Georgia Politics, Campaigns, and Elections for March 27, 2017

Thomas Jefferson was elected as a Virginia delegate to the Second Continental Congress on March 27, 1775.

Colonel James Fannin, a Georgia native and Colonel in the Texas Regular Army and more than 300 other members of the Georgia battalion were executed on March 27, 1836 after surrendering to Santa Anna’s Mexican Army. Fannin County, Georgia is named after Col Fannin.

On March 27, 1912, the first Japanese cherry trees were planted on the northern bank of the Potomac River near the Jefferson Memorial in Washington, DC. This past weekend, Brookhaven held its third annual Brookhaven Cherry Festival, while Macon’s Cherry Blosson festival continues through April 2d.

On March 27, 1941, Governor Eugene Talmadge signed legislation outlawing the handling of venomous snakes in such a way as to endanger another person or to encourage another person to handle a snake in such a way as to endanger them. The legislation resulted from a six-year old handling a venomous snake during a church service in Adel, Georgia, during which she was bitten and died. Under that act you could still handle snakes yourself as long as you didn’t endanger someone else.

On March 27, 1947, Governor Melvin Thompson signed legislation that made Georgia a “Right to Work State,” meaning that employees cannot generally be forced to join a union or pay dues in order to take a job. On the same day, gambling on sporting events was outlawed by another bill signed by Gov. Thompson.

Ron Daniels, our Poet Laureate, has a short history of the prohibition on sports gambling on the website.

Georgia Politics, Campaigns, and Elections

On August 21, 2017, the first Total Eclipse of the Heart Sun in 38 years will cross the continental United States. In Georgia, it will only be fully visible in the Extreme Northwest Northeast (upper left-hand) corner of the state.

The centerline path of the eclipse just barely touches the state in Rabun and Stephens counties.  Clayton, Rabun Gap, and Dillard in Rabun County are located in the centerline of the path of totality.  Totality will occur there at 2:35:45 PM and last for 2 minutes, 34 seconds.  The entire event will take place over a couple of hours and viewers will have to wear protective eyewear.

Rabun County will party like it’s the end of the world. And for 2.5 minutes, you can say that Northwest Northeast Georgia is literally benighted.

Jon Richards, a fixture of the Gwinnett County Republican Party, the Gwinnett Chamber, and the General Assembly press corps, died at the age of 61.

Richards was an active member of the Gwinnett Chamber of Commerce, the Gwinnett Republican Party, and various other civic, social, and political organizations.

He has also served as a member of the Gwinnett Transit System Advisory Board, and has been heavily involved in the county GOP for years, serving as the person the party turned to for information.

On Friday, a resolution was placed in the Senate hopper in recognition of Richards.

The resolution stated, “Richards has been a great family man as son to his mother, Caroline, and his late father, Glenn; his sisters Amy and Anne; his brother-in-law Andrew; and his nephews, Cal, Matthew, and Stuart, for whom he is an experienced pumpkin carver and the official distributor of presents found under the tree on Christmas morning.”

It continued: “Jon Richards has several decades of dedication to the Gwinnett and Georgia Republican Party organizations but has always sought to find solutions to problems based on the needs of our citizens rather than the needs of a political organization. Jon Richards has devoted hours and given selflessly to mentor high school and college students to become the leaders of tomorrow, many of whom are already the leaders of today.”

From the AJC’s Greg Bluestein:

About the only time we saw him struggle for words was at the Georgia GOP’s 2015 convention, when Jon was named the party’s volunteer of the year. He beamed for days after that award.

“He is the first to arrive and the last to leave and is always there to do a little more if needed,” former state Rep. Ed Lindsey wrote at the time.

As his cancer grew worse, Georgia’s political class united to show him their love. At a visit to his hospital in early January, a steady stream of friends and readers came to see him, hold his hands and tell him he was cared for. He hated to admit it, but he was worried he wouldn’t be able to follow the legislative session from his hospital bed.

He made one last visit to the statehouse in late February, escorted by Harper and other friends. He met with Gov. Nathan Deal, took pictures with the Capitol press corps and couldn’t move an inch without well wishers sending him their love.

From Charlie Harper at GeorgiaPol:

Jon was an active member of the Gwinnett Chamber of Commerce, the Gwinnett Republican Party, and various other civic, social, and political organizations. He wasn’t “active” in the “member in good standing” meaning of the term. Jon was active in that he was always moving, always doing, always contributing. There was a constant theme in everything Jon did: Always helping.

