ATLANTA – Atlanta-based Delta Air Lines Inc. will receive $5.4 billion in federal economic stimulus funding to help offset huge losses stemming from the coronavirus pandemic.
The money is part of $25 billion in grants for U.S. passenger airlines, $4 billion for cargo airlines and $3 billion for airline contractors.
With few people flying due to the virus-driven shutdown of the economy, Delta has been forced to cut back its schedule by 80%, consolidate airport facilities and cut pay for officers and director-level employees, Delta CEO Ed Bastian wrote Tuesday in a memo to employees.
“The funding, along with self-help measures we have taken, will prevent furloughs and pay rate reductions through the end of September, despite the 95% drop we’ve seen in passenger traffic,” Bastian wrote.
Under an agreement with the U.S. Treasury Department, the $5.4 billion bailout includes an unsecured low-interest loan of $1.6 billion, and the federal government will buy about 1% of Delta stock at $24.39 per share over five years.
Other airlines sharing in the $25 billion aid package include American Airlines, United Airlines and Southwest Airlines.
The agreement prohibits airlines receiving the federal funds from furloughing or laying off workers through the end of September. Airlines also will be allowed to buy back stock or pay dividends to shareholders until Sept. 30.
The bailout of the airlines coincided with the release of $10 billion from the economic stimulus package Congress passed last month earmarked for U.S. airports. Georgia’s share of the funding – $410.8 million – will go to 97 airports, with by far the largest allocation of $338.5 million headed to Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.
ATLANTA – The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is awarding $410.8 million in economic stimulus funding to 97 airports across Georgia to help offset the impacts of the coronavirus pandemic.
Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport will get by far the largest share of the money. At $338.5 million, it’s the largest single allocation in the nation from the $10 billion airport package.
Airports and airlines across the country have been hit with huge financial losses by the virtual shutdown of the U.S. economy to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Atlanta-based Delta Air Lines Inc., one of Georgia’s largest employers, reported last month that March revenues would decline by almost $2 billion compared to the same month last year.
“This $10 billion in emergency resources will help fund the continued operations of our nation’s airports during this crisis and save workers’ jobs,” U.S. Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao said Tuesday.
The federal money will be used to support continuing airport operations and replace lost revenue from the sharp decline in passenger traffic and other airport business resulting from the pandemic. Eligible expenses will include payroll and utility costs, capital expenditures and airport debt payments.
After Hartsfield-Jackson, the next-largest allocation of federal airport stimulus money in Georgia – $26.8 million – will go to Savannah-Hilton Head International Airport. Augusta Regional Airport at Bush Field will receive $19.4 million, and Southwest Georgia Regional Airport in Albany will get $18 million.
Much smaller allocations of just more than $1 million will go to several other regional airports around the state. The Columbus airport will receive $1.2 million, Valdosta Regional will get $1.18 million, slightly more than the $1.17 million headed to the Brunswick-Golden Isles Airport. Middle Georgia Regional Airport in Macon will receive $1.06 million.
Four other airports – Briscoe Field in Lawrenceville, McCollum Field in Marietta, Peachtree-DeKalb Airport and Fulton County Airport at Brown Field – each will receive $157,000 from the feds.
The FAA is encouraging airports to spend the money immediately to help offset the economic impact of the COVID-19 outbreak while those losses are occurring.
Georgia lawmakers cannot legally raise campaign contributions while the General Assembly’s 2020 session remains suspended due to the coronavirus outbreak, the state agency board tasked with enforcing the state’s campaign finance laws decided Tuesday.
The Georgia Government Transparency and Campaign Finance Commission voted 3-2 to keep intact the prohibition against campaign fundraising that applies while the legislature is in session, even though lawmakers have been sent home indefinitely to wait out the COVID-19 pandemic.
The suspension of the session on March 13 put legislative incumbents seeking re-election in campaign pickle ahead of the June 9 primary election.
Georgia lawmakers are facing a campaign pickle with coronavirus upending their ability to raise money for re-election efforts ahead of the June 9 primary election, with some complaining the situation puts them at a disadvantage against primary challengers free to raise as much money as they can bring in.
During a teleconference meeting of the commission Tuesday, board members disagreed on whether the 2020 session was technically “adjourned” and lawmakers could raise money, or whether the session is only “suspended” with legislative matters like passing the state budget still on the table and fundraising prohibited.
Ultimately, the board narrowly adopted a legal opinion stating that General Assembly members likely cannot legally raise campaign funds right now, despite the unprecedented emergency circumstances caused by coronavirus.
However, the ethics board also agreed state lawmakers can spend their own personal money on campaign purposes and reimburse those costs later from their campaign coffers.
Those reimbursements would have to be made within 60 days after the legislative session adjourns, according to a revised opinion that board members green-lit Tuesday.
Leaders in both House and Senate have not indicated when they might call for reconvening lawmakers to wrap up passing the state budget and formally end the 2020 session. That uncertainty has left some of the more than 40 sitting state lawmakers facing primary opponents worried.
Sen. David Lucas, D-Macon, was first to air his concerns about the fundraising ban moments after the state Senate moved to suspend the session. Concerns have also come from Sen. Horacena Tate, D-Atlanta, who has drawn three primary opponents.
Her attorney, Matt Weiss, told the ethics board Tuesday that sitting lawmakers like Tate will be at a disadvantage if the session remains in suspension limbo.
“There’s virtually no time for an incumbent in either the House or Senate to raise money before their primary,” Weiss said.
Weiss, along with ethics board members Robert Watts and James Kreyenbuhl, argued that the General Assembly has technically adjourned. Because of that, they said lawmakers should be allowed to fundraise.
Several board members, as well as Rep. Micah Gravley, R-Douglasville, said that is likely not the case because hundreds of bills remain alive in the session and that lawmakers still need to pass the 2021 fiscal year budget, which Georgia’s constitution requires them to do before July 1.
Gravley, who does not face primary opposition, pointed out Tuesday the legislature cannot officially adjourn for good – marking an occasion called “sine die” – until the budget is passed.
Until that happens, and the legislature adjourns “sine die,” Gravely said lawmakers will continue to be in session and unable to fundraise.
“The legislative session is still open,” Gravley said.
University System of Georgia Chancellor Steve Wrigley
ATLANTA – The coronavirus pandemic has cost the University System of Georgia about $200 million, losses that could add up to $350 million by the end of the summer, system Chancellor Steve Wrigley said Tuesday.
The state’s 26 public colleges and universities have done some belt tightening to help offset income lost when the system was forced to switch to all-online instruction and refund student payments for housing and other services they’re no longer receiving, Wrigley told members of the system’s Board of Regents.
The schools have canceled both camp and study abroad programs this summer, as the system will continue to be limited to online classes during the summer semester, Wrigley said.
Also, the university expects to receive about $125 million from the U.S. Department of Education through the federal economic stimulus package Congress passed late last month, he said.
“Hopefully, that can help us address the revenue losses we’ve seen,” he said. “[But] there will be challenges.”
Wrigley noted the university system also faces financial constraints that predate the outbreak of COVID-19.
State funding of students per capita has declined about 35% since the Great Recession a decade ago, the chancellor said. More recently, slower-than-expected growth in state tax revenues has prompted Gov. Brian Kemp to order budget cuts throughout state government.
Despite the system’s tight finances, the regents voted unanimously Tuesday not to raise student tuition during the coming school year. Wrigley announced last week he would seek to hold the line on tuition across the university system for the third time in the last five years.
“We felt it was important to be sensitive to the economic situation in our state,” he said.
In other business, the chancellor announced the university system will delay a planned overhaul of its undergraduate core curriculum, probably until this fall. He said the coronavirus outbreak prevented a series of town hall meetings that had been planned across Georgia to gather feedback on the proposals.
ATLANTA – Bowing to the realities of the coronavirus pandemic, the Georgia Republican Party has canceled both its state convention and a series of congressional district meetings across the state.
This year’s state convention was to be held May 29-30 in Cobb County. The congressional district meetings were supposed to take place this Saturday.
A letter Georgia GOP Chairman David Shafer sent to members of the state Republican Committee last week cited the stay-at-home executive order Gov. Brian Kemp issued late last month and extended last week as making it “legally and practically impossible to physically stage” the conventions.
Shafer pledged the party would come up with other options for choosing delegates to the Republican National Convention set for August in Charlotte, N.C.
“Your state Executive Committee is absolutely committed to preserving our ability to be fully represented at the Republican National Convention,” Shafer wrote.
The national convention still is scheduled to take place Aug. 24-27, despite the pandemic. The Democrats were to have convened in Milwaukee in mid-July but have moved the date back to mid-August.
