ATLANTA – The perennial push to legalize gambling in Georgia hit the General Assembly Thursday for the first time in this year’s legislative session.
A state Senate committee took up two similar measures asking Georgia voters to decide whether to legalize pari-mutuel betting on horse racing and two accompanying “enabling” bills outlining how the industry would operate in the Peach State.
Supporters came armed with a report from Georgia Southern University projecting horse racing – including the breeding and raising of racing thoroughbreds – would create 15,800 jobs in Georgia during its first decade, generating $1.28 billion in economic impact.
Those numbers are based on provisions in one of the bills calling for the construction of three racetracks, one in metro Atlanta and two in other parts of Georgia. Each track would hold 60 days of racing annually for a total of 180 racing days.
“The majority of these jobs would be agricultural. It will be great for our rural areas,” said Sen. Billy Hickman, R-Statesboro, who raises and breeds horses and is a cosponsor of one of the Senate bills.
Hickman said Georgia is losing the millions of dollars horse racing could bring to states including Florida and Kentucky where pari-mutuel betting is legal.
Both Senate enabling bills call for dedicating a portion of the proceeds from pari-mutuel betting to education, health care and rural development.
But opponents of horse racing argued the industry has become a losing proposition both in terms of economics and social impacts.
“Today’s horse tracks are a bankrupt business model unless they’re transformed into casinos with slots,” said John Kindt, a retired business professor who has written extensively on the dangers associated with legalized gambling.
“This will bring [gambling] addictions, bankruptcies and broken homes,” added Paul Smith, executive director of Citizen Impact, a Georgia-based Christian public policy nonprofit.
The committee took no action on the bills Thursday. Committee Chairman Bill Cowsert, R-Athens, said he would like to hold an additional hearing to go over the bills in more detail.
Meanwhile, efforts to legalize online sports betting and/or casino gambling in Georgia have yet to get off the ground under the Gold Dome this year. However, legislative proposals on both forms of gaming introduced last year remain alive for consideration.
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
ATLANTA – The Georgia House’s top budget writer is leaving the General Assembly.
State Rep. Terry England, R-Auburn, chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, announced Thursday he will not seek reelection this fall to a 10th term. England is in his 18th year in the House, including 12 as appropriations chairman.
“This past 18 years, especially the last 12, have taught me so much about this state that I love so much,” England told his House colleagues from the well of the chamber. “The last 12 have allowed me to be a part of helping so many citizens, not only in Barrow County, but across our wonderful state.”
England has lent valuable continuity to the budget process in the General Assembly since the death of veteran Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Jack Hill two years ago.
“Throughout the pandemic, he has been a valued and trusted partner in addressing the needs of our state and the unprecedented challenges we’ve faced,” Gov. Brian Kemp said Thursday.
“This is on top of the measured and skilled management he brought to the budgetary process as Georgia battled the Great Recession. That quality of leadership and willingness to collaborate is invaluable.”
A farmer by trade, England was elected to the Georgia House in 2004. He has served on many legislative committees, including the House Rural Development Council, formed by House Speaker David Ralston in 2017 to look for ways to improve rural Georgia’s economy.
England’s 116th House District includes most of Barrow County.
This story isavailable through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
ATLANTA – Legislation prohibiting companies owned or operated by the Chinese government from bidding for state contracts cleared the Georgia Senate Thursday.
Senators passed the bill 32-20 during the second week of the Winter Olympics in Beijing, which has drawn worldwide attention to human rights abuses committed by China’s government. The United States and several other countries have refused to send diplomatic delegations to the Olympics, although athletes from those nations are competing.
“China is known for its civil rights violations,” state Sen. Jeff Mullis, R-Chickamauga, the bill’s chief sponsor, said on the Senate floor Thursday. “Technology theft by the Chinese … is a threat.”
Mullis went on to blame the Chinese government for the coronavirus pandemic, although whether the virus escaped from a lab in the Chinese city of Wuhan or from an animal market continues to be a subject of debate.
Under Mullis’ bill, businesses submitting bids to the Georgia Department of Administrative Services would be required to certify they are not owned or operated by the Chinese government. Submitting a false certification could result in a fine of up to $250,000.
The bill’s opponents questioned the potential cost to the state of prohibiting certain bids and argued the ban is too broad.
“Let’s target specific companies … an industry that is violating human rights,” said Sen. Nikki Merritt, D-Grayson.
But Mullis said the Chinese government – not individual businesses – is the target of his bill.
“I’m not talking about Chinese companies,” he said. “I’m talking about Chinese government-owned companies.”
The legislation now moves to the Georgia House of Representatives.
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 of likely Republican primary voters comes as good news to Gov. Brian Kemp and Herschel Walker.
Kemp is leading former U.S. Sen. David Perdue 49.1% to 39.5%, according to a survey of 1,072 likely GOP primary voters conducted Feb. 11 through Feb. 13 by Atlanta-based Trafalgar Group.
Two other Republican gubernatorial candidates were polling in the low single digits.
Meanwhile, Walker continues to hold a huge lead in his bid to challenge Democratic U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock in November. The University of Georgia football icon was the choice of 69.9% of those surveyed.
Georgia Agriculture Commissioner Gary Black was running a distant second at 6.1%, according to the Trafalgar poll. Support for two other candidates fell below 3%.
For Perdue, the silver lining in the survey is that 31.2% of likely Republican voters who responded to the poll said they didn’t know Perdue has been endorsed by former President Donald Trump.
Perdue has made Trump’s support a key campaign pitch. His first TV ad featured Trump on camera urging voters to support Perdue in the May 24 GOP primary.
The poll’s margin of error was 2.99%.
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
ATLANTA – The state is taking steps to prevent the spread of a highly contagious form of bird flu that has broken out in commercial and backyard poultry operations in three states.
The Georgia Department of Agriculture issued an order Wednesday immediately canceling all exhibitions, shows, flea market or auction sales, swaps and meets involving poultry and other feathered fowl until further notice.
“There have been NO cases of avian influenza identified in commercial or domestic poultry in the state of Georgia,” the agency wrote in a news release.
Highly Pathogenic Avian Influential (HPAI) was found in the states of Indiana, Kentucky and Virginia.
To ensure the disease doesn’t spread to Georgia, the department is instructing poultry producers to take the following measures to protect their flocks:
Move all poultry with outside access indoors.
Implement strict biosecurity.
Monitor flocks for clinical signs consistent with avian influenza.
Report any concerns to your veterinarian, state or federal animal health official immediately.
With HPAI, birds may become quiet, not eat and drink, have diarrhea, and have discolored combs and feet. Birds may also die suddenly with no signs of disease.