Jon was a bit of a contrarian in political circles, as he was someone that eschewed the limelight, but instead preferred to remain behind the scenes. He strove to ensure that events were well planned and professionally executed. While having strong beliefs of his own, his overall goal was that the political processes and systems he participated in to be fair, transparent, and productive.

We anticipate a Celebration of Life service for Jon this Wednesday evening, in Gwinnett County. We will update here as plans are finalized with time and location.

Polls open today for early voting in the Sixth Congressional District and the 32d Georgia Senate District.

“As Georgia’s chief elections official, my top priority is ensuring elections are secure, accessible, and fair for all eligible voters,” said Secretary of State Brian Kemp in a statement. “With expanded early voting opportunities and new technologies in place, it has never been easier to take part in the electoral process, and I want voters to make sure their voices are heard in these important contests.”

In District 6, which includes parts of Cobb, DeKalb and Fulton counties, 18 are vying to replace Tom Price, who resigned his seat to become the nation’s health secretary. In District 32, which covers parts of Cobb and Fulton, eight candidates are trying to replace Judson Hill, who gave up his seat to run for the District 6 seat.

For more information on early voting, you can log into the Secretary of State’s MVP webpage or contact your local elections office.

Four of the Republican candidates for Congress met in a debate yesterday.

The candidates in attendance were David Abroms, Bob Gray, Judson Hill and Kurt Wilson. Karen Handel and Dan Moody were invited, but canceled beforehand. The winner will replace Tom Price, who resigned to serve as U.S. Health and human services secretary.

Health care was front and center in the debate, which followed House Republicans’ failure to pass a replacement for the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare.

The candidates for District 6 suggested that they would have voted against the alternative plan if they had the opportunity.

“I don’t think we actually saw the legislation,” Gray said. “And I’m not sure we should do, as Republicans, what the Democrats did and vote on something we haven’t yet seen … What I’d like to see is the establishment and Paul Ryan lead a collaborative approach … Once we have seen it, then we can determine whether it’s something we can pass.”

Hill said the bill did not go far enough to protect consumer choice.

“I would not have voted in favor of this version,” Hill said. “Americans deserve better. Americans deserve to address pre-existing conditions. We deserve to have an affordable health care system … We deserve to have expanded choice. We deserve to buy health care across state lines.”

LEGISLATIVE COMMITTEE MEETINGS

1:30 PM HOUSE RULES 341 CAP

2:00 PM HOUSE SMALL BUSINESS 506 CLOB

Tuesday will be the penultimate day of the Georgia General Assembly, and Thursday they are expected to adjourn Sine Die.

The Rome News-Tribune looks at legislation of interest to Northwest Georgia in the last days of session.

With two voting days left in the 2017 Georgia General Assembly session, Rep. Katie Dempsey, R-Rome, was celebrating passage of a measure she’s worked on for years.

Senate Bill 201 lets employees who have sick leave use it to take care of immediate family members. Dempsey sponsored similar legislation in the past, and spoke in favor of it before it passed the House last week, 114­-51.

“This was one of the hard ones,” she said. “It’s for employees who want to work, who don’t want to lose their job, but perhaps may need to take care of a sick husband or child or be with a dying parent.”

Also last week, Demp­sey’s House Bill 463 passed the Senate and was signed into law by Gov. Nathan Deal. The bill allows the Department of Early Care and Learning to establish a public foundation to accept donations.

“They’ve received almost $14 million from private funds through an auxiliary foundation. This lets them raise money themselves,” Dempsey said.

HB 205, which regulates fracking, passed the Senate by substitute Friday and will go back to the House for confirmation of the changes. The hydraulic fracturing method of natural gas extraction is only likely to be used in Floyd and other counties in the region where the Conasauga Shale Play extends underground.

The dynamic duo of Kathleen Foody and Ezra Kaplan write for the Associated Press on still pending legislation before the General Assembly.

Lawmakers already passed a state budget, the only measure members are constitutionally required to approve each year. But lawmakers have dozens of other priorities that they’re hoping to move to Gov. Nathan Deal’s desk before adjourning for the year on Thursday.

GUNS ON CAMPUS

A bill lifting Georgia’s ban on guns on public college campuses awaits a vote in the state Senate despite Gov. Nathan Deal’s veto of a similar proposal last spring.

