ATLANTA – Gov. Brian Kemp Friday defended his decision not to impose mask-wearing or vaccination mandates on Georgians to stem the latest surge in coronavirus cases, hospitalizations and deaths.
“I don’t believe we need to have a dictatorship in government telling what local school systems need to do, what private businesses need to do, what nonprofits need to do, or what individuals should do,” Kemp said during an appearance at Ball Ground Elementary School in Cherokee County to mark the start of a new school year. “Individuals need to make the best decision they can.”
Kemp said Georgians seem to be getting the message about the need to be vaccinated against COVID-19. He said vaccinations in Georgia have risen 66% since cases of the virus began to increase in recent weeks with the spread of the highly contagious delta variant.
“People who haven’t been vaccinated are realizing the delta variant spreads more rapidly, and they’re looking into getting vaccinated,” he said.
Kemp said his decision not to impose a statewide mask mandate in Georgia schools is driven by his philosophy of local control.
“We’re doing the same thing we did last year,” he said. “We’re trusting the local school systems, the local boards, to work with their parents, work with their administrations, to make good decisions for each individual school.
“Every school is different. They’re different neighborhoods, different counties. They’re rural. They’re suburban. They’re urban. … I’m confident our schools can make decisions at the local level.”
School districts have been doing just that, with some imposing mask mandates for students and teachers and others leaving it up to the individual.
Kemp has been facing pressures from both sides of the political aisle on the masking issue. Some Republicans have urged him to prohibit school systems from imposing mask mandates on their own, while some Democrats have called for a statewide mask requirement in the schools.
On Friday, Kemp urged the Biden administration to move forward with formal Food and Drug Administration approval of the COVID-19 vaccines.
“The vaccine is still under emergency authorization,” the governor said. “A lot of people won’t take the vaccine because of that.”
In keeping with the education theme of his appearance at an elementary school, Kemp strongly hinted he will follow through next year with the final installment of a $5,000 teacher pay raise he pledged on the campaign trail three years ago.
In 2019, the General Assembly approved a $3,000 pay hike. Then this year, teachers got another $1,000 in the form of a one-time bonus.
Heading into the 2022 legislative session this winter, the state is sitting on a large budget surplus.
“I have not forgotten the promise,” Kemp said, referring to his campaign promise of a $5,000 teacher pay raise. “We’re looking forward to working with the General Assembly on that issue.”
ATLANTA – This month’s oral arguments before the Georgia Supreme Court will be held remotely, Chief Justice David Nahmias announced Thursday.
Word that the high court was going back to online proceedings came less than a week after Verda Colvin was sworn in as the newest Supreme Court justice during a live ceremony inside the state Capitol and two months after the court resumed conducting in-person hearings at the nearby Nathan Deal Judicial Center.
Nahmias cited the increase in cases of COVID-19 resulting from the highly contagious delta variant and the resulting revision of public health guidelines.
“We continue to encourage courts to conduct remote proceedings when it is lawful, effective and safer,” Nahmias said. “Our court would prefer in-person oral arguments, but we have found remote oral arguments to be reasonably effective and safer for those involved with them.”
Nahmias said evidentiary hearings and jury trials elsewhere in Georgia’s court system that must be done in person should continue subject to “appropriate health protections.”
Former Chief Justice Harold Melton issued a string of statewide judicial emergencies after the coronavirus pandemic first struck Georgia in March of last year.
Although the most recent of those orders expired June 30, the state Supreme Court has extended emergency rules allowing all levels of the court system to continue conducting some proceedings using video conferencing technology.
This month’s oral arguments in the Georgia Supreme Court are scheduled to take place Aug. 24, Aug. 25 and Aug. 26. No decision has been made regarding the oral arguments set for mid-September.
ATLANTA – First-time unemployment claims in Georgia rose by 1,421 last week to 13,406, the state Department of Labor reported Thursday.
The department has paid almost $23 billion in state and federal jobless benefits since the coronavirus pandemic began 17 months ago while processing more than 5 million unemployment claims. That’s more than during the 10 years before the virus struck Georgia.
