ATLANTA – Georgia
lawmakers took time on the opening day of the 2020 General Assembly session
Monday to honor two colleagues who died late last year.
House
Speaker David Ralston, R-Blue Ridge, remembered Rep. Jay Powell, R-Camilla, who
died unexpectedly in November at age 67, as a legislator who followed his
conscience regardless of the political consequences.
“Jay Powell
loved this House,” Ralston said. “He regarded it as a place where good policy
was formulated, not a place to burn down. … There was not a better member of
this body.”
Powell, a
lawyer, was elected to the General Assembly in 2008 after serving as mayor of
Camilla from 1996 until 2007. Before chairing the powerful House Rules
Committee for a year, he headed the House Ways and Means Committee, which has
jurisdiction over tax laws.
Ralston
praised Powell’s commitment to revitalization of rural Georgia, particularly
Southwest Georgia. Powell co-chaired the
House Rural Development Council (HRDC), a committee of lawmakers Ralston formed
to look for ways to improve rural Georgia’s economy.
“He brought
an intense passion and unrivaled work ethic to the HRDC,” the speaker said.
“Because of Jay Powell’s leadership, Southwest Georgia will have greater
opportunities and a better quality of life.”
A special
election to choose Powell’s successor in House District 171 will be held Jan.
28. The district includes all of Mitchell County and part of Decatur County.
On the Senate side of the Capitol, lawmakers paid tribute to the late
Sen. Greg Kirk, R-Americus, who died last month of cancer. Flowers were laid on his vacant desk in the Senate chambers and
kind words came from Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan, who presides over the Senate, and
other senators.
“Senator
Kirk was a true statesman and a distinguished member of this body,” said
Duncan. “He will be missed by all of us.”
“There
really are no words that can express our remorse,” said Sen. Renee Unterman,
R-Buford.
Kirk,
56, was elected to the Senate in 2014. He was a pastor and licensed counselor
specializing in business mediation.
Notably,
Kirk sponsored a so-called “religious liberty” bill in 2016 allowing pastors to
refuse to preside over same-sex wedding ceremonies if it would conflict with
their religious beliefs. The bill passed but was vetoed by then-Gov. Nathan
Deal.
Kirk
also sponsored legislation shielding people who break into hot cars to save
children from being sued.
A
special election will be held Feb. 4 to fill Kirk’s District 13 seat, which
includes parts of several South Georgia counties including Tift, Sumter and
Lee.
In other business Monday, state Sen. Bill Heath announced he will not seek re-election to his 31st District Senate seat in Northwest Georgia.
Fighting
back tears, Heath, R-Bremen, said he wants to spend more time with his wife.
“There is more
to life than politics. I’m convinced of that,” he said.
Heath was
elected to the Georgia Senate in 2005 after serving one term in the House of
Representatives. He unseated then-House speaker Tom Murphy, a towering figure
in Georgia politics who was among the longest-serving state House speakers in
the country, serving from 1973 to 2002.
Senate
District 31 covers Polk County, Haralson County and part of Paulding County.
ATLANTA – Gov.
Brian Kemp launched a website Monday aimed at training state workers and the
general public in how to detect and respond to warning signs of human
trafficking.
The Georgia
Department of Administrative Services (doas.ga.gov) is administering the
website, which will offer training to more than 80,000 state workers as well as
any member of the public interested in the program.
The entire
staff of the governor’s office will participate, including Kemp, as will all
DOAS employees.
“Together,
we can … raise awareness of human trafficking and identify instances of sex
trafficking,” the governor said in announcing the program at the Georgia
Capitol.
Kemp and his
wife, first lady Marty Kemp, have made human trafficking a top priority. Last
year, during his first year in office, Kemp issued an executive order creating a
commission of public and law enforcement officials, for-profit and non-profit
organizations, health-care executives and subject matter experts to spearhead
the initiative.