TAXES

A Senate committee approved a bill that will eliminate sales taxes on taxi and limousine rides. The proposal was initially designed to increase tax collection from ride-hailing services Uber and Lyft, but senators instead opted to eliminate all taxes on transportation services.

That same committee rejected a proposal from the House to move Georgia to a flat income tax and instead boosted certain tax refunds while cutting the rate for the top tax bracket.

MEDICAL MARIJUANA

A compromise proposal expanding a state program that lets some patients use oil derived from marijuana also awaits action.

House and Senate lawmakers announced the agreement in mid-March. But the legislation still requires a vote in the House and a final vote in the Senate.

The Georgia Senate passed House Bill 338 by Rep. Kevin Tanner (R-Dawsonville), setting the stage for turnaround efforts for failing schools.

“It’s about cooperation in schools not the occupation of schools,” said Sen. Lindsey Tippins, R-Marietta, whose Education and Youth Committee worked closely on the bill with school lobbying groups and its chief author, Rep. Kevin Tanner, R-Dawsonville.
Voters in November rejected Deal’s referendum to establish and control an Opportunity School District, a kind of receivership district for schools deemed failures by an agency the governor controls. The opposition was grounded in a belief in local control.

This new legislation acknowledges that. It’s not a constitutional amendment establishing broad new state powers, so it does not need voter approval. Rather, it relies on collaboration with local school districts.

The legislation already passed the House of Representatives by an even more lopsided vote, and will return there for approval of some amendments added by Tippins’ education committee.

A major criticism of the bill, a lack of funding to assist in improving schools, was at least partially addressed Tuesday. Deal got about $2.2 million added for school turnaround in the next fiscal year budget.

Senator Butch Miller (R-Gainesville) spoke about legislation he sponsored that has passed this session.

Miller said Senate Bill 102, passed by both chambers, designates emergency cardiac care centers.

“…level 1, 2 and 3, so that the EMT, EMS, emergency rescue services in the event of a cardiac event, they know what is the most appropriate setting for that patient.”

The measure will create the Office of Cardiac Care within the Georgia Department of Public Health to establish the level system.

“…so that we don’t add any additional bureaucracy, no additional level to our state expense, to the taxpayers’ expense,” Miller said.

“On the House side, Representative Lee Hawkins (R-Gainesville) was the sponsor, and we could not have accomplished that without the help of our local constituents; Jeff Marshall, Chad Black and Deb Bailey,” Miller said.

Miller said Senate Bill 121, the Jeffrey Dallas Gay, Junior Act, allows loved ones or family members of an opioid-addicted person to get a prescription for Naloxone.

“In the event that there is an overdose, you spray this in the nostrils, just like a nasal spray, and it triggers the heart to start beating again,” Miller said.

The Senator said the bill essentially codifies Governor Nathan Deal’s executive order from late 2016.

The Macon Telegraph looks at the actual availability of Naloxone after the Governor’s order.

On Dec. 14, 2016, Gov. Nathan Deal supported removal of naloxone from the dangerous drug list, reclassifying it as a Schedule V exempt drug, and allowing it to be dispensed OTC, with the hope that drug users, their friends and family members will have ready access to the lifesaving medication, should the need arise. Previously, in 2014, the Georgia 911 Medical Amnesty Law extended certain legal protections to those who administer naloxone to an overdose victim. Saving lives in this manner may give users, many of whom are young and potentially remediable, a second chance.

Curious about naloxone nasal spray’s local availability, I Googled “pharmacies near me” and obtained a list of 20 pharmacies. I called them and asked if they had naloxone nasal spray in stock.

None of the pharmacies had naloxone nasal spray in stock. A few said it could be ordered and would arrive within a day or two. A few commented that I was the only person to request this medication. A few were aware of its ultimate OTC availability, but indicated, “the details are being worked out.”

Legislation to protect Georgia’s shore stalled in the Senate and likely will not pass this session.

Lawmakers on Wednesday tabled the bill that sought to redraw the area where the state can exert its influence on beachfront property.

Rep. Jesse Petrea, R-Savannah, sponsored HB 271 in the House, where it had passed unanimously. But it stalled in the Senate Natural Resources and the Environment Committee.

Petrea said he asked for the bill to be held until the next session to allow for more community involvement. The 2017 legislative session is scheduled to end March 30. Lawmakers will reconvene in January. In the meantime, a Senate subcommittee of the Natural Resources and Environment Committee has agreed to look into the subject.

