ATLANTA – A Georgia House committee approved legislation Monday aimed at a court ruling late last year that blocked implementation of a new oversight board for local prosecutors the General Assembly created last year.
The bill, which cleared the House Judiciary Committee (Non-Civil), would allow the Prosecuting Attorneys Qualifications Commission to set its own rules and regulations.
Senate Bill 92, which the legislature’s Republican majorities passed mostly along party lines, tasked the Georgia Supreme Court with reviewing the new commission’s standards of conduct. But the justices ruled last fall that the high court lacks the authority to conduct such a review, effectively blocking the bill from taking effect.
Georgia lawmakers created the oversight commission to investigate complaints lodged against local prosecutors and potentially discipline or remove the target of a complaint on a variety of grounds 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.
Majority Republicans supported the measure as a way to sanction prosecutors in Georgia cities led by Democrats who they said were reluctant to prosecute certain crimes.
But the legislation applies to both Democrats and Republicans, Rep. Joseph Gullett, R-Dallas, the bill’s chief sponsor, told committee members Monday.
“I don’t believe this is a partisan issue,” he said. “No one trusted the judiciary anymore. … We need to be able to trust our system.”
During last year’s debate, legislative Democrats said an unelected commission could usurp the will of local voters in elections of district attorneys. Similar arguments came up on Monday.
Rep. Shea Roberts, D-Atlanta, said having a commission look over the shoulders of local prosecutors could act as a disincentive.
“I worry about who’s going to be willing to run for these seats when we want quality people,” she said.
Forsyth County Solicitor-General Bill Finch, a Republican, raised similar concerns. The new commission also would have jurisdiction over complaints against local solicitors as well as district attorneys.
“This bill will substitute the will of the voters of Forsyth County who put me in office,” Finch said. “That’s a dangerous thing.”
Republicans on the committee defeated an amendment proposed by Rep. Dar’shun Kendrick, D-Lithonia, that would have guaranteed Democratic legislative leaders the ability to appoint two of the commission’s members.
House Bill 881 now moves to the House Rules Committee to schedule a vote of the full House.
ATLANTA – Coastal Georgia lawmakers are backing legislation that would make it easier for owners of marshland property under grants that date back to the 1700s to establish that ownership.
But opponents argue the bill would make the process so easy it would encourage false claimants to step forward and take advantage of state tax credits at the expense of the rightful owners of the environmentally fragile marsh – the public.
About 36,000 acres of coastal marshland in Georgia are privately owned, about 10% of the state’s total marshland, through titles that go back to grants from the English king or – later – a Georgia governor.
But when owners seek to establish clear title to their properties, they must navigate a cumbersome, expensive process through the state attorney general’s office that can take years to complete.
The foot-dragging by the state is on purpose, Jerry Williams, who owns a marshland tract on the Ogeechee River, charged Jan. 11 at a House Judiciary Committee hearing on the bill. Any marshland not owned privately is owned by the state as a public trust.
“They throw everything at the law they can try to delay, to try to muddy the waters, to make it cost-prohibitive for a private landowner to defend their title.”
House Bill 370 would turn over the process of reviewing claims to marshland property to the State Properties Commission, which would have 180 days to decide whether a claim is valid.
“It places a shot clock on the review and response,” said state Rep. Matt Reeves, R-Duluth, the bill’s chief sponsor. As a lawyer and member of the Judiciary Committee, Reeves is working with a group of coastal House members to shepherd the legislation.
The Judiciary Committee passed the bill last year, but it made no further progress before the Crossover Day deadline for legislation to pass at least one of the two chambers in the General Assembly.
Reeves said a key provision in the bill limits the use of privately owned marshland to conservation purposes.
“There’s not going to be any development. There’s not going to be any construction,” he said. “The Georgia coast is one of the jewels in the crown of this state, a beautiful area. This bill will protect it.”
But Alice Miller-Keyes, vice president of coastal conservation for the Brunswick-based environmental organization 100 Miles, said House Bill 370 would flip the burden of proof for ownership of coastal marshlands from the property owner to the state. If the State Properties Commission fails to decide a case within the 180-day deadline, the title is certified by default, she said.
“This could result in thousands of acres of marsh being privatized without a valid crown grant,” Miller-Keyes said. “This bill could facilitate a massive giveaway of Georgia’s pride and joy – our coastal marshlands.”
April Lipscomb, a lawyer with the Atlanta-based Southern Environmental Law Center, said the bill’s provision restricting development of marshland properties is vague and unenforceable.
“There are no deadlines for people to meet in order to show they are restricting the use to conservation,” she said.
