ATLANTA – The state Senate unanimously approved a bill Wednesday that would expand Georgia’s law governing telemarketing calls.
The bill would allow Georgians to hold companies liable for telemarketing calls made by third-party contractors as well as pursue class-action lawsuits against telemarketers.
“What we’ve seen in Georgia is a proliferation of telemarketing calls,” said Sen. Blake Tillery, R-Vidalia, the legislation’s chief sponsor. “They interrupt homes at dinnertimes.”
“But our ability to stop them pursuant to the Georgia Do Not Call Act has been limited because we’ve seen those companies go outside and reach to other groups to make the calls for them.”
Tillery gave the example of a car-warranty company contracting with a third-party company to make phone calls to Georgians. Currently, the car-warranty company’s liability is very limited under Georgia law.
The bill the state Senate approved would fix that, Tillery said.
“[A company] can’t get around Georgia law by contracting with another company out-of-state,” he said. “They actually would be recognized as the entity making the call in the first place, and third-party liability would extend to them.”
The bill also would allow Georgians to bring a class-action lawsuit for such phone calls with damages of up to $1,000 per call.
A similar measure passed unanimously in the state Senate last year but failed to get approval from the state House of Representatives. The bill now moves to the House for consideration.
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
ATLANTA – Business was down at the Port of Savannah last month, with total containerized cargo dropping by 55,000 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) compared to January of last year.
The decrease was fueled in part by a reduction in orders from retailers and manufacturers, which caused a 16% decline in imports. Weather was also a factor, delaying six vessels that had been scheduled to call at Savannah late last month.
Exports were a bright spot for the port. Loaded container exports from Savannah grew 21% last month compared to January of last year. The port handled 110,305 TEUs for export in January, an increase of 19,419 TEUs.
“We’re excited to support a strong month for American farms and factories at the Port of Savannah,” said Griff Lynch, executive director of the Georgia Ports Authority. “We achieved particularly robust growth last month in export trade lanes to Europe and the Mediterranean.”
The jump in exports from the Port of Savannah came as Gov. Brian Kemp was announcing that Georgia achieved a record-breaking year for international trade in 2022 for the second year in a row. The state’s total trade last year exceeded $196 billion across 221 countries and territories.
That showing included more than $47 billion in exports in 2022, breaking the previous record by nearly $5 billion and representing an 11% increase over the previous year.
Joel Wooten, the ports authority’s board chairman, said the authority is using the current reduction in traffic to make significant progress on infrastructure projects that will be needed as demand returns.
“Being prepared to take advantage of opportunities as they arise requires steady leadership and an eye toward long-term trends,” Wooten said. “Our board’s commitment to constant infrastructure improvement, even during down times, means our customers have a ready partner in growth when they need to expand their Georgia operations.”
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
ATLANTA – The first bill to emerge from a legislative study committee that met last year to explore how to prepare Georgia to accommodate an anticipated influx of electric vehicles is making its way through the General Assembly.
Senate Bill 146 would require Georgia utilities and retailers including convenience stores that build electric vehicle charging stations to charge EV owners by the kilowatt hour for the electricity they sell. Currently, charges are based on the length of time a vehicle is connected to the charging station.
Charging by the kilowatt hour was a key recommendation the Joint Study Committee on the Electrification of Transportation made when it issued its final report last November.
“It makes more sense to pay for the energy consumed rather than for how long someone is plugged into a charger,” Stephanie Gossman, electric transportation manager for Georgia Power, told members of the state Senate Committee on Regulated Industries and Utilities Tuesday.
Spokespersons for Georgia Power, Georgia EMC and the Georgia Association of Convenience Stores endorsed the kilowatt-hour proposal during Tuesday’s initial hearing on the Senate EV bill.
Convenience stores and other retailers are expected to provide the lion’s share of EV charging stations. Gossman said the charging stations Georgia Power operates make up less than 3% of the market.
Senate Majority Leader Steve Gooch, R-Dahlonega, said the legislation’s intent is to set the kilowatt-hour rate equivalent to what owners of cars powered by internal-combustion engines pay in state sales taxes for gasoline. The bill would eliminate the flat $200 annual fee EV owners have been paying since 2015, which doesn’t account for how much or how little an EV is driven.
