ATLANTA – The U.S. Senate has passed bipartisan legislation sponsored by Sen. Jon Ossoff, D-Ga., aimed at America’s opioid crisis.
The Rural Opioid Abuse Prevention Act cleared the Senate Wednesday night and now moves to the U.S. House of Representatives.
More than 75,000 Americans died of opioid overdoses between April 2020 and April of last year, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The bill, cosponsored by Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, will steer federal funds toward rural communities with a high level of opioid overdoses.
“With today’s passage of my bipartisan bill to reduce opioid addiction, overdoses and deaths, the Senate proved Democrats and Republicans can still work together to get things done,” Ossoff said.
The legislation would make federal funds available to local governments and organizations in rural areas to help fill gaps in prevention, treatment and recovery services for victims of opioid abuse.
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
ATLANTA – Georgia high school students soon will be receiving more instruction in how to handle their personal finances.
The state Board of Education Thursday approved revisions to the high school economics course that significantly expand the personal finances portion of the curriculum.
Students will learn more about managing budgets, building credit, protecting against identity theft and understanding tax forms, student loan applications and pay stubs.
“I strongly believe that education is about preparing students for life,” said State School Superintendent Richard Woods, who proposed the changes.
“This revised course will ensure that every Georgia high school student will learn essential life skills like managing a budget, filing taxes, and using credit responsibly, while also gaining an understanding and appreciation of free market principles.”
The revisions to the economics course were developed by a committee that included content-area teachers and finance industry experts. They were put through 30 days of public comment to get input from teachers, parents and students.
The curriculum changes will take effect during the 2022-23 school year.
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
ATLANTA – A rural jobs and tax credits program the state created in 2017 isn’t coming close to paying for itself, a new audit has found.
The Georgia Agribusiness and Rural Jobs Act provides access to capital for small businesses located in rural areas as well as tax credits to companies that invest in rural communities.
From 2018 through last year, 33 businesses in 23 Georgia counties – most in South Georgia – received an average of $3.1 million through the program, according to the Georgia Department of Audits & Accounts. More than half of that money went to small manufacturers.
The program’s annual economic impact during those years ranged from $42.6 million to $60.4 million, according to the Fiscal Research Center at Georgia State University, which partnered with the audits agency on the report.
However, the program is expected to cost $60 million in lost state tax revenue. Given the estimated $580,000 to $630,000 the program is expected to generate in state tax revenue each year, it would take at least 72 years for the state to see a positive payback on its investment in terms of additional tax revenue, the audit concluded.
“This analysis confirms that the program has wholly failed to meet lofty promises,” the Georgia Budget and Policy Institute, an Atlanta-based think tank and frequent critic of the state’s tax credit programs, wrote in response to the audit.
“The findings released today should motivate Georgians to demand greater transparency and accountability for the billions in tax credits the state of Georgia awards each year.
“Wasteful corporate giveaways and special-interest tax breaks not only put great pressure on low- and middle-income Georgians to pay a higher share of this earnings in taxes, but also deprive our state of needed revenue for core programs and services like education and health care.”
The audit was the first conducted under legislation the General Assembly passed this year requiring the state to conduct periodic audits of tax credit initiatives.
“This program clearly does not provide a return on investment from the state,” said Georgia Sen. John Albers, R-Roswell, the bill’s chief sponsor. “I do not believe this is a proper use of state tax dollars.”
The audit also reported that eight other states have launched similar programs – known as certified capital company (CAPCO) investment programs – only to abandon them later. Some states reported significant portions of the funds were not going to qualified businesses, while in other cases, companies received the funds only to go out of business.
The General Assembly considered a CAPCO proposal during this year’s legislative session as part of a broader tax-break package, but the CAPCO component was pulled from the final version of the bill Gov. Brian Kemp signed into law.
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
ATLANTA – The Atlanta Regional Commission (ARC) has a new executive director.
The ARC’s board voted Wednesday to appoint Anna Roach, Fulton County’s chief operating officer since 2017, to head the 11-county planning agency.
Roach, 47, will become the ARC’s first female executive director when she takes the reins in February. She will succeed Doug Hooker, who will retire at the end of March after more than a decade in the post.
“Anna Roach is a proven leader with a strong track record of success and a deep passion for the Atlanta region,” ARC Board Chairman Kerry Armstrong said. “She’s poised to build on the innovative work taking place at ARC and continue to move the agency forward.”
Before coming to Fulton County, Roach – who holds a law degree from St. John’s University – served as assistant deputy general counsel for the District of Columbia Department of Human Resources. She also has served as an administrative law judge in New York City, and as an appellate counsel for the Legal Aid Society of New York.
“I am honored by the confidence shown in me by the ARC Board and am eager to lead the agency’s efforts to build a better, brighter future for all residents,” she said.
Roach, who lives in the city of South Fulton, said her priorities include promoting housing access and health equity and developing a highly skilled, regional workforce. She also aims to look for common ground on the best way to move forward on transit in the Atlanta region and promote open dialog on addressing climate change.
“This is a critical time for the Atlanta region,” Roach said. “We must seize the moment before us to make transformational advancements that will drive economic recovery and long-term prosperity for our region.”
The ARC includes Cherokee, Clayton, Cobb, DeKalb, Douglas, Fayette, Forsyth, Fulton, Gwinnett, Henry, and Rockdale counties.
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
ATLANTA – A new poll conducted since former U.S. Sen. David Perdue entered the 2022 Republican primary race for governor shows him neck and neck with incumbent Gov. Brian Kemp.
Perdue and Kemp each drew support from 34% of 500 likely GOP primary voters when the respondents were informed that former President Donald Trump has endorsed Perdue, according to a survey conducted the evening of Dec. 6 by FOX 5 and InsiderAdvantage.
The poll was conducted on the same day Perdue both formally entered the race and received Trump’s blessing.
When asked to declare their preference before being informed of the Trump endorsement, the respondents supported Kemp 41% to 22%.
“This shows the amazing impact that a Trump endorsement can have on a Republican primary and certainly in Georgia,” InsiderAdvantage Chairman Matt Towery said. “This should be a huge additional wakeup call to national GOP leaders and candidates as to the political might of Trump.”
Trump has been urging Perdue for months to challenge fellow Republican Kemp, who drew Trump’s ire when he refused to back the then-president’s attempts to overturn 2020 presidential election results that saw Democrat Joe Biden carry Georgia by nearly 12,000 votes.
Perdue’s entry into the contest promises a bitter struggle that’s bound to further divide Republicans in Georgia.
“This race will be what I often refer to as a ‘Town versus Gown’ contest,” Towery said. “While the more suburban and politically connected ‘Gown’ Republicans will favor Kemp, the working class and more exurban and rural GOP voters will be more likely to support Perdue.”
On the Democratic side, former Georgia House Minority Leader Stacey Abrams, who lost a close election to Kemp in 2018, appears to enjoy a clear path to her party’s nomination next spring.
The Republican poll found former state Rep. Vernon Jones and Appling County educator Kandiss Taylor far behind Kemp and Perdue. The survey had an error rate of plus-or-minus 4.5%.
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
