ATLANTA – State tax collections rose 1% last month over February of last year, keeping alive a string of consecutive increases in revenues that goes back eight months.
The Georgia Department of Revenue brought in more than $1.95 billion in taxes in February, up $19.8 million over the same month a year ago.
The various components that make up the state’s tax picture were volatile last month. While individual income taxes were down 6.8%, net sales taxes offset that by increasing 12.8%.
Corporate income taxes rose by 29.2% last month compared to February of last year.
Tax collections on gasoline and other motor fuels were up 2.3% for the month.
Tax revenues through the first eight months of the current fiscal year increased by a healthy 16% over the first eight months of fiscal 2021, as Georgia’s economy continues bouncing back from the coronavirus pandemic.
Gov. Brian Kemp and the General Assembly are taking advantage of the strong fiscal numbers by increasing state spending, including election-year raises for teachers, state workers and employees of the University System of Georgia.
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
ATLANTA – The Republican-controlled Georgia House of Representatives gave final passage Friday to new district boundaries for the state Public Service Commission (PSC) over objections from Democrats that the map discriminates against minority voters.
The bill, which originated in the Georgia Senate, cleared the House 97-68 along party lines and now goes to GOP Gov. Brian Kemp’s desk for his signature.
The new map makes significant changes to the five PSC districts, moving 44 of the state’s 159 counties into a different district than the current map.
The changes were necessary to bring the population deviation between the districts to plus-or-minus 1%, said Rep. Bonnie Rich, R-Suwanee, chairman of the House Legislative & Congressional Reapportionment Committee.
House Democrats argued the bill perpetuates the current system requiring commissioners to run statewide even though they must live inside their districts.
A federal lawsuit currently pending claims electing commissioners statewide violates the federal Voting Rights Act because it dilutes minority voting strength.
“It makes no sense for us … to perpetuate statewide election of members of the PSC,” said Rep. Sam Park, D-Lawrenceville. “It could be seen as thumbing our noses at the court.”
House Minority Leader James Beverly, D-Macon, said the new map is politically motivated, a bid by majority Republicans to avoid creating a majority-minority PSC district centered around Gwinnett County, which has seen huge growth in its minority population since the current map was drawn a decade ago. The new map moves Gwinnett into a district dominated by heavily white communities in Northeast Georgia
“Intentional racial discrimination is wrong,” Beverly said.
But Rep. Houston Gaines, R-Athens, said it’s too late to change the method of electing PSC members when the candidate qualifying period is set for next week. Such a change from the current system of statewide elections would require a constitutional amendment, he said.
Qualifying for congressional, statewide and legislative offices begins on Monday and runs through noon next Friday.
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
ATLANTA – Bipartisan legislation to ban mining near the Okefenokee Swamp has fallen by the wayside, despite the backing of some of the most powerful members of the Georgia House of Representatives.
The bill, cosponsored by several committee chairs in the House, was on track last week for a hearing before the House Natural Resources & Environment Committee. But the hearing didn’t happen, and supporters were told the committee will not take it up this year.
“The enthusiasm that appeared on the part of the legislature … led us to believe we had a real good chance to get it through the House,” said Neill Herring, a lobbyist for the Georgia chapter of the Sierra Club. “There’s plenty of strong sentiment for protecting the Okefenokee Swamp from any kind of threats.”
Alabama-based Twin Pines Minerals is seeking permits from the Georgia Environmental Protection Division (EPD) to mine titanium dioxide at a site in Charlton County three miles from the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge, the largest black water swamp in North America.
The project’s opponents say the mine could damage adjacent wetlands and permanently affect the hydrology of the entire 438,000-acre swamp by lowering the water level.
“The swamp will continue to face future mining threats unless we solve this issue legislatively,” said Josh Marks, a lawyer with a long history working to protect the Okefenokee. He was involved during the 1990s in stopping DuPont’s plans for a titanium mine near the swamp.
“It’s time to permanently prohibit mining next to the Okefenokee once and for all,” Marks said.
But Rep. Lynn Smith, chairman of the Natural Resources & Environment Committee, said the bill is premature when the EPD is still reviewing the permit applications and has yet to open a 60-day public comment period.
“That really has to happen first,” said Smith, R-Newnan.
Smith suggested nonprofit conservation groups interested in protecting the Okefenokee Swamp should consider applying to preserve the land.
The Chemours Company, an American chemical company spun off of DuPont, announced last month it will not buy the
proposed mine or acquire Twin Pines Minerals.
While Twin Pines officials said the Chemours commitment to protect the Okefenokee will not affect its plans for the mine, Marks called it an important development.
“[It] shows that there’s no business case for Twin Pines’ project,” he said. “Hopefully Twin Pines will get the message and abandon its risky scheme once and for all.”
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
ATLANTA – Controversial legislation making it harder for Georgia homeowners to file nuisance lawsuits against neighboring agricultural operations cleared the Republican-controlled Georgia House of Representatives Thursday.
The Freedom to Farm Act, which passed 102-62 mostly along party lines, would replace a law the legislature enacted in 1989 governing nuisance suits against farm operations in areas zoned for agricultural use.
Under House Bill 1150, neighbors bothered by bad smells, dust, noise or water pollution emanating from a farm would have one year to file a nuisance suit. After that statute of limitations expires, the farm would be protected, House Agriculture & Consumer Affairs Committee Chairman Robert Dickey, told his House colleagues.
The current law is vague on that point, leaving farmers vulnerable, said Dickey, R-Musella, the bill’s chief sponsor.
“I want to keep our farmers on their tractors, not in a courtroom.” he said.
But the bill’s opponents said the current law has worked for decades, so well that Georgia has not seen a flurry of nuisance suits against farmers.
“I can’t find a single record of a standalone nuisance lawsuit against a farmer in Georgia,” said Rep. Debbie Buckner, D-Junction City. “[The current law] is clear. It is concise. It is well defined.”
Rep. Stacey Evans, D-Atlanta, said the bill would take away protection from suits the current law provides to farmers whose operations existed before residential encroachment in their neighborhood.
“We’re infringing on private property rights,” she said. “This is no longer a matter of who was there first.”
Opponents also charged the bill’s real purpose is to pave the way for giant corporate chicken farms to move into Georgia.
But Dickey pointed to a provision added to the bill that protects residential property owners from “confined animal-feeding operations” including corporate hog farms.
“This bill is not about big farmers but being able to keep our small family farms,” he said. “They cannot weather multiple nuisance lawsuits by developers and neighbors that want them to go away.”
The bill now moves to the Georgia Senate.
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
ATLANTA – Georgia Rep. Winfred Dukes has declared his candidacy for state agriculture commissioner.
The Democrat from Albany promised to use his 26 years of experience in the General Assembly to work on behalf of the one in seven Georgians who work in farming, forestry or related fields by creating good-paying jobs and profitable farms.
Dukes serves on the House Appropriations and Agriculture & Consumer Affairs committees.
“His leadership as a legislator gives him an understanding of the needs of both rural and urban communities,” said former Lt. Gov. Mark Taylor, another Albany Democrat. “Dukes will work to expand the market for small farmers, improve food safety and support the next generation dedicated to a green, growing Georgia.”
The agriculture commissioner post is open this year, as Republican Commissioner Gary Black is running for the U.S. Senate.
State Sen. Tyler Harper, R-Ocilla, also vying to succeed Black.
Dukes would have faced a difficult race had he chosen to run for reelection to the House this year. The new House redistricting map the General Assembly’s Republican majority drew last fall placed Dukes in the House District now served by veteran Rep. Gerald Greene, R-Cuthbert.
This story isavailable through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
