The British Parliament enacted The Coercive Acts on March 28, 1774.
The Coercive Acts were a series of four acts established by the British government. The aim of the legislation was to restore order in Massachusetts and punish Bostonians for their Tea Party, in which members of the revolutionary-minded Sons of Liberty boarded three British tea ships in Boston Harbor and dumped 342 crates of tea—nearly $1 million worth in today’s money—into the water to protest the Tea Act.
Passed in response to the Americans’ disobedience, the Coercive Acts included:
The Boston Port Act, which closed the port of Boston until damages from the Boston Tea Party were paid.
The Massachusetts Government Act, which restricted Massachusetts; democratic town meetings and turned the governor’s council into an appointed body.
The Administration of Justice Act, which made British officials immune to criminal prosecution in Massachusetts.
The Quartering Act, which required colonists to house and quarter British troops on demand, including in their private homes as a last resort.
Governor Ernest Vandiver signed legislation authorizing the construction of monuments to Georgians killed in battle at the Antietam and Gettysburg battlefields on March 28, 1961.
Identical 15 1/2-foot-tall monuments of Georgia blue granite were sculpted by Harry Sellers of Marietta Memorials. At the top of the shaft is the word “GEORGIA” over the state seal. Lower on the shaft is the inscription, “Georgia Confederate Soldiers, We sleep here in obedience; When duty called, we came; When Countdry called, we died.”
Georgia’s first “Sunshine Law” requiring open meetings of most state boards and commissions, was signed by Governor Jimmy Carter on March 28, 1972.
A nuclear reactor at Three Mile Island near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania overheated on March 28, 1979 and within days radiation levels had risen in a four county area. It was the most serious accident in commercial nuclear history in the United States.
Fifteen Revolutionary War era cannon were pulled form the Savannah River during the dredging project, according to the Savannah Morning News.
In January, just as the U.S. Corps of Engineers Savannah District was wrapping up the 22 year-long Savannah Harbor Expansion Project (SHEP) that dredged the Savannah River from 42 to 47 feet to accommodate larger vessels and increase port revenue, archaeologists made an astonishing find: Twelve Revolutionary War-era cannons that had been resting in the muddy depths for almost 250 years.
“It was a surprise since this was an area that had been dredged before,” said Corps archaeologist Andrea Farmer. “But this is a very dynamic river. It’s just littered with historic material.”
The dozen rusted, barnacle-encrusted guns join three others of similar size found a year before, along with fragments of anchors and ammunition in a deep spot known as Five Fathom Hole in front of Old Fort Jackson, not far from where the Civil War-era ironclad CSS Georgia was recovered in 2015.
All 15 cannons are now under the auspices of the Corps, where they are undergoing stabilization procedures to conserve them for future display.
The discovery brings light to Savannah’s role in the Revolutionary War, which is often overshadowed by its Civil War history. The cannons are believed to have been sunk in September 1779, when British commanders who controlled the city frantically scuttled several ships to block the entrance to the harbor from the French naval fleet led by American ally Charles Hector, comte d’Estaing.
The Coastal Heritage Society has agreed to take on stewardship of the 15 guns at the Savannah History Museum, where plans are coming together to have them overlook the Revolutionary War battlefield at Tricentennial Park. Visitors will be able to get a close look at the cannons as they learn more about the oft-obscured Southern Campaign that was part of America’s independence.
Columbus honored her most recent recipients of the Medal of Honor, according to the Ledger-Enquirer.
Medal of Honor recipients Sgt. 1st Class Alwyn Cashe and Col. Ralph Puckett Jr. were honored by the city of Columbus and Fort Benning in a ceremony Friday afternoon.
Cashe and Puckett were the latest in a group of seven Medal of Honor recipients with ties to the area to have plaques added to a monument in front of The Eternal Flame Memorial near 9th Street and the Government Center. Both men were awarded the country’s highest military prize in 2021 by President Joe Biden.
Puckett was awarded the Medal of Honor in May 2021, more than seven decades after he was badly wounded during the Korean War.
Cashe was awarded the Medal of Honor in December, 16 years after his death. He is the first Black service member awarded the Medal of Honor for fighting in Afghanistan or Iraq.
