by Dave Williams | Jul 24, 2025 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – Nursing students graduating with an associate’s degree from Georgia technical colleges will be allowed to transfer directly into participating four-year public colleges and universities under an agreement between the technical college and university systems.
Transferring students will be able to work toward the degree of Bachelor of Science in Nursing without any interruption or loss of credit.
“Georgia’s success as the No.-1 state for business depends on a strong pipeline of talent, especially in critical fields like health care,” Gov. Brian Kemp said Wednesday.
“This agreement between TCSG (the Technical College System of Georgia) and USG (the University System of Georgia) is a perfect example of how our state is working together to expand opportunities for students, strengthen our workforce, and ensure that every Georgian has the opportunity to succeed.”
The agreement stems from House Bill 192, the Top State for Talent Act, which the General Assembly passed overwhelmingly this year. The legislation requires the Georgia Department of Education to align its curriculum with the state’s high-demand career list.
Georgia’s nursing workforce was hit particularly hard by the pandemic, with many nurses choosing to leave the profession by retiring or seeking other jobs. The technical college and university systems have struggled to produce enough nursing graduates to address that workforce shortage.
“Georgia’s growing population means a greater demand for health care,” university system Chancellor Sonny Perdue said. “This partnership helps meet it by preparing more nurses, especially in rural and underserved areas. As we align programs, we’re making it easier for students to grow their skills.”
The agreement is part of a broader strategy by the technical college and university systems to help students pursuing careers in health care.
by Dave Williams | Jul 23, 2025 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – Cuts to Medicaid contained in President Donald Trump’s new budget bill put 37 Georgia nursing homes at risk of closing, according to a study released by Brown University’s School of Public Health.
The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office reported that the legislation, which the Republican-controlled Congress passed this month, will slash Medicaid by $1 trillion during the next 10 years.
The bill passed without a single Democratic vote in either the U.S. House of Representatives or Senate.
Seventy percent of Georgians living in nursing homes rely on Medicaid, Sen. Jon Ossoff, D-Ga., said Wednesday.
“This is a serious threat to the health and wellbeing of Georgia seniors,” he said. “Georgia nursing homes are already struggling. … This law is going to deepen those challenges.”
The study, requested by Senate Democrats, identified 579 nursing homes across the nation at risk of closing. It based those findings on nursing homes with 85% or more of their patients on Medicaid, those with occupancy rates of less than 80%, and those receiving poor-quality ratings from the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.
Nursing homes in 30 Georgia counties appeared on the list. Seven counties have two nursing homes listed as at risk: Baldwin, Bibb, Fulton, Hancock, Muscogee, Tattnall, and Wilcox.
The federal reductions will force states to pick up the slack, the study concluded.
“Significant cuts in Medicaid will force states to make decisions about which ‘optional’ Medicaid services they will continue to fund and how stringent Medicaid eligibility standards are to be set,” according to the report. “Nursing home care is a mandatory benefit under Medicaid; therefore, all states would be required to continue offering it.”
Congressional Democrats and a smattering of Republicans have called for revisiting the budget bill later this year to reverse some of the more damaging cuts.
“(Republicans) need to work with us to save nursing homes and hospitals across the country … to undo the damage that’s already been done,” Ossoff said.
by Dave Williams | Jul 23, 2025 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – Atlanta businessman and Air Force veteran Kelvin King has entered the race for Georgia secretary of state.
King, who unsuccessfully sought the Republican nomination for the U.S. Senate three years ago, announced his candidacy for secretary of state Tuesday in an op-ed in James Magazine Online.
“I’ve spent my life serving this country through service and leadership, from working as an Air Force contracting officer to building a successful construction company that serves the public sector,” King wrote. “I am ready to do the work – for Georgia, for America, for our future.”
King, who is married to State Election Board member Janelle King, vowed to support a hybrid form of voting that would include hand counting ballots to confirm votes and to bring “new leadership” to cleaning up Georgia’s voter rolls. He also promised to overhaul the state’s business licensing and registration systems, which are overseen by the secretary of state.
State Rep. Tim Fleming, R-Covington, also is running for the Republican nomination for secretary of state.
