by Dave Williams | Sep 18, 2024 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – Lake Oconee-area property owners complaining of exorbitant water rates urged Georgia lawmakers Wednesday to bring private water systems in Georgia under the same regulations that apply to municipal systems.
Piedmont Water Co., the state’s second-largest private water system, is charging the second-highest water rates in Georgia, lower only than the private system serving the community of Big Canoe, property owner Mike Hartman told a Georgia House study committee at a hearing in Greensboro. Hartman said he was charged $19,250 to connect his new home to the Piedmont system in 2022.
“Private water systems must be regulated,” he said. “That’s the only way to fix this problem.”
State Rep. Trey Rhodes, R-Greensboro, chairman of the House Study Committee on Private Water Systems, introduced legislation this year requiring the Georgia Public Service Commission (PSC) to regulate private water systems. The bill made it through the House Energy, Utilities, and Telecommunications Committee but failed to reach the floor for a vote.
“City and county water systems have public oversight. Private water systems do not,” Rhodes said Wednesday. “We need them, but we need to see if there needs to be oversight.”
Brent Hurst, Piedmont Water’s chief operating officer, said the company has spent almost $40 million on capital projects to keep up with growing demand for water in its fast-growing service area covering Greene and Putnam counties, including $15 million for a new water treatment plant.
Hurst said much of that new investment has been driven by a huge spike in demand every summer for irrigation needs.
“You have to have the production capability to meet it,” he said. “It requires a lot of investment.”
Hurst said most of the complaints about Piedmont’s water rates have come from irrigation customers who use a disproportionately large amount of water, a remark that drew laughter from the large crowd on hand for the hearing.
“This is not about just a few people,” said Rhodes, pointing to the crowd. “All I want for my people is a fair price.”
The company disputed Hartman’s characterization of its rates. Piedmont charges $82.55 per month for a family of four using roughly 5,000 gallons monthly, less than the Social Circle and Sky Valley water systems, according to a Piedmont power point presentation.
Hurst said giving the PSC jurisdiction over private water systems would force Piedmont to spend $500,000 to $750,000 to prepare a rate case study, driving up the company’s operating costs.
Rep. Debbie Buckner, D-Junction City, a member of the study committee, said Piedmont could recover those costs from customers, just as electric and gas utilities regulated by the PSC recoup such costs from ratepayers.
Commission Chairman Jason Shaw, also a member of the committee, said adding private water systems to the PSC’s responsibilities would require increasing the agency’s budget to hire more staff. With the commission legally bound to set rates that provide regulated utilities a fair return on their investment, there would be no guarantee water rates would go down, he said.
“The regulated model is not always the cheapest solution,” Shaw said.
But Jacob Fried, who owns a car wash in Eatonton, said there are real-life consequences to allowing private water systems to set rates with no oversight. He said he was forced into bankruptcy during a legal dispute with Piedmont and had to sell his house.
Fried urged the study committee to push for legislation that would provide that oversight.
“They have no rulebook to play by,” he said. “Give them a rulebook and some guidelines.”
by Dave Williams | Sep 17, 2024 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – Georgia colleges and universities may directly compensate student-athletes for the use of their name, image, and likeness (NIL) under an executive order Gov. Brian Kemp issued Tuesday.
Kemp cited a proposed settlement agreement between the NCAA and certain athletic conferences that, if approved, would allow postsecondary institutions to provide direct NIL compensation to their student-athletes.
“Until the settlement is approved and effective, legislative and executive actions across the country create a patchwork of inconsistent rules regulating intercollegiate athletics,” the governor wrote in the executive order. “Student-athletes in the state of Georgia should compete on a level playing field and not forego compensation available to student-athletes in other states.”
The General Assembly passed legislation in 2021 legalizing NIL agreements for student-athletes attending Georgia colleges, universities, and technical colleges. Payment of NIL compensation typically has come from advertisers of products such as sports apparel but not directly from the schools.
The Georgia High School Association (GHSA) board followed up on the 2021 legislation last year by expanding NIL compensation opportunities to high school student athletes.
The GHSA rule included a number of restrictions prohibiting high school students from wearing school logos, school names, school uniforms, or any items depicting school mascots or any trademarked GHSA logo or acronym in association with NIL advertising. High-school student athletes also may not promote products that conflict with a member school’s local school district policies, including tobacco, alcohol, or controlled substances.
Kemp’s executive order prohibits colleges and universities from using state funds to pay for NIL compensation.
The order will remain in effect until the effective date of the proposed settlement or the effective date of any federal law Congress passes regulating NIL payments, whichever comes first.
by Dave Williams | Sep 17, 2024 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – Georgia broke tourism records last year for the second year in a row, setting an all-time high for visitors, Gov. Brian Kemp announced Tuesday.
