ATLANTA – Legislation
aimed at speeding up the deployment of broadband service in rural Georgia
cleared a state Senate committee Thursday.
The bill,
which the Senate Regulated Industries Committee approved unanimously, would
require Georgia’s electric membership corporations (EMCs) to allow communications
service providers to attach broadband-capable wires or cable to their utility
poles for free.
The General
Assembly passed legislation last year authorizing EMCs to deploy broadband
services to rural communities. But telecom executives have complained pole
attachment fees the EMCs charge are too high to make the investment worthwhile.
Comcast
officials sent a letter recently to Sen. John Kennedy, R-Macon, chief sponsor
of this year’s bill offering to invest $20 million in broadband deployment in
Georgia if the pole attachment fees are reduced.
“This is
something that will move the needle and get broadband further out into
Georgia,” Kennedy said.
But EMC
officials argued lower pole attachment fees would come out of their customers’
pockets. Unlike Georgia Power Co., the EMCs are nonprofits and have no
shareholders to absorb higher costs.
Tim Martin,
CEO of Carroll EMC, which serves 52,000 customers in seven counties, said the
utility is working to expand rural broadband connectivity by seeking grant
funding. He said the approach Kennedy’s bill takes wouldn’t work because telecom
companies wouldn’t necessarily invest the savings in rural broadband.
“We think
the cable companies will focus on areas that are higher density and [larger] return
on investment,” he said.
Sen. John
Albers, R-Roswell, sought to address the EMCs’ concerns by proposing amendments
to mandate that pole attachment fees be set no lower than $9 per pole and that
the fee reductions be phased in over four years.
But the
committee rejected those amendments in favor Sen. Steve Gooch’s proposal to cut
the pole attachment fees to zero for 10 years in parts of Georgia that are
underserved in terms of broadband capability.
Gooch,
R-Dahlonega, said providing pole attachments for free in the areas most in need
of broadband would make last year’s legislation, which he sponsored,
successful.
The bill now
heads to the full Senate, which likely will take it up next week.
Coronavirus cases have been confirmed in Georgia. (Image: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
ATLANTA – State health officials stepped up testing for coronavirus in Georgia Thursday following confirmation earlier this week of the state’s first two cases.
Dr. Kathleen Toomey, the state’s public
health commissioner, said the risk remains low for an outbreak in Georgia and
there are no signs now that the virus is spreading within local communities.
But as health officials begin testing
more people arriving in Georgia from other countries, Toomey said she expects
more confirmed cases could surface.
“We expect we will ultimately find more
positive cases,” Toomey said at a news conference Thursday. “The more you test,
the more you find.”
Georgia’s state lab began testing for the virus Thursday, tripling the number of diagnostic tests the state has conducted so far, Toomey said.
She did not give a specific count of how many tests were done before Thursday but said it was a “small number.”
The state now has more than 2,500
diagnostic test kits on hand from the federal government capable of completing
1.5 million individual tests, Kemp said.
Anyone in the state will be able to
receive testing regardless of the status of their health insurance, Toomey
said.
“If you are uninsured, we will provide
the test for free,” she said.
Georgia Public Health Commissioner Kathleen Toomey talks about coronavirus testing at a news conference on March 5, 2020. (Photo by Beau Evans)
Georgia joined a growing list of states this week with
confirmed cases of coronavirus, which is thought to spread largely by
“respiratory droplets” when someone coughs or sneezes after symptoms are
present, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Symptoms appear within 14 days of contraction and include
fever, coughing and shortness of breath.
Two infected Georgians, a father and his son, have been quarantined with family at their home in Fulton County and showed mild symptoms, according to officials.
The father tested positive for the virus after arriving via Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport last week from a trip to Milan, Italy, where the outbreak has infected thousands of cases and led to more than 100 deaths.
Italy is one of a few countries – along
with China, Iran and South Korea – where travel restrictions and screening have
been ramped up at the Atlanta airport in recent days, said Hartsfield-Jackson’s
general manager, John Selden.
The airport, along with federal health
officials, has instituted multi-layered testing for travelers arriving from
China and Iran, Selden said. So far, only one person has been sent to Emory
University Hospital in Atlanta for additional screening, who tested negative
for the virus.
The update Thursday afternoon from state
officials came shortly after Congress approved $8.3 billion in federal funding
for coronavirus control and prevention. The spending package includes money to
develop a vaccine for the as-yet untreatable disease.
It also comes ahead of President Donald
Trump’s scheduled visit to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in
Atlanta on Friday.
Kemp, who last week convened an expert
group to handle coronavirus prevention and response activities, said more than
100 cases have been confirmed in the U.S. to date.
He urged “common-sense practices” like
hand washing, covering one’s mouth when sneezing or coughing and avoiding sick
persons when possible.
“This is still no time for Georgians to
panic,” the governor said.
ATLANTA – Fewer people arrested in Georgia could be released on their own recognizance under bail-reform legislation that cleared the state Senate this week.
Calls have long arisen for Georgia judges
to rely less on issuing signature, or own-recognizance, bonds that do not
require arrested persons to pay a bail amount to be released from jail.
Critics say these bonds too often lead to
people committing other crimes after they were recently let out of jail on
their own recognizance.
But proponents of the practice argue large
bail amounts tend to punish low-income persons arrested for minor offenses like
petty theft or drug use, while wealthier defendants can spend their way free.
Senate Bill 402 would abolish signature bonds and require that any bond that has a set dollar amount would need to be paid in full to secure release.
Arrested persons could still be released on their own, but they would be issued “unsecured judicial release” bonds that do not list a dollar amount.
