ATLANTA – A Morgan County judge has dismissed a lawsuit aimed at stopping the construction of a $5 billion electric vehicle manufacturing plant near Interstate 20 east of Atlanta.
When Rivian first announced its plans in 2021, the plant was the largest economic development project in Georgia history. But it was superseded in 2022 when Hyundai Motor Group broke ground on a $5.5 billion EV plant west of Savannah.
The lawsuit, filed by a group of nearby property owners, charged the state with acquiring the property and then leasing it to Rivian to avoid local zoning laws. Morgan County Superior Court Judge Stephen Bradley ruled Tuesday that local zoning regulations do not apply to state-owned property.
The Georgia Department of Economic Development and the Joint Development Authority of Jasper, Morgan, Newton, and Walton Counties (JDA) closed on the bonds financing the project in November and executed a rental agreement giving Rivian long-term rights to the site.
“The state, JDA, and – more importantly – taxpaying Georgians have again prevailed in overcoming the latest attempt by a few individuals who are committed to opposing this generational project that will benefit countless Georgians,” the state and local agencies wrote in a prepared statement. “It is a new year, and this ruling is a defining new chapter as we look toward a bright future of success with Rivian.”
Construction is due to begin soon on the project, which is expected to create 7,500 jobs.
The plant’s opponents have cited the impacts of increased traffic, litter, water contamination, and damage to local wetlands.
ATLANTA – Two Georgia House Democrats drawn into districts with fellow Democrats during the General Assembly’s recent redistricting special session will not seek reelection this year, Georgia Public Broadcasting reported Tuesday.
The new House map the legislature’s Republican majorities approved last month put Rep. Gregg Kennard, D-Lawrenceville, in the same Gwinnett County district with House Minority Whip Sam Park, D-Lawrenceville. Rep. Doug Stoner, D-Smyrna, was drawn into a Cobb County district with Rep. Teri Anulewicz, D-Smyrna.
On Tuesday, Kennard and Stoner announced they will leave the legislature at the end of this year.
Kennard said he wasn’t willing to force voters to choose between him and Park.
“He’s really an incredible presence down at the House,” Kennard said. “He’s really important to the chamber and Georgia.”
Stoner released a statement thanking his constituents for supporting him during his tenure under the Gold Dome.
“I am grateful for the opportunity to have worked alongside so many dedicated individuals who are committed to making our community a better place for all,” he said.
The new House map also pairs two other sets of incumbents: Democrats Becky Evans and Saira Draper in DeKalb County and Republicans Beth Camp and David Knight in a district that includes all of Pike County and parts of Spalding and Lamar counties.
The redistricting special session followed a ruling by U.S. District Judge Steve Jones in October declaring the legislative and congressional maps the General Assembly adopted in 2021 violated the Voting Rights Act. Jones upheld the redrawn maps that came out of the special session last week.
Kennard is serving his third two-year term in the House. Stoner is in his second stint in the lower chamber. He was elected in 2022 after previously serving one term in the House and four terms in the state Senate.
ATLANTA – Two Georgia Senate Republican leaders pre-filed legislation Tuesday to bypass a court ruling late last year that blocked implementation of a new oversight board for local prosecutors lawmakers created last year.
The bill would allow the Prosecuting Attorneys Qualifications Commission to set its own rules and regulations.
Senate Bill 92, which the General Assembly’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 in November that the high court lacks the authority to conduct such a review, effectively blocking the bill from taking effect.
The legislature 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.
Republicans pushed the measure as a way to sanction prosecutors in Georgia cities led by Democrats who they said were reluctant to prosecute certain crimes, notably during the summer of civil unrest that followed the murder of George Floyd, a Black man, in Minneapolis by a white police officer in 2020.
“Most of the state’s prosecutors follow the law, adhere to their duties, and their communities remain safe and prosperous,” said Senate Majority Whip Randy Robertson, R-Cataula, the new bill’s chief sponsor. “On the other hand, you have a few rogue prosecutors that refuse to prosecute violent criminals, lead defunct and understaffed offices, and impose blanket policies for non-prosecution of crimes.”
“I respect the Supreme Court’s narrow opinion of this specific issue and appreciate the limits of their authority,” added Senate President Pro Tempore John Kennedy, R-Macon. “By prefiling this bill, (we) reaffirm our intent to hold rogue prosecutors accountable.”