The number of domestic and international visitors to the Peach State increased by 5 million in 2023 to a record 171 million. Georgia maintained its No.-5 ranking among the states for the fourth year in a row.
Georgia travel and tourism generated $79.7 billion in economic impact, supporting more than 463,400 jobs, up more than 20,000 jobs over 2022. The tourism industry also produced a record $5 billion in state and local tax revenues in 2023, an increase of 7.2% over the record set the previous year.
“Georgia continues to grow as a top destination for travelers and businesses alike,” Kemp said Tuesday. “We’ve seen unprecedented visitation across all regions of the Peach State over the last couple years, a testament to the unique attractions, natural resources, and cultural institutions that make Georgia such a desirable place to visit.”
Kemp spoke at the Georgia Governor’s Tourism Conference, the premier annual event for the state’s hospitality industry. The conference was held this year at the Georgia World Congress Center’s new hotel, the Signia by Hilton, in downtown Atlanta.
by Dave Williams | Sep 17, 2024 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – State energy regulators Tuesday approved a plan by Georgia Power to buy about 80 megawatts of electricity generated by burning wood chips at a cost opponents said far outweighs the project’s value to the forestry industry.
The Georgia Public Service Commission voted 4-1 to approve the proposal. The lone “no” vote came from Commissioner Tricia Pridemore, who raised concerns about the plan’s cost during a hearing last week.
Most of the power – 70 megawatts – will come through a 30-year power-purchasing agreement (PPA) with Altamaha Green Energy LLC, which will build a mill in Wayne County to produce the biomass. Two other 10-year PPAs with International Paper Co. will generate the rest of the biomass from existing mills in Port Wentworth and Macon County.
The project’s supporters say the biomass projects will give a needed boost to a forestry industry in rural South Georgia that needs new markets for an oversupply of wood that has driven down prices. Georgia Power’s plan was endorsed by the Georgia Farm Bureau, the Georgia Agribusiness Council, and the Georgia Forestry Association.
But environmental and consumer advocates say burning wood to produce electricity releases more climate-warming pollution than burning coal. They also warned the new Altamaha Green Energy biomass plant will cost more than three times its economic value to Georgia Power ratepayers.
“It is unconscionable that commissioners would demand Georgia Power customers to subsidize a dirty, expensive industry when too many of them are struggling to pay rising energy bills,” said Codi Norred, executive director of the nonprofit environmental organization Georgia Interfaith Power and Light. “It’s clear the commission has no intention of protecting customers.”
Aradhana Chandra, a lawyer for the Southern Environmental Law Center, which represented Georgia Interfaith Power and Light in the case, argued last week that biomass also is less reliable than other sources of power generation. She said nearly 90% of Georgia Power’s biomass portfolio was unavailable during the peak of Winter Storm Elliott in December 2022.
by Dave Williams | Sep 16, 2024 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – State School Superintendent Richard Woods announced Monday he will push for additional state funding for school safety initiatives during the 2025 General Assembly session in the aftermath of this month’s school shooting in Barrow County.
The goal will be providing a school resource officer and a crisis alert system in every Georgia school.
“Building on the strong commitment to school displayed by Governor Kemp and the General Assembly in previous sessions – including the addition of line-item funding for school safety in 2024 – these are common-sense measures that will increase the security of schools throughout our state,” Woods said. “There is also early evidence they made a difference at Apalachee.”
Two students and two teachers were shot and killed at Apalachee High School near Winder on Sept. 4 and nine others were injured. Two school resource officers played a key role in taking 14-year-old Colt Gray, the alleged shooter, into custody and preventing further violence.
Gov. Brian Kemp has included school safety measures in previous state budgets. This year’s spending plan set aside about $109 million for school districts to use in safety efforts.
The governor also signed the Safe Schools Act last year, which requires schools to conduct “intruder alert drills” and submit school safety plans to the Georgia Emergency Management and Homeland Security Agency.
But legislative Democrats, and some Republicans, are calling for more. Democrats are pushing for legislation requiring gun owners to lock their firearms and store them in a safe place and for a “red flag” law allowing the temporary seizure of firearms from a person deemed a danger to themselves or others.
On the GOP side, Georgia House Speaker Jon Burns, R-Newington, late last week called for legislation offering tax credits to Georgians for the purchase of firearm storage safety devices including trigger locks and gun safes. The House overwhelmingly passed a tax-credit bill this year, but it failed to reach the Senate floor for a vote.
Woods also announced Monday that he will propose expanding a state program that promotes mental- health counseling in the schools and the enactment of policies requiring more timely and effective sharing of information between law enforcement agencies and school districts.