ATLANTA – Georgians whose cities and counties would be divided under a new state House map proposed by legislative Republicans complained Monday the new districts would unfairly dilute their voting power.
During a nearly three-hour hearing, residents from Coweta County, Peachtree City, Dunwoody and other communities pleaded with members of the House Legislative & Congressional Reapportionment Committee not to divide their communities into multiple House districts in order to accommodate population changes reflected in the 2020 U.S. Census.
“The plan you have is going to be a loss of voice for so many people in Peachtree City,” said Suzanne Brown of Peachtree City, which would be split between two districts under the proposed map.
A large portion of the audience at Monday’s hearing traveled to the Georgia Capitol from Peachtree City, Newnan and other portions of Coweta and Fayette counties southwest of Atlanta.
Several accused House Republicans of splitting their communities in order to target Rep. Philip Singleton, a Republican from Sharpsburg who has been critical of GOP leadership. The proposed map draws Singleton into a predominantly Democratic district in South Fulton County, splitting Coweta County among five districts in the process.
“For a Republican group to gut Coweta County the way we’ve been gutted, I wonder about the party I’ve been involved in,” said Jan Horn, a Republican activist from Coweta County.
Mike Crane, a former state senator from Newnan, suggested an alternative map proposed by House Democrats would keep more communities of interest together than the Republican map.
“These maps are hurtful,” Crane told committee members. “If you don’t fix these maps … your vote will indicate who you answer to, your constituents or the speaker of the House.”
Singleton appeared before the committee to suggest changes to the map he said would keep wholly within heavily Republican Coweta County two House districts the proposed map would split and likely flip to the Democrats.
Indeed, the committee introduced a new House map on Monday with some minor changes from the map proposed last week, mostly in metro Atlanta. However, none of the changes Singleton requested were incorporated into the new map.
Rep. Bonnie Rich, R-Suwanee, the committee’s chairman, said dividing cities and counties is an inevitable part of the redistricting process, made necessary by the legal requirements to create districts roughly equal in population and comply with the federal Voting Rights Act.
“I am sympathetic to your plight,” Rich told the group that attended Monday’s hearing to register their objections. “[But] population is what drives this whole process.”
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
ATLANTA – America’s oldest firearms manufacturer will locate its global headquarters in Georgia and open a new advanced manufacturing operation in the Peach State, Gov. Brian Kemp announced Monday.
Remington Firearms will invest $100 million and create 856 jobs in LaGrange over a five-year period on the two projects.
“Georgia’s firearms industry is responsible for thousands of jobs and millions of dollars of investment in our communities,” Kemp said. “As yet another big manufacturing win for our state, I look forward to seeing the oldest firearms manufacturer in America thrive in Georgia’s pro-business environment.”
Founded in 1816, Remington Firearms is one of the United States’ largest producers of shotguns and rifles.
Several of the company’s strategic products will be manufactured in Georgia. The new headquarters will also become home to an innovative research and development center.
“We are very excited to come to Georgia, a state that not only welcomes business but enthusiastically supports and welcomes companies in the firearms industry,” RemArms CEO Ken D’Arcy said. “We cannot wait to expand our company in Georgia.”
The company will be filling positions in production, operations, engineering, management, finance, human resources, administration, finance and administration. For more information, visit www.remarms.com.
The Georgia Department of Economic Development worked in partnership with the LaGrange Economic Development Authority, Georgia Power and the state Department of Labor’s Quick Start program in recruiting RemArms to Troup County.
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
ATLANTA – A federal appeals court has halted enforcement of the White House’s employer vaccine mandate a day after Gov. Brian Kemp and Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr filed a lawsuit against the requirement.
The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Louisiana issued an emergency stay Saturday on President Joe Biden’s mandate that businesses with 100 or more workers be required to vaccinate their workers by Jan. 4, 2022, or face mask requirements and regular tests.
Last week, Kemp, Carr and Agriculture Commissioner Gary Black filed a separate lawsuit against Biden’s vaccine mandate for federal contractors.
