure from Peake’s.

“My best case scenario is that we can have a bill voted out of the Senate committee Thursday,” Peake told The Associated Press. “And then it would be voted on by the entire Senate. If my House colleagues are comfortable with changes, I will encourage the House to agree with the revised bill and then we send it to the governor.”

“To Sen. Unterman’s credit on this issue, she has patiently listened and taken time for the families that can be potentially affected,” he said.

The bill by Senator Tippins would provide for clinical trials of CBD-oil for treatment of epilepsy in children. Georgia Regents University is in the beginning stages of testing CBD derivatives in a study.

Dr. Michael Diamond of GRU in Augusta said Wednesday that the study will make a marijuana extract available to some people in Atlanta and several other locations around the state.

The study, scheduled to last at least five years, is just getting started. But Diamond says the study will not examine whether medical marijuana oil could help people with the other eight medical disorders outlined in a state House bill that’s scheduled for discussion Thursday.

One issue I would look to see discussed in the Committee is tightening up the definitions of who is eligible for CBD treatments. The House Bill lists “cancer” as a condition for which treatment would be available, but there are vast differences between the needs of patients with early forms of skin cancer that can be physically excised, and those with terminal lung or pancreatic cancer who are suffering not only the disease but effects of chemotherapy and radiation.

House Bill 110

House Bill 110, which would allow a wider variety of fireworks to be sold in Georgia, has not to my knowledge been scheduled for a Senate Committee hearing yet, but Sen. Jeff Mullis (R-Chickamauga), who Chairs the Senate Rules Committee, has made it clear the bill is a priority by posting outside his office the final vote tally in the State House with the names of “Nay” votes highlighted in yellow.

Most notable among the No votes in the State House is Mullis’s counterpart, Rep. John Meadows, (R-Calhoun) who chairs the House Rules Committee. Also opposing HB 110 in the State House were Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, Georgia Nursing Association, American Academy of Pediatrics, the Georgia Alliance to Stop Fireworks and Marietta Fire Chief Jackie Gibbs.

DeKalb County

Yesterday, DeKalb County Interim CEO Lee May announced the hiring of former Georgia Attorney General Mike Bowers and Richard Hyde

to provide a thorough systematic review of DeKalb County Government policies and procedures. Bowers and Hyde are empowered to identify any conflicts of interest, corruption or malfeasance and make specific recommendations to the administration and appropriate agencies as needed.

“This is the latest in a series of steps we are taking to improve county operations, as well as restore our image and the public’s trust in county government,” said Interim CEO May.  “The special investigators will identify the county’s risk exposure for waste, fraud and abuse, and proactively identify and investigate instances of wrongdoing. This might be a painful exercise, but it is absolutely necessary to restore the public’s trust in DeKalb County Government, and reset the high standard of integrity that public servants should hold.”

Bowers told the AJC of his aspirations for the investigation, saying

“We’re going to try to restore the public’s trust in its government,” Bowers said. “We’re going to root out conflicts of interest, corruption, malfeasance.”

Bowers’ investigation will last at least 120 days, and he and his team will produce a report that will be released to the public without any prior review by May or his administration.

The inquiry will particularly examine the Department of Watershed Management, which was the subject of the special grand jury investigation that led to criminal charges against suspended CEO Burrell Ellis.

Bowers will be paid $400 an hour, and his investigators will be paid $300 an hour from the county’s non-departmental budget.

Bowers won’t focus his investigation at the DeKalb Commission because it’s not under May’s authority. But Bowers and May said they hope commissioners cooperate.

I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that Bowers & Company won’t be the only ones investigating DeKalb County.

Jeb Bush in Atlanta today

Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush will visit Atlanta today for a fundraiser, and will visit the State Capitol to meet with Gov. Nathan Deal and appear in both chambers.

Larry Sabato’s Crystal Ball has a Presidential update out today, which lists Jeb Bush as one of the top tier candidates for President, along with Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker and Florida Senator Marco Rubio. Particularly apropos for Georgia is Sabato’s listing of Bush’s weaknesses, including:

•Bush fatigue is real
•Support for Common Core and immigration reform
•Personifies establishment, which grassroots loathes

Straw Poll results from Republican County Conventions suggest that Bush does indeed have significant weakness among GOP activists. Overall, Bush came in fourth with 6.92% at the County Conventions, a handful of which held straw polls, behind Scott Walker (41.73%), Rand Paul (13.16%), and Ben Carson (9.05%).

Here are early returns in the GaPundit straw poll for President: