ATLANTA – Supporters of legislation banning mining near the Okefenokee Swamp held a news conference at the Georgia Capitol Monday to urge Georgia lawmakers to pass the measure.
“The threat of mining is very real,” said Alice Miller-Keyes, vice president of coastal conservation for the Brunswick-based environmental organization 100 Miles. “House Bill 71 offers some hope of protection.”
The bill was introduced last year and enjoys the backing of 94 of the 180 House members. But it has yet to gain a committee vote in the House let alone reach the floor.
“The Okefenokee Protection Act will forever protect the swamp and (Trail) Ridge,” said Rep. Darlene Taylor, R-Thomasville, the bill’s chief sponsor.
Alabama-based Twin Pines Minerals is seeking state permits to mine titanium dioxide on Trail Ridge, the Okefenokee’s eastern hydrologic boundary.
While company executives have said the proposed mine would not harm the swamp, scientific studies have concluded it would significantly damage one of the largest intact freshwater wetlands in North America by drawing down its water level and increasing the risk of drought and fires.
The bill’s supporters said Monday its chances for passage have improved since last year’s legislative session. For one thing, the National Park Service announced last September it is asking officials at the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge to prepare a draft nomination for the Okefenokee to become the 25th UNESCO World Heritage Site in the United States.
Also, 14 cities and counties across South Georgia have passed resolutions supporting Turner’s bill.
Supporters also pointed to the Okefenokee Swamp’s contribution to the region’s economy from the growing ecotourism business. An estimate in an article published by Georgia Trend magazine put the swamp’s annual economic impact at $64.7 million, including 700 jobs.
“The Okefenokee is Mother Nature at its best,” retired teacher Betty Benner of Wayne County said Monday. “(But) mining poses a threat to the Okefenokee becoming a World Heritage Site.”
Taylor said her bill wouldn’t prevent the Twin Pines mine from opening because its permit applications have already been submitted. But she said the measure would protect the swamp from future mining projects.
ATLANTA – The Republican-controlled Georgia House of Representatives approved legislation Monday that would let a newly created oversight board for prosecutors set its own rules.
House Bill 881, which passed 95-75 along party lines, is a follow-up to legislation the General Assembly’s GOP majorities passed last year creating the Prosecuting Attorneys Qualifications Commission to investigate complaints lodged against local district attorneys.
The panel will have the power to remove prosecutors it deems guilty of a variety of offenses including mental or physical incapacity, willful misconduct or failure to perform the duties of the office, conviction of a crime of moral turpitude, or conduct that brings the office into disrepute.
But the commission has been stalled since the state Supreme Court ruled last fall that it does not have the authority to review the rules the commission adopts, as the bill provides.
Instead, the new bill turns over that authority to the commission itself.
House Democrats charged Monday that taking the Supreme Court out of the equation would give the commission carte blanche to make up its own rules without any checks on its power.
“Who will police this commission?” asked Rep. Tanya Miller, D-Atlanta. “Who will they be accountable to?”
Other Democrats argued that letting a panel of unelected officials remove district attorneys duly elected by local voters would represent a blow to democracy.
“This arrogance that we know more than the voters of this state is dangerous for people we represent,,” said Rep. Shea Roberts, D-Atlanta.
But Republicans cited instances throughout the state where Democratic district attorneys have failed to prosecute cases because they’ve decided non-violent crimes aren’t worth pursuing.
“The ones who suffer are homeowners and citizens who get their cars and homes broken into,” said Rep. Matt Reeves, R-Duluth. “Public safety shouldn’t be watered down by partisan politics. Georgians deserved to be safe in their homes and businesses.”
Democrats also accused Republicans of pushing the bill to target Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis for leading an investigation into then-President Donald Trump’s alleged attempts to overturn the 2020 president election results in Georgia. The probe led to a grand jury indictment of Trump and 18 others last August.
Republicans questioned why Democrats would oppose House Bill 881 when Democratic lawmakers put forth similar legislation four years ago targeting GOP prosecutors who dragged their feet after Black jogger Ahmaud Arbery was murdered near Brunswick by two white men who chased him down the street in a pickup truck.
