Georgia Politics, Campaigns & Elections for March 7, 2013

Georgia General Assembly

Today is Crossover Day, the Thirtieth Day of the 2013 Session of the Georgia General Assembly. Any bill that hasn’t passed at least one house by the end of the day is dead for the Session unless it can be transplanted into another bill that has made the crossover cutoff. No committee meetings are scheduled for today.

At this point, the Senate is scheduled to consider up to 29 bills and the House is scheduled to consider up to 36 bills. It is possible that either chamber may not get through its entire list, but it is also possible that either chamber may add bills to their list.

Walter Jones, of Morris News Service, writes about the importance of Crossover Day in the General Assembly:

Lawmakers call the 30th day in the legislative session Crossover Day because general bills that haven’t passed the House or Senate and “crossed over” to the other side of the Capitol are dead for the year. The proposals may still show up as amendments to other bills dealing with the same section of the law.

Resolutions and local bills concerning a single city or county aren’t subject to the rule. Neither is the budget for next year, which isn’t due for a House vote until March 20.

Typically, both rules committees meet two or three times during Crossover Day to add bills for consideration, depending on how fast debate is going on those already scheduled. The House Rules Committee has 33 more bills to choose from of those already recommended for passage by the standing, subject-matter committees.

If it added all 33, hundreds of bills will have never reached the floor. While midnight will formally mark their death, most effectively died Monday and Tuesday when the subject-matter committees completed their last meetings before Crossover without considering them.

To show how carefully the leadership picks bills for the floor, consider that in the first 29 days of the session 41 percent of the 153 House votes on bills and 69 percent of the 115 Senate votes have been unanimous. Bills are rarely defeated on the floor, but they may be recommitted to the rules committee if they appear to be in doubt.

Quotable Legislators

Senator Jack Murphy in the Forsyth News:

“It’s been a year where we haven’t had a lot that’s going on, which is good. Any time that we cannot put a lot of legislation out there that we don’t need and affect people’s lives that they don’t need, then it’s a good thing.”

State Rep. Mark Hamilton, also speaking to the Forsyth News:

“There’s been very little in the way of transportation, little in the way of water. Much of the time has been spent on the budget and preparing for the current situation … at the federal level.”

“That’s been our commitment. Let’s get the budget and fix what needs to be fixed and get out of here as soon as possible.”

Yesterday, I was speaking with a state Senator who chairs a major committee. He said,

“If I ever get too focused on what we’re doing here at the Capitol, all I have to do is walk down any street in [my hometown] and ask the first person I see if they know who their state senator is. Usually, they’ll scratch their head and say something like, ‘I think it’s Johnny Isakson.’ The trick is to understand that means they don’t pay too much attention to the Gold Dome, and not to start thinking that they think I’m Johnny Isakson.”

Senate Rules Calendar

SB 13 by Senator Buddy Carter – relating to nurses, so as to require mandatory reporting for nurses

SB 23 by Senator Gail Davenport and others – to establish the “Stacey Nicole English Act” and in her honor to aid in the location of missing persons who may be incapacitated due to serious medical conditions

SB 228 by Senator Brandon Beach and others – Local Government; define the area of operation of a development authority

SB 62 by Senator Judson Hill and others – Federal and State Funded Health Care Financing Program Overview Committee; establish

SB 165 by Senators Josh McKoon and Ed Harbison – Superior Courts; provide for additional judge of the Chattahoochee Judicial Circuit

SB 170 by Senator Judson Hill – Forgery and Fraudulent Practices; identity fraud; add medical identity fraud

SB 177 by Senator Frank Ginn and others – Georgia Tourism Foundation; change the membership

SB 187 by Senator Judson Hill and others – State Government; provide exemption for the board of commissioners of Georgia Student Finance Commission; board of directors

SB 189 by Senator Fran Millar and others – Education; permit proprietary institutions of higher education to participate in establishing college/career academies

SB 206 by Senator Bill Cowsert and others – Interstate Cooperation; provide for delegation from the State of Georgia to certain conventions

SB 210 by Senator Ross Tolleson and others – Georgia Legacy Program; create; conservation funding mechanisms; operation

SB 243 by Senator Charlie Bethel and others – Education; student scholarship organization; definitions; change certain provisions

SB 225 by Senators Jesse Stone and David Shafer – Criminal Procedure; relieve a surety from liability under certain circumstances

SB 226 by Senator Steve Gooch and others – Coroners; investigation fees; change certain provisions