Incumbent GOP Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger hasn’t indicated whether he will seek a third term. He was reelected overwhelmingly in 2022 despite running afoul of Republican base voters by refusing to go along with Donald Trump’s alleged effort to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election in Georgia.
Raffensperger has reportedly been considering mounting a bid for governor or the Senate next year.
by Dave Williams | Jul 22, 2025 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – The State Ethics Commission has dismissed a complaint calling for an investigation of Lt. Gov. Burt Jones’ $10 million loan to his gubernatorial campaign.
In a letter dated Monday, commission Director David Emadi wrote that the complaint failed to allege a violation of the Georgia Government Transparency and Campaign Finance Act.
“A financial disclosure report filed by Mr. Jones three years prior (filed 3/16/2022) which details his financial assets and standing at that specific point in time does not form a factual and legal basis to investigate an alleged false or incorrect filing regarding a loan made in a campaign disclosure report more than three years later,” Emadi wrote.
Campaign finance disclosures Jones and state Attorney General Chris Carr – who will face off in next year’s Republican gubernatorial primary – filed earlier this month show each raised about $3 million from contributors. But Jones — an executive in a family-owned oil company — added another $10 million of his own money.
The loan came from Jones’ leadership committee, which he created based on a 2021 law that allows him to collect unlimited campaign donations due to his role as lieutenant governor.
The law authorized leadership committees to raise campaign contributions on behalf of major-party candidates for governor, lieutenant governor, and legislative leadership positions. The law does not apply to those serving as attorney general.
After Carr’s gubernatorial campaign questioned the loan, the Jones campaign dismissed the complaint as a political ploy to gain attention.
Carr was the first Republican to enter the race to succeed term-limited Gov. Brian Kemp, announcing his candidacy late last year. Jones then jumped into the contest earlier this month.
by Dave Williams | Jul 18, 2025 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – An Atlanta-based environmental advocate is criticizing the Georgia Department of Community Affairs’ (DCA) decision to pause state reviews of new data center proposals.
While the decision will not stop local governments from approving data center projects, it will rob local water planners of the state’s valuable input, Chris Manganiello, water policy director for the nonprofit group Chattahoochee Riverkeeper, said Thursday.
“Rather than the state helping regions think through this stuff, it’s going to leave planners flying blind,” he said. “We’ll end up with a patchwork of moratoria and ordinances at the local level addressing data center development.”
Manganiello’s comments came during the kickoff meeting of a Georgia House subcommittee examining the potential impacts of the growing number of data centers springing up across the state on water use. A second subcommittee is looking at how data centers are likely to affect consumption of electricity.
Data centers have exploded so quickly that elected officials in DeKalb, Coweta, Douglas, and Bartow counties have imposed moratoria on new projects. The Atlanta City Council voted last month to prohibit data centers from setting up in some neighborhoods and require developers to seek a special-use permit for construction.
Danny Johnson, director of the Metropolitan North Georgia Water Planning District, told water subcommittee members more than 50 data centers are operating currently in Georgia while more than 40 more have been proposed.
Data centers use huge quantities of water, with a typical data center consuming the same amount of water per day as the cities of Marietta or Valdosta, he said.
However, data center developers have proven willing to install water-saving strategies including “closed-loop cooling” to reduce their water consumption, even though such technology is expensive.
“We encourage smart, sustainable development that ensures critical infrastructure like data centers can thrive without compromising our water resources,” Jackson said.
“The data center industry remains committed to responsible water use in Georgia communities,” added Dan Diorio, vice president of state policy for the Northern Virginia-based Data Center Coalition. “Data centers prioritize efficient water practices and responsible management to minimize their water footprint.”
Manganiello suggested that the General Assembly put limits on tax incentives the state offers to attract “high-resource use facilities” to Georgia requiring that they disclose how much electricity and water they plan to use. A bipartisan bill to that effect sponsored by state Rep. Debbie Buckner, D-Junction City, failed to gain traction during this year’s legislative session.
Manganiello also recommended that the state use tax credits to incentivize data centers to employ water-saving technology and establish a self-sustaining infrastructure fund to help support data centers.
The water subcommittee will hold two more meetings in South Georgia – one in Moultrie next month and the other in Claxton in September – before issuing findings and recommendations.
