Several local groups and state lawmakers are gearing up to help Georgia city and county officials distribute the latest round of federal COVID-19 relief funds to underserved communities most in need.
Called the American Rescue Plan, the new round of $1.9 trillion in emergency pandemic aid Congress passed last month partly tasks local officials with deciding how to spend funds including Georgia’s $17.4 billion share to cover revenue losses, schools, unemployment benefits, rental assistance and infrastructure needs.
A large chunk of that funding will go straight to Georgia cities and counties to bolster local recovery efforts, ranging from $170 million for Atlanta and $181 million for Gwinnett County to less than $1 million for rural Quitman and Taliaferro counties, according to the White House.
“When it comes to protecting our schools, to protecting needed child care, when it comes to employment and access to health care … we need this,” said state Sen. Lester Jackson, D-Savannah. “If we let the community know about this, it helps the least of us so that we can not only survive but thrive.”
Jackson spoke at a Democrat-led hearing Wednesday of the Georgia Senate Interstate Cooperation Committee. The panel and its chairwoman Sen. Donzella James, D-Atlanta, have tasked themselves with explaining to cities and counties how the federal funds can be used.
The ability of local governments to take charge of portions of the new funding marks a departure from previous COVID-19 relief over the past year that sent money largely just to state governments.
Local responsibility for the aid spread across Georgia’s 159 counties and dozens of cities highlights the need for tight oversight and transparency, particularly when it comes to helping minority communities hit hardest by the pandemic, said several attendees at Wednesday’s hearing.
“The only thing I ask is that we have good oversight,” said Sen. Freddie Powell Sims, D-Dawson. “We don’t want to throw money out there and people are misusing it and abusing what belongs to those individuals that have worked so hard to keep their families stable, healthy and safe.”
Several community leaders highlighted an executive order President Joe Biden signed in January that requires federal funds to address long-standing issues of equity, wealth disparity and racial discrimination in local communities.
Rev. Ferrell Malone Sr., senior pastor at Macedonia Missionary Baptist Church in Waycross, called for local governments to focus on building equity rather than funding infrastructure projects, which could be covered in a separate round of future federal funding.
“This first round of funding provides for an opportunity for innovation and to build equity back into our community,” Malone said. “This is an opportunity for our leaders who have been elected in these places … to stand up and believe in who you are, believe in the people you represent and to make sure your people are made better.”
Others stressed the need for local officials to start diving into details of the new federal funding and how it will be allocated, so that they do not miss chances to secure relief dollars aimed at helping struggling residents.
“Too many of my fellow commissioners in smaller towns … don’t even know about this money,” said Athens-Clarke County Commissioner Ovita Thornton. “If somebody doesn’t bring it to their attention on the early end, this is going to fail. We all have a responsibility to make sure we do our part so that everybody is included and educated.”
Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr talks about criminal gangs at the State Capitol on Jan. 27, 2020.
Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr announced Tuesday he plans to run for reelection in 2022, setting up a likely bruising campaign against one of several strong Democratic challengers.
The announcement by Carr, who as attorney general is one of the state’s top Republicans, comes as incumbent Georgia Republican officeholders prepare to fend off a growing roster of Democratic candidates who see momentum from wins in the 2020 election cycle.
Carr has already drawn Democratic challengers in Atlanta attorney and state Sen. Jen Jordan as well as former prosecutor Charlie Bailey, who lost to Carr in 2018 by about 100,000 votes.
Competition looks to be stiff between the Democratic nominee and Carr, who previously served as then-U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson’s chief of staff and as commissioner of the state Department of Economic Development.
Georgia Democrats have narrowed the playing field since 2018 amid changing suburban demographics and strong grassroots efforts that helped win the state’s most recent presidential and U.S. Senate contests, handing Democrats control of Congress until at least the 2022 midterms.
