by Dave Williams | Nov 1, 2024 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – Help is on the way for Georgia farmers and timber producers who suffered losses from Hurricane Helene.
The Georgia State Financing and Reinvestment Commission (GSFIC) voted Friday to redirect $100 million from a state capital projects fund to provide financial support for farmers affected by the massive storm and debris cleanup for owners of damaged timberland.
“As Georgia’s No.-1 industry continues on the road to recovery from Hurricane Helene, I’m thankful our partners on all levels, including the GSFIC board, are working with us to provide relief to those who put food on our tables and provide the materials that build our communities,” Kemp said following Friday’s vote.
“This measure is the latest we’ve taken to help them rebuild their livelihoods, but it will not be the last. We’ll continue to work with stakeholders on all levels to direct resources and support to the hardworking Georgians devastated by this storm.”
Helene cut a wide swath of destruction through southeast Georgia in late September before heading into the Carolinas. The storm left 34 dead in Georgia and caused catastrophic damage to homes, businesses, crops, and timberland.
A preliminary report from the University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences estimates agricultural damages from Hurricane Helene will cost the state’s economy at least $6.46 billion, representing the sum of direct crop losses, losses to businesses that support agriculture and forestry, losses to workers in those related industries, and estimated recovery and restoration costs that agricultural businesses will face.
The $6.46 billion impact is more than double the estimated losses caused by Hurricane Michael in 2018, the most devastating storm in recent history at that time.
Of the $100 million approved by the GSFIC board, $75 million will provide disaster relief loans to those in the agriculture industry, while $25 million will go to those in the timber industry to support cleanup efforts and debris removal on timberland as well as the enhancement of fire control measures.
The board of the Georgia Development Authority, which will oversee the disaster relief package, will meet on Monday in Macon to plan disbursement of the money.
by Dave Williams | Nov 1, 2024 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – The economy has replaced crime as the issue of top concern to metro Atlanta residents, the Atlanta Regional Commission (ARC) reported Friday.
According to the ARC’s annual public opinion survey, 32% of respondents rated the economy as the biggest problem facing the Atlanta region. Crime, which was the top concern in last year’s poll, was rated second this year at 20%. Human services followed at 12%.
“The Metro Atlanta Speaks survey is an invaluable tool that helps guide our efforts to build a better region for all metro Atlanta residents,” said Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens, who also serves as chairman of the ARC. “This year’s survey shows the people remain concerned about the economy and other pocketbook issues like housing costs.”
Among the highlights of this year’s poll, 64% of respondents said they could not afford to move to another house or apartment in their current neighborhood.
More than nine in 10 respondents said improving public transit is “very important” or “somewhat important” to the region’s future. More than half said climate change will be a “major global threat” in the next decade.
In answer to a new question this year, 42% of the survey’s respondents said they think artificial intelligence will have a “mostly negative” impact on society, while 30% said it will be “more balanced” and 22% said it will be “mostly positive.”
In another new question, 39% of respondents said they feel their financial situation is about the same as it was a year ago, while 31% said they are worse off and 28% said they are better off.
The hybrid phone and online poll questioned 4,081 adults across the 11-county Atlanta region, with a margin of error of plus-or-minus 1.5%. It was conducted by Kennesaw State University’s A.L. Burruss Institute of Public Service and Research.
by Dave Williams | Oct 31, 2024 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – The Georgia Supreme Court issued two rulings Thursday that upheld the arrests of two Democratic state lawmakers for protesting inside the state Capitol and declared constitutional a state tax levied on adult entertainment establishments.
In the first case, state Rep. Park Cannon of Atlanta and then-state Sen. Nikema Williams of Atlanta – now a member of Congress – were arrested several years ago in separate incidents.
The two neither intended to disrupt the General Assembly nor actually caused any disruptions, Atlanta civil rights lawyer Gerald Weber told the state Supreme Court during oral arguments last May. The lawmakers also argued the state law at issue in the two cases violates the Georgia Constitution’s free-speech protections.
But in Thursday’s unanimous ruling, Justice John Ellington upheld the law.
