by Dave Williams | Jul 1, 2025 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – Gov. Brian Kemp Tuesday nominated state Commissioner of Revenue Frank O’Connell chief judge of the newly created Georgia Tax Court.
Georgia voters approved a constitutional amendment last November creating the tax court, aimed at improving efficiency in the handling of tax cases at the state level.
O’Connell has headed the revenue department for more than two years after serving previously as the state agency’s deputy commissioner and general counsel.
“Georgia taxpayers deserve leadership at the Department of Revenue that recognizes who they are most accountable to,” Kemp said. “As commissioner, Frank O’Connell has never forgotten that – serving the people of our state with honor and great work ethic. That’s why I’m again asking Frank to serve in a leadership position that will benefit the entire state.”
Before joining state government in 2023, O’Connell served as a consultant in state and local taxation for a decade at two large accounting firms.
A member of the Tax Section of the State Bar of Georgia, he received his law degree from the University of Notre Dame and a postgraduate law degree in taxation from New York University.
O’Connell’s nomination is subject to confirmation by the Georgia House and Senate Judiciary committees.
The chief judge on the new court will be joined by up to three assistant judges.
by Dave Williams | Jul 1, 2025 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – State energy regulators Tuesday unanimously approved Georgia Power’s plan to freeze customer rates for the next three years.
Under an agreement the Atlanta-based utility and the Georgia Public Service Commission’s Public Interest Advocacy Staff reached in May, Georgia Power will not seek to raise base rates until 2028 at the earliest. However, the agreement excludes “reasonable and prudent” costs the utility has incurred from storm damage mostly from Hurricane Helene, a major sticking point with environmental groups that opposed the plan.
Before Tuesday’s 5-0 vote, Commissioner Tim Echols said Georgia’s economic successes of recent years are the result of sound energy planning.
“Our energy system has been the foundation of above-average economic growth in the state of Georgia,” Echols said. “That economic performance would not have been possible without the investment ratepayers made in our energy system.”
“The rate freeze resulting from this plan is a great result for customers, balancing the mutual benefits of extraordinary economic growth among all stakeholders and helping to ensure that we remain equipped to continue supporting growth in this state,” added Kim Greene, chairman, president and CEO of Georgia Power. “A plan like this is only possible due to the strength of Georgia’s constructive regulatory environment, and we thank the Georgia Public Service Commission for their vote today.”
But critics said the agreement represents a rate freeze in name only because it will let Georgia Power seek to recover storm damage costs from customers starting as early as next May.
Bob Sherrier, a lawyer with the Southern Environmental Law Center’s Atlanta office, accused the company of seeking to saddle customers with the costs of huge increases in electrical generating capacity to support the rapidly growing demands of power-hungry data centers springing up across the state.
“Everyday Georgians cannot be on the hook for Georgia Power’s data center spending spree,” he said. “The next three years are very consequential for the electric grid and deserve much more scrutiny than occurred here.”
A key point of contention in the agreement is the profits Georgia Power will be allowed to recover on its investments. The agreement sets that Return on Equity (ROE) at a maximum of 11.9%, a number Commissioner Lauren “Bubba” McDonald sought to trim to 11.5% Tuesday in a motion that died for lack of a second.
“With automatic rate increases in ’23, ’24, and ’25 … it is good for the ratepayers to have this frozen for the next three years,” McDonald said in explaining why he voted to support the rate freeze despite the defeat of his motion. “[But] if you show you made over $2.5 billion profit last year and then go above [the current maximum ROE] … it’s good to hold that for three more years.”
The agreement’s opponents also objected to the commission’s decision to freeze rates without the usual months-long process of hearings that would have let the public weigh in on the plan. The agreement with the PSC staff allows Georgia Power to avoid what was to have been a rate case that would have stretched over the last half of this year.
“Transparency and open dialogue are essential to building trust,” said Codi Norred, executive director of the nonprofit Georgia Interfaith Power and Light. “Many in our communities are worried about rising energy costs, and billpayers deserve to understand how these decisions are made.”
Tuesday’s vote set the stage for another decision confronting the PSC later this month. Commissioners are scheduled to vote July 15 on Georgia Power’s request for a huge increase in generating capacity primarily to serve “large-load” customers including data centers.
