ATLANTA – Georgia Commissioner of Labor Mark Butler asked state lawmakers Wednesday to spare an agency hit with an unprecedented wave of unemployment claims from budget cuts looming over the rest of state government.
Butler told members of a Georgia Senate budget subcommittee the labor department, which had been averaging about 20,000 unemployment claims per month, suddenly was hit with an influx of about 1 million claims when the coronavirus pandemic shut down Georgia’s economy, a number that quickly mounted to some 2 million.
Forced to cope with that soaring workload is an agency of about 1,000 employees, fewer than half as many as were on the payroll during the Great Recession a decade ago, Butler said.
“The good news is we’re getting the payments out,” he said. “We’ve found ways to be more efficient. But asking us to cut more now … I don’t think [would be] fair.”
Butler said the federal Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) program has been particularly difficult for labor department employees to handle because it provides unemployment benefits to people not ordinarily eligible for them, including the self-employed, gig workers, independent contractors, or employees of churches or other nonprofits. The agency had to train 500 to 600 employees on how to process PUA claims, he said.
“It has been a very heavy hit because we’ve never done that type of system before,” he said. “We had to build the applications from scratch.”
Despite those challenges, Georgia’s labor department has outperformed other state labor agencies by paying out about 87% of unemployment claims deemed valid totaling about $5.2 billion, Butler said.
The state Department of Revenue has collected more than $112 million in taxes from those benefits, he said.
Butler said the labor department was losing employees to other state agencies even before the coronavirus pandemic hit because off the low salaries it was forced to offer.
“We were in a bad position when [the pandemic] started,” he said. “We don’t want to get to a worse place.”
Sen. Burt Jones, vice chairman of the Senate Appropriations Insurance & Labor Subcommittee, expressed sympathy for the labor department’s plight but made no promises on how the legislature will approach the agency’s budget.
“I know your people are working very hard, and they’re on the front lines,” said Jones, R-Jackson. “We appreciate your good work.”
Supporters of the extremist “Boogaloo” movement were present at a protest Sunday in Athens amid ongoing demonstrations throughout Georgia against police brutality and racial injustice, according to Athens authorities.
State authorities warned Tuesday extremist groups and out-of-state agitators have infiltrated crowds during protests from Atlanta to Savannah since last Friday that at times devolved into scenes of property damage and confrontations with police, who in turn have fired tear gas cannisters and made hundreds of arrests.
Boogaloo supporters mark the first extremist group to be publicly identified by law enforcement officials in Georgia after days of intense protesting, including on Sunday night in Athens during which 32 people were arrested.
Their presence was noted in a memo sent by Athens-Clarke County Police Chief Cleveland Spruill, who called the Boogaloo movement an “extremist organization” that aims in part “to instigate race wars across America.”
So far, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) has declined to identify which extremist groups have participated in recent protests. An agency spokeswoman said Wednesday more details should be released soon.
On Tuesday, GBI Director Vic Reynolds said during a news conference that state investigators had identified members of “various groups around the country, a lot of which are bent primarily on destruction and violence.”
The term “Boogaloo” is associated largely with some far-right militia groups in favor of armed opposition to government-led attempts at constraining gun ownership, as well as some white supremacists who view the phrase as code for a future race war, according to the Anti-Defamation League.
Meanwhile, many prominent officials across the country including President Donald Trump have attributed violence seen at protests to the influence of “Antifa” supporters, signifying the far-left, anarchist element of the “anti-fascist” movement seen often at protests on police violence and at the removal of Confederate monuments in recent years.
Spruill’s memo, dated June 1, notes Boogaloo supporters “armed with rifles and handguns” were spotted in the protesting crowd Sunday in downtown Athens. Those persons “self-identified” as Boogaloo supporters, Spruill wrote, and were later seen in a smaller crowd that continued protesting after the city’s 9 p.m. curfew expired.
“This was troubling because the organization is known for their involvement in destructive and violent behavior at other protests across America,” Spruill wrote.
Spruill, who in his memo linked to the Anti-Defamation League’s webpage on the Boogaloo movement, also said the late-night crowd that prompted several arrests was “primarily made up of” Boogaloo supporters.