“These provisions do not prohibit a substantial amount of protected speech relative to their plainly legitimate sweep of prohibiting conduct likely to prevent or disrupt legislative business,” Ellington wrote.
However, six other justices wrote in a concurring opinion that the law is far from perfect.
“(T)he state should not confuse this limited victory with a clean bill of health for the statute,” Presiding Justice Nels S.D. Peterson wrote. “The statute is seriously flawed. Those charged with its enforcement should take care to avoid those flaws, and the General Assembly should seriously consider revising it.”
In the second case, the Georgia Association of Club Executives argued the state’s 1% tax on strip clubs aimed at raising money to combat child sex trafficking unfairly punishes owners of businesses that aren’t responsible for those crimes because minors aren’t allowed in the clubs either as dancers or customers.
Peterson wrote the majority opinion in the decision upholding the law.
“Georgia local governments have often imposed total bans on adult entertainment establishments offering the combination of nude dancing and serving alcohol,” he wrote. “In this case, the state stopped short of a total ban, imposing a 1% tax on gross revenue on adult entertainment establishments that choose to offer the combination of nude dancing and serving alcohol.
“This tax is significantly less burdensome than similar taxes upheld by other courts. And it can be avoided entirely by not serving alcohol or not performing substantially nude.”
by Dave Williams | Oct 31, 2024 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – Demand for solar panel recycling services has grown so much that a solar recycling company is accelerating its planned operations in Polk County, Gov. Brian Kemp announced Thursday.
SOLARCYCLE will invest an additional $62 million to increase its solar panel recycling capacity in Cedartown to 10 million panels per year, a project that will create 640 full-time jobs.
The company already has under construction a 1.1-million-square-foot solar glass factory there representing an estimated $344 million investment and 617 new jobs.
“As Georgia continues to lead the nation in attracting jobs from emerging industries, we’re thankful SOLARCYCLE is moving up creation of these opportunities in Northwest Georgia, benefitting that entire region’s economy,” Kemp said. “I look forward to its impact in the years to come.”
The new factory will position SOLARCYCLE as one of the first manufacturers of specialized glass for crystalline-silicon photovoltaics in the nation.
“In response to continued demand for solar recycling and domestic manufacturing, we will be able to scale operations and begin hiring sooner than planned,” said Suvi Sharma, cofounder and CEO of SOLARCYCLE.
The new facility will be located in an existing 255,000-square-foot building that will be renovated to house the company’s solar panel recycling operations.
The company is filling full-time jobs in manufacturing, engineering, management, research and design, and support staff. Interested individuals can find out more by clicking on www.solarcycle.us/careers.
The new plant will begin operations during the second half of next year.
The Georgia Department of Economic Development’s Global Commerce team worked on the project in partnership with the Development Authority of Polk County, Georgia Power, and the Technical College System of Georgia’s Quick Start program.
by Dave Williams | Oct 31, 2024 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – Georgia Power executives Thursday pitched a proposal to build battery energy storage systems (BESS) at four sites to the state Public Service Commission (PSC).
The Atlanta-based utility plans to construct BESS facilities adjacent to both Robins Air Force Base in Bibb County and Moody Air Force Base in Lowndes County. A third BESS would be located at Georgia Power’s retired coal-fired Plant Hammond in Floyd County.
A fourth battery-storage facility would double the storage capacity at the McGrau Ford Battery Facility under development in Cherokee County.
The projects, which would add 500 megawatts of electrical generating capacity, are included in Georgia Power’s plan to add 6,600 megawatts to the company’s energy-supply portfolio from sources including natural gas and solar energy.
“We have tremendous economic growth in Georgia,” Jeff Grubb, Georgia Power’s director of resource policy and planning, told members of the PSC Thursday.
“The BESS project portfolio is a vital part of the company’s approach to meeting the growing electricity needs of the state and continuing to provide our customers with the reliability they expect and deserve.”
Under an agreement Georgia Power reached last week with the commission’s Public Interest Advocacy Staff, the company must submit quarterly reports while the projects are under construction updating spending and the construction schedule.
The PSC is scheduled to vote on the projects Dec. 3.
