ATLANTA – Legislative efforts to block a proposed titanium mine near the Okefenokee Swamp have taken a new turn.
The Georgia House of Representatives is expected to vote Tuesday on a bill declaring a three-year moratorium on acceptance of applications for dragline surface mining permits of heavy sands minerals. That’s the mining technique and type of minerals contemplated by Alabama-based Twin Pines Minerals in its plan to mine titanium oxide along Trail Ridge.
The bill follows an announcement last month that the state Environmental Protection Division (EPD) has issued draft mining permits to Twin Pines for a 700-plus-acre demonstration site in Charlton County, the first step toward opening an 8,000-acre strip mine along the southeastern border of the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge.
The bill would limit Twin Pines to a pilot project and restrict mining to that site until scientific data can be obtained to determine the effects of the mine on surrounding ecosystems.
Legislation to ban mining along Trail Ridge has been bottled up in the a House committee during the last three General Assembly sessions, despite being endorsed by more than half of the 180 House lawmakers, while a bill introduced this year has drawn opposition because it would have allowed mining permits to be issued by default,
“Our organization strongly believes another path forward in protecting Trail Ridge and the Okefenokee is needed,” said Katherine Moore, president of the Georgia Conservancy. “(The new bill), if passed, would provide this opportunity by allowing for methodical and intentional steps to be made toward a potential long-term conservation solution for the eastern barrier of the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge.”
While Twin Pines executives have said the proposed mine would not harm the swamp, scientific studies have concluded it would significantly damage one of the largest intact freshwater wetlands in North America by drawing down its water level and increasing the risk of drought and fires.
More than a dozen cities and counties across South Georgia and other parts of the state have passed resolutions opposing the mine, and the project has drawn intense opposition at public hearings and in written comments to the EPD.
The legislation expected to go before the House is an amendment to an unrelated bill the state Senate passed last year. If the House passes the measure, it would have to go back to the Senate before it could gain final passage.
ATLANTA – Legislation setting a new election schedule for members of the Georgia Public Service Commission (PSC) cleared the General Assembly Thursday.
The state Senate voted 43-9 to hold the election for the PSC’s District 2 seat now held by Commissioner Tim Echols in May of next year in conjunction with municipal election primaries. The elections for districts 3 and 5 – seats now held by commissioners Fitz Johnson and Tricia Pridemore – would be held in 2026.
Elections for PSC districts 1 and 4 – now served by commissioners Jason Shaw and Lauren “Bubba” McDonald, would take place in 2028.
The Georgia House of Representatives followed suit later Thursday by passing the bill 93-66.
The legislation is in response to a lawsuit filed by four Black Fulton County residents arguing that electing members of the PSC statewide diluted Black voting strength in violation of the federal Voting Rights Act, making it more difficult for Black voters to elect a candidate of their choice.
The 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals overturned a lower-court decision last fall and upheld the system of statewide elections. However, an injunction the lower federal court issued remains in place.
As a result, PSC elections that were to have been held in 2022 and later this year were canceled.
“We’re in a weird position here,” Senate President Pro Tempore John Kennedy, R-Macon, said Thursday. “It’s very unusual for elections to be indefinitely stayed.”
Sen. Elena Parent, D-Atlanta, complained that the election schedule the bill sets would let commissioners who normally serve six-year terms before having to stand for reelection remain in office for eight years or longer.
Kennedy responded that the General Assembly is being forced to do something in response to the cancellation of two election cycles.
ATLANTA – Georgia Senate budget writers approved a $36.1 billion state budget Thursday with pay raises for state employees and public school teachers fueled by a bulging revenue surplus.
The spending plan, which takes effect July 1, would raise salaries for many state workers by $4,000, with additional raises of $3,000 for employees in state agencies plagued by high turnover rates. Teachers would get raises of $2,500.
The fiscal 2025 budget is $1.5 billion below the fiscal 2024 midyear spending plan lawmakers adopted late last month, Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Blake Tillery, R-Vidalia, said before Thursday’s vote.
“We think hard times in Georgia may be coming,” he said. “We want to be realistic.”
The budget boosts spending on education programs including $204 million to buy new school buses and $108 million in grants for safety improvements on public school campuses. Tillery said the school safety grants will be built into the base budget so they become permanent.
Like the midyear budget, the fiscal 2025 spending plan would fund state building projects out of cash rather than bond financing. With the state sitting on a $16 billion budget surplus, the committee also set aside $63 million to accelerate paying off some of the state’s previous bond debt.
The budget now heads to the full Senate for a vote next week.
he Georgia House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed a $36.1 billion fiscal 2025 state budget Thursday with generous raises for teachers and state employees made possible by a huge surplus.
