by Dave Williams | Aug 27, 2024 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – The Democratic National Committee and Democratic Party of Georgia are suing to block rules changes the plaintiffs say would let the State Election Board (SEB) delay or prevent certification of election results in November.
The lawsuit, filed Monday in Fulton County Superior Court, takes aim at rules changes to state election laws the Republican-controlled board approved in recent weeks allowing local election officials to conduct a “reasonable inquiry” before certifying election results if they suspect election fraud.
The Democrats also are challenging a new rule that lets county election board members “examine all election-related documentation created during the conduct of elections prior to certification of results.”
“Through rulemaking, SEB has attempted to turn the straightforward and mandatory act of certification —i.e. confirmation of the accurate tabulation of the votes cast — into a broad license for individual board members to hunt for purported election irregularities of any kind, potentially delaying certification and displacing longstanding (and court-supervised) processes for addressing fraud,” the suit states.
The lawsuit was filed on the same day Georgia Democrats and civil rights leaders held a news conference calling on Republican Gov. Brian Kemp to remove the three GOP State Election Board members who voted for the rules changes.
Democrats accused the three board members, praised by former President Donald Trump during a recent rally in Atlanta, of laying the groundwork for Trump to capture Georgia’s 16 electoral votes even if he doesn’t prevail at the ballot box.
“Our State Election Board exists to protect the right to vote for all Georgians, not to favor any single candidate in any election,” said U.S. Rep. Nikema Williams, D-Atlanta, who also chairs the Democratic Party of Georgia.
“The three members Donald Trump called his ‘pit bulls’ for ‘victory’ disagree, and they’re determined to establish a new power of not certifying an election result should their preferred candidate lose – as he did in 2020.”
Georgia Republican Chairman Josh McKoon called the changes “common-sense rules” intended to promote election integrity.
“In no way do these rule changes interfere with anyone’s right to vote or cause undue burdens on election workers,” McKoon said. “These steps will ensure transparency, accountability, accurate reporting and reconciliation, and preservation of the right for both parties to observe the processing of ballots.”
by Dave Williams | Aug 26, 2024 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – The state Department of Education (DOE) laid the groundwork for the Georgia Early Literacy Act during the past school year.
Now, it’s time to implement legislation the General Assembly passed last year aimed at improving the quality of early reading instruction, Amy Denty, the DOE’s literacy director, told members of the Georgia Council on Literacy Monday.
The work got underway this summer with a requirement that all Georgia students in kindergarten through the third grade be screened for reading proficiency by Aug. 1, Denty said during the council’s meeting on the campus of Georgia College & State University in Milledgeville.
Under House Bill 538, which the legislature passed with only one “no” vote, students who are identified as falling behind in reading will receive an individual reading improvement plan within 30 days of being identified followed by intensive reading intervention until they catch up.
“The more quickly we can determine a child’s deficit, the quicker we can intervene,” Denty said.
The legislation also contains a teacher training component. By next July, the bill requires all K-3 teachers to complete a state-approved literacy training program. The emphasis will be on “the science of reading” – a method of literacy instruction that draws on evidence from psychology and neuroscience and includes phonics.
“Teaching reading is the most complex thing we do in our schools,” Denty said. “We are placing a lot on the plates of our teachers. (But) I believe our teachers can step up to this.”
Legislative Republicans made improving literacy in Georgia a major priority of their agenda for the 2023 General Assembly session, citing statistics showing not a single school district in the state had an acceptable percentage of third-grade students reading on level.
The news got worse this year. The 2023-24 Georgia Milestones test results released last month showed English/language arts proficiency declined by one point among the state’s third graders.
Allison Timberlake, the DOE’s deputy superintendent for assessment and accountability, attributed the decline to lingering effects of the pandemic, when many schools were closed and students were forced to rely on online instruction.
by Dave Williams | Aug 26, 2024 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – Georgia Democrats called on Republican Gov. Brian Kemp Monday to remove three GOP members of the State Election Board for approving “11th-hour” changes to state elections laws they say could disrupt the November elections.
The board has adopted rules changes in recent weeks that, among other things, would empower local election officials to delay or refuse to certify election results. Democrats say that could sow chaos and uncertainty following the Nov. 5 elections and pave the way for former President Donald Trump to capture Georgia’s 16 electoral votes, even if Vice President Kamala Harris has won more votes.
“What is unfolding in Georgia is nothing less than an effort to subvert democracy and move us backward,” U.S. Rep. Lucy McBath, D-Marietta, said Monday during a news conference at the state Capitol. “We must not allow our State Election Board to be taken over by Donald Trump.”
“This is not just unethical. It’s illegal,” added state Sen. Nabilah Islam Parkes, D-Duluth, who filed a formal complaint last week asking that board members Janice Johnston, Rick Jeffares, and Janelle King be removed from the board. “Their actions undermine the will of the people.”
One of the groups that has advocated the rules changes, VOTERGA, released a statement Monday arguing that none of the rules changes conflict with state law.
“We have led the election integrity movement in Georgia for over 17 years and believe it is important to distinguish the difference between Georgia election law and political theater,” said Garland Favorito, a co-founder of the group.
