Georgia state lawmakers are pushing for an alternative to penalties that would halt construction of a $2.6 billion electric-vehicle battery plant in Jackson County amid trade-secrets theft allegations.
South Korean manufacturer SK Innovation, which has hired 250 people for the plant so far and pledged to hire thousands more, was slapped last month with a ruling by the U.S. International Trade Commission that found it pilfered trade secrets from rival battery maker LG Chem.
The commission imposed a 10-year exclusion order barring the U.S. from importing SK Innovation’s lithium-ion batteries, effectively scuttling work on the Northeast Georgia plant that has been touted as a boon for the state’s manufacturing industry.
Lawmakers in the Georgia Senate unanimously passed a resolution Tuesday calling on SK Innovation and LG Chem to negotiate a settlement without having to close the local plant in order to preserve jobs and “protect the United States’ competitive edge in electric vehicle battery production and supply chain.”
An earlier version of the resolution had pressed President Joe Biden to ditch the commission’s ruling, noting he has authority as president to do so. It was revised after input from Senate Democrats.
The revised resolution now heads to the state House of Representatives for that chamber’s backing.
Senate President Pro Tempore Butch Miller, R-Gainesville, stressed the loss of SK Innovation’s plant would cost Georgia billions of dollars in public and private investments while putting hundreds of people out of work.
“Georgia has significant economic investment in this,” Miller said from the Senate floor. “This is a real opportunity for Georgia to lead in another great manufacturing way.”
Democratic senators joined Republicans including Gov. Brian Kemp in backing the measure, noting that while the theft accusations against SK Innovation are troubling, a solution should be reached that would avoid scrapping the plant project entirely.
“I think this is the time to push both of these companies when there is uncertainty among both before it comes to the president,” said Sen. Jen Jordan, D-Atlanta. “Hopefully, these folks can come together and make sure these people stay employed.”
The plant set for construction in Jackson County marks the second SK Innovation battery plant located near the city of Commerce. The two plants aim to supply the Volkswagen plant in Chattanooga, Tenn., the Ford plant in Kentucky and possibly the BMW plant near Greenville, S.C.
This story and its headline have been updated to correctly reflect that the Senate’s resolution urges the two battery companies to reach a settlement, not for President Biden to overturn the International Trade Commission’s ruling.
Georgians are poised to decide whether statewide elected officials who have been suspended amid felony charges for abusing their office should continue to draw a paycheck while awaiting trial.
The state House of Representatives gave final approval Tuesday for a constitutional amendment that would put to voters whether to bar pay for officials facing felony charges like Georgia’s governor, secretary of state and insurance commissioner.
The measure sponsored by Sen. Larry Walker, R-Perry, comes after it was recently revealed former state Insurance Commissioner Jim Beck has continued receiving his salary for nearly two years since being suspended following his indictment on felony fraud charges.
It passed unanimously in the House on Monday after clearing the state Senate earlier this month by a nearly unanimous vote, with Sen. Bill Cowsert, R-Athens, voting against. The question will be on the ballot in 2022 if Gov. Brian Kemp signs the amendment.
House lawmakers also have a separate measure by Walker on their plate that would apply the same ban on pay for county and city elected officials indicted on felony corruption charges.
Beck, who was elected insurance commissioner in late 2018, was on the job for only a few months before being suspended amid a 38-count felony indictment handed down in May 2019 on allegations he stole more than $2 million from the Georgia Underwriting Association, where he previously worked.
He has continued reeling in roughly $350,000 in compensation since then even as current Insurance Commission John King also draws a salary for the job. The revelation earlier this year of double-pay – which state law allows – sparked outrage from state lawmakers who moved to correct the issue.
“If you can’t do the job, you shouldn’t get paid for it,” said Rep. Matthew Wilson, D-Brookhaven. “We’ve got to make it so that public corruption doesn’t get so comfortable that you stick around and collect a paycheck until the clock runs out.”
Beck has denied the charges and pleaded not guilty in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia. His trial on felony charges of wire fraud, mail fraud and money laundering is scheduled to begin next month.
State Sen. Max Burns (center) oversees debate on an omnibus Georgia election bill in the Senate Ethics Committee that he chairs on March 22, 2021. (Photo by Beau Evans)
Republican state lawmakers hammering out changes to Georgia’s election system have dropped controversial proposals to scrap Sunday polling hours and no-excuse mail-in voting amid pushback from Democratic leaders and voting-rights advocates.
With the General Assembly set to adjourn the 2021 session next week, two omnibus bills moving through the House and Senate include dozens of proposed election changes that continue to irk opponents, especially tighter voter ID rules for casting absentee ballots and a ban on giving out water or food to voters waiting in line outside polling places.