The number of candidates from both parties has been building in recent weeks for campaigns to unseat incumbent Republicans in statewide offices across the board including governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general, secretary of state and labor and insurance commissioners.
Gov. Brian Kemp, who is running for a second term, has drawn Republican challengers in former DeKalb County CEO and state Rep. Vernon Jones, a Democrat turned Republican, and Appling County educator Kandiss Taylor.
Should he win the primary, Kemp is expected to face a possible rematch with 2018 Democratic gubernatorial nominee Stacey Abrams. She has not yet announced whether she will run in 2022.
Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, who took heat from former President Donald Trump for not moving to overturn his losing 2020 election results in Georgia, is set for a primary battle against U.S. Rep. Jody Hice of Greensboro and former Alpharetta Mayor David Belle Isle.
Democratic state Rep. Bee Nguyen of Atlanta has also thrown her hat in the ring to run against Raffensperger.
Democratic state Reps. Erick Allen of Smyrna and Derrick Jackson of Tyrone are both running to win Republican Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan’s seat. Duncan’s office has signaled he may not seek reelection.
State Sen. Lester Jackson of Savannah and state Rep. William Boddie of East Point, both Democrats, are running against Republican Labor Commissioner Mark Butler. Democratic state Rep. Matthew Wilson of Brookhaven has challenged Republican Insurance Commissioner John King.
Gov. Brian Kemp has signed a $27.2 billion state budget for the 2022 fiscal year in Georgia that restores most cuts made last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, with the remaining shortfalls expected to be covered by federal relief funds.
The budget, which takes effect July 1, devotes large amounts of spending to Georgia health care services and education, adding back more than half of the nearly $1 billion cut from public schools as part of 10% reductions instituted last year amid pandemic-driven revenue declines that began rebounding last summer.
State officials are banking on roughly $350 million in public-school cuts that were not restored in the recently passed budget to be plugged by some of the roughly $6 billion in COVID-19 relief Georgia is set to receive from the federal government.
Kemp marked his signing of the fiscal 2022 budget with a fly-around tour Tuesday touting the spending restorations and Georgia’s recovering economy in Atlanta, Columbus, Valdosta and Augusta.
“This balanced budget does not raise taxes, cut essential services or enact widespread furloughs or layoffs,” Kemp said at a news conference Tuesday morning in Atlanta. “Despite once-in-a-lifetime challenges, our state budget remains on solid financial footing.”
The governor also highlighted roughly $139 million in funding for the University System of Georgia to cover increasing enrollment and $3.5 million for the state Department of Early Care and Learning to bolster child-care services for low-income families.
“These investments highlight our ongoing commitment to ensure that every Georgia child, student, educator and school staff member have the resources, training and tools that they need,” Kemp said.
Beyond largely restoring last year’s spending cuts, the new budget includes about $40 million in additional spending for mental health services and another $10 million to expand broadband connections in rural areas, on top of $20 million lawmakers approved for rural broadband in the fiscal 2021 mid-year budget.
Around $340 million in additional spending on highway, public transit, bridge repair and railroad projects are also included in the budget for the state Department of Transportation, Kemp noted.
The 2022 budget also includes nearly $40 million for a new Rural Innovation Fund to help local elected officials and economic development leaders create jobs. Several bond-funded projects including $36.7 million for a new convocation center at Georgia Southern University and $21 million for a conference center at Lake Lanier Islands were also backed in the budget.
Many Democratic state lawmakers criticized the budget for not tapping more into the state’s rainy-day fund to increase spending on schools and health care, as well as for avoiding allocating funds for a full expansion of Georgia’s Medicaid program that Republicans in control of both General Assembly chambers have long opposed.
Kemp declined to outright veto extra spending the General Assembly approved in addition to his original budget proposal, though he did advise several agencies to disregard implementing a few items including nearly $1 million for new public-safety jobs aimed at boosting officer retention.
The budget’s drafting was spearheaded at the state Capitol by House Appropriations Committee Chairman Terry England, R-Auburn, and Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Blake Tillery, R-Vidalia.