At issue is the landward extent of the state’s regulatory reach at the shorefront. The current law defines the state’s jurisdiction by drawing a zigzag line connecting 20-foot native trees to each other and to shorefront buildings erected in 1979 or earlier.

Legislation to update Georgia’s adoption procedures has become the latest battleground on religious liberty.

Gay-rights advocates and Democrats in the legislature immediately blasted the change as discriminatory against gay couples. The state’s top official overseeing Georgia’s foster care and adoption systems also warned during Thursday’s committee meeting that the change could violate federal anti-discrimination law and risk millions of dollars in federal funding.

The [amended] bill would allow adoption agencies to refuse a state agency’s referral of adoptive or foster parents based broadly on the “child-placing agency’s mission.”

Seven Republican members of the Senate Judiciary Committee supported the amendment to a broader bill updating adoption law; four Democrats on the panel voted no. State Sen. William Ligon, R-Brunswick, who proposed the change defended it as a way to increase the number of adoption agencies that would work with the state.

“When you have a group that has a mission statement that is meeting a need in a community, then we should do all that we can to ensure those needs are met and to encourage that.” Ligon said.

Jim Galloway of the AJC has an excellent piece on how the current state of adoption laws came to be.

There is a specific reason that adoption law in Georgia has been allowed to marinate for 27 years. It showed itself on Monday, when Republicans in the Senate Judiciary Committee tacked on an amendment that would give broad protections to private child placement agencies that refuse to process specific adoptions for religious reasons.

Think same-sex couples. Other beliefs could also trigger these protections, amenders argued. Divorce, for instance. But let’s not pretend.

Almost immediately, Gov. Nathan Deal erupted, warning that the amendment could kill years of behind-the-scenes, pro-bono work by adoption attorneys across the state. “I certainly don’t want that to happen, and I would hope they would reconsider,” Deal said.

The history of Georgia’s adoption code as a no-go zone has several versions. “What we’ve done is gone around this bubble, and right in the middle is the adoption [law],” said state Sen. Renee Unterman, R-Buford. “We’ve done everything around it.”

Unterman says reluctance to tackle the whole of Georgia’s adoption law has been a matter of year-to-year logistics, not religious objections to gay parenting.

Election Connection 2018

A Republican redistricting plan for the state legislature is running into criticism from Democrats.

“It was rushed through and nobody saw the maps until this morning. We didn’t have time to get public input,” said Sen. Steve Hensen, D-Stone Mountain. He complained that the committee chairman didn’t share the new maps with the minority before the meeting.

The Senate committee approved a substitute proposal 6-4 Friday, voting along party lines. It would have to be approved by both chambers before becoming law.

Sen. Ben Watson, R-Savannah, chairs the Senate Reapportionment and Redistricting Committee and said that each chamber tends to leave each other’s redistricting alone.

“Customarily the House doesn’t change the Senate’s plans and vice versa,” Watson said.

The initial redistricting bill was accused of unfairly protecting two Republican representatives who had narrower victories in November than in recent years. Both of those lawmakers withdrew from the redistricting plan.

The new plan would remove four districts from the initial proposal, leaving only five Republican districts to have their lines redrawn. All of the affected districts are in a northwest portion of the Atlanta metro area.

Former US Attorney General Eric Holder also chimed in on the redistricting proposal.

In a statement to The Associated Press, Holder says Republicans who control the Georgia House are practicing “political map-rigging at its worst” with a plan to move black voters out of certain swing districts in metro Atlanta.

“Voters should choose their elected representatives, not the other way around,” Holder said of the proposal, which House Republicans adopted earlier this month on a party line vote.

Holder urged Republican Gov. Nathan Deal and GOP senators to reject the map.

Democrats Stacey Abrams (Atlanta) and Stacey Evans (Cobb) could face off in the 2018 Primary for Governor, according to the AJC Political Insider.

Stacey Abrams of Atlanta, leader of House Democrats in the state Capitol for the last seven years, has long signaled her interest in the race for governor. A tax attorney by trade, Abrams has spent the last two years cultivating national contacts. She was allowed a cameo appearance last year at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. She has waited her turn.

But Abrams’ path was complicated last Wednesday night, when state Rep. Stacey Evans of Smyrna began making phone calls, letting friends know that she, too, was contemplating a run for governor. Evans, who is also an attorney, was first elected to the Legislature in 2010. Only five years later, Democrats in Washington tried to lure her into a contest against U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson. She refused.