Legislative Democrats likely will use the new bill to reopen the debate over the underlying legislation. The commission’s opponents argued last year that such an unelected panel could usurp the will of local voters in elections of district attorneys.
ATLANTA – A $1 billion election-year tax cut the Republican-controlled General Assembly passed last year will take effect on New Year’s Day.
For now, the phased-in tax cut sets the state income tax rate for 2024 at a flat 5.49%, down from the current 5.75%. The tax rate will continue to decline annually, arriving at 4.99% in 2029.
However, Gov. Brian Kemp announced earlier this month that he plans to ask lawmakers to accelerate the reductions by one year. If legislators agree, the tax rate for 2024 would be set at 5.39%.
Supporters say across-the-board tax cuts are more effective at creating jobs than the assortment of tax credits and exemptions for specific industries the General Assembly has passed over the years.
“When you do it broad-based, you’re not giving any favoritism,” said Kyle Wingfield, president and CEO of the Georgia Public Policy Foundation, a think tank that advocates free-market approaches to public-policy issues. “It takes the politics out of the policy.”
Wingfield said targeted tax relief also fails to benefit new industries that public policymakers can’t foresee.
“When you do more of a targeted approach, you’re giving tax relief to a company or industry you already know about,” he said. “With broad-based tax relief, you’re encouraging people out there who are creating the next company that will turn into a large employer.”
With Kemp and all 236 seats in the Georgia House and Senate on the ballot last year, the tax cut proved extremely popular. Only two House Democrats voted against it on the final day of the 2022 legislative session.
But the bill drew 13 “no” votes from Democrats in the 56-member state Senate. Opponents cited an analysis by the left-leaning Georgia Budget and Policy Institute that House Bill 1437 would actually raise taxes on about 10% of taxpayers, while $620 million of the $1 billion tax cut would benefit only the top 20% of taxpayers.
“We are effectively raising taxes on the working poor,” then-Democratic Rep. Matthew Wilson of Brookhaven said at the time.
Wilson voted against the bill the first time it hit the House floor but in favor of it when it returned for a final vote on the last day of the session.
Republicans pushed back on the argument that the legislation would raise taxes on low-income Georgians.
“We haven’t been able to find anyone who pays more,” House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Shaw Blackmon, R-Bonaire, the bill’s chief sponsor, said on the House floor the day the bill gained final passage. “Everybody pays zero or less under this plan.”
Now, Kemp is calling on the General Assembly to speed up the tax cut by moving the 5.39% state income tax rate due to take effect in 2025 to 2024.
Georgia can easily afford accelerating the tax relief. The state has built up a surplus of $16 billion during the last few years, including $11 billion in undesignated funds.
“Thanks to our conservative budgeting and strong state economy built on business-friendly policies, we are well-positioned to move the timeline up and put more money where it belongs – back into Georgians’ pockets,” Kemp said in announcing the proposal earlier this month.
The 2024 session of the General Assembly will begin Jan. 8.
ATLANTA – A state senator plans to introduce legislation during the upcoming session of the General Assembly aimed at “swatting,” false reports of criminal activity that send police to the homes or offices of targeted victims.
Since Christmas Day, three Republican state senators, a Democratic state senator, GOP Lt. Gov. Burt Jones, and U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Rome, have been targeted by swatting calls.
“This issue goes beyond politics – it’s about public safety and preserving the integrity of our institutions,” said state Sen. Clint Dixon, R-Buford, one of the victims of swatting, who announced Thursday that he will back legislation strengthening penalties for false reporting and misuse of police forces.
“We will not stand for these threats of violence and intimidation. Those involved in swatting must be held accountable under the full extent of the law.”
Besides Dixon, other state senators targeted by swatting calls include Republicans John Albers of Roswell and Kay Kirkpatrick of Marietta, and Democrat Kim Jackson of Stone Mountain.
Greene told The Hill, a Washington, D.C.-based newspaper covering Congress, that her two daughters were targets of swatting on Thursday, just days after she experienced what she estimated was the eighth swatting call aimed at her.
“Whoever is doing this, you are going to get caught and it won’t be funny to you anymore,” Greene wrote on X, the social media platform known as Twitter.
The 2024 session of the General Assembly will begin Jan. 8.