“We’re here to have oversight of our rogue district attorneys, to make sure they’re doing the job they were elected to do,” said Rep. Joseph Gullett, R-Dallas, the bill’s chief sponsor.
ATLANTA – Georgia motorists looking for a faster way to get across the state between Columbus and Augusta will have to wait a long time – if ever – for a solution.
A newly released study of options for moving freight through Georgia by the state Department of Transportation (DOT) has concluded that a plan to build the Peach State’s first interstate highway since the 1960s would not be a good return on investment.
Traffic projections show the proposed Interstate 14 likely would carry only an average of 3,000 trucks per day, well below the average daily flow of 11,000 to 18,000 trucks on Georgia’s existing interstates.
“I-14 demonstrated moderate benefits, including reduced congestion costs … and a decrease in vehicle hours of delay,” according to the report. “However, it is not projected to yield the same degree of positive impacts as other interstate highway projects such as I-75, I-20, I-95, and segments of I-16, especially considering the project’s initial cost estimate of more than $5 billion.”
Interstate 14 has its share of backers. The $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill Congress passed in 2021 includes a provision designating the highway as a “high-priority corridor” that would run through five states from Texas through Georgia, connecting many of the Deep South’s military bases and ports.
On the state level, Georgia’s General Assembly passed a resolution back in 2019 supporting construction of the Georgia portion of I-14, picking up at the Alabama line at Columbus and extending to the South Carolina line in Augusta.
“It would be highly convenient for us in that part of the state,” said state Sen. Ed Harbison, D-Columbus, who sponsored the resolution. “When you come into Columbus from the west, you have to go almost to Atlanta to get to Augusta.”
But building interstate highways isn’t what it used to be. Funding for the original interstate construction program then-President Dwight Eisenhower launched during the 1950s ran out more than two decades ago, said Don Rodman, administrator of the Texas-based Gulf Coast Strategic Highway Coalition, which has worked for years to secure funding for the western portion of the I-14 corridor.
“These days, interstates cost about $30 million a mile,” Rodman said. “For I-14 in Texas, that’s about $30 billion. Nobody has that kind of money.”
Plagued by such high cost estimates, only about 25 miles of I-14 have been built in Texas. But even that’s more than has been constructed in any of the other four states along the route.
Rodman said he envisions I-14 as a multi-generational project.
“We’re probably talking about 100 projects along the I-14 route,” he said. “You build them incrementally. … The cheaper ones and the priority ones are the ones you build first.”
Harbison said he is concerned about the findings in the Georgia DOT study. He said the ability to connect military bases across the five states – from Fort Bliss in Texas to Fort Moore (formerly Fort Benning) near Columbus and Fort Eisenhower (formerly Fort Gordon) near Augusta would be particularly beneficial.
“I believe it has value … and will have a more positive impact than they’re projecting,” Harbison said.
The good news for Harbison and other I-14 backers is that the DOT isn’t giving up on the project completely.
“Because the I-14 project shows some benefit under the KPIs (Key Performance Indicators), a corridor study to further evaluate its feasibility would enable a more comprehensive understanding of the construction practicalities … as well as more specific project costs,” the report stated.
“I don’t understand why it would not be feasible,” Harbison said. “Given the benefit, I would encourage us to take another look at it.”
ATLANTA – A second sports betting bill was introduced into the Georgia Senate this week with bipartisan backing from the chamber’s leadership.
Senate Bill 386 would authorize sports betting in Georgia under the oversight of the Georgia Lottery Corp. The bill would provide for both online betting on sports and retail betting at sites operated by licensees who would pay $1 million each.
The measure is being backed by Republican Lt. Gov. Burt Jones, who presides over the Senate, as well as Senate Minority Leader Gloria Butler, D-Stone Mountain.
A coalition of Atlanta’s professional sports teams also is getting behind the bill.
“The Braves are excited about the opportunity to bring mobile sports betting to Georgia,” said Derek Schiller, president and CEO of the Atlanta Braves. “Over the last several years, we have watched closely as 38 other states have legalized mobile sports betting and collected billions of dollars in tax revenue.”