SB 234 by Senator Burt Jones and others – Insurance; limited licenses to sell travel insurance; comprehensive revision of provision; issuance and regulation

SB 231 by Senator Barry Loudermilk and others – Georgia Driver’s Education Commission; additional sums collected on fines; extend the sunset provisions

SB 113 by Senator Emanuel Jones and others – Civil Practice; personal service of a summons on a corporation; provisions

SB 236 by Senator Burt Jones and others – Insurance; require insurers; indicate amount of the premium increase; Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act

SB 241 by Senator Hunter Hill and others – “Georgia Leadership and Service Admissions Act”; provide for leadership/service recognition of students

SR 293 by Senator Steve Gooch and others – Ralph A. Pierce Memorial Highway; Lumpkin County; dedicate

SB 213 by Senator Ross Tolleson and others – “Flint River Drought Protection Act”; clarify legislative intent; revise definitions; expand programs

SB 85 by Senator Charlie Bethel and others – Physicians; authorize the administration of vaccines by pharmacists or nurses; vaccine protocol agreements

SB 242 by Senators Hunter Hill and Jeff Mullis – Downtown Development Authorities; undertake projects; reducing energy or water consumption; renewable resources

SB 172 by Senator Emanuel Jones and others – Education; provide the civil rights museum as a division of the Georgia Capitol Museum

SB 94 by Senator Fran Millar and others – Advanced Practice Registered Nurses; delegation of authority to order radiographic imaging tests; revise prov.

SB 121 by Senator Ronald Ramsey and others – License Plates; retired members of the General Assembly

SB 92 by Senator Vincent Fort and others – Taxation/Revenue; add public transit to authorized purposes for proceeds of excise taxes

SB 158 by Senator Nan Orrock and others – Temporary Medical Consent Guardianship; Physician Order for Life- sustaining Treatment; change certain signatures

SB 178 by Senator Fran Millar – Georgia Legislative Retirement System; define a certain term; broaden certain provision

House Rules Calendar

HB 150 by Rep. Roger Bruce and others – Law enforcement officers; the reproduction of arrest booking photographs; enact provisions

HB 184 by Rep. David Casas and others – Nonpublic Postsecondary Educational Institutions Act of 1990; authorization to operate by means of accreditation for institutions that meet certain requirements; provide

HB 189 by Rep. Debbie Buckner and others – Natural Resources, Department of; notify local governing authorities before making certain significant changes in park service; require

HB 203 by Reps. Mark Hamilton and Rick Jasperse – American Indian Tribes of Georgia; recognized legitimate tribes; remove certain information

HB 458 by Rep. Alex Atwood and others – Condominiums; maximum allowable casualty insurance deductible imposed by associations; change

HB 490 by Rep. Timothy Barr and others – Teacher health insurance plans; contract with local employers to librarians and other personnel employed by regional and county libraries; expand board authorization

HB 506 by Rep. Calvin Smyre and others – Chattahoochee Judicial Circuit; provide for selection of chief judge

HB 513 by Rep. Penny Houston – Education; Georgia Medical Center Authority; abolish

HB 536 by Reps. Chuck Sims and John Carson – County law libraries; receipt and disbursement of funds by counties having a population of 950,000

HB 537 by Reps. Chuck Sims and John Carson – Local boards of education; population provision prohibiting certain members from holding other offices

HB 538 by Reps. Chuck Sims and John Carson – County boards of health; population relative to superintendent of largest municipal school system in certain counties serving on board of health ex officio

HB 539 by Reps. Chuck Sims and John Carson – Campus police officers; repeal a portion of a definition based upon population classification

HB 540 by Reps. Chuck Sims and John Carson – Board of education; pension board recompute pension to teachers and employees who retired prior to April 1, 1955 and who had been awarded a pension for 20 years service in counties of 500,000 population

HR 107 by Rep. Donna Sheldon and others – Joint Study Committee on Medicaid Reform; create

HR 549 by Rep. Ed Rynders and others – House Study Committee on Professional Licensing Boards

HB 132 by Rep. Lee Hawkins and others – Georgia Board of Pharmacy and Georgia Board of Dentistry; administratively attached to Department of Community Health

HB 282 by Rep. Mark Hamilton and others – Municipal Broadband Investment Act; enact

HB 318 by Rep. Ron Stephens and others – Georgia Tourism Development Act; revise certain definitions

HB 372 by Rep. Christian Coomer and others – HOPE; grant at technical college or university institutions

HB 382 by Rep. Jay Powell and others – Torts; governing authority of school that enters into recreational joint-use agreement with public or private entity; limit liability

