Democrats argued at a U.S. Senate committee hearing in Atlanta Monday that Georgia’s new election law restricts opportunities for early voting.(Photo by Beau Evans)
ATLANTA – Georgia’s new election law is a thinly disguised Republican attempt to reverse GOP losses suffered in the last election cycle with restrictions aimed at reducing voter turnout, witnesses told a U.S. Senate committee Monday.
“Some people don’t want some people to vote, so they’re trying to deny access to the ballot,” Sen. Raphael Warnock, D-Ga., said during a rare Senate committee field hearing in downtown Atlanta.
Georgia Republican leaders didn’t attend the Senate Rules Committee hearing to defend the law but had plenty to say on a phone call with reporters, accusing Democrats of mounting a “publicity stunt” to build support for federal legislation currently bogged down in Congress.
“Today’s hearing is the latest attempt to change the narrative that they couldn’t get a federal takeover of elections,” Gov. Brian Kemp said. “They’ve brought the political fight here.”
Georgia Rep. Barry Fleming defended Senate Bill 202 as a measure that will expand the days and hours for early voting, impose a ‘reasonable’ ID requirement on voters casting absentee ballots, codify ballot drop boxes in state law for the first time and impose election-night reporting requirements that will lead to quicker results.
“Georgia passed a law that strengthened security, expanded access and increased security,” said Fleming, R-Harlem, who carried the bill in the House.
But witnesses testifying at Monday’s hearing pointed to record voter turnouts in the November general election and the January runoffs that elected Warnock and fellow Democrat Jon Ossoff as evidence the system in Georgia isn’t broken.
State Rep. Billy Mitchell, D-Stone Mountain, chairman of the Georgia House Democratic Caucus, also noted the lack of successful challenges to the election results. While there were many allegations of widespread fraud in Georgia, none held up in court.
“With the highest level of voter participation and the lowest number of challenges, why would you want to change that?” Mitchell asked.
Members of the committee and witnesses objected to a number of the law’s provisions, including limits on times for registration and early voting before runoff elections, limits on locations and hours for drop boxes and a provision allowing the majority party in the legislature to bypass local elections officials if not satisfied with the way an election was conducted.
“These restrictions are not meant to solve any real problem,” Ossoff said. “The only real problem for Georgia’s GOP is that they lost.”
With 19 Republican-led states having passed election laws this year containing additional restrictions, Warnock called for Congress to pass federal voting-rights legislation.
“We must have national standards to push against what we’re seeing in Texas, Georgia and other [states],” he said. “There is nothing more important for us to do in this Congress.”
While Warnock and other Democrats say the federal government has a constitutional right to control federal elections, Georgia Republicans are asserting the opposite in fighting a lawsuit challenging the new election law the U.S. Justice Department filed last month.
“States have a constitutional right to run their own elections,” Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr said Monday. “We are going to vigorously defend Georgia’s law, and we’re going to win in court.”
Georgia Commissioner of Transportation Russell McMurry
ATLANTA – Both westbound travel lanes of Interstate 16 in Treutlen County reopened Friday, one day after a bridge over the highway was heavily damaged and two days earlier than expected.
As of late Friday afternoon, crews were working to reopen the eastbound lanes by midnight.
The bridge on Georgia Highway 86 over I-16 was struck by a dump trailer early Thursday morning, forcing the state Department of Transportation to close the highway in both directions between exits 71 and 78.
“Georgia DOT engineers and contractors worked expeditiously through the night to safely remove the damaged bridge so that I-16 could be opened back up to traffic days earlier than expected,” Georgia Commissioner of Transportation Russell McMurry said Friday.
“My thanks goes out to the GDOT team members and contractors who worked through the night and day today to make this happen. Our sincere gratitude goes to law enforcement, and I’d like thank those communities and individuals who have been impacted by this event for their patience and support.”
An eastbound detour from I-16 will remain in place through midnight. Motorists are urged to remain patient and should pay attention to signage, follow marked detours or wayfinding apps and drive with caution on local roads.
Georgia 86 remains closed while the DOT plans the replacement of the damaged bridge. No timetable for completion of that work has been set.