However, other accounts of the protest dispute that characterization, noting the presence of Boogaloo supporters was minimal and did not inspire violence on the part of protesters.
Tim Denson, an Athens-Clarke County commissioner who attended Sunday’s protest, said he witnessed that “a handful of armed instigators did arrive from out of town and unsuccessfully tried to escalate the situation.”
Denson and others have criticized local authorities and Georgia National Guard members for using crowd-control methods including tear gas and rubber bullets on largely peaceful demonstrators who had blocked streets and lingered past curfew.
“In my opinion it was absolutely unnecessary and unacceptable to move in on peaceful protesters with violent, dangerous, unpredictable weapons such as tear gas,” Denson said in a statement Monday.
Gov. Brian Kemp defended the approach Tuesday as needed to protect city property and residents from outside agitators, arguing illegal acts seen in protests “put us in a bad spot” as law enforcement seeks to preserve public order.
“Those are not people here to peacefully protest,” Kemp said. “They are here to disrupt, to injure the men and women that are on the streets trying to keep the peaceful protesters safe.”
ATLANTA – Citing “reassuring signs of fiscal resilience” in Georgia, Gov. Brian Kemp announced Wednesday that cuts to next year’s state budget won’t be as deep as originally feared.
In a video message, Kemp notified state agency heads and legislative leaders he is preparing an updated revenue estimate that will call for 11% across-the-board spending reductions in the coming fiscal year rather than the 14% cuts originally anticipated.
The new revenue projections reflect expectations the coronavirus pandemic will have somewhat less of an economic impact on Georgia’s economy than had been predicted when the 14% cuts were ordered.
“Our state is positioned to weather this storm better than most,” Kemp said. “I’m hopeful our state will be able to avoid the draconian cuts and measures many others across the country will be forced to make.”
State senators holding budget hearings since last week have been confronted with the difficult choice between furloughing teachers and state employees or keeping them on the job at reduced pay.
Kemp said Wednesday the pandemic has highlighted the importance of teachers, health-care workers and others on the front line of fighting COVID-19. He pledged to make education, health care and public safety top priorities even as agency heads and lawmakers grapple with tough decisions on how to balance the state’s needs with declining tax revenues.
The General Assembly, which was suspended in mid-March by the coronavirus outbreak, will reconvene June 15, with passing the fiscal 2021 state budget as its top priority. Just 11 days remain in the 2020 legislative session.
Protesters gather outside the Governor’s Mansion in Atlanta on May 30, 2020. (Photo by Beau Evans)
Gov. Brian Kemp warned Tuesday state authorities are prepared to do “whatever is necessary to keep the peace” as protests against police brutality and racial injustice continue across Georgia.
The governor and the state public health commissioner, Dr. Kathleen Toomey, also heeded protesters and law enforcement in protest areas like Atlanta to be mindful of their exposure to coronavirus and seek testing if they have been involved with large groups.
At a news conference Tuesday, Kemp said he understood the anger expressed in protests since Friday over the death of George Floyd, a 46-year-old black man who died after a white officer kneeled on his neck for several minutes during an arrest last week in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
But the governor also stressed he will not tolerate acts of violence and property destruction as protesting is poised to continue this week, particularly amid intelligence reports from state investigators who have identified members out-of-state extremist groups that have infiltrated demonstrating crowds.
“If those people who are unruly out there think that we will lay down and we will quit, you are in the wrong state,” Kemp said Tuesday.
“We have to have people who follow the law,” Kemp added. “And when you don’t, it puts us in a bad spot.”
Demonstrations in Atlanta, Athens, Savannah, Gainesville and elsewhere in Georgia coincided over the weekend with nationwide protests over the death of Floyd as well as other recent instances of race-related violence, including the fatal shooting of 25-year-old Ahmaud Arbery near Brunswick in late February.
In Atlanta, four consecutive nights of largely peaceful demonstrations starting last Friday have at times devolved into scenes of property damage and confrontations with police, who in turn have fired tear gas cannisters and made hundreds of arrests. The city was placed under a 9 p.m. curfew Tuesday for the fourth straight night.
The protests in Georgia’s largest city prompted the governor to declare a state of emergency for all 159 Georgia counties on Saturday and order the deployment of 3,000 Georgia National Guard troops, who have been involved in crowd-control activities in recent days to enforce nightly curfews.