The GRACE
Commission is co-chaired by Marty Kemp; Georgia House Speaker Pro Tempore Jan
Jones, R-Milton; and Vic Reynolds, director of the Georgia Bureau of
Investigation.
There are an
estimated 1.5 million victims of human trafficking in the United States. The
FBI recently named Atlanta as one of 14 cities with abnormally high rates of
human trafficking.
But Marty
Kemp said human trafficking is occurring across Georgia.
“There are terrible
people out there who control [victims’] every move and force them to do
unspeakable things,” she said. “Education and awareness is the way to fight
against human trafficking.”
While the
training program recognizes there are several forms of human trafficking, it
focuses primarily on child sex trafficking and child sexual exploitation.
“This will
be a tough battle against a ruthless enemy,” DOAS Commissioner Alex Atwood
said. “But it’s one we can win if we work together.”
ATLANTA – Gov.
Brian Kemp made going after criminal gangs and human traffickers key planks in
his 2018 campaign platform, and he made initial forays in those areas during
his first year in office.
With the
General Assembly kicking off its 2020 session on Monday, the second-year
governor is looking to take the next step on those issues as well as following
up on his commitment to improve foster care in Georgia.
Much of what
Kemp wants to do in the public safety and foster care arenas requires money,
which is in short supply as state tax revenues continue running far below
expectations.
But in an
exclusive interview with Capitol Beat News Service, the governor said he will
make fully funding the gang task force he formed last year under the Georgia
Bureau of Investigation a budget priority.
“We got it
ramped up last year, and they’ve done a lot of good work,” Kemp said. “[But]
they’ve got to have some more resources. We knew that when we set it up. We
wanted to phase it in.”
Kemp he also
will push legislation this year aimed at giving prosecutors more enforcement tools
to target gangs. To help with that effort, a state database tracking gangs soon
will be available, he said.
Kemp credited
his wife, Georgia First Lady Marty Kemp, for taking an active role in the fight
against human trafficking. He issued an executive order last February creating
a task force of public and law enforcement officials,
for-profit and non-profit organizations, health-care executives and subject
matter experts to be
headed by the first lady.
“She’s helped raise awareness, helping people
get trained and know the signs when they see a potential victim,” he said. “But
there’s more that needs to be done to get them help.”
Kemp said he
plans to introduce legislation this year to “put more teeth” in state laws
governing human trafficking.
Kemp said he
committed himself to reforming adoption and foster care in Georgia long before the
General Assembly passed a strict anti-abortion bill last year, legislation he
supported that would create additional need for alternatives to abortion if it
passes court muster and becomes law.
“We’ve got
to make it easier for people to adopt foster children,” he said. “We’ve got to
make it less expensive … get rid of some of the red tape and bureaucracy,” he
said.
Kemp’s 2020 agenda
is expected to include legislation increasing incentives the state offers
Georgia families to adopt foster children.
ATLANTA – The
only constitutional requirement Georgia lawmakers must fulfill each year is
passing a state budget.
But faced
with anemic state tax collections that will require significant spending cuts,
the budget will be front and center even more than usual during the 2020 General
Assembly session beginning Monday.
While the
legislature grapples with issues including whether to legalize gambling in
Georgia, increase the availability of public transit in rural communities and
take control of Atlanta’s airport from the city, the top priority will be reducing
spending while protecting vital government programs and services.
“I don’t
think you can take a blanket approach,” said Georgia House Speaker David
Ralston, R-Blue Ridge. “The budget is about more than numbers and percentages.
The budget touches people’s lives.”
Gov. Brian
Kemp set the stage last summer for what promises to be a budget-cutting
legislative session. With tax revenues running well below projections, the
first-year governor ordered most state agencies to reduce spending by 4% during
the current fiscal year and 6% in fiscal 2021, which starts July 1.
Kemp said he
expects to achieve the cuts by not filling vacant positions in state government and looking to the affected
agencies to do more with less.
“What we’re
trying to do is make government more efficient and streamline operations so we
can fund our priorities,” he said.