HB 407 by Rep. Alan Powell and others – Drivers’ licenses; mandatory use of ignition interlock devices following second conviction for driving under influence of alcohol or drugs; modify and extend provisions

HB 434 by Rep. Tom Weldon and others – Liens; mechanics and materialmen; special liens include amount due and interest on such amount

HB 463 by Rep. Tom Rice and others – Motor vehicle licenses; registration rates under International Registration Plan for apportioned vehicles

HB 486 by Rep. Jay Roberts and others – Weight of vehicles; issuance of annual commercial wrecker emergency tow permits; provide qualifications

HB 487 by Rep. Matt Ramsey and others – Public health and morals; Georgia Lottery; correct a cross reference

HB 494 by Rep. Andy Welch and others – Mass transportation; installation of safety markers on utility lines to provide adequate visual warning in use of private airstrips

HB 499 by Rep. Donna Sheldon and others – Torts; payor guidelines and criteria under federal law shall not establish legal basis for negligence or standard of care for medical malpractice; provide

HB 511 by Rep. Katie Dempsey and others – State employees’ health insurance plan; pilot program to provide coverage for bariatric surgical procedures for treatment and management of obesity; provide

HB 512 by Rep. Rick Jasperse and others – Safe Carry Protection Act

HB 517 by Rep. Chuck Williams and others – Alcohol; local control of distance requirements of grocery stores and other licensees for retail sale of wine and malt beverages near college campuses; provide

HR 73 by Rep. Carolyn Hugley and others – Word, Mr. Lathan Rydell; compensate

HR 603 by Rep. Katie Dempsey and others – Community Health, Department of; collect and report certain data relating to bariatric surgical procedures

HB 69 by Rep. Tommy Benton – Tax; amount payable for property at redemption; change provisions

HB 197 by Rep. Jay Powell and others – Ad valorem tax; land subject to a forest land conservation use covenant; provide taxation

HB 211 by Rep. Tommy Benton and others – Motor fuel excise tax; public school systems under certain circumstances; exempt

HB 399 by Rep. David Knight and others – Ad valorem tax; types of interests in real property may be subject to taxation; clarify

Senate President Pro Tem David Shafer first made his mark this year by leading the Senate to a quick decision on the Hospital ~~Bed Tax~~ Medicaid User Fee through finesse and a united caucus. But it appears that he’s betting his longer-term legacy on a measure that lays the groundwork for moving Georgia from its reliance on income taxes to a greater reliance on sales tax.

Senate President Pro-Tem David Shafer filed measures calling for voters to decide on constitutional amendments. He says the changes would cap the income tax rate and limit sales tax increases except for income tax relief and infrastructure improvements approved by voters.

“Well Tennessee and Florida, neither of those states have income taxes. And so, if we can move away from an income tax here in Georgia, it would make us more competitive with those two neighboring states,” Shafer said.

InsiderAdvantage, whose website I edit, and Fox5Atlanta released a pair of side-by-side polls yesterday to gauge the popularity of President Barack Obama using a Facebook-based method and a more traditional telephone robopoll yesterday.

Please do me a favor and visit the Fox5Atlanta post about this project and click [Like]. Working with partners on projects like this helps me keep this morning email free for my readers, despite the large amount of money it costs to continue bringing you the morning news every day.

It’s pretty interesting information, and I haven’t yet been able to fully digest it, but you can check out the crosstabs for yourself on InsiderAdvantage.com, where this story is posted free.

Walter Jones discusses the side-by-side surveys with some incisive comments for politicians, politicoes, hobbyists, and wannabes.

As the Dow Jones Industrial Average enjoys record gains, the survey results suggest that most people are still not feeling optimistic. The fact that they are evenly divided about the sequestration, with one-fourth undecided, suggests that it may be causing considerable unease and uncertainty, two conditions that generally cause economic slowing.

Political incumbents may also see warning signs in the survey results because unhappy voters tend to punish those in office.

One group that may see good news in the results is the polling industry. The decline in landline telephones has worried many observers that getting representative respondents is more difficult since cellphone owners are less accessible.

With the social-media results matching the telephone findings, InsiderAdvantage may have found an effective, new survey technique.

“While we continue to believe the automated phone system of collecting responses to surveys will remain a highly utilized and very reliable source of polling data, it is clear that large social-media organizations, such as Facebook, as well as privately collected online data, will ultimately become the primary source of accurate political and public opinion research both nationally and in Georgia,” said InsiderAdvantage CEO Matt Towery. “The firm will continue to use both methods of polling.”

