ATLANTA – Gov. Brian Kemp signed a $30.3 billion mid-year budget Wednesday that includes pay raises and bonuses for state employees and school workers.
The General Assembly increased state spending through June 30 by nearly $450 million above the mid-year budget Kemp recommended in January. Rising state tax collections gave lawmakers the added leeway.
Kemp cited his decision to keep the state’s economy open during the coronavirus pandemic for the strong revenue numbers.
“Georgia is in a unique position as we lead the nation in the great economic recovery,” the governor said during a signing ceremony at the state Capitol. “We chose to protect both lives and livelihoods during the pandemic.”
The mid-budget is highlighted by a $1.6 billion refund to Georgia taxpayers.
It also restores spending cuts to K-12 education imposed during the early months of the pandemic, and provides $2,000 one-time supplements to school nurses, custodians, cafeteria workers and school bus drivers.
State employees will see their annual pay increased by $5,000, with an additional $2,000 going to correctional officers in the juvenile and adult prison systems to reduce high turnover rates.
“These investments are all possible because of strong conservative leadership over the last few years,” said Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan. “The legislature and governor have worked together to understand how we shepherd through some of the toughest moments in our state’s history.”
The state House and Senate passed the mid-year budget last week.
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
An early voting line outside the South Cobb Regional Library in Mableton (Photo by Beau Evans)
ATLANTA – Republicans and Democrats in the General Assembly are refighting the war over election laws sparked by the controversy that continues to swirl around the 2020 presidential results.
The GOP-controlled Georgia House of Representatives passed legislation Tuesday night Republicans said provides ballot security measures aimed at restoring trust in elections but Democrats criticized as more voter suppression on top of an election law overhaul lawmakers passed last year.
House Bill 1464 passed 98-73 along party lines shortly before 11 p.m. Tuesday. It was the last vote on Crossover Day, the deadline for bills to pass at least one legislative chamber to stay alive for the year.
The 37-page bill includes provisions aimed at securing the chain of custody of ballots.
“Chain of custody is important,” said Rep. David Knight, R-Griffin. “This is about the integrity of elections [so] everybody knows the procedures and rules are followed.”
The bill also requires employers to make time for their workers to vote, not just on Election Day but also during the early voting period.
House Democrats’ strongest objections were over a provision giving the Georgia Bureau of Investigation “original jurisdiction” to investigate complaints of election fraud, meaning the agency wouldn’t have to wait to be called into a case by the State Election Board or attorney general’s office.
“The GBI conducting voter fraud investigations … will be used to intimidate Georgia voters and election workers,” said Rep. Derek Mallow, D-Savannah. “This is another attack on the right to vote.”
Rep. Bee Nguyen, D-Atlanta, who is running for secretary of state, reminded lawmakers that Gov. Brian Kemp promised not to push further changes to Georgia’s election laws this year after the legislature passed Senate Bill 202 last year.
Among other things, that bill added a voter ID requirement for absentee ballots and restricted the location of absentee ballot drop boxes.
Nguyen said the new bill is full of unfunded mandates on local elections agencies that increase the burden on election workers.
“This time, we’re targeting our election boards and our election administrators,” she said.
But Rep. James Burchett, R-Waycross, the bill’s chief sponsor, said Democrats’ arguments exaggerate the legislation’s potential impacts.
“This bill does nothing more than add administrative provisions,” he said. “Voter suppression is not in the bill.”
The legislation now moves to the Georgia Senate, where Republicans also hold the majority.
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
ATLANTA – Georgians playing coin-operated amusement machines (COAM) could receive non-cash redemption gift cards under legislation the state House of Representatives passed Tuesday.
Gift cards would help the Georgia Lottery Corp., which oversees the COAM machines, keep better track of an industry that has been plagued by illegal cash payments to winners, Rep. Alan Powell, R-Hartwell, the bill’s chief sponsor, told House lawmakers.
“It will stop any illegal trade,” he said.
House Bill 1424, which passed 100-67 Tuesday evening, also would increase the value of prizes awarded by so-called “kiddie” games from $5 to $50.
And it would exempt fraternal and veterans organizations from having to comply with a requirement that retail businesses installing COAM machines derive no more than 50% of their income from the machines. The 50/50 rule applies to convenience stores, restaurants and other retailers.