Kemp said he
would like to follow through with the remaining $2,000 of a $5,000 teacher pay
raise he promised on the campaign trail in 2018. Lawmakers approved the initial
$3,000 installment last year.
But the
governor said he’s not sure the state can afford to pay for the raise this year.
“I’m
definitely committed to continuing the teacher pay raise,” Kemp said. “[But]
it’s obviously a tougher budget environment to be able to do that.”
Another priority
of legislative Republicans that may fall by the wayside, at least in 2020, is
the second phase of a two-stage income tax cut then-Gov. Nathan Deal steered
through the legislature two years ago. He and other supporters said the
reduction was necessary to offset a revenue windfall the state was expecting from
the federal tax reforms Congress had passed in late 2017.
The General
Assembly voted in 2018 to reduce Georgia’s income tax rate for the first time
since the 1930s from 6% to 5.75%. This year, lawmakers are due to decide
whether to cut the tax rate again to 5.5%.
Senate
Appropriations Committee Chairman Jack Hill said the state can’t afford the
revenue hit another tax cut would bring.
“One of the
reasons we passed this tax cut is we were told there would be a revenue bump
from the federal tax cut,” said Hill, R-Reidsville. “I can’t tell that we ever
had that bump. … Nobody’s against a tax cut, but we really need to be cautious.”
The Georgia
Budget and Policy Institute (GBPI) shares that caution. The Atlanta-based think
tank reported the 2018 income tax cut reduced state revenues by $450 million
per year.
“A further
cut could create a real fiscal crisis for the state,” said Danny Kanso, a
policy analyst with the GBPI.
But Ralston
said House Republicans remain committed to following through on the tax cut in
order to fulfill a campaign promise to Georgia voters.
Kyle
Wingfield, president and CEO of the Georgia Public Policy Foundation, warned
lawmakers not to give up on the tax cut too soon. He said it remains uncertain
whether the revenue declines of the last six months will continue.
“Is this a
blip that is causing a temporary dip that we’ll pull out of and be fine?”
Wingfield asked. “We ought to consider that before the legislature throws up
its hands and says, ‘We can’t do this.’ ”
One way the
state might be able to afford an additional tax cut would be tapping into new
sources of revenue. A special committee the House formed last year that held
hearings around the state during the fall considered options including applying
the state sales tax to “marketplace facilitators” such as Amazon.
Another
alternative lawmakers likely will revisit this year is raising the sales tax on
tobacco products. Georgia historically has had one of the lowest tobacco taxes
in the nation, and there’s support for at least bringing it up to the national
average.
But the House
Special Committee on Economic Growth spent most of its time debating whether to
ask voters to legalize gambling in Georgia and dedicate a portion of the
proceeds to the HOPE Scholarships program
and possibly health care.
Efforts to
get a constitutional amendment on the statewide ballot to legalize casino
gambling and/or pari-mutuel betting on horse racing have failed in the past.
But supporters say the push for legalized gambling could gain more traction in
2020 because of the glaring need for more tax revenue.
Also, sports
betting has been added to the mix thanks to a U.S. Supreme Court decision that
struck down a federal law banning commercial sports betting.
“You can cut
and cut, but you have to find ways to increase revenues,” said Sen. Brandon
Beach, R-Alpharetta, who has sponsored efforts to legalize pari-mutuel betting
on horse racing.
Beach and
other supporters argue there’s no harm in giving Georgia voters the right to
decide whether to legalize gambling and let the chips fall where they may.
While any
constitutional amendment lawmakers pass on gambling would not go to Kemp for
his signature under Georgia law, so-called “enabling bills” spelling out
details of how casinos, racetracks or sports betting would be managed in
Georgia would require his approval.
Kemp is
noncommittal on sports betting but decidedly cool toward both casinos and horse
racing.
“I just
don’t think casino gambling is something we need to do in our state,” he said.