Gov. Brian Kemp signed legislation Monday overhauling Georgia’s citizen’s arrest law to greatly limit who can detain criminal suspects beyond on-duty police officers.
Enactment of the bill sponsored by former state Rep. Bert Reeves, R-Marietta, marks the most high-profile bill on criminal justice to clear the 2021 legislative session following last summer’s nationwide protests against police brutality and racial injustice.
It came in response to the killing last year of Ahmaud Arbery, a 25-year-old Black man gunned down while jogging near Brunswick during an altercation with three white men who said they believed he had burglarized a home under construction. Father and son Gregory and Travis McMichael, and William “Roddie” Bryan claimed they were making a citizen’s arrest and pleaded not guilty.
At a bill-signing ceremony attended by members of Arbery’s family, Kemp said the broad overhaul of Georgia’s outdated citizen’s arrest law takes the state another step toward righting wounds of injustice even though “the stroke of a pen cannot bring back what you have lost.”
“Today we are replacing a Civil War-era law ripe for abuse with language that balances the sacred right to self-defense of a person and property with our shared responsibility to root out injustice and set our state on a better path forward,” Kemp said.
Under the bill, owners of Georgia businesses including retail stores and restaurants can still detain shoplifters and other thieves on their premises, as long as they hand those persons over to police officers “within a reasonable time.”
The overhauled law will also allow police officers who are off duty or outside their jurisdiction to make arrests if they witness a crime or have knowledge a crime was recently committed.
Additionally, it will not affect existing self-defense and stand-your-ground laws in Georgia that allow people to defend themselves, their property and others from threats of violence or deadly force.
Reeves’ bill passed in the General Assembly with near-unanimous support from both chambers, marking the 2021 session’s most resounding bipartisan success as Republican and Democratic lawmakers split over other contentious legislation on elections and police budgets.
The bill also followed Kemp’s signing last June of landmark hate-crimes legislation that aims to protect people in the Peach State from acts of violence or property damage perpetrated because of the victim’s race, sex or gender.
Jury selection in the state trial of the two McMichael men and Bryan is set to begin in October. They face federal hate-crimes and kidnapping charges along with state charges including malice murder, felony murder, aggravated assault, false imprisonment and criminal attempt to commit a felony.
Gov. Brian Kemp signed legislation Friday to limit how much local governments in Georgia can cut funding for police agencies.
The bill, sponsored by Rep. Houston Gaines, R-Athens, forbids cities and counties from cutting the budgets of most police agencies in the state by more than 5% over a five-year period, except during times of financial trouble such as seen during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Its passage largely along party lines in the General Assembly came as Republican lawmakers moved to block efforts to reduce police budgets in the wake of last summer’s nationwide protests against police brutality and racial injustice.
Democratic leaders slammed the measure as a power grab by the state over local governments, noting also that criminal-justice advocates have largely called for shifting some budget dollars from law enforcement to other areas like mental health and housing rather than outright gutting police agencies.
Kemp framed the bill as a show of support for Georgia police officers who he said “continue to sacrifice their lives for the sake of others” despite growing backlash from local leaders and communities over recent high-profile killings by police including the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis last year.
“The defund-the-police movement seeks to vilify the men and women who leave their families every day and put their lives on the lines to protect all Georgians,” Kemp said at a bill-signing ceremony in Barrow County Friday where he was flanked by several officers.
Besides limits on budget reduction, the bill also allows state and local public-safety employees including police, correctional officers, firefighters and EMS operators to deduct pay from their salaries to secure legal representation if they are sued or prosecuted for their actions on the job.
On another criminal justice front, Democrats joined Republicans during the 2021 legislative session to pass legislation overhauling Georgia’s citizen’s arrest law following last year’s killing of Ahmaud Arbery near Brunswick. Kemp is expected to sign that measure next week.