Gooch said his bill is in keeping with Gov. Brian Kemp’s pledge to make Georgia a national leader in electric mobility.
“The creation of this framework will be a great step in that direction,” he said.
Sen. Bill Cowsert, R-Athens, the committee’s chairman, said he expects the panel will vote on the legislation next week.
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
A health care provider provides an influenza vaccine to a patient. (Photo credit: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention/Lauren Bishop)
ATLANTA – Georgia’s “tripledemic” — the simultaneous outbreaks of flu, COVID, and respiratory synctical virus (RSV) — is on the decline, state epidemiologist Cherie Drenzek said Wednesday.
The flu season started early and peaked in October both nationally and in Georgia, Drenzek told members of the Georgia Board of Public Health during its first meeting since November. Hospitalizations are down by about 60% since last week in metro Atlanta, the sole region where DPH tracks the data.
Despite the decline in the amount of flu activity, severe outcomes including death are higher nationally than in past years. So far this flu season, 97 children have died from the flu nationwide, including six just this past week. Drenzek said older adults and young children are the most likely to experience severe outcomes such as hospitalization and death.
The pattern for RSV, which typically causes cold-like symptoms but can be serious in young children, has been similar to the pattern for flu. The RSV season began early and peaked in October, Drenzek said.
There is also good news when it comes to COVID-19. The level of hospitalizations for elderly Georgians is about one-fifth of what it was at this time last year, Drenzek said. Deaths have also decreased.
The decline in severe outcomes indicates COVID vaccines and boosters are working, Drenzek said. Though the risk has decreased, many are still vulnerable to COVID, with more than 3,000 people still dying of COVID each week in the United States.
“Flu vaccine and bivalent [COVID] boosters remain critical for those at risk,” Drenzek said.
In legislative news, the state Department of Public Health is supporting a bill before the General Assembly that would prohibit vaping in any designated smoke-free area, said Megan Andrews, the agency’s assistant commissioner for policy. The goal is to bring vaping rules on par with other smoking rules.
The Georgia Senate’s Health and Human Services Committee has approved the bill. The full Senate is expected to vote on it Wednesday.
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
ATLANTA – The state Senate Tuesday approved a proposal to place a statue of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas on the grounds of the state Capitol.
The bill was sponsored by Sen. Ben Watson, R-Savannah. Watson represents the part of the Savannah area, Pin Point, where Thomas is from.
“Clarence Thomas … has lived a life marked by tremendous achievement,” Watson said. “[He] deserves a place of honor and recognition on Capitol grounds, a place where future generations of Georgians can … gain inspiration and belief that their lofty dreams are attainable, too, in America, regardless of the circumstances in which they are born.”
The statue would be funded by private donations, Watson noted.
The bill drew criticism from Democrats, who pointed out that Thomas is a controversial figure.
Thomas’ confirmation hearings for the U.S. Supreme Court in 1991 were marred by sexual harassment allegations leveled by Anita Hill, a lawyer who had formerly worked under Thomas. His conservative approach to many policy issues, including against affirmative action, has also drawn the ire of many Black Americans.
“I don’t expect people of non-color to get the sensitivity that we feel about a person of color whose policies and practices and decisions and votes … we’ve rallied [to] fight against,” said Sen. Emanuel Jones, D-Decatur.
“Justice Thomas’ decisions have certainly sparked outrage [among] women and not just women of color, but all women,” Jones added. “And certainly, when we look at the LGBTQ+ community, his votes and positions he’s taken have raised outrage in that community as well.”
Democrats also said Thomas’ wife, Ginni, has been accused of encouraging the “stop-the-steal” movement to overturn former President Donald Trump’s 2020 election defeat.
“At minimum, this bill should be tabled until such time that Justice Thomas and his wife are cleared of collaboration in this dark chapter in our history,” said Sen. Nikki Merritt, D-Grayson. “This is not the type of shame we want to enshrine on Capitol grounds.”
Despite the opposition, the bill passed easily by a 32-20 party-line vote. It will now move to the Georgia House of Representatives for consideration.
The state Senate passed a similar bill last year, but it failed to reach the floor of the House.
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