Under the bill, 15% of the revenue generated by sports betting in Georgia would go to benefit the state’s HOPE Scholarships and pre-kindergarten programs.
Georgia lawmakers have debated sports betting bills for several years, but none have managed to get through the General Assembly. Jones introduced a sports betting measure back in 2020 while serving as a member of the state Senate.
“Sports betting is an easy way to pick up $80 million to $100 million (in tax revenue),” the lieutenant governor said Wednesday.
Senate Bill 386, introduced by Sen. Clint Dixon, R-Buford, would not require a constitutional amendment to become law. A second measure, sponsored by Sen. Bill Cowsert, R-Athens, would require changing the state constitution.
The Senate Regulated Industries and Utilities Committee, which Cowsert chairs, approved his bill during the first week of this year’s legislative session, but it has yet to reach the Senate floor.
Cowsert and others have argued that legalizing sports betting in Georgia requires a constitutional amendment, which then would land on the statewide ballot for voters to decide.
However, constitutional changes need the support of two-thirds of the state House and Senate, a more difficult obstacle than Dixon’s bill, which would need only simple majorities of each chamber to pass.
ATLANTA – The Republican-controlled Georgia Senate voted Friday to investigate allegations that Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis was involved in an improper relationship with the special prosecutor she hired in the election interference case against Donald Trump.
A resolution senators passed 30-19 along party lines will create a special committee with subpoena power to probe the allegations against Willis, who obtained an indictment last August accusing Trump and 18 others of trying to overturn the 2020 presidential election in Georgia that saw Democrat Joe Biden carry the Peach State over then-President Trump.
The allegations against Willis surfaced earlier this month in a motion filed in Fulton County Superior Court on behalf of Michael Roman, one of the defendants charged in the case. Willis has yet to respond directly to the charges but is expected to file a response with the court by a Feb. 2 deadline.
On Friday, Senate Republicans said investigating Willis’ alleged improper involvement with special prosecutor Nathan Wade is a proper role for Georgia lawmakers because Wade has been paid nearly $654,000 in legal fees to pursue the case since January 2022.
“I am deeply troubled by the poor judgement of our D.A., Fani Willis,” Sen. Brandon Beach, R-Alpharetta, told his colleagues on the Senate floor before Friday’s vote. “I believe this scheme … was a fraud against the court and a fraud against the taxpayer.”
But Senate Democrats said there are existing processes for investigating the allegations against Willis, both the court system itself and the Senate Ethics Committee.
Sen. Josh McLaurin, D-Sandy Springs, accused Republicans of engaging in “political theater” by forming a special committee specifically to go after Willis.
“Why are we creating a new entity with extraordinary subpoena power and the ability to put people under oath for only this issue?” McLaurin asked.
“We’ve got a system to deal with it,” added Sen. David Lucas, D-Macon. “Let it play out.”
But Sen. Greg Dolezal, R-Cumming, the resolution’s chief sponsor, said the legislature’s duty to oversee the spending of tax dollars gives lawmakers the right to investigate the allegations against Willis.
“This resolution is about an officer of the state of Georgia … and how they are using state funds,” Dolezal said. “This falls squarely within what we should be talking about and what we should be addressing.”
The special committee will consist of nine senators, three of whom must be from the chamber’s minority party.
Meanwhile, on a separate front, state Rep. Charlice Byrd, R-Woodstock, has introduced a resolution calling for the Georgia House of Representatives to vote impeachment proceedings against Willis.
House Resolution 872 cites not only the improper relationship allegations surrounding the Fulton district attorney but accuses her of launching a “wrongful criminal prosecution” of Trump and the other 18 defendants.
Byrd signed a petition floated by Republican state Sen. Colton Moore last September asking Gov. Brian Kemp to call a special session of the General Assembly to investigate and potentially impeach Willis over the Trump indictment. However, Kemp refused to schedule a special session, calling Moore a “grifter” during a news conference.
If the House’s Republican majority passes Byrd’s resolution, it would face an uphill climb in the state Senate. Convicting Willis following a House impeachment would require a two-thirds vote in the Senate, where minority Democrats have enough votes to quash it.