And yet insiders fear such a contest could shred an already fragile party like nothing has since the bitter 2006 Democratic contest for governor between Secretary of State Cathy Cox and Lt. Gov. Mark Taylor. Taylor won. Cox abandoned politics. And Gov. Sonny Perdue won re-election.

Race is part of the worry, as is always the case in a party built on a white-black alliance. Abrams, 43, is black. Evans, 38, is white. Voters of color dominate the Democratic primary, and demographics continue to list in their favor. But aside from non-partisan judicial contests, an African-American hasn’t won statewide office in Georgia since 2006, when Michael Thurmond was labor commissioner and Thurbert Baker was attorney general.

State Senator Josh McKoon said, “nothing’s off the table” when asked whether he might run for Governor in 2018.

McKoon, who has been a controversial member of the controlling Republican caucus and at times challenging party leadership, opened the door to speculation in January when he announced from the Senate floor this would be his final two-year term representing District 29.

The current General Assembly session is scheduled to end Thursday. McKoon expects to have a decision on what he will do next by the June 3 Republican State Convention in Augusta.

McKoon said he is content with letting the process of who will be in what race play out in the coming weeks.

“If there is a good conservative candidate who can win, I want to write that person a check,” McKoon said. “Right now, there is not a clear candidate that fits that bill. I know some people are considering it.”

The other options on the table for McKoon, 38, are a possible run for attorney general or not seeking elected office at all next year.

“If I were the attorney general, there are some things I would want to do,” he said. “The top issue I would like to see the attorney general take on is our border dispute with Tennessee. We could solve Georgia’s water issues — all of Georgia — by filing in the Supreme Court and getting access to the Tennessee River.”

Gwinnett County Public Schools officials expect to spend $2.092 billion dollars serving 1,972 in the coming school year.

Muscogee County School Board votes tonight on whether to hire a private, for-profit company to run an alternative education center.

Houston County’s population may exceed that of neighboring Bibb County for the first time this year.

Houston County is on track to eclipse the population of Macon-Bibb County as early as this year if trends continue, according to the latest U.S. Census Bureau estimates.

Houston County is the exception to the norm across Middle Georgia, as it experienced large growth between July 1, 2015, and July 1, 2016. The latest census figures, set for release Thursday, show most of the area’s county populations having relatively little change in either direction.

The latest Census Bureau estimates put Houston’s population at 152,122, about 600 fewer people than Macon-Bibb’s 152,760 residents.

“The quality of life in Houston County is as good as anywhere in Georgia,” [County Commissioner Tom] McMichael said. “There’s a lot of stability at (Robins Air Force) base, and when you have stability, you’ll have growth. We also have one of the finest school systems in Georgia. We have a lot of people move here so their children can go to school here.

He added, “There are also a lot of job opportunities. There are a lot of people that live in Houston county and work in the Macon area and vice versa.”

Floyd County Commissioners will decide this week whether to welcome pet pigs.

Helen City Commissioners are considering a rewrite to modernize local alcohol laws.

Plant Vogtle

Westinghouse, the contractor in charge of building two nuclear reactors at Plant Vogtle, is expected to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy this week.

Troubled Toshiba Corp. has decided to file bankruptcy at month’s end for its U.S. subsidiary Westinghouse – the primary contractor at Plant Vogtle – according to reports, putting the construction of two nuclear reactors there and Georgia Power customers in the financial cross-hairs.

With the pressure on the Southern Co., Georgia Power’s parent company, and the Georgia Public Service Commission, continued construction progress and cost diffusion to ratepayers has become a chief concern. According to PSC Vice Chairman Tim Echols, Georgia Power is expected to take all available options to that commission.

“Any dollar amount, whether under or over the certified cost, cannot be recovered without the PSC’s approval,” Echols said.

“Georgia law is clear that absent fraud, concealment, failure to disclose a material fact or criminal misconduct, any reasonable and prudent expenditure is eligible for recovery,” he said. “The commission has already determined that if the project is completed and works as designed, the costs incurred prior to Dec. 31, 2015, will not be disallowed on the basis of imprudence.”

Jacob Hawkins, spokesman for Georgia Power, said the company is monitoring the situation with Westinghouse and is prepared for any outcome.

“We appreciate and understand the importance of the Vogtle expansion project to Augusta and the surrounding community,” he said. “Westinghouse remains under contract to complete the Vogtle expansion, and work continues to progress at the site. …”