The Arch on the campus of the University of Georgia in Athens
ATLANTA – All but one of Georgia’s public colleges and universities will not be raising tuition for the third year in a row.
The University System of Georgia Board of Regents voted Tuesday to hold the line on tuition during the upcoming school year for every school in the system except Middle Georgia State University. The school in Macon is beginning a three-year plan to bring undergraduate tuition into alignment with other universities in the same academic sector.
Increases will range from $17 per credit hour for in-state undergraduates to $64 per credit hour for undergraduates from outside of Georgia.
Tuesday’s vote marked the fifth time in the last seven years the board opted not to increase tuition at most of the system’s 26 institutions across Georgia.
The state can afford to keep tuition where it is. Gov. Brian Kemp and the General Assembly provided $3.1 billion in state funds to the university system for the fiscal year starting July 1, up from $2.3 billion in the budget lawmakers approved a year ago.
“The university system’s longstanding commitment to affordability helps empower students, keeping them on track to learn the skills they need to get good jobs in a highly skilled workforce,” said system Chancellor Sonny Perdue, the former governor who took over as chancellor last week.
“That workforce is critical to the economic development that has allowed Georgia to thrive, and we are grateful to Governor Kemp and the General Assembly for passing a state budget this year that provides record support for public higher education and USG institutions statewide.”
The board also voted to eliminate the special institutional fee that was imposed during the Great Recession, when the university system was strapped for funds. Doing away with the fee will save students anywhere from $170 to $544 per semester, depending on which institution they attend.
Georgia’s university system has the third-lowest median in-state tuition and fees for undergraduates at four-year institutions among the 16 states that make up the Southern Regional Education Board (SREB), according to the latest data available. The system also averages the 13th-lowest annual tuition and fees in the nation.
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 failed to gain traction in the Georgia House of Representatives this year.
But that didn’t stop the House from adopting a nonbinding resolution during the final week of this year’s legislative session calling for protecting the Okefenokee as a valuable tourism resource.
The proposed mining ban was prompted by an Alabama-based mining company’s plan to mine titanium oxide at a site in Charlton County three miles from the Okefenokee Swamp. Twin Pines Minerals (TPM) is seeking permits from the Georgia Environmental Protection Division (EPD) to move forward with the project.
Scientists and environmental advocates have warned the mine could damage adjacent wetlands and permanently affect the hydrology of the largest black water swamp in North America.
While House Resolution 1158 doesn’t mention the mining project by name, lawmakers taking a position on the swamp’s importance to the state was important, said Josh Marks, a lawyer with a long history working to protect the Okefenokee.
“The legislative resolution demonstrates, once again, there is broad, bipartisan support for the Okefenokee Swamp and for ensuring it is protected against dangerous threats like that posed by TPM’s proposed project,” he said. “These collective legislative efforts are reminders to Governor [Brian] Kemp and EPD that the people of Georgia are watching very closely and want EPD to deny TPM’s permit applications.”
The bill banning mining near the Okefenokee was introduced in February by Rep. Darlene Taylor, R-Thomasville, chairman of the House Governmental Affairs Committee. Republican co-sponsors included Reps. Ron Stephens of Savannah, Jan Tankersley of Brooklet and Jesse Petrea of Savannah – all committee chairs – along with Democratic Rep. Debbie Buckner of Junction City.
Shortly after introducing the bill, Taylor wrote a letter to EPD Director Rick Dunn
“Our effort comes in the aftermath of many public requests including a letter written by over 43 scientists from around Georgia opining that mining on Trail Ridge threatens to irreparably damage the Okefenokee, including the swamp’s water level,” Taylor wrote. “I request that the permit be denied.”
Taylor’s bill died without getting a hearing before the House Natural Resources & Environment Committee. The panel’s chairman, Rep. Lynn Smith, R-Newnan, said at the time the bill was premature while the EPD was still reviewing the permit applications and had yet to open a public comment period.
The same House lawmakers joined in sponsoring the nonbinding resolution, along with Rep. Gerald Greene, R-Cuthbert.
“In addition to the leadership shown by these legislators, those of us concerned about the swamp are especially encouraged that the independent scientific community is speaking out against the project,” Marks said. ‘We are hopeful EPD will follow through accordingly.”
The EPD is still awaiting revisions to Twin Pines’ surface mining permit application and land use plan, agency spokesman Kevin Chambers wrote in an e-mail. However, EPD is currently accepting public comments at [email protected].