While often considered a stepchild of the lottery, COAM machines brought in $4.5 billion in Georgia last year, with the state getting 10% of the proceeds to support the HOPE Scholarship and pre-kindergarten programs.
Rep. Stacey Evans, D-Atlanta, who voted against the bill, argued that’s not enough.
“This is serious money, and our kids need it,” she said.
Rep. Mary Margaret Oliver, D-Decatur, suggested a higher take for the state could be negotiated into the COAM bill as it moves over to the Georgia Senate.
Indeed, a different version of COAM reform the Senate Regulated Industries Committee approved last week called for the lottery to receive 30% of COAM revenue.
However, that legislation failed to reach the Senate floor on Tuesday, the Crossover Day deadline for bills to pass at least one legislative chamber to remain alive for the year.
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
ATLANTA – The state House of Representatives has passed legislation to replace the current system for compensating wrongfully convicted Georgians who spent years in prison with a new process supporters say is clearer and more consistent.
Under House Bill 1354, which passed unanimously early Tuesday evening, those who have been exonerated of a crime for which they were wrongfully convicted would no longer have to find a member of the House willing to introduce a private compensation resolution.
Instead, they would apply to a newly created panel of legal experts that would include a criminal court judge, a prosecutor, a criminal defense lawyer and two other attorneys. The panel would review the case and make a recommendation to the House Appropriations Committee.
“An individual would have to prove they’re innocent, to demonstrate with testimony that they’re innocent,” said Rep. Scott Holcomb, D-Atlanta, the bill’s chief sponsor.
Holcomb said 38 states have such a system in place for compensating the wrongfully convicted.
Under Holcomb’s bill, compensated would range from $50,000 to $100,000 for each year the individual was incarcerated. The average compensation among the states is about $70,000 a year, he said.
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Efstration, R-Dacula, one of the bill’s cosponsors, said the law would kick in only after a conviction has been overturned.
“It provides a consistent process that allows experts to analyze these issues,” he said. “Legislative authority is not eroded here. In fact, it’s strengthened because we get experts making a recommendation.”
The Georgia Innocence Project, an advocacy group that fights to free the wrongfully convicted, praised the House for passing the bill with bipartisan support.
“No piece of legislation can give back the years taken from people who have suffered the tragic consequences of imprisonment for a crime they did not commit,” said Clare Gilbert, the group’s executive director. “This bill does provide some financial security for exonerees to rebuild their lives in freedom.”
The legislation now heads to the state Senate.
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
ATLANTA – Once again, the push to legalize some form of gambling in Georgia has fizzled in the General Assembly.
The state Senate killed a constitutional amendment Tuesday that would have put legalizing pari-mutuel betting on horse racing on the ballot for Georgia voters in November.
Senators voted 33-20 in favor of the legislation Tuesday morning, falling short of the two-thirds majority needed to pass a constitutional amendment.
Sen. Jeff Mullis, R-Chickamauga, the measure’s sponsor, tried to get it back on the Senate floor throughout the rest of the day, but the Senate adjourned early Tuesday evening without taking it up. Tuesday was Crossover Day in the General Assembly, the deadline for bills to pass at least one legislative chamber to remain alive for the year.
Citing a study conducted by Georgia Southern University, Sen. Billy Hickman, R-Statesboro, who raises racehorses, said legalizing pari-mutuel betting on horse racing would grow an equine industry that would create 8,500 jobs – including many in rural Georgia – and deliver nearly $1 billion in annual economic impact.
The existing horse breeding industry in Georgia needs the boost building racetracks in the Peach State would give it, said Sen. Brandon Beach, R-Alpharetta.
“There’s no incentive for owners and breeders to race their horses in our state,” he said. “Millions of dollars leave Georgia every year.”
The legislation called for dedicating the state’s portion of proceeds from horse racing to education, health care and rural economic development.
But opponents warned horse racing would lead to gambling addiction.
“We’ve all met people who could not handle gambling,” said Sen. Marty Harbin, R-Tyrone. “Money goes from the table. Money goes from paying for housing.”
Technically, legalizing gambling in Georgia remains a live issue even though Crossover Day has come and gone. A constitutional amendment the Senate passed last year asking voters to decide whether to legalize sports betting remains alive in the state House of Representatives.
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