Lessons learned from the Northwest Corridor project are helping the Georgia DOT plan toll lanes along I-285. Photo credit: Georgia DOT
ATLANTA – The Georgia Department of Transportation first turned to the private sector to help finance a major road-building project with the Northwest Corridor, adding toll lanes a few years ago to Interstate 75 in Cobb and Cherokee counties.
Now, the DOT wants to take the public-private partnership (P3) concept to a new level using its experience with the Northwest Corridor as a guide.
The agency is looking for a private partner interested in shouldering the lion’s share of the cost of a plan to build toll lanes along the Top End of heavily traveled I-285 from just north of its interchange with I-20 East to just north of the I-20 West interchange. Terms of the deal would be set out in a 50-year contract, up from the current 35-year contract governing the Northwest Corridor.
The new form of P3 the DOT has in mind is closer to self-funding than any project the agency has going today, Georgia Commissioner of Transportation Russell McMurry said.
“The private sector will bear the investment costs needed to deliver the project(s), relying solely on the toll revenues generated by the project for their repayment,” he said. “To better enable a private investor to manage that risk, we give them a longer contract term. At the end of the day, we will get more project and more value for less public dollars.”
That “more project” of which McMurry speaks could include adding two barrier-separated lanes along 285 instead of one as originally planned, Meg Pirkle, the DOT’s chief engineer, told members of the State Transportation Board during a recent presentation.
“Barrier separation means greater time-saving benefits and safer trips,” she said[DW1] .
Benita Dodd, vice president of the Georgia Public Policy Foundation, a think tank with a market-oriented approach, said deep-pocketed private investors also could help pay for improved drainage along I-285.
“We’ve seen the Northwest Corridor flood several times because of inadequate maintenance of drains,” she said.
Dodd said the form of P3 the DOT envisions already is in place in other states and across the globe, including Europe, Australia and South Africa.
“I’ve been on the toll roads in South Africa,” she said. “There’s no comparison between the quality of the general-purpose lanes and the toll lanes. It is a superior product.”
But the DOT plan has its skeptics, starting with questions over why the state needs to rely so heavily on private financing.
Neill Herring, a lobbyist for the Georgia chapter of the Sierra Club, pointed to the transportation funding legislation the General Assembly passed in 2015, which pumps about $950 million a year primarily into building roads and bridges. Georgia also is in line for a share of the huge infrastructure bill President Joe Biden is pushing, Herring said.
“What problem are we solving here?” he asked.
But Seth Millican, executive director of the Georgia Transportation Alliance, an affiliate of the Georgia Chamber of Commerce, said the state’s needs in the transportation arena dwarf whatever public funds might become available.
Then-Gov. Nathan Deal launched the state’s Major Mobility Investment Program in 2016, of which the I-285 toll lanes are a part. The 11-project program’s price tag at the time was pegged at $11 billion, but that could go even higher considering the I-285 toll lanes alone are expected to cost $6.1 billion.
“There continues to be a lack of resources to do what we need to do,” Millican said. “We need these big projects, but it’s a lot to bite off.”
Herring said the proposed 50-year contract also is uncomfortable to swallow.
“I’m not aware of any 50-year contracts in government,” he said. “They’re creating a private DOT with a private revenue stream on public property. … Why is that constitutional?”
Indeed, Deal canceled an early version of the P3 contract for the Northwest Corridor out of concern the state would cede too much control over the road to the private sector. The transportation board eventually approved a scaled-back contract that reduced the amount of private investment going into the project and swapped in more public money.
But McMurry said the DOT has gained more experience with the P3 model since then.
“Georgia – and the rest of the P3 industry is more mature,” he said. “Market analysis and strong interest from the private sector tell us this corridor is ripe. … We are ready to embrace this next level.”
Supporters say the key to success will be making sure the contract includes provisions protecting the state’s and the public’s interests.
Transportation board member Kevin Abel, who represents a congressional district in Atlanta’s northern suburbs on the board, said the DOT should insist on capping the private partner’s return on investment from the project.
Abel also suggested building in a guarantee that the project include a transit component. He said investors otherwise might be tempted to leave transit out of the mix because transit riders would take cars off of I-285, reducing the toll revenue.
“Once we sign a 50-year agreement, we’re subject to the whims of the marketplace,” Abel said.