Friday’s lawsuit claimed the vaccine mandate for businesses with 100 or more workers exceeds the U.S. Department of Labor’s authority and conflicts with the 1st Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. The mandate was set to be enforced by the U.S. Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA).
Georgia joined Florida and Alabama, along with several private employers, in filing the lawsuit in the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals. The Georgia Highway Contractors Association, the Georgia Motor Trucking Association and Robinson Paving Co. are among the companies that joined in the latest lawsuit.
“In addition to vilifying Americans for their personal choices, Biden’s vaccine mandates are unlawful and a recipe for economic disaster,” said Kemp. “With inflation skyrocketing, the supply chain screeching to a halt, and job creators across the country desperately searching for more workers, Biden is pouring gasoline on a fire.”
“This unlawful mandate is yet another example of the Biden administration’s complete disregard for the constitutional rights afforded to our state and our citizens,” Carr added. “The federal government has no authority to force health-care decisions on Georgia’s companies and its employees under the guise of workplace safety.”
Anthony Coley, a spokesman for the Justice Department, defended the mandate.
“The OSHA emergency temporary standard is a critical tool to keep America’s workplaces safe as we fight our way out of this pandemic,” Coley said. “The department will vigorously defend this rule in court.”
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
ATLANTA – Georgia’s economy is still going strong, judging from the latest state revenue numbers.
The Georgia Department of Revenue collected nearly $2.48 billion last month, up $460.7 million over October of last year – a 22.9% increase, the state agency reported Friday.
For the first four months of fiscal 2022, state tax receipts rose by 16.6% over the early months of the last fiscal year, a time when COVID-19 vaccines were still unavailable and Georgians remained wary of getting out and spending money.
Individual income tax collections were up 26.9% last month, driven by a huge increase of 106.1% in tax return payments.
Net sales tax receipts rose by a much more modest 13.9%, with corporate income taxes up 81.2% as payments far outstripped tax refunds.
With Georgians continuing to do more driving as the coronavirus threat wanes, motor fuel tax collections in October were up 9% over the same month last year.
The itch to travel more after being pent up by COVID-19 also paid off in hotel/motel tax receipts, which rose 52.6% in Georgia in October compared to October 2020.
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
ATLANTA – Atlanta-based Southern Co., the parent of Georgia Power, is doubling down on its commitment to reduce its reliance on coal.
The nation’s third largest utility has announced plans to close most of its coal-burning units at Plant Scherer, Plant Bowen, and Plant Wansley in Georgia as well as coal units at two Southern plants in Alabama.
The closures, which will occur by 2028, will help Southern move toward its long-term goal of achieving net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, Southern CEO Tom Fanning told Wall Street analysts during an earnings call.
The plant closings Fanning outlined Thursday, combined with the recent retirement of two coal plants in Mississippi, will mean a reduction in Southern’s coal generating capacity from more than 20,000 megawatts of electricity across nearly 70 generating units in 2007 to fewer than 4,500 megawatts of capacity remaining at just eight generating units.
Environmental groups have pushed for years for utilities to move away from using coal in power generation toward solar power and other sources of renewable energy.
“After years of pressure from grassroots organizations, clean energy advocates, and concerned community members, Southern Company has finally decided to take a step in the right direction and close down some of the dirtiest power plants in its fleet,” David Rogers, Southeast deputy regional director for the Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal Campaign, said Friday. “Southern Company deserves credit for making this decision.”
But Rogers said more work needs to be done. For one thing, Southern plans to continue operating Plant Miller in Alabama, the largest carbon polluter in the nation.
Rogers also called on Southern to work with affected communities to help coal plant workers transition to other jobs.
“We need to make sure communities are given the resources to thrive through this transition, rather than be left behind,” he said. “Additionally, legacy pollution from these coal plants, like coal ash, must be cleaned up properly to protect the health of communities nearby.”
Fanning said the exact timing of the planned coal plant closings in Georgia will be subject to approval by the state Public Service Commission in its review of Georgia Power’s next Integrated Resource Plan (IRP).
The utility files a new IRP every three years outlining the mix of power sources it will rely on to generate electricity for the next two decades. The next IRP is due to be submitted to the commission early next year.
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
