Georgia Politics, Campaigns & Elections for March 26, 2013

Georgia Republican Party President’s Day 2013

Summary of 2014 Senate rumors from last night – the following were received from multiple sources.

Rep. Phil Gingrey – rumored to be making an announcement at Thursday night’s fundraiser in Vinings.

Rep. Tom Price – rumored to be substantially less likely to run for Senate in 2014

Karen Handel – rumored to be making phone calls asking for support; two people told me they personally were told by her that she will make the Senate race but neither was willing to be named

Rep. Jack Kingston – conflicting rumors; some say no Senate run in 2014, others say later announcement

Georgia State Senate and House of Representatives

Today is Legislative Day Thirty Nine for the Georgia General Assembly – the penultimate day in the 2013 legislative session. Make of it what you will.

The only Committee meeting scheduled today is House Economic Development & Tourism at 2 PM in room 406 of the Coverdell Legislative Office Building.

Senate Rules Calendar

Yesterday’s walk-on music for Senate Rules Chair Jeff Mullis at the 8 PM Rules Committee Meeting included Queen’s “Another One Bites The Dust” and MC Hammer’s “U Can’t Touch This.” Word is he’s planning a Kenny Powers-style entrance today if he can get the pyrotechnics to fire from from his iPad. [Kenny Powers link not safe for work or kids.]

Senate Rules Calendar

House Rules Calendar

Shafer Wields the Gavel – Like a Boss!

(Photo courtesy Georgia Senate Press Office – see more of their photos here.)

Senate President Pro Tem David Shafer (R-Duluth) took up the gavel for the first time, presiding over debate in the Georgia State Senate while Lt. Governor Casey Cagle met with Speaker David Ralston.

After six bills were handled without incident, Senator Jason Carter rose and praised Shafer’s smooth handling of the Senate. Then all hell broke loose when Senators Mike Crane and Judson Hill offered amendments to House Bill 246 to prevent government-funded abortions. From Kristina Torres at the AJC:

The state Senate made a surprise move Monday that would make it illegal for any state-sponsored insurance plan to pay for abortions.

The 34-15 vote, largely along party lines, sends House Bill 246 back to the House for consideration. HB 246 is an insurance bill that otherwise would allow the Georgia World Congress Center to make its own decisions related to employee benefits.

The language related to the insurance ban on abortions for state employees was added during a floor debate. The only exception to the proposed ban would be in cases to save a mother’s life, as added by Sen. Mike Crane, R-Newnan, and Senate Health and Human Services Chairwoman Renee Unterman, R-Buford.

The bill relates to employee benefits plans by the Georgia World Congress Center Authority; Shafer ruled an amendment to prevent ObamaCare-funded abortions non-germane, while the amendment that passed specifically addressed abortions paid for by the Georgia state employees health benefits plan, and Shafer ruled it germane.

Talk about baptism by fire: an abortion fight breaks out the first time you preside over the Senate.

The Georgia Senate passed House Resolution 4 calling for the immediate invasion of the Peoples’ Republic of Tennessee a negotiated end to the long-standing dispute over Tennessee’s occupation of parts of Northwest Georgia. From the Atlanta Business Chronicle:

The resolution, approved 48-2, would set the boundary between Georgia and Tennessee at the 35th parallel.

That’s where the boundary was established before 1817, when an erroneous survey set it slightly to the south, said Senate President Pro Tempore David Shafer, R-Duluth.

The current border cuts off Georgia from access to the Tennessee River, long coveted as a source of more than enough water to meet the demands of metro Atlanta’s rapidly growing population.

The resolution, which the Georgia House of Representatives passed last month, offers to claim only a tiny unpopulated portion of Tennessee at Nickajack Lake, enough to withdraw water from the river.

Solar Sham Legislation Creates Government-Chosen Monopoly

Deceptively named legislation trumpeted in a press conference set up by Democratic operatives who tried to elect liberal Democrat Steve Oppenheimer to the Georgia Public Service Commission would set up a government-favored solar monopoly, according to a guest post by former Republican Public Service Commission Member Robert “Bobby” Baker. Baker was the first Republican elected as a statewide Constitutional Officer since Reconstruction and was reelected in 1998 and 2004 before retiring after the 2010 election.

Rather than eliminating existing regulatory and legislative barriers to developing competitive renewable energy generation in Georgia, HB 657 would create a new regulatory framework where the PSC would select and regulate one company to develop large scale solar power projects.

The selection of only one community solar provider will mean the company selected will become the de facto monopoly solar provider in Georgia.

Rather than letting the free market determine who will purchase solar power and at what price, HB 657 directs the PSC to set the minimum amounts of electric energy an electric utility must purchase, determine how consumers will participate in the program and set the rates for the sale of solar power to the electric utilities. After years of deregulating local telephone and natural gas service this regulation of a new utility industry flies in the face of current utility business trends and consumer interests.

Giving HB 657 a positive sounding name does not change the essential purpose of this legislation, to create a new regulated monopoly solar utility in Georgia.

According to the Atlanta Business Chronicle,

Georgia Solar Utilities’ original plan was to gain PSC certification as a utility-scale solar developer that would produce and sell energy. However, the company now has decided to sell the electricity it produces to Georgia Power to avoid running afoul of a 40-year-old state law that gives Georgia Power the exclusive right to serve its existing customers.

“The Territorial Act protects some very important aspects of electrical generation in this state,” said Robert Green, CEO of Georgia Solar Utilities. “What we’re doing is not allowing those laws to be torn apart.”

For its part, Georgia Power has become more aggressive recently on the solar front. Last fall, the PSC approved the Atlanta-based unit of Southern Co.’s (NYSE: SO) proposal to acquire an additional 210 megawatts of solar generating capacity, more than tripling Georgia Power’s previous investment in solar energy.

How to Reconcile House and Senate versions of Ethics bill

Yesterday a reader sent in this suggestion, which is the best I’ve heard:

I have an idea for a compromise on HB 142:

Keep the House version’s ban on gifts, AND keep its list of exemptions. Take the $100 cap proposed in the Senate’s version and apply it to the exemptions.

Booyah: I give you legit ethics reform, instead of people CLAIMING it on both sides, and pretending they’re too far apart to cut a deal.

The late-afternoon action on House Bill 142, in a 166-4 vote, came as Gov. Nathan Deal pressed the House and Senate to strike a compromise over dueling versions of ethics reform legislation even as supporters feared the differences were too vast to reconcile.

Both chambers seemed to acknowledge that pressure: By evening’s end, three House members and three Senate members were appointed to meet over the next few days to try to hash out a single version of the bill before the session ends on Thursday.

Gone now is the Senate-backed $100 cap on lobbyist gifts, replaced again with the House’s plan to ban spending on individual legislators.

A strong reform measure is needed, Deal said Monday when he called the proposals a vital “step in the right direction” to bolster the public’s image of their government. He stopped short of supporting either of the competing plans.

“I do think it’s good for both bodies that they have very clearly defined ethics rules in place,” Deal said of the proposals. “I think it does something to restore public confidence in the legislative process.”