But the move to repeal no-excuse absentee voting and shrink weekend hours during the three-week early voting period mark a breakthrough for opponents who viewed those proposals as chief among attempts at voter suppression, particularly targeting low-income and minority voters.
“It’s an improvement,” said the Georgia Senate Democratic Caucus on one of the two measures, both of which faced committee hearings on Monday. “But many of the provisions usurp local control.”
Republican backers frame the election changes as voter-integrity protections after the 2020 elections sparked doubts over the security of mail-in voting and identity verification. Democrats argue those issues were created out of thin air by former President Donald Trump’s allies who alleged voter fraud that election officials and federal courts consistently rejected.
In the Senate, lawmakers took up a 40-page bill sponsored by Rep. Barry Fleming, R-Harlem, that previously proposed barring county election officials from opening the polls on Sundays for early voting. That proposal has been ditched.
Instead, a separate 94-page measure moving in the House of Representatives would give counties the option to hold early voting on two different weekends ahead of an election, including mandatory open hours on Saturdays and optional hours on Sundays.
“Both Saturdays and both Sundays are possible … if locals want it,” said Fleming, who chairs the House Special Committee on Election Integrity.
The bill, sponsored by Sen. Max Burns, R-Sylvania, could face tweaks in the coming days due to concerns from election officials in Georgia’s smaller counties who typically see few voters show up to cast ballots except on Election Day, citing unnecessary costs to hold sparsely attended weekend voting.
The measure by Burns, who chairs the Senate Ethics Committee, gained approval Monday in Fleming’s committee and now heads to the full House.
Conversely, Fleming’s bill faced debate in the Senate committee that Burns chairs on Monday but did not receive a vote to advance to the full chamber.
Neither of the bills by Fleming and Burns contains a proposal to roll back the ability of Georgia voters to cast mail-in ballots without having to give a reason. No-excuse absentee voting has been in effect since 2005 under then-Gov. Sonny Perdue.
The no-excuse rollback was pitched in a third omnibus election bill by Senate Majority Leader Mike Dugan, R-Carrollton, who has signaled he will drop the repeal amid opposition from top state Republicans including Gov. Brian Kemp, Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan and House Speaker David Ralston, R-Blue Ridge.
Dugan said Monday the repeal of no-excuse absentee voting was not added to Burns’ bill after it “seemed to cause consternation” among voters and advocacy groups.
Both bills by Burns and Fleming still contain rules changes that would require registered Georgia voters to provide the number on their driver’s license or state ID card to request and cast absentee ballots.
If they do not have those ID forms, voters instead would have to send in a copy of their passport, employee ID card, utility bill or bank statement.
The change to state voter ID laws, the most likely change to pass in the Republican-controlled legislature, has been criticized by opponents as a means to disenfranchise voters who lack driver’s licenses – though Ralston has pledged to make free state ID’s available to every Georgian.
Ralston threw his support behind Burns’ bill shortly after its passage Monday, saying the measure “makes voting more accessible and improves election security.”
“By providing for expanded weekend voting and enshrining drop boxes into law for the first time, we are making it easier to vote across our state,” Ralston said in a statement.
Beyond the ID rules, Democrats and voting-rights groups have bashed proposals still in play to curb outside groups’ ability to send voters applications for absentee ballots and give counties grant funds for elections, as well as to require that mail-in ballot drop boxes be located inside polling places.
Critics have also called for more analysis of how much counties would have to pay for implementing operational changes under the bills after outside reporting recently estimated local election boards could face tens of millions of dollars in added costs.
“There is not a fiscal note for this bill and there are many things that cost money,” said Senate Minority Leader Gloria Butler, D-Stone Mountain, on Fleming’s bill Monday. “I think there should be a fiscal note for this bill.”
The advocacy group Fair Fight, which 2018 gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams founded, singled out Burns’ bill that advanced Monday as a “power grab [that] takes away local control and threatens our economy.”
“Had it been law in 2020, it could have allowed the GOP to overturn the election,” Fair Fight said on Twitter. “It’s bad for democracy and bad for business.”
Legislation to block local governments in Georgia from limiting what fuel sources offices, houses and other buildings can use is poised to clear the General Assembly after a key vote on Monday.
A bill sponsored by Rep. Bruce Williamson, R-Monroe, that aims to restrict local bans on fuel choices passed out of the state Senate by a 34-15 vote, irking environmental advocates who say the limits could hinder Georgia in the push to reduce climate-warming carbon emissions.
Supporters say Williamson’s bill would prevent city and county governments from crippling businesses and households that rely on more cost-effective fuels like natural gas, while still allowing local officials to incentivize other sources like solar power.
The bill faces a good chance of gaining final passage in the state House of Representatives after the same chamber approved it last month by a 103-62 vote largely along party lines, with some Democrats voting in favor.
