ATLANTA – Federal and Georgia transportation planners are looking to run a high-speed rail line connecting Atlanta and Charlotte, N.C., via Athens.
The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) and Georgia Department of Transportation, working with state transportation departments in North Carolina and South Carolina, have identified the 274-mile route as the “preferred corridor” for the Charlotte-to-Atlanta portion of a high-speed rail line that would continue northeast to Washington, D.C.
“The projected increases in population and economic growth for the Piedmont Atlantic Megaregion create a need for a carefully planned approach to improving rail infrastructure that will benefit Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, the southeastern United States and the nation,” the FRA wrote in its final environmental impact report on the project released last week.
“Intercity passenger rail is available for business and non-business travelers that is competitive with other modes of travel in terms of travel time, convenience and safety.”
The co-called Greenfield Corridor Alternative chosen for the project connects Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport with the planned multimodal Charlotte Gateway Station. The line would run mostly along a new dedicated alignment from northeast Atlanta to Charlotte Douglas International Airport.
Due to the size and complexity of the project, the FRA and Georgia DOT are deferring decisions on the route the line would take approaching Atlanta as well as the location of rail stations, and the operating equipment and propulsion technology to be used.
The idea of connecting Atlanta and Charlotte via high-speed rail has been on transportation planners’ agendas for years, but support has varied depending on the makeup of Congress and which party occupies the White House.
President Joe Biden, who commuted daily between his Delaware home and Washington for decades while serving in the U.S. Senate, is a passenger rail enthusiast. Biden even mentioned the Atlanta-to-Charlotte high-speed rail project in a speech last spring marking Amtrak’s 50th anniversary.
With the preferred route identified, the next step for the project will be a 30-day waiting period to let the public review and comment on the chosen corridor.
Atlanta-based GreenSky has been fined for making unauthorized loans for home repairs.
ATLANTA – An Atlanta-based financial technology company is being fined $2.5 million following a federal investigation into complaints of unauthorized loans.
GreenSky Inc. announced Tuesday it has entered into an agreement with the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) to pay the fine and resolve consumer loans where there is insufficient evidence of customer authorization. The company did not admit any liability or wrongdoing.
GreenSky offers technology merchants can use to offer point-of-sale installment loans to consumers that its partner banks essentially fund. The company initially facilitated home improvement loans through such retailers as Home Depot but has since expanded into other areas, including elective surgery.
Between 2014 and 2019, GreenSky received at least 6,000 complaints from consumers who stated they did not authorize submission of a loan application. The company’s complaint investigations found its merchants were at fault in at least 1,600 cases.
“GreenSky’s careless business and customer service practices enabled its merchants to take advantage of vulnerable consumers who needed financial help to repair their homes and to pay for other critical retail services by setting up loans without consumers’ consent,” CFPB Acting Director Dave Uejio said.
“For consumers to wind up in debt to GreenSky for loans they never knew about is simply wrong. The CFPB will not stand for practices that allow conduct like this in the marketplace.”
Besides the fine, the redress to customers called for in the agreement is capped at $9 million, including $3 million in cash and $6 million in credit through loan cancellations.
GreenSky President Tim Kaliban said the company already has implemented many of the protocols and business practices called for in the agreement.
“We are exceedingly proud of our record of consumer advocacy,” Kaliban said. “The resolution of this matter also allows us to devote our full and undivided attention to growing and strengthening our business, which is built on a foundation of integrity and trust.”
ATLANTA – A longtime consumer advocate in the energy industry is running for a seat on the Georgia Public Service Commission (PSC).
Patty Durand, a Democrat from Peachtree Corners, announced Tuesday she will challenge incumbent Republican Commissioner Tim Echols next year in PSC District 2, which stretches across parts of eastern and Middle Georgia from Gwinnett County on the north and Macon on the south through Athens and the Lake Oconee region to just south of Augusta.
Durand owns a consulting business with a focus on consumer engagement and education in energy and technology. Before that she was president and CEO of the Smart Energy Consumer Collaborative.