Information on filing an unemployment claim as well as resources for reemployment assistance can be found on the agency’s website at https://dol.georgia.gov. Job listings and job search assistance can be found at https://employgeorgia.com.
ATLANTA – Health care and economic assistance should get top priority when it comes to spending $4.8 billion in federal COVID-19 relief Georgia is receiving through the American Rescue Plan (ARP), according to a new poll.
The survey of 1,042 registered Georgia voters commissioned by the Georgia Budget and Policy Institute (GBPI) found that 33.8% rated restoring economic security to Georgians affected by the pandemic as their top priority for the federal money. Health care was next, with 24.1% of respondents rating it as their highest priority.
The poll, released Thursday, was conducted July 21-24 by the University of Georgia’s School of Public Affairs Survey Research Center.
Gov. Brian Kemp has appointed three committees to review applications for the federal funding from state agencies, local governments, businesses and nonprofits. The committees, which began taking applications this week, will focus on three categories of projects: broadband deployment, water and sewer improvements, and projects aimed at offsetting the economic impact of COVID-19.
“As COVID cases continue to rise, Georgia leaders face a unique opportunity to invest in our state’s people and help our communities recover and thrive,” GBPI spokeswoman Caitlin Highland said.
“Although the state currently plans to focus on one-time investments … polling shows the majority of people want the state to build on these priorities by enacting solutions that leverage the power of our people – through increased support of health care, economic opportunity and education.”
Indeed, 63.7% of those who responded to the poll called for spending Georgia’s allocation of ARP funding on priorities other than broadband, water and sewer projects and economic impact.
A huge majority – 84.1% – called for using the money to restore budget cuts Kemp and the General Assembly imposed during the early months of the pandemic last year.
While Georgia ended the last fiscal year June 30 sitting on a large surplus, Kemp has asked most state agency heads not to request spending increases in next year’s budgets.
Solid majorities of those voters surveyed supported converting the federal funds into various forms of direct payments to low-income Georgia families. Nearly 70% called for the creation of a state-level Earned Income Tax Credit.
Almost 76% of the respondents supported increased funding for Georgia’s elementary and secondary schools, with the money dedicated to students from low-income families.
In keeping with the respondents’ desire to use the federal money for purposes other than those being focused on by the three committees, 43.1% said the funds should be allocated by the General Assembly through the normal budgeting process. A slightly smaller 37.5% supported having the governor’s office distribute the federal aid.
Kemp and Republican legislative leaders have pointed to the one-time nature of the ARP funding in limiting its uses to one-time investments rather than committing to ongoing expenses the state might not be able to cover when the program expires in 2024.
ATLANTA – The right of Americans to vote in federal elections would be codified in federal law for the first time under legislation introduced this week by U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff, D-Ga.
The Right to Vote Act is aimed at new laws around the country legislatures in Republican-controlled states have passed or considered since last year’s elections, including an election-law overhaul in Georgia that took effect July 1.
Ossoff’s bill would empower U.S. citizens to challenge in court any state or local government act that makes it more difficult to vote. Defendants in such cases would have to demonstrate a legitimate governmental interest in enacting such a law and that the new law is the least restrictive alternative available to accomplish that goal, Ossoff said Thursday.
Ossoff said the aftermath of Democrat Joe Biden’s victory over incumbent Republican President Donald Trump last November points to the need for establishing a statutory right to vote.
“We see that politicians in Georgia and states across the country are seeking to restrict access to the ballot, targeting Black voters just to gain a partisan advantage in elections,” Ossoff said.
Georgia Republicans have defended the law the General Assembly passed last March as restoring public trust in the electoral process by making it harder for those bent on committing voter fraud either at the polls or through absentee ballots.
Democrats have criticized the additional restrictions in the new law as voter suppression pushed by Republicans determined to reverse last year’s high-turnout victories in Georgia by Biden, Ossoff and fellow Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock.
Along with Ossoff’s bill, congressional Democrats are working to pass other legislation that would set national voting standards.
Republicans, including Gov. Brian Kemp, say such efforts represent an unconstitutional usurpation of states’ rights to run elections.
A companion bill to Ossoff’s legislation has been introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives by Rep. Mondaire Jones, D-N.Y.