Georgia Politics, Campaigns, and Elections
United States Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas was released Friday from hospitalization, according to WTOC.
Thomas, 73, had entered the hospital last Friday evening after experiencing “flu-like symptoms.” He was treated for an infection with intravenous antibiotics, the court said Sunday in announcing his hospitalization. He had been expected to be released from the hospital Monday or Tuesday.
Thomas did not have COVID-19, the court said. He has been vaccinated and boosted, like the rest of the court.
The justice missed arguments at the high court on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, but Chief Justice John Roberts said he would participate in the cases using briefs the parties filed and the transcript of the arguments.
Under the Gold Dome Today – Legislative Day 36
TBD Senate Rules Committee upon Adjournment 450 CAP
7:00 AM Senate Health and Human Services Committee – canceled 450 CAP
8:30 AM Senate Transportation Committee 307 CLOB
9:00 AM HOUSE RULES COMMITTEE 341 CAP
10:00 AM HOUSE FLOOR SESSION (LD 36) House Chamber
10:00 AM Senate Floor Session LD 36 Senate Chamber
1:00 PM HOUSE HIGHER EDUCATION COMMITTEE 406 CLOB HYBRID
1:00 PM Senate Finance Committee 450 CAP
1:00 PM Senate Science and Technology Committee 307 CLOB
1:00 PM Senate Agriculture and Consumer Affairs Committee Mezz 1
2:00 PM HOUSE PUBLIC SAFETY & HOMELAND SECURITY SUBCOMMITTEE B 406 CLOB
2:00 PM Senate Interstate Cooperation Committee 125 CAP
2:00 PM Senate Retirement Committee 310 CLOB
2:00 PM Senate Judiciary Committee 307 CLOB
3:00 PM HOUSE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT & TOURISM COMMITTEE 406 CLOB
3:00 PM Senate Education and Youth Committee 307 CLOB
4:00 PM HOUSE Special Committee on Election Integrity 606 CLOB HYBRID
4:00 PM Senate Ethics Committee 307 CLOB
5:00 PM Senate Health and Human Services Committee 450 CAP
Governor Brian Kemp said he will sign Senate Bill 514, the “Unmask Georgia Students Act,” according to Fox5Atlanta.
Senate Bill 514 passed the state House 93-52 Friday after a debate in which Republicans argued that parents should be able to reject “misguided policies” forcing their children to wear masks while Democrats argued the move would gut a protective measure that could still be needed if COVID-19 resurges or another respiratory illness becomes widespread.
The ban would last for five years until June 30, 2027, although lawmakers have acknowledged that a governor could override it if a public health emergency is declared.
“Parents are the best decision makers when it comes to the health and education of their children,” said Rep. Lauren McDonald III, a Cumming Republican who presented the bill. “This legislation ensures that those rights are not infringed by misguided policies.”
“There is a shared responsibility to do what you can to protect others,” said. Rep Jasmine Clark, a Lilburn Democrat who has a doctorate in microbiology. “Opting out of that responsibility puts others in harm’s way. Public health bills like this create this false and dangerous sense of individualism.”
“Nothing in this bill prohibits parents from sending their children to school in a mask that actually works,” said Rep. Mark Newton, an Augusta Republican and emergency room physician.
Governor Kemp spoke at a ceremony to mark the completion of the Savannah Harbor Expansion Project, according to the Associated Press via the Statesboro Herald.
Calling it a “once in a generation milestone,” Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp on Friday touted completion of a $973 million expansion of the shipping channel linking the Port of Savannah to the Atlantic Ocean as an accomplishment that will deliver a lasting boost to commerce in the state.
“To say that today has been a long time coming is an understatement,” Kemp told about 50 people gathered on the Savannah waterfront a few miles downriver from where towering cranes load and unload ships along the port’s docks. “This is a day that all Georgians should be proud of, no matter who they are, where they work or how they vote.”
The dredging of mud and sediment from the river bottom got underway in 2015 as Savannah and other U.S. ports raced for deeper water to accommodate bigger ships arriving along the East Coast through an expanded Panama Canal.
Overseen by the Army Corps of Engineers and funded jointly by the federal government and the state, the harbor expansion added 5 feet of depth to the Savannah River shipping channel. That allows larger ships carrying heavier loads to come and go without waiting for higher tides.