“On horse racing/pari-mutuel, I haven’t seen an economic model that makes that
viable without somebody or something subsidizing it with some other form of
gambling.”
While
legalized gambling has significant support in both the state House and Senate,
other bills the legislature is expected to revisit this year bear the imprint
of one chamber or the other.
Legislation
the House passed last year aimed at creating a steady stream of funding for
rural transit in Georgia couldn’t get through the Senate.
“I’m hoping [the Senate]
will see the value of partnering with us this session,” Ralston said.
On the other
hand, a Senate-passed bill calling for the state to take over operations at
Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport fizzled in the House.
The
measure’s chief sponsor, Sen. Burt Jones, R-Jackson, said he will continue
pushing it with House leaders this year.
Supporters
say a history of corruption casting a shadow on vendor procurement at the
airport cries out for new management. Opponents say under Atlanta Mayor Keisha
Lance Bottoms’ leadership, the city has instituted reforms to clean up the
process.
A potential
compromise would put the airport under state oversight through a committee
similar to the legislative panel that performs that function for MARTA.
Jones said
any oversight panel the General Assembly creates must have enforcement rights.
“It would
need to have subpoena powers, auditing powers,” he said. “It needs to have a
hand in who’s doing business down there.”
Since 2020
is an election year, lawmakers will be motivated to get through the session as
quickly as possible so they can hit the campaign trail.
Ralston
predicts that’s not going to happen because of the difficult decisions that
must be made to balance the budget.
“This is
going to be an interesting session,” he said. “We have members in both chambers
who like to make speeches about cutting the budget. I think they’re going to
find out it’s little easier said than done.”
ATLANTA – Georgia’s
generous film tax credit is generating less economic impact for the state than
its backers have reported, according to a newly released state audit.
The Georgia Department of Economic Development (DED) has used an inflated
multiplier to calculate economic activity related to the credit, according to a
report the state Department of Audits and Accounts released Thursday. As a
result, the agency has reported misleading job numbers.
“Using the
multiplier nearly doubles the impact of the credit,” the report stated.
Thursday’s
report was the second from the state auditing agency this week criticizing
Georgia’s largest tax credit program. An audit released on Tuesday accused the
state departments of Revenue and Economic Development of lacking the controls
necessary to prevent improper granting of credits to film production companies.
The Thursday
report found that production companies spent $2.2 billion in 2016 to earn tax
credits of $667 million.
The credit’s
net economic impact that year was less than $3 billion and fewer than 10,000
jobs. However, those numbers rose to $4.1 billion and 23,816 jobs when adding the
ripple effect of the credit on local businesses and workers.
“While these
figures capture the impact of the projects supported by the credit, they do not
consider the cost of the public subsidy of the industry and the resulting
decrease in government spending,” the report stated.
The
Department of Economic Development disagreed with the report’s findings.
“The
Department of Economic Development and its consultants believe the methodology
used by [the Department of Audits and Accounts] undervalues the film tax credit
program’s impact on the economy, including the calculations of both the numbers
and cost of direct, indirect and induced industry jobs,” DED spokeswoman Marie
Gordon wrote in an e-mail.
“Because the
report is a snapshot of data that is three to four years old, the growth of the
Georgia screen sector and its relationship to the economy has rapidly outpaced
the information from this period.”
With state
revenues running well below expectations this year, the cost of the film tax
credit will be a subject of debate for the General Assembly during the 2020
legislation session, which begins on Monday.
Georgia
House Speaker David Ralston said Thursday he would oppose any efforts by budget
cutters to abolish the credit.
“At the
other end of that tax credit is Georgians working,” said Ralston, R-Blue Ridge.
“If we need to make changes to it, I’m happy to have that discussion. But we
must continue it.”
The audit
recommended the General Assembly cap the film tax credit to reduce the fiscal
burden on the state and consider reducing the credit for wages paid to
out-of-state workers, requiring periodic evaluations of the credit and allowing
public disclosure of credit recipients and amounts.
