by Dave Williams | Jul 19, 2024 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – Gov. Brian Kemp will lead a weeklong trade mission to Italy to strengthen existing economic ties with Italian businesses and develop new partnerships, the governor’s office announced Friday.
Kemp, Georgia First Lady Marty Kemp, and representatives of the state Department of Economic Development will meet next week with executives from companies currently doing business in Georgia, including firearms manufacturer Beretta, tiremaker Pirelli, TMC Transformers, and textiles manufacturer Aquafil.
“For decades, Georgia has enjoyed close economic and cultural ties to Italy,” Kemp said. “Marty and I look forward to building on that foundation of success during this trip.”
Italy is a top-15 trading partner with Georgia, with $3.4 billion in total trade moving between the Peach State and Italy last year.
Italy also was among the top-10 international investors in Georgia in 2023, and Italian companies have invested more than $411 million since 2010 in projects with state involvement. About 90 Italian-owned facilities in Georgia support about 5,000 jobs.
Kemp led a trade mission to South Korea just last month. The last Georgia trade mission to Italy took place in 2017 and was led by then-Gov. Nathan Deal.
by Dave Williams | Jul 18, 2024 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – Gov. Brian Kemp Thursday announced how the state plans to spend $1.5 billion in surplus funds the General Assembly earmarked earlier this year for transportation infrastructure improvements.
The one-time infusion of transportation dollars will raise spending on the Georgia Department of Transportation’s capital construction program by 58%, more than double state aid to local governments for transportation improvements, boost funding for repaving projects by 32%, pay for improvement projects at various general aviation airports, and fund a new program aimed at improving the movement of freight across Georgia.
“What I like above all is it’s going to keep people working in all parts of our state … with money to spend to support their families,” Kemp told Capitol Beat in an exclusive interview.
Jannine Miller, the DOT’s director of planning, said 80% of the $1.5 billion will go toward adding roadway capacity.
“We are a growing state, both people and freight movement,” Miller told members of the State Transportation Board Thursday. “That capacity is going to make a big difference.”
The biggest chunk of the funding – $593 million – will help the DOT keep pace not only with the additional demand on highway capacity resulting from Georgia’s population growth but with inflated road construction costs. The money will be used to accelerate the construction of 24 road projects by a total of 43 years.
“It gives us a big shot in the arm to make sure no projects are getting put on the back burner,” Kemp said.
Highway projects to be funded through the infrastructure package include completing an overhaul of the Interstate 16/I-75 interchange in Bibb County – work that has been dragging on for years – expanding the toll lanes along I-75 south of Atlanta to allow the lanes to open both northbound and southbound at the same time, and extending Georgia 400 at its northern end in Lumpkin County.
The $500 million freight program includes 18 projects, highlighted by widening Interstate 16 in Chatham and Effingham counties to improve the movement of cargo in and out of the Port of Savannah, improvements to Georgia 365 in Hall County to aid the flow of cargo out of the Georgia Ports Authority’s planned inland port in Gainesville, and improvements to Georgia 5 and Georgia 515 in Pickens County.
Cities and counties will get $250 million for local transportation improvements. Airport aid will be increased by $98 million, highlighted by construction of a new Griffin/Spalding Regional Airport. Resurfacing of state highways across Georgia will be funded through a $50 million increase in the DOT’s capital maintenance budget.
by Dave Williams | Jul 18, 2024 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – The Democratic Party of Georgia filed a federal lawsuit Thursday challenging a state law that authorized the formation of “leadership committees” that can raise and spend unlimited contributions on behalf of statewide and legislative candidates.
Senate Bill 221, which the Republican-controlled General Assembly passed in 2021 virtually along party lines, created eight leadership committees to be chaired by Georgia’s governor, lieutenant governor, the general-election nominees opposing those two statewide incumbents and the heads of the majority and minority caucuses of the state House of Representatives and Senate.
While leadership committees can accept unlimited donations, traditional campaign committees working on behalf of individual rank-and-file candidates are subject to limits, typically maxing out at $26,400 per election cycle.
In 2022, incumbent GOP Gov. Brian Kemp and Democratic challenger Stacey Abrams used their respective leadership committees to raise $94.6 million between them.
But this year, with no gubernatorial election on the ballot, Abrams’ leadership committee is essentially defunct, while Kemp’s Georgia First leadership committee is free to transfer unlimited contributions to Republican legislative candidates.