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
ATLANTA – The first voting rights trial in federal court in Atlanta in more than a decade opened Monday.
Fair Fight Action, a voting rights group founded by 2018 and 2022 Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams, and several Black churches are accusing Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and the GOP-controlled State Election Board of erecting unjustifiable barriers to voting that have disproportionately affected voters of color.
U.S. District Judge Steve Jones already has dismissed some of the lawsuit’s allegations, those he said were addressed by changes to state election laws the General Assembly passed last year, prompting Raffensperger to refer to the suit at a news conference Monday as a “hollowed-out shell.”
But several significant charges will be heard during the trial, which is expected to last several weeks. Witnesses will include voters who have encountered various obstacles either trying to register to vote or to cast their ballots.
“After repeated attempts by the state to silence the voice of the voters, these Georgians refuse to be sidelined,” Allegra Lawrence-Hardy, lead counsel for the plaintiffs, said at a news conference Monday following the trial’s opening day. “These voters are finally going to have their stories told.”
Lawrence-Hardy said the lawsuit is challenging the state’s “exact-match” policy, which requires information provided on voter-registration applications to match information held by the state Department of Driver Services or the federal Social Security Administration.
The plaintiffs also accuse the secretary of state’s office of mismanaging voter rolls by wrongly purging Georgians from the list and providing inadequate training in handling cancellations of absentee ballots.
Raffensperger said the case is about nothing less than ensuring the integrity of Georgia’s elections.
“Election integrity and security has been my priority since day one,” he said. “Protecting the sanctity of Georgia’s elections is my top priority.”
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
ATLANTA – Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport has regained its position as the world’s busiest airport, Airports Council International World (ACI) announced Monday.
The Atlanta airport served 75.7 million passengers last year, a 76.4% increase over pandemic-plagued 2020, vaulting it back to the No.-1 spot. Atlanta was surpassed in 2020 by Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport in China, ending a 22-year run at the top.
Atlanta also led the world in 2021 in aircraft movements, with 707,661 operations, up 29.1% over the previous year.
“These numbers speak to the resiliency and spirit of Atlanta and Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport,” Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens said. “We thank our airport employees and passengers who continued to stand with us as we worked through the unprecedented challenges of COVID-19.”
“As the aviation industry continues to rebound from the pandemic, we are excited to welcome passengers back to the skies,” added Balram “B” Bheodari, the airport’s general manager. “Our efficiency and brand of excellence could not be achieved without our employees, business partners, stakeholders and our community.”
Hartsfield-Jackson is about to launch a multi-year project to replace its aging parking decks, starting with the South Deck. Besides replacing the North and South decks, the airport will add a new West deck.
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
ATLANTA – Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger is referring the cases of 1,634 people who tried to register to vote but could not be verified as U.S. citizens for investigation by state and local authorities.
The names of those would-be voters turned up last month in the first citizenship audit of voter rolls in Georgia history.
Raffensperger blamed voting rights groups for many of the attempts by non-citizens to register.
“Attempting to register to vote while knowing you do not possess the qualifications to vote is a felony in Georgia, a serious one,” he said at a news conference Monday. “Outside groups that attempt to help noncitizens register to vote will face consequences as well.”
Raffensperger backed a constitutional amendment state Senate President Pro Tempore Butch Miller, R-Gainesville, introduced at the beginning of this year’s legislative session to ban non-U.S. citizens from voting in Georgia.
On Monday, Raffensperger cited a poll showing 80% of Georgians support banning noncitizens from voting.
The Senate Ethics Committee approved Miller’s constitutional amendment, but it got no further in the legislature. Opponents argued state law already prohibits non-U.S. citizens from voting.
Raffensperger’s remarks on noncitizen voting came on the same day a lawsuit Fair Fight Action, a voting rights group founded by Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams, went to trial in federal court.
“Stacey Abrams and her allies are trying to get rid of Georgia’s citizenship check for voter registration, and I will fight her efforts to undermine the integrity of our elections all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court if I have to,” Raffensperger said.
Cianti Stewart-Reid, executive director of Fair Fight Action, vowed the trial would bring to light the difficulties individual Georgia voters face trying to cast ballots.
“Since the start of this lawsuit, we have highlighted real voters and their challenges because we believe reporting their experiences to be one of the most effective ways of demonstrating the barriers in Georgia’s elections system,” she said.“We will continue to amplify the voices of voters at trial.”
Raffensperger said he’s referring the cases of the people whose names turned up in the audit to the State Election Board, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation and local district attorneys.
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