Durand has been an opponent of the planned nuclear expansion at Georgia Power’s Plant Vogtle since before the PSC approved the project a dozen years ago. Originally expected to cost about $14 billion, the project’s price tag has soared to nearly double that amount, according to estimates.
“That is an obscene amount of money for the amount of electricity [the plant] will produce and is nine times more expensive than other clean energy choices the commission could have made,” she said.
Durand also has criticized the PSC for not moving aggressively enough to develop renewable energy.
“Why is Georgia one of only 11 states with no renewable energy goals or climate plan?” she asked. “North Carolina produces 20% of its energy from renewable resources. Georgia can too.”
Durand is also calling for re-establishing the state’s Consumer Utility Council, a panel that represented consumer interests before the PSC but was defunded in 2008 during the Great Recession.
Echols was elected to the PSC in 2010 and reelected in 2016. The owner of an electric car, he has been an advocate for clean energy on the commission.
Echols supports the completion of the Plant Vogtle expansion as an important addition to solar power in the effort to reduce the role carbon-burning power plants play in Georgia’s energy generation mix.
ATLANTA – Cobb County lawyer Jake Evans announced his candidacy Tuesday for Georgia’s 6th Congressional District seat.
Evans, a Republican, recently stepped down as chairman of the state ethics commission to challenge Democratic U.S. Rep. Lucy McBath of Roswell next year
In his announcement, Evans described McBath as a single-issue candidate for her championing of gun control legislation. McBath was elected to Congress in 2018 after losing her son to gun violence in 2012.
“The Northern Arc of metro Atlanta is a thriving, dynamic region that cares about education, public safety, national defense and fair trade,” Evans said. “But we’re stuck with a member of Congress who only cares about one issue – taking away the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding Americans and leaving them defenseless against out-of-control crime. We need change, and I’m here to offer bold, conservative leadership.”
The 6th District, which includes East Cobb, North Fulton and North DeKalb counties, was once a conservative bastion that sent former House Speaker Newt Gingrich to Congress in 1978. The district was later represented by Republican Johnny Isakson before he was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2004.
More recently, the district’s increasingly diverse population led to the election of Democrat McBath, who defeated Republican incumbent Karen Handel in 2018 and won a rematch between the two last year.
Evans is the third Republican to enter the 6th District race. Former state Rep. Meagan Hanson and Eric Welsh, a retired U.S. Army colonel and former Coca-Cola executive, are vying for the GOP nomination to oppose McBath.
ATLANTA – Georgia hauled in $3.2 billion more in taxes during the last fiscal year – a period dominated by a worldwide pandemic – than it brought in during fiscal 2020, Gov. Brian Kemp reported Monday.
That represented a 13.5% increase in tax revenues during fiscal 2021, which ended June 30.
Kemp attributed the strong revenue numbers to his decision to reopen the state’s pandemic-stricken economy sooner than many other states while still protecting public health.
“Thanks to our work alongside the General Assembly to budget conservatively and protect both lives and livelihoods throughout a global pandemic, Georgia remains on solid financial footing,” the governor said.
“The COVID-19 crisis highlighted the importance of states living within their means, and Georgia did so without widespread layoffs, tax hikes, furloughs or drastic cuts to essential services. … State leaders worked together to fund our priorities of education, health care, and public safety – all while cutting taxes.”
Net tax receipts of $26.9 billion during fiscal 2021 leaves the state sitting on a large surplus that, along with $4.8 billion in federal COVID-19 relief, promises to make spending decisions easier for Kemp and his staff as they put together budget recommendations for the next fiscal year.
That’s a far cry from last year, when the early stages of the pandemic forced Georgia businesses to close and lay off workers, sending tax collections plummeting. The budget the General Assembly adopted in June of last year imposed 10% spending cuts on state agencies across the board.
However, the reductions weren’t as steep as had been feared. With the impact of the pandemic on tax collections not as dire as had been expected, lawmakers were able to avoid furloughing teachers or state employees and plug gaps in state funding with federal dollars.
