by Dave Williams | Jul 11, 2024 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – Legislation establishing independent oversight of the federal prison system introduced by two members of Georgia’s congressional delegation is on its way to President Joe Biden’s desk.
The U.S. Senate gave final passage to the bipartisan bill on Wednesday. The House of Representatives already had passed the measure in May.
The legislation requires the Justice Department’s Inspector General to conduct comprehensive inspections of the federal Bureau of Prisons’ 122 correctional facilities and provide recommendations to fix whatever problems it uncovers. The bureau will have 60 days to respond to all inspection reports with a corrective action plan.
The bill also establishes an independent ombudsman to investigate the health, safety, welfare, and rights of incarcerated people and staff. The ombudsman’s office will create a secure hotline and online form for family members, friends, and representatives of incarcerated people to submit complaints.
“This is a major milestone,” said Sen. Jon Ossoff, D-Ga., who led an investigation into the federal prison system two years ago. Ossoff joined Republican Sen. Mike Braun of Indiana in introducing the bill.
“My bipartisan Senate investigations of corruption, abuse, and misconduct in the federal prison system have revealed an urgent need to overhaul federal prison oversight,” Ossoff added. “I now look forward to President Biden signing our bipartisan bill into law.”
U.S. Rep. Lucy McBath, D-Marietta, joined Republican Rep. Kelly Armstrong of North Dakota in introducing a companion bill in the House.
“The passage of my federal prison oversight legislation in the Senate marks a new step forward in ensuring accountability to protect staff and incarcerated individuals in our federal prisons,” McBath said Wednesday. “When Republicans and Democrats come together, we can deliver common-sense solutions for the American people.”
by Dave Williams | Jul 10, 2024 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr has won a federal appeal allowing his office to move forward with a civil case against a voting rights group founded by two-time Democratic gubernatorial nominee Stacey Abrams.
The 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals this week overturned a lower court decision that was blocking the state from pursuing a civil enforcement action against the nonprofit New Georgia Project through the Office of State Administrative Hearings.
The case goes back to 2019, when the Georgia Government Transparency and Campaign Finance Commission began investigating a complaint that accused the group of failing to report millions of dollars in election spending in 2018 and 2019.
The commission issued an order in 2022 finding reasonable grounds that New Georgia Project had failed to register with the commission.
“This decision is a victory for transparency in campaign finance,” Carr said of Monday’s appellate court ruling. “Rather than simply comply with Georgia law, New Georgia Project chose years of costly litigation and lost. These rules apply to everyone, and we will ensure they are upheld.”
New Georgia Project had challenged two of the state’s campaign-finance laws as unconstitutional violations of the First Amendment.
Monday’s decision did not address the merits of the group’s arguments. Instead, the appellate court ruled that the lower federal court lacked jurisdiction to issue an injunction blocking the attorney general from pursuing the civil case.
by Dave Williams | Jul 10, 2024 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – Georgia ranked worst in the nation in on-time mail delivery during the second quarter of this year, according to a new report from the U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General.
Only 63.7% of first-class mail in Georgia was delivered on time in April, May, and June, the agency reported. On time is defined as within two days.
Georgia’s score was well below the national average of 86.8% for the quarter and even farther below the target goal of 93%.
Still, Georgia’s second-quarter performance was an improvement over earlier in the year. At a U.S. Senate committee hearing in April, Sen. Jon Ossoff, D-Ga. revealed statistics showing that only 36% of first-class mail processed at a regional mail processing and distribution center in Palmetto was being delivered on time.
During the April hearing, Postmaster General Louis DeJoy blamed slow mail delivery on problems encountered during the rollout of a restructuring plan last February aimed at making the postal service economically self-sufficient. The plan was first implemented at mail processing and distribution centers in Palmetto and Richmond, Va.
Responding to those delays, DeJoy announced in May that the postal service would pause the plan at least until next year to give the postal service a chance to determine what went wrong and fix it.
In the meantime, the agency brought in more than 100 additional workers from other mail processing centers to Palmetto and revised transportation schedules between the Palmetto center and other local mail processing facilities.
by Dave Williams | Jul 9, 2024 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – The Republican-controlled State Election Board voted Tuesday to move forward with a proposed rule that would give members of local election boards discretion in deciding whether to certify election results.
The rule would give counties the authority to conduct a “minimum level of oversight” of election results before they’re certified, Salleigh Grubbs, who chairs the Cobb County Republican Party, told the five-member board before the 3-1 vote.
“There is a crisis of confidence in our elections,” Grubbs said. “The oversight of elections in each county is critical to restoring trust.”
But opponents argued that election officials in Georgia do not have discretion to vote against certification.
“Though the petition claims this rule will clarify ambiguity about an election official’s duty to certify results, the Georgia Supreme Court has consistently interpreted that duty as a ministerial one rather than discretionary,” the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University and the voting rights organization United to Protect Democracy wrote jointly in comments submitted to the board before Tuesday’s meeting.
“Therefore, this language conflicts with longstanding Georgia case law and would sow disorder in the state’s election administration processes, which already have safeguards to ensure election results are accurate and reliable.”
Sara Tindall Ghazal, the lone Democrat on the board, said the proper time to address complaints of voter fraud is after an election has been certified.
“There are procedures for investigating after the fact,” she said. “Without certification, a candidate cannot contest an election.”
Board Chairman John Fervier proposed an alternative to the rule Grubbs presented that would have restricted the types of documents a local election board member could request to see before voting on certifying an election. Otherwise, he said, local boards could be inundated by limitless requests for documents that would unnecessarily drag out the process.
But board member Dr. Janice Johnston, who made the motion to approve Grubbs’ proposal, opposed putting restrictions on the number of documents a board member could request.
“Every election document should be available to every member of the board,” she said.
Three of the four Republican board members supported the rule, with Ghazal voting in opposition and Fervier abstaining.
The board is expected to conduct a final vote on the proposed rule next month.
by Dave Williams | Jul 9, 2024 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – Bus systems in two Georgia cities will receive nearly $20 million in federal funds to replace older buses with electric models.
Augusta Transit will get almost $12.1 million for quieter, safer, and more reliable electric buses. The agency also will receive funding to buy a bus simulator to use in workforce training.
The Chatham Area Transit Authority in Savannah will get more than $7.8 million to replace old diesel buses with electric buses, furthering the agency’s transition to zero-emission transit vehicles.
“This is about improving our transit services for all riders and converting fleets of diesel-powered buses into clean energy vehicles for the future,” said U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock, D-Ga., who made the announcement of the funding Tuesday in conjunction with Sen. Jon Ossoff, D-Ga. “This is a ride to the future.”
The money comes from the bipartisan infrastructure spending bill Congress passed in 2021.
The funding announced Tuesday is in addition to nearly $60 million in federal funding seven Georgia school districts received in January for new electric and low-emission buses.
Besides the money going to Augusta and Savannah, MARTA will get more than $25 million to build a transit hub in South DeKalb County for both bus and rail connections.