“This is an awesome budget that addresses the needs of every Georgian from all walks of life,” House Speaker Jon Burns, R-Newington, said following the 172-1 vote.
The budget, which takes effect July 1, would increase state spending by $3.6 billion – or 11% – over the original fiscal 2024 spending plan the General Assembly adopted last spring.
It includes 4% pay raises for most state employees, with an additional $3,000 one-time increase for state law enforcement and correctional officers. Workers in state agencies suffering from high turnover also would receive additional targeted raises above the 4% salary hikes.
ATLANTA – Georgia’s economy continued to reach all-time highs on a number of fronts last month, the state Department of Labor reported Thursday.
While Georgia’s unemployment rate remained steady at 3.1% in February, the number of jobs rose by 2,400 to a record high of more than 4.9 million.
The state’s labor force was up by 5,237 last month compared to February of last year to more than 5.3 million, another all-time high. The number of employed increased by 8,458 in February to more than 5.1 million, also a record for Georgia.
“In Georgia, we’re not just keeping pace with the nation,” state Commissioner of Labor Bruce Thompson said Thursday in a prepared statement. “We’re leading the charge in building an ecosystem where businesses and employees not only survive, but thrive.”
Meanwhile, the number of unemployed Georgians fell last month by 3,221 to 163,539, the lowest since July 2022.
Initial unemployment claims declined by 14,443 – or 39% – to 22,888 in February compared to same month a year ago.
ATLANTA – A plan by state Senate Democrats and some Republicans to fully expand Medicaid coverage in Georgia was shot down Thursday by the narrowest margin – a tie vote in a Senate committee.
Sen. David Lucas, D-Macon, working with Sen. Matt Brass, R-Newnan, brought a proposal to expand Georgia’s Medicaid program through a waiver the state would seek from the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
Georgia’s Republican governors and legislative leaders have refused to consider fully expanding Medicaid coverage for more than a decade since a then-Democratic Congress passed the Affordable Care Act, citing the cost.
But if the feds approved the waiver, Georgia would receive a $1.2 billion “signing bonus” from the federal government to implement the program during the first two years, according to a state audit. The program would cover an estimated 500,000 to 1 million Georgians.
“We can’t kick the can down the road anymore,” Lucas told members of the Senate Regulated Industries Committee Thursday. “$1.2 billion is waiting in (Washington), D.C., for Georgia to expand (Medicaid). But how long is it going to be there?”
“It would be a massive reduction in how many uninsured Georgians we have,” added Laura Colbert, executive director of Georgians for a Healthy Future, a nonprofit that has long supported Medicaid expansion.
But several Republicans on the committee said fully expanding Medicaid now would undercut two waiver programs the Kemp administration has put in place or is working to implement.
After a lengthy court struggle with the Biden administration, Gov. Brian Kemp’s Georgia Pathways to Coverage program took effect last summer. The Kemp administration also has a second waiver program called Georgia Access, a state-based health-insurance exchange directing people to private health insurers and brokers.
“Governor Kemp has taken a very strong stand on using private health care through the waiver process,” said committee Chairman Bill Cowsert, R-Athens, who cast the deciding tie vote that sank the expansion bill. “We may be rushing the gun here to undercut his efforts.”
But the bill’s supporters argued Georgia Pathways is only covering 2,900 enrollees despite having spent $26 million. Georgia Access is expected to enroll 50,000 Georgians in its first year and 85,000 by its second year, said Sen. Ben Watson, R-Savannah, chairman of the Senate Health and Human Services Committee.
“I think we need to give this more time,” he said.
While Georgia Access covers Georgians with incomes up to 138% of the Federal Poverty Level – the same as fully expanding Medicaid – Georgia Pathways covers only those with incomes up to 100% of the poverty limit.
Brass said a fully expanded Medicaid program would allow him to cover workers at his business who could qualify at the 138% income level but don’t meet the 100% threshhold
“As a small business owner who can’t afford insurance for my employees … I want my guys insured,” he said.
Lucas said a full expansion of Medicaid would help financially struggling hospitals in rural Georgia keep their lights on.
“Your zip code ought not to matter for your health care,” he said. “That’s what’s happening in Georgia.”
Cowsert noted a provision in a separate bill reforming Georgia’s Certificate of Need law governing hospital construction would create a state commission to examine how Georgia can improve health-care access, including the Medicaid expansion option.
“This has been an ongoing conversation for many years in Georgia,” he said. “Why shouldn’t we give the governor a chance to see if Pathways can succeed?”