“There’s other things we need to do in addition to deepening, looking at widening. And not the entire river, but certain places. So, we’re going to begin that now,” Georgia Ports Authority Executive Director Griff Lynch said.
Regarding the Talmadge Bridge, Lynch says options include raising it, replacing it or creating a tunnel under the Savannah River.
“We’re at the very early stages to explore really what all the opportunities are for the Savannah Bridge, whether it’s to modify it, to replace it or to do other things at different locations,” GDOT Commissioner Russell McMurry said.
“The current bridge at high water is about 185, 186 ft. air draft from the bridge to the water. We need to be, to be competitive for the future, we need to be at least at 220, in that range. 215 to 220,” Lynch said.
Lynch says that will allow the larger ships expected to call on the Port of Savannah to pass under the bridge safely. He added it might be another six months to a year before port officials and their partners settle on which option for the bridge is best.
While in Savannah, Gov. Kemp mentioned the planned income tax refund, according to WTOC.
The legislation Gov. Kemp recently signed says taxpayers who qualify will be those who filed in 2020 and 2021.
The governor talked about that legislation Friday in Savannah, explaining how the tax credit is possible, and when Georgians can expect to see that payment.
The governor attributed the surplus of more than a billion dollars in taxpayer money to the state’s decisions during the pandemic, a strong economy and conservative budgeting by state lawmakers.
“It’s one-time money. I think it’s best when we have more than we need to send it back to the people that sent it to us, the taxpayers. That’s what we’re doing with over a billion dollars of refunds that will be in Georgians’ bank accounts in a matter of weeks. It’s what also allowed us to do the two-month moratorium on collecting gas tax at the pump,” Gov. Kemp said.
The one-time tax refund is expected to roll out in 6 to 8 weeks, according to the governor’s office.
House Bill 1013 by Speaker David Ralston has run into resistance in the Senate, according to the Associated Press via AccessWDUN.
A bill to improve access to mental health treatment in Georgia that appeared to be sailing through the state Legislature is now facing vocal opposition, with some critics claiming it would protect pedophiles and threaten Second Amendment rights
HB 1013 seeks to ensure that insurers provide the same level of benefits for mental health disorders as they do for physical illness. It would also make it easier to take someone into care without their consent and provide forgivable loans for people who become mental health workers.
It passed the state House earlier this month with nearly unanimous support. But opponents have since flooded state Senate meetings, some of them rallied by the anti-abortion group Georgia Right to Life and a second group, Truth in Education, which has raised concerns about critical race theory and obscene material in schools, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.
The “mass attack” is coming from a “very small internet activation,” Mary Margaret Oliver, a Decatur Democrat in the state House, told the AJC. Oliver is a co-sponsor of the bill.
Republican House Speaker David Ralston, who is also sponsoring the bill, said some of the objections are “well-intentioned.”
“Then there are the others for whom their concerns are fact-free, they are outrageous, they are ridiculous,” he told the newspaper.
Georgia State House Bill 1464, granting the Georgia Bureau of Investigation original jurisdiction over alleged vote fraud, passed the House and awaits Senate action, according to the Capitol Beat News Service via the Albany Herald.
“We’re continuing to enact laws based on the lies that led to the violent insurrection at the U.S. Capitol,” state Rep. David Dreyer, D-Atlanta, said March 15 during the House debate on the legislation.
“This bill will devastate local election administration,” Rep. Miriam Paris, D-Macon, said. “The State Election Board will have the centralized power to decide what all 159 counties in Georgia need.”
The bill’s most contentious provision would give the Georgia Bureau of Investigation “original jurisdiction” to investigate election complaints, meaning the agency wouldn’t have to wait to be called into a case by the State Election Board or the attorney general’s office.
“The GBI conducting voter fraud investigations will be used to intimidate Georgia voters and election workers,” added Rep. Derek Mallow, D-Savannah. “This is another attack on the right to vote.”
The State Senate unanimously approved their version of the 2023 FY budget, according to the Associated Press via the Statesboro Herald.
A Democratic leader said the budget did not do enough to address “chronic underfunding” in education and health care.
The Senate budget would spend $53 billion overall in the fiscal year starting in July, including $30.2 billion in state tax money and $17.7 billion in federal money. The House passed its own budget proposal earlier in March.