Vic Reynolds, director of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, said at Tuesday’s news conference that investigators combing social media have identified “certain groups” aiming to incite violence and destruction rather protest peacefully. He did not name which groups those may be.
“We are convinced…there are individuals here from various groups around the country, a lot of which are bent primarily on destruction and violence,” Reynolds said.
Authorities also said members of a “violent extremist group” were present at protests in Athens on Sunday but did not name the group in a news release issued Monday by the Athens-Clarke County Police Department.
Meanwhile, state health officials are growing anxious about potential outbreaks of coronavirus as hundreds of people packed together during protests.
Officials still see encouraging signs the virus’ spread is slowing due to lower positive case rates and fewer hospitalizations, said Toomey, the state health commissioner. But the protests have thrown a new variable into the equation, forcing officials to boost testing activities around the demonstrations and diverting National Guard troops that have been assisting test sites.
“When you have this many people gathered together in close proximity, you run the risk of viral transmission,” Toomey said.
Speaking Tuesday, Toomey said health officials are setting up one or two testing sites for protesters in Atlanta and working with Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms on providing tests for city police and firefighters. National Guard members and other state authorities sent to protests will also be tested, she said.
“We want to make sure that everyone who may be exposed unwittingly has access to testing quickly and that we can assist in this time to mitigate any potential spread from this demonstration,” Toomey said.
“We want to make sure that the pandemic doesn’t spread because of this,” she added.
As of Tuesday afternoon, roughly 48,200 people in Georgia had tested positive for COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel strain of coronavirus that sparked a global pandemic. The virus had killed 2,102 Georgians.
Kemp, noting the challenge of balancing social distancing with the right to protest, urged Georgians Tuesday to remember the virus has not abated and that there still is no vaccine for it.
“We are still battling a pandemic and we need to stay vigilant,” the governor said. “Continue to keep your distance, wash your hands and do all the other things we have been saying for weeks and weeks now.”
Georgia Power and Atlanta Gas Light are poised to resume shutting off service in July for customers who do not pay their bills following months of abstaining from disconnections during the coronavirus pandemic.
The two energy companies, which provide gas and electricity to millions of Georgians, pushed pause on service disconnections March 14 as Gov. Brian Kemp placed the state under a public health emergency stemming from the pandemic.
Georgia Power will be able to resume service shutoffs for delinquent payments on July 15, giving customers some time to work with the company on possible alternative-payment plans. Atlanta Gas Light marketers can resume service shutoffs on July 1.
Those dates were approved Tuesday by the Public Service Commission, which regulates utilities in the state. Commissioners also backed letting Georgia Power seek to recoup lost costs from the shutoff moratorium in future negotiations over rate changes.
John Kraft, a spokesman for Georgia Power, said the company is working on giving residential and business customers the option of installment payment plans to cover their bills amid the pandemic.
“Once finalized, Georgia Power will be communicating directly with customers to help make arrangements for these special installment payment plans,” Kraft said.
The two energy providers, which are both subsidiaries of the regional power provider, Southern Company, were among dozens of utilities across the state that pressed pause on penalizing customers amid the pandemic. The virus-induced social distancing and economic slowdown has prompted roughly 2 million Georgians to file unemployment claims since mid-March.
Some utilities are set to resume disconnecting service and collecting late fees later this month and in July. Most, however, have not set dates for ending disconnection moratoriums.
Social and business restrictions have eased in recent weeks per orders from the governor, who is keen to jumpstart the state’s struggling economy in the face of billions of dollars in lost tax revenues since March.
The shutoff resumption follows Georgia Power’s decision last week to reduce fuel rates by about 17% over the next two years, saving customers $5.32 on their average monthly bills. Additionally, a special interim reduction on fuel rates this summer will lower the typical customer’s bill by $10.26 per month through September. The PSC-approved decision resulted from lower prices driven by increased natural gas supply.
Georgia Power, which is the state’s largest energy provider, previously gained PSC approval last December to raise its basic service fee for residential customer from $10 to $14 a month through 2022.
This story has been updated to include comment from Georgia Power.