The first thing that jumped out at me from the Crosstabs is that the demographics between the Facebook sample and the Phone sample are much closer than I had expected.

Demographics are important when gauging public opinion, as a story about the difference between political opinions in the Twitterverse and those in the real world shows.

At times the Twitter conversation is more liberal than survey responses, while at other times it is more conservative. Often it is the overall negativity that stands out. Much of the difference may have to do with both the narrow sliver of the public represented on Twitter as well as who among that slice chose to take part in any one conversation.

Twitter users are not representative of the public. Most notably, Twitter users are considerably younger than the general public and more likely to be Democrats or lean toward the Democratic Party.

While you’re over there, I encourage you to take a minute to read “What the Voting Rights Act Argument Was Really About” by Bryan Tyson, whom I consider one of the top experts in Georgia on election law — that article is also free for GaPundit.com readers.

Finally, here is something I wrote about the incentive that federal election law places on Congressmen who are considering running for the United States Senate to delay announcing a Senate bid.

Georgia Congressmen Past and Present

Former Congressman Bob Barr writes about the difference in approach to sequestration and budget cuts between liberal MoveOn.org and Tea Party activists.

There is a fundamental difference between the Tea Party and groups like MoveOn.org. MoveOn loves government. It remains enamored of government spending as fuel for its liberal agenda; and anything that threatens to close that spigot in any degree is perceived as a dire threat — worthy of Chicken-Little warnings that the sky is going to fall.

The Tea Party, on the other hand, understands that uncontrolled government debt affects more than just poor families, kids and the mentally ill — groups MoveOn.org uses to stoke emotional fires among its subscribers. The Tea Party knows that continuing to delay charting a course to spending reform hurts everybody.

Congressman Tom Price sent out a statement about the passage of a Continuing Resolution to keep the government running.

“Today’s legislation is part of an overall strategy to restore fiscal sanity in Washington, get our economy going, and adopting a budget that will balance in ten years so that more jobs will be created and dreams realized. This specific bill will be the largest real reduction in spending since WWII – getting us back to pre-Pelosi levels of discretionary spending.”

Congressman Tom Graves introduced the “Defund ObamaCare Act.”

“I am committed to ripping out Obamacare by its roots, and will continue to be a leader in the fight to end this costly, burdensome and invasive law,” said Rep. Graves. “The damage that Obamacare does to our economy and job creation is clear and irrefutable. It imposes a $1 trillion tax hike and 127 million hours of regulatory compliance—a real gut punch to those trying to recover from the last several years of economic hardship.”

“Georgia’s families and businesses simply can’t afford a government-first health care plan,” Graves continued. “It’s time to get back to patient-first care, where we can make personal decisions with our doctors and without Washington bureaucrats in the room. Let’s protect our taxpayer dollars from funding any part of Obamacare. Let’s defund Obamacare now.”

Georgia Ends & Pieces

Governor Nathan Deal announced yesterday that February revenues were up 4% over the same period in 2012. These two statistics might be important for those considering moving Georgia toward greater reliance on sales taxes.

Individual Income Tax: Individual Income Tax collections in February totaled $207.5 million — down from $235.75 million in February 2012 — for a decrease of $28.2 million, or -12 percent.

Sales and Use Tax: Net Sales and Use Tax collections for February totaled $446.25 million, up $34 million, or 8.3 percent

Former state Senator Seth Harp, who is running for Chairman of the GaGOP released part of his plan for staffing the Georgia Republican Party in a way that reflects the party’s priorities, a distinctly businesslike approach to the issue.

I will maintain the current positions at the staff level of the Georgia Republican Party.

Additionally, we will expand our full-time, senior staff positions with two new posts to include the following year round, full-time senior staff positions:

State Grassroots Director — it is professional, logical, respectful, and productive to develop a program which is managed and administered by a senior staff member focused on advancing the efforts and message of the heart and soul of the Georgia Republican Party

Political Director — the Georgia Republican Party will have a full- time State Political Director. It is essential that the Georgia Republican Party have a dedicated professional working every day with our elected officials, our candidates, our local parties and auxiliaries, and our strategic political partners to advance and focus on our political efforts – we are a political party.

Gratuitous Porsche Photo of the Day

Porsche Cars North America (PCNA), which is headquartered in Sandy Springs, Georgia, has launched a website for the new 2014 911 GT3, a track-focused car that will form the basis for the next generation of GT race cars from the manufacturer.