Democrats are asking Kemp to refer the complaint to the State Office of Administrative Hearings, which would appoint an administrative law judge to hear the case for removal.
A spokesman for Kemp said Monday the governor has received letters calling for removing the three board members.
“Due to uncertainty regarding whether this office has authority to act under Code Section 45-10-4 in response to these complaints, we have sought the attorney general’s advice regarding the application of the statute to the letters,” Garrison Douglas wrote in an email. “We will respond following receipt of this advice and further evaluation of the letters.”
by Dave Williams | Aug 23, 2024 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – The state agency that runs Georgia Medicaid is going all out to increase enrollment in Gov. Brian Kemp’s limited Medicaid expansion initiative beyond the paltry numbers who signed up during its first year.
The Georgia Department of Community Health (DCH) launched a $10.7 million ad campaign this month to call attention to the Georgia Pathways program, complete with a new website (pathways.georgia.gov) that explains the initiative, who is eligible to sign up, and how to apply.
Georgia Pathways provides Medicaid coverage to Georgians with household incomes up to 100% of the federal poverty level, $15,060 for an individual and $31,200 for a family of four. Full-blown Medicaid expansion under the federal Affordable Care Act (ACA), which 40 states have adopted, covers those with incomes up to 138% of the poverty level.
While Georgia Democrats and health-care advocates have long pushed for full-blown Medicaid expansion, Kemp said the purpose of his more limited program is to transition low-income Georgians from Georgia Pathways to Georgia Access, a program that provides insurance coverage through the private sector.
“The goal of Georgia Pathways is not – and has never been – to keep hundreds of thousands of Georgians on government-run health care forever,” the governor said Aug. 19 during a roundtable discussion updating his administration’s efforts to expand access to health insurance coverage. “Georgia Pathways was meant to be exactly that – a pathway to an education, a job, a career, and a better life without government assistance.”
Pathways, launched in July of last year, has struggled mightily. As of early June, the program had enrolled only about 4,300 Georgians, far below the 25,000 the DCH had anticipated for the first year.
Georgia Commissioner of Community Health Russel Carlson blamed the low numbers on delays in rolling out Pathways. The Biden administration initially rejected the program because it requires enrollees to spend at least 80 hours per month on work-related activities, which can include a job, education and job training.
“We lost about two years,” Carlson said.
The state went to court and won the right to undertake the Pathways initiative. But by the time the DCH was able to begin implementing the program, Georgia and other states were in the midst of “redetermination.”
The federal government prohibited disenrolling any Medicaid recipients during the COVID pandemic. When the national public health emergency was declared at an end in April of last year, states began the complicated process of reassessing eligibility for Medicaid coverage.
“That was a tremendous strain on the system,” Carlson said.
The state has had a lot more success with Georgia Access. Kemp said private health coverage through Georgia Access gives enrollees more options than Medicaid and offers health-care providers better reimbursement rates.
The program also has led to an increase in the number of insurance companies offering coverage in Georgia, which has driven premiums down an average of 11% statewide and 29% in rural areas, the governor said.
Enrollment in Georgia Access has grown from 460,000 five years ago to more than 1.3 million, including 400,000 Georgians previously on Medicaid, Kemp said.
But supporters of a full-blown Medicaid expansion say the state still is missing about 240,000 Georgians in the “coverage gap,” who do not qualify for Medicaid coverage and do not earn enough to qualify for federal tax credits to help pay for private insurance.
“We cheer the meaningful increases in private health insurance enrollment among Georgians,” said Laura Colbert, executive director of Georgians for a Healthy Future. “But that does not resolve the larger issue at hand. Hundreds of thousands of Georgians remain uninsured and without meaningful access to health care until Georgia leaders fully close our state’s coverage gap.”
A newly created state commission looking for ways to improve health-care access and quality for low-income uninsured Georgians is expected to consider fully expanding Medicaid through the ACA as an option. However, with the Kemp administration committed to a “Georgia-centric” approach that emphasizes private health coverage, the Medicaid expansion alternative isn’t expected to make much headway.
by Dave Williams | Aug 23, 2024 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – Georgia will receive $1.15 million in federal funds to help schools and child-care centers reduce lead in drinking water.
The Georgia funding is part of a $26 million allocation nationwide by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, which will be used by 55 states, the District of Columbia and U.S. territories.
“The science is clear: There is no safe level of exposure to lead,” said Bruno Pigott, the EPA’s acting assistant administrator for water. “This $26 million will help protect our children from the harmful impacts of lead.”
The EPA also is investing $15 billion to remove lead pipes and is helping local communities develop and put in place lead pipe replacement projects.
While children are especially susceptible to harm from lead, most states haven’t done enough to safeguard their schools’ water, according to an analysis by the Environment Georgia Research & Policy Center.
“For far too long, testing has been the main approach to lead in water,” said Jennette Gayer, the center’s director. “Yet, lead concentrations in water are so highly variable that even taps where no lead is detected can be highly hazardous.
“It is crucial that Georgia officials use that (EPA) funding on actions that will actually get the lead out – such as installing filters and replacing old fountains with new water stations at school.”