The DOT plans to hold an industry forum later this year to talk about the project with potential bidders.
Georgia Power’s coal-burning Plant Scherer in Monroe County.
ATLANTA – Atlanta-based Southern Co.’s commitment to combating climate change is under fire in an ad campaign launched by the Sierra Club this week.
With a six-figure ad buy in the Atlanta market, the environmental group accuses Southern of failing to deliver on its promise to reach “net zero” carbon emissions by 2050.
Based on the Sierra Club’s “Dirty Truth” report released earlier this year, the ad criticizes Southern Co. and several subsidiaries – including Georgia Power – for continuing to burn coal to generate electricity while building new plants fired by natural gas. The utility also is failing to make significant investments in renewable energy, according to the ad.
“Southern Company operates some of the largest and dirtiest coal plants in the country with no retirement dates in sight while the utility plans to build more plants that burn so-called “natural gas,” a product of fracking that releases methane, a potent greenhouse gas,” said David Rogers, Southeast deputy regional director for the Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal Campaign.”
“Southern’s own material actions prove that its ‘net zero by 2050’ commitment … relies on unproven, expensive technology like carbon capture that will unnecessarily drive up customers’ bills. It’s long past time for ratepayers to understand the true extent of Southern Company’s intransigence against embracing real climate action.”
Georgia Power has reduced its reliance on coal in recent years. Much of the coal Georgia Power was using is being replaced by gas.
“Southern Company is one of the first companies in our industry to set the bold goal of net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 with an interim goal of a 50% reduction by 2030,” said Southern spokesman Schuyler Baehman. “Since 2007, we have retired or converted 56 coal units across our fleet. … We have significantly transformed the Southern Company system’s electricity generation mix, with coal decreasing from 69% of our generation mix in 2007 to just 17% last year.
“Over that same timeframe, renewables have increased from 1% to 15% of our annual energy mix. Notably, we continue to make significant progress in the absence of any state or federal mandates.”
The Sierra Club also has bought ads in Denver, Phoenix, St. Louis, Salt Lake City and Charlotte, N.C., headquarters for other utilities the organization accuses of dragging their heels in transitioning from fossil fuels to clean energy.
ATLANTA – All 60,000 Georgia preschoolers will be back in the classroom when the 2021-22 term begins later this month.
During the coronavirus pandemic, pre-K providers were given the option of offering classes in-person, virtually or through a hybrid of live and online instruction. The resulting disruption in routine sent statewide enrollment plummeting from more than 80,000 students.
“Research shows that the early education of children from birth to age five is critical to their success in kindergarten and elementary school,” said Amy Jacobs, commissioner of the Georgia Department of Early Care and Learning, the agency that administers the program.
“We believe laying a solid foundation for academic and social emotional success in our youngest learners is also important for the long-term economic growth of Georgia by helping to build a competent and qualified workforce.”
The first day of pre-school will vary based on the local school system and the child-care provider. It starts as early as July 19 in Taliaferro County and as late as the week of Sept. 6 in Murray and Webster counties.
Most Georgia public school systems begin classes during the first week of August.
The pre-K program offers the following first-day tips for parents sending their children to pre-school:
* Send your child to school in clothes they can manage independently in the bathroom.
* Make sure your child’s shoes are comfortable for playtime: No flip-flops or tennis shoes with Velcro.
* Visit the classroom before school starts, so children are familiar with the new surroundings.
* Tell your child’s teacher about any fears she/he may have.
* Discuss any special dietary needs or allergies your child may have with the teacher and ask her/him to explain program policies relating to children’s allergies.
* Complete necessary forms or releases your pre-K provider may require for dispensing medication during the school day.
* Locate the bathroom with your child and determine special bathroom routines the school observes.
* Allow extra time for the first day: Make sure you have time to say good-bye.
* Ask if your child can bring a familiar blanket for rest time: Can they bring a favorite stuffed animal?
* Send a family photo in your child’s backpack in case they get lonely.
Georgia’s lottery-funded pre-K program began in 1992 as a pilot program serving 750 at-risk four-year-olds at 20 locations. Because of the success of the Georgia Lottery, the program was opened in 1995 to all four-year-olds regardless of family income.