The utility plans to meet that growing demand by relying in part on fossil fuels, continuing to operate two of the company’s coal-burning power plants at Plant Bowen near Cartersville and Plant Scherer near Macon as well as upgrading existing natural gas units.
by Dave Williams | Jun 30, 2025 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – A Warner Robins woman has been indicted in federal court for allegedly engaging in a scheme to defraud the Georgia Medicaid program of more than $5.4 million.
Elizabeth Sue Ivester, 62, was charged in U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Georgia with conspiracy to commit health-care fraud, health-care fraud, and aggravated identify theft.
As alleged in the indictment, Ivester, the owner and operator of Liberty Medical Inc., used Medicaid recipients’ identification numbers to submit fraudulent claims representing 77,095 pieces of durable medical equipment that were not ordered by a physician nor supplied to recipients.
“Defrauding Medicaid is the same as stealing taxpayer dollars,” Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr said Monday. “We will hold violators accountable.”
The charges Carr announced on Monday are part of a coordinated nationwide law enforcement effort that has resulted in criminal charges against 324 defendants.
“This administration will not tolerate criminals who line their pockets with taxpayer dollars while endangering the health and safety of communities,” U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said.
Georgia’s Medicaid Fraud and Patient Protection Division of Carr’s office has secured more than 90 convictions for Medicaid fraud and the abuse, neglect, and exploitation of older adults since Carr took office in 2019, resulting in more than $19 million in restitution orders in criminal cases and more than $108 million in civil judgments.
Ivester was arraigned on the charges two weeks ago following the return of the indictment by a federal grand jury in May.
by Dave Williams | Jun 27, 2025 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – A grand jury in Lowndes County this week indicted 10 alleged members of a criminal gang based in Valdosta in the shooting deaths last November of two men and an assault on two Lowndes sheriff’s deputies.
The 10, accused of being members of the gang 923/BangKrew, are charged with targeting a rival gang in a shootout in front of a strip of bars in the city of Remerton, the same location where Valdosta State University student Brianna Long, 21, was shot and killed almost exactly a year earlier.
The November shootings claimed the lives of Jastain Darrisaw, 20, and Lajoespet Wells, 31. Shots also were fired in the direction of two responding officers who were working security that night. One of those deputies was shot in his protective vest and was treated at a local hospital and released.
The case will be jointly prosecuted by the Georgia Attorney General’s Gang Prosecution Unit and the Southern Judicial Circuit District Attorney’s Office.
“When shots were fired in a crowded area, these two deputies risked their lives to keep people safe,” Attorney General Chris Carr said Friday. “Now, we’re fighting to ensure those responsible are held accountable because this cycle of violence cannot continue. … Violent offenders will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”
The 10 defendants, all of whom are from Valdosta, are charged with felony murder and aggravated assault on a public safety officer. They also are accused of violating Georgia’s Street Gang Terrorism and Prevention Act and use of a firearm during commission of a felony.
Nine of the 10 are in custody. The 10th, Jailen Bryant, is actively being sought by law enforcement.
Carr, working with Gov. Brian Kemp and the General Assembly, created Georgia’s first statewide Gang Prosecution Unit in 2022. Since beginning its work that summer, it has secured more than 100 convictions following indictments in 15 counties across the state.
by Dave Williams | Jun 27, 2025 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – A Waynesboro man has been sentenced to more than 26 years in prison after pleading guilty to robbing 10 banks in southeastern Georgia.
Cordell Cobb, 24, was charged in federal court with 10 counts of interference with commerce by robbery and two counts of brandishing a firearm during a crime of violence.
According to federal court documents, Cobb robbed banks in Bulloch, Burke, Chatham, Emanuel, Glascock, Jenkins and Ware counties at gunpoint between January and June 2023.
Besides the prison time, he was ordered to serve five years of supervised release upon completion of his sentence and pay $12,081 in restitution to the victimized banks.
“This sentencing reflects the serious consequences of violent crime and the strength of coordinated law enforcement,” said Chris Hosey, director of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. “Communities across Georgia are safer today because of the tireless work of our local, state, and federal partner agencies in bringing this armed robber to justice.”
The case was investigated by the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives; the GBI; and local police departments from the seven counties where the robberies took place..