However, the bill would not permit those
non-monetary bonds to be issued for several felony charges ranging from murder
and rape to drug trafficking, DUI and criminal street gang activity.
The bill’s sponsor, Sen. Randy Robertson,
said judges would still be given discretion to send offenders to treatment and
diversion programs instead of jail.
Judges could also still set very low bail amounts to ease the financial burden on defendants if they wanted, he said.
Robertson, R-Cataula, said his proposal aims to keep violent offenders from being released prematurely from jail and to better reflect how much money – or lack thereof – defendants are actually paying for bail.
“The ongoing misuse of these bonds is
creating an immediate risk to the state of Georgia,” Robertson said from the
Senate floor.
Robertson, a retired major with the
Muscogee County Sheriff’s Department, highlighted the case of 25-year-old Ahmad
Coleman, who was arrested last October for allegedly opening fire near an
Atlanta library, wounding four college students.
At the time, Coleman was out on his own recognizance with a $120,000 signature bond stemming from his arrest months prior for allegedly opening fire at an apartment complex.
The Senate passed the bill on Tuesday by
a 46-8 vote. It now heads to the Georgia House of Representatives.
Opponents of Robertson’s bill worry
expanding the kinds of crimes that would no longer qualify for non-monetary
bonds could hurt lower-level offenders with less means to pay bail.
Zanele Ngubeni, an Atlanta defense attorney who spoke at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing last week, said recognizance bonds have a track record of incentivizing defendants to show up for court hearings. State law is already tough enough to punish those who skip court, she said.
Jill Travis, executive director of the
Georgia Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, warned the bill could
potentially limit how many people would qualify for alternative-sentencing
programs despite Robertson’s assurances.
She called for language changes to make
it clearer that judges could allow defendants to participate in pre-trial
treatment programs.
“There’s no opportunity for pre-trial
involvement anymore on a recognizance,” Travis said last week. “The only way to
do this is using a bonding company, using cash or using property.”
But victims of crimes committed by
offenders out on their own recognizance insist Georgia needs stricter rules on
non-monetary bonds.
Daphne Jordan, an Atlanta resident who
said her sister was shot by a repeat offender, dismissed the argument that
curtailing signature bonds would disproportionately affect poorer people in
jail for small-time offenses.
“When I hear people say [that] people who
commit crimes don’t have the ability to pay for their bonds, then they should
not commit crimes against people who are hard-working individuals who are out
here trying to make a living,” Jordan said.
ATLANTA – The Georgia House passed a measure Thursday requiring hemp farmers and sellers to hold licenses showing they are authorized to possess the non-psychoactive cousin of marijuana.
House Bill 847 follows passage last year of a measure that legalized the growing, processing and transport of hemp. It deals with crucial licensing requirements as well as penalties for carrying hemp without proper documents.
Under the bill, anyone caught with hemp
who does not have a proper license would face the same penalties as for
marijuana possession in Georgia. That could include jail time and fines,
depending on the amount of leafy-green substance being carried.
With a license, hemp farmers and others
in the new industry could cultivate and transport hemp like any other
agricultural product. A late revision to the bill also added college and
university hemp researchers to the list of eligible licensees.
Licenses would require paying the state
Department of Agriculture a permit fee of $25,000 for the first year and
$50,000 for every year thereafter.
The bill, sponsored by Rep. John Corbett,
R-Lake Park, cleared the House by a 159-7 vote. It now heads to the Senate for
final approval.
States have rushed into the hemp business
in recent years to take advantage of its many commercial uses, including the
manufacture of rope, textiles and CBD oil used to treat a variety of illnesses.
But how to distinguish the leafy green
substance from its still-outlawed cousin, marijuana, has tripped up law
enforcement representatives and criminal justice reform advocates concerned
about conducting traffic stops.
Corbett’s bill aims to clear up concerns
over expensive testing of hemp during traffic stops by requiring official paperwork.
With the licensing and enforcement
structure in place, many state lawmakers representing rural parts of Georgia
are hailing the burgeoning industry as a new and potentially lucrative crop for
farmers.
“We are not making decisions for them,”
said House Agriculture and Consumer Affairs Committee Chairman Tom McCall,
R-Elberton. “But we are giving them the opportunity to maybe grow another crop
that they can make a profit on.”
Georgia House bill seeks Medicaid expansion for new mothers
By Dave Williams
Bureau Chief
Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – Low-income Georgia mothers would receive expanded
Medicaid coverage after the birth of their babies under legislation introduced
in the state House of Representatives Thursday.
The bill would authorize the state to apply for a federal
waiver that would allow Georgia to offer Medicaid coverage to income-eligible
women up to six months post partum. The current Georgia Medicaid program only
permits coverage for up to two months.
Improving Georgia’s high maternal mortality rate is a House
priority for this year’s legislative session, Speaker David Ralston told
reporters Thursday.
“It is completely unacceptable for the No.-1 state in the
nation in which to do business to have one of the highest maternal mortality
rates in the country,” said Ralston, R-Blue Ridge.
Rep. Sharon Cooper, R-Marietta, chaired a House study
committee on maternal mortality that held hearings last summer and fall. One of
the panel’s recommendations was to expand Medicaid coverage in Georgia for new
mothers for one year post partum.
A review committee in 2014 that examined 101 cases of
pregnancy-related deaths in Georgia between 2012 and 2014 found that 60% were
preventable.
“As a nurse and nursing professor who taught maternal care,
I am very much a champion for quality health care for our mothers and babies,” Cooper
said.
House Bill 1114 also would extend Medicaid coverage to lactation
specialists for mothers having trouble feeding their babies.