Sen. John Kennedy, R-Macon, who carried the bill in the Senate, said its intent is to stave off future efforts in Georgia to abolish the use of fossil fuels like coal and natural gas going forward, similar to moves being made in cities in other states such as in California and Washington.
“Local officials will still have lots of tools available to them to reduce their emissions and respond to their constituents’ priorities,” Kennedy said on the Senate floor Monday.
“What this is really about is the preservation of the consumers’ choice to make smart decisions on what’s best for them and their family and, ultimately, their home.”
Opponents have slammed the bill as an attempt by state officials to impose their will on local governments on the one hand and a short-sighted boon for power companies on the other.
Sen. Elena Parent, D-Atlanta, who pitched a failed amendment Monday to sunset the local limits in mid-2026, said Georgia would be better served to allow local elected officials to set their own energy policy rather than potentially handcuffing them from prioritizing alternative fuels.
She added a handful of Georgia cities have set long-term goals to convert their buildings to 100% clean energy, but none have moved to require that change in fuel consumption.
“There’s not really a good reason to do something that seems like maybe a good idea now, but ties our hands later,” Parent said. “By tying the hands of local governments, we basically ensure that 50 or 60 years from now, we’ve prevented any sort of ability of local governments in Georgia to keep up with the times.”
Some Democrats joined Republican senators on Monday to vote in favor of the bill including Sens. David Lucas of Macon, Valencia Seay of Riverdale and Freddie Powell Sims of Dawson.
Along with Williamson, the bill was co-sponsored in the House by Reps. Matt Hatchett of Dublin, Trey Kelley of Cedartown, Don Parsons of Marietta and Lynn Smith of Newnan. Democratic Rep. Gloria Frazier of Hephzibah also co-sponsored the bill.
Gov. Brian Kemp signed two bills Monday that will hand Georgians a slight income-tax cut and let foster parents tap into a larger tax credit when adopting children.
The governor, who has helmed the state’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic for a year now, called the two tax measures a boon for struggling Georgians and foster parents that looked financially “unthinkable” last March as the virus spread.
“As we return to normal here in the Peach State and look to fully restore our economy, it is critical that Georgians keep as much of their hard-earned money as possible to revive small businesses and industries still struggling under the weight of [COVID-19],” Kemp said at a bill-signing ceremony.
The tax-cut bill, sponsored by Georgia Rep. Shaw Blackmon, R-Bonaire, allows Georgians to pay less income tax starting July 1 amid a rebound of the state economy during the pandemic.
The state’s standard deduction for married couples who file joint returns will increase by $1,100. Single taxpayers can deduct an extra $800, while Georgians ages 65 and older can deduct another $1,300. Married couples filing separately will be able to deduct an additional $550.
House Speaker David Ralston, R-Blue Ridge, who has pushed to continue cutting taxes after Georgia lowered its income-tax rate from 6% to 5.75% in 2019, said Monday the latest cut aims to benefit primarily lower- to middle-income families across the state.
“Today marks another chapter in Georgia’s continuing commitment to provide sustainable, meaningful tax relief to Georgians to let them keep more of their hard-earned money,” Ralston said.
Since the aid package bars states from lowering taxes while using the emergency aid money, Georgia could stand to lose nearly $200 million over the next two years by putting the income-tax cut into effect, according to Danny Kanso, senior policy analyst with the nonprofit Georgia Budget and Policy Institute.
The tax cut passed last week out of the state Senate by 35-15 vote with nearly all Democratic lawmakers voting against it due to concerns over the federal COVID-19 aid restrictions.
Top state Republicans including Kemp and Ralston have slammed the Biden administration over the aid package’s tax-cut penalties as well as its funding formula, which they argue benefits larger Democratic-run states like New York and California at the expense of Georgia.
However, Ralston on Monday said U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen had signaled the federal officials “will dramatically curtail” the tax-cut restrictions in the relief package amid pushback from Republican leaders in several states.
Reeves’ measure will boost the annual tax credit for new foster parents from $2,000 to $6,000 annually for the first five years after adoption, then drop back to $2,000 per year. The credit will end when the foster child turns 18.
Clearing hurdles for foster care in Georgia has been a legislative priority for many state leaders including Kemp and Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan, who on Monday called the increased tax credit a “real and substantial” incentive for families to adopt some of the state’s most vulnerable children.
“It’s going to remove barriers and hurdles for families that are just sitting on the precipice of being able to make the decision to bring on those kids,” Duncan said.
The number of Georgia children in foster care has declined over the past three years but remains high, according to state Division of Family and Children Services data. The state currently has about 11,200 children in foster care, down from 15,000 in March 2018.