“There is some cautiousness in this budget,” Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Blake Tillery, a Vidalia Republican, said Friday about the Senate budget. “We’ve tried to not spend every dollar that we were sent.”
Tillery said budget writers tried to put new spending into “one-time funds” to give the state flexibility to reassess priorities in the future.
Many of the biggest items in the Senate budget show no change from the House proposal, but there are differences that will now have to be settled in negotiations before the measure can get final approval.
The State House amended Senate Bill 226 before passing it, sending the legislation back to the Senate, according to the Associated Press via WSAV.
A bill that would force public schools to respond to challenges of materials parents consider obscene is moving closer to final passage in Georgia.
The state House voted 97-61 on Friday to pass Senate Bill 226. Because the House amended the measure, it must return to the Senate for more consideration.
Republicans say the bill is needed to give parents a clearer path toward removing offensive books and materials from schools. Democrats warned that the law would be used by activists seeking to impose their moral and political standards on the broader public.
Senate Bill 573, by State Sen. Matt Brass (R-Newnan) targeting “surgical smoke” passed the State House, according to Georgia Health News.
[Sen. Brass] told a House health panel on Thursday that only 85% of Georgia hospitals have smoke evacuation systems.
Hundreds of thousands of health care workers, including surgeons, nurses, surgical technologists and others, are exposed to surgical smoke each year.
This situation is especially bad for operating room nurses, whose shifts often last eight hours or more. While surgeons may work on one or two patients within that span of time and then leave the operating room, nurses may stay in the OR much longer, assisting one surgeon after another, rotating from one procedure to the next.
Matt Caseman, CEO of the Georgia Nurses Association, which supports Senate Bill 573, said not all hospitals in the state that have smoke evacuation technology use it. He said some surgeons prefer not to use these systems.
The House Health and Human Services Committee approved the bill, sending it to the Rules Committee. Since the measure has already cleared the Senate, approval by the House would send it to the governor’s desk for his signature.
House Bill 1520 by State Rep. Lee Hawkins (R-Gainesville) creates a commission to address workforce shortages with Allied Health professions, according to AccessWDUN.
The shortage, particularly of nurses, was made worse during the pandemic. The bill, which will be considered this week by a Senate committee will examine education programs, funding sources and states rules with the goal of attracting more people to health care careers.
“We’re short about 27,000 nurses around this state.” Hawkins said. “It’s really affecting our hospitals, like Stephens County had to close their OB/GYN wing.”
House Bill 1520 would create the Georgia Council on Addressing Health Care Workforce Challenges. The three-year project would then make recommendations to the legislature.
“What we want to do is look at a pipeline for education, to increase the numbers of nurses,” Hawkins said. “We’re looking at dual enrollment, starting in high school, to get the nurses in the pipeline sooner and get them out sooner. We’d like to do the same thing with physicians as far as medical programs around the state, and we’ve increased our medical residency slots.”
First elected in 2012, Hawkins is running unopposed in this year’s elections.
“I really appreciate the voters of Hall County supporting me over all these years,” he said. “It allows me to do some work in the summertime rather than run for re-election.”
Savannah City Council voted to hold off on issuing any cannabis permits, according to the Savannah Morning News.
Right now, you can’t get medical marijuana in Georgia. But council says that could change any day now and they want to be ready.
“Medical marijuana is coming to Georgia, and it’s time for the city of Savannah to be ready,” Alderman Nick Palumbo said.
Savannah’s city council voted to put a 180-day ban on any new marijuana-related licenses. The ban does not affect CBD shops that are already selling products.
Mayor Van Johnson says the city needs to be proactive.
“The fact of the matter is, it’s coming eventually. We here locally have no plan,” Mayor Johnson said.
Mayor Johnson says council must figure out how they will regulate marijuana dispensaries, what kind of license they will get and where they’ll be allowed to set-up shop.
“If we don’t do anything at all, then what happens is it comes upon us, and then we find ourselves retroactively trying to legislate something that we should have legislated before,” Mayor Johnson said.
“Something is going to happen. Our world is changing. It’s moving toward more medicinal uses, and it’s moving more toward recreational uses. And so, we have to know what that means for Savannah,” Mayor Johnson said.
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