The suit, which seeks to invalidate the law, claims such unequal treatment is unconstitutional.
“If you have one side allowed to collect unlimited amounts of money while the other side is handcuffed, that violates freedom of speech,” said former state Sen. Jen Jordan, D-Atlanta, who led the opposition to the legislature in the Senate in 2021 and is representing the Democratic Party in the lawsuit. “The playing field needs to be even … and let the chips fall where they may.”
Kevin Olasanoye, the Democratic Party of Georgia’s executive director, said Kemp used funds raised by Georgia First to help bankroll May’s successful reelection campaign of Andrew Pinson, appointed to the high court by Kemp in 2022. Pinson defeated former U.S. Rep. John Barrow, a Democrat, in a rare contested state Supreme Court contest.
The governor’s leadership committee also is raising money to help incumbent Republican legislators seeking reelection this year in districts where Democrats have been making inroads and aiding GOP challengers in districts represented by Democrats, Olasanoye said.
“If you can raise unlimited contributions through a leadership committee … why do we have campaign-finance limits for individual candidates?” he said. “It doesn’t make sense.”
by Dave Williams | Jul 18, 2024 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – The Atlanta-based Southern Environmental Law Center (SELC) is asking the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to revoke a permit the state issued last year for a coal ash pond closure project at Plant Hammond.
According to the SELC, the permit issued last fall by the Georgia Environmental Protection Division (EPD) allows toxic coal ash to remain in contact with groundwater at the Georgia Power plant near Rome in violation of a federal rule adopted in 2015.
In a ruling last month, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia upheld the Biden administration’s crackdown on coal ash disposal plans that leave the ash in groundwater.
Coal ash contains contaminants including mercury, cadmium and arsenic that can pollute groundwater and drinking water as well as air.
The closure of Ash Pond 3 at Plant Hammond is a component of Georgia Power’s plan to close all 29 of its coal ash ponds. At 19 of the ponds, ash is to be excavated and removed. The other 10 are to be closed in place.
Meanwhile, closures of much larger, more deeply submerged ash ponds are underway or completed at Plant Scherer in Juliette, Plant Yates near Newnan, and at Plant McDonough in Smyrna.
“Georgia EPD has made it clear that it will not follow the law and protect Georgia’s clean water and communities from toxic coal ash pollution,” said Frank Holleman, a senior attorney with the SELC. “EPA is charged with overseeing EPD’s program, and we need EPA to step in to protect Georgia’s rivers and neighborhoods because EPD will not.”
Jesse Demonbruen-Chapman, executive director of the Coosa River Basin Initiative, said a state of emergency was declared in 2022 due to flash flooding of the Coosa River.
“Hammond’s ash pond is sitting up to 10-feet deep in groundwater, waiting for the next severe weather event,” he said. “The Coosa River shouldn’t remain in harm’s way while EPD continues to ignore the reality that coal ash sitting in groundwater is a recipe for disaster.”
Georgia Power issued a statement last year asserting that it is using “proven engineering methods and technologies” in its ash pond closure plan at Plant Hammond.
The permit the EPD issued requires the utility to follow a post-closure plan for at least 30 years, conduct groundwater monitoring, and maintain a cover system that will mitigate the effects of erosion, the company wrote.
by Dave Williams | Jul 18, 2024 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – Georgia’s unemployment rate rose slightly last month to 3.3%, up from 3.2% in May, the state Department of Labor reported Thursday.
Commissioner of Labor Bruce Thompson said joblessness typically rises during the summer when school is out.
“Our students infuse our workforce with new talent and energy each summer,” he said. “While this may temporarily increase seasonal unemployment, the fresh skills and enthusiasm these young workers bring to the local economy are key to cultivating an economy that’s built to last.”
Thompson noted that Georgia’s jobless rate in June still was eight-tenths of a point lower than the national unemployment rate.
The state continued to set records in the employment space, with the number of jobs ticking up by 0.2% last month. Georgia’s labor force increased by 15,502 to nearly 5.4 million, while the number of employed Georgians rose by 8,493 to more than 5.2 million.
The job sectors posting the largest over-the-month gains included health care and social assistance, which added 3,200 jobs, and transportation and warehousing, which added 3,000 jobs.
Jobs in administrative and support services and in local government were down in June, by 1,700 and 1,300 jobs, respectively.
Initial unemployment claims increased last month by 9% to 21,867. But over the year, first-time jobless claims declined by 7%.