Kevin Lang, a lawyer from Athens who owns property on Little Cumberland Island, said the bill is designed to make it easier for owners of marshland property to qualify for conservation tax credits.
“This bill is not a conservation bill. This bill is a money bill,” he said. “This bill is about creating a mitigation bank where someone can sell mitigation credits for restoration.”
The Judiciary Committee passed the bill and sent it on to the House Rules Committee to schedule a vote of the full House.
ATLANTA – A Middle Georgia man with a history of arson and sending death threats pleaded guilty in federal court Friday to mailing threatening communications to government officials.
Travis Leroy Ball, 56, of Barnesville pleaded guilty to one count of mailing threatening communications, a charge carrying a maximum sentence of five years in prison, three years of supervised release, and a fine of up to $250,000.
According to court documents, the FBI obtained a letter in March of last year addressed to U.S. District Judge Marc T. Treadwell in which the writer claimed to be a U.S. Secret Service agent who had investigated one of the defendant’s prior cases.
In the letter – later revealed to have been written by Ball – he demanded that the charge in Ball’s most recent federal cases be dismissed and that he be released from federal custody.
Using the name of a former cellmate, Ball also wrote letters to the federal court in Valdosta and to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development in Washington, D.C., threatening to kill employees and their families, as well as burn down property.
“Death threats against public officials are taken extremely seriously by our office and will result in prison time,” said Peter D. Leary, U.S. attorney for the Middle District of Georgia. “Keeping people safe is the highest priority of our office and our law enforcement partners. These types of threats cannot and will not be tolerated.”
Ball also wrote a letter to the Upson County Sheriff’s Office last July, claiming to be an FBI agent working on a top-secret case. The letter demanded that Ball’s photos and personal information be removed and deleted from jail records.
The FBI compared the various letters, handwriting, letterhead, postage stamps, the language of the letters, and the “INMATE MAIL” stamp on each letter and determined Ball wrote them while in custody. Officers also found writing material and stamps in Ball’s cell.
ATLANTA – Two provisions aimed at helping military families with housing championed by U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff, D-Ga., have become law with President Joe Biden’s recent signing of the annual National Defense Authorization Act.
Ossoff’s Military Facilities Upgrade Act, folded into the defense authorization bill, calls for upgrading old and failing barracks by giving the military the flexibility to use operations and maintenance funding to replace barracks deemed to be in substandard condition.
The second Ossoff-sponsored military housing provision will change the way the Defense Department calculates housing allowances for junior enlisted service members with dependents to more accurately assess their housing costs.
Ossoff led an eight-month investigation two years ago that called attention to the poor condition of privatized housing at the Army’s Fort Gordon near Augusta. During that time, he said he heard from many military families about the challenges of finding affordable housing in their communities.
“When service members and their families can’t afford to live near the installation where they train and where they’re stationed, that has an impact on readiness,” Ossoff said. “I brought Republicans and Democrats together to pass the Junior Enlisted Housing Affordability Act into law to help junior-enlisted personnel and military families afford housing.”
Last year, Ossoff helped secure resources through the fiscal 2023 defense authorization bill to upgrade barracks, daycare centers, and other facilities for military families in Georgia and across the nation.
ATLANTA – A nonprofit formed to help administer a new state tax credit to support foster children aging out of the system raised nearly $10 million during its first year.
Legislation the General Assembly passed unanimously last year authorized $20 million for the tax credit.
The state Department of Revenue approved $9.7 million in contributions to Fostering Success Act Inc. (FSA), donations that came from more than 180 businesses and individuals. As a result, the nonprofit issued funds to help more than 100 young people enroll at 37 universities and technical colleges across Georgia.
“These funds will go a long way to make sure many of these kids who have left foster care can have food to eat, afford to get to work – and most importantly – be able to enroll in college or a technical school so they can find a good-paying job,” FSA Chairman Richard L. Jackson said Thursday. “This tax credit will change the trajectory of their lives.”
About 700 young Georgians age out of the foster care system each year, most with no family to return to after they leave the system. Data from numerous studies shows most who leave foster care end up homeless, in chronic poverty, in jail, or become victims of human trafficking.
Under the legislation, individual taxpayers can receive dollar-for-dollar state income tax credits for up to $2,500 per year contributed to the program, while married couples filing jointly can receive up to $5,000. Corporate donations are limited to 10% of the company’s annual tax liability.
“We believe as more people learn about our mission and this important tax credit, more companies and individuals will see how they can make a difference in reducing poverty, addiction, homelessness, and incarceration by donating to the beneficial income tax credit,” said Heidi Carr, FSA’s executive director.
For more information on the tax credit, go to https://fosteringsuccessact.org/
