ATLANTA – Gov. Brian Kemp extended the temporary suspension of the state sales tax on gasoline and other motor fuels Friday, citing a looming diesel fuel shortage.
Kemp signed two executive orders, one extending the gas tax suspension through Dec. 11 and the other extending a supply chain state of emergency.
The Republican governor blamed high prices at the pump on the Biden administration for failing to promote U.S. energy independence and depleting the nation’s strategic oil reserve to its lowest level since 1974.
“As another holiday season and a looming diesel shortage approach, Georgians are still facing record high inflation, growing costs at the grocery store just before Thanksgiving, and high prices at the pump as they prepare to travel to see family, all due to a complete failure of leadership in Washington,” Kemp said.
“While we can’t fix everything politicians have broken, our responsible approach to reopening our economy while prioritizing both lives and livelihoods allows us to deliver needed relief by continuing to suspend our state’s gas tax.”
Kemp also cited a recent decision by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Counties (OPEC) to cut oil production.
President Joe Biden has been aggressive in drawing down the strategic oil reserve as part of the administration’s strategy for reducing gasoline prices. He also has been tapping federal grant funds to help promote the production of electric vehicle batteries to boost EVs as an alternative to gasoline-powered cars and trucks.
While the war in Ukraine and the pandemic have significantly reduced the supply of diesel fuel, economists have said reports the U.S. is about to run out are exaggerated.
Since the temporary suspension of the gas tax was implemented, last March, the average price of gasoline in Georgia has remained one of the lowest in the nation. Currently, the Peach State has the lowest gas prices at $3.13 per gallon, according to AAA.
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
ATLANTA – Gov. Brian Kemp and Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr touted their records on crime Thursday, five days before they ask voters to return them to office.
The state’s new Gang Prosecution Unit gained 11 indictments of 46 suspected gang members in 13 counties during its first month of operation, Carr said during a news conference at the Georgia Capitol.
“We are serving as a force multiplier by working hand in hand with those who are on the ground and in our communities,” he said. “Together, we are already producing incredible results.”
The Gang Prosecution Unit was formed after the General Assembly passed legislation this year authorizing the attorney general’s office to work with local law enforcement agencies to investigate gang activity. Lawmakers approved $1.3 million in startup funds for the effort.
The unit is a follow-up to the Gang Task Force Kemp created in 2019 during his first year in office and assigned to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.
During the last year, the task force investigated 446 gang-related cases in 100 counties, leading to charges against more than 170 suspects, Kemp said Thursday.
The third leg of the governor’s anti-crime efforts is the multi-agency Crime Suppression Unit he formed last year to work with local law enforcement agencies in the Atlanta region. The unit also has been active in Macon and Columbus.
“Every weekend, we’re taking more criminals off the streets and making our communities across this state safer,” Kemp said.
The governor said some of the suspects the Gang Prosecution Unit has investigated were trying to recruit children. If reelected, he said he will ask the General Assembly to pass a bill increasing penalties for those who recruit kids into gangs.
Kemp’s opponent, Democrat Stacey Abrams, said during a debate last weekend that gun violence is behind the increase in crime in Georgia.
Abrams criticized Kemp for pushing a bill through the legislature that lets Georgians carry concealed firearms without a permit.
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
ATLANTA – More than 2.2 million Georgians have cast early ballots, a record-setting pace ahead of a midterm election, Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said Thursday.
That’s well above the nearly 1.5 million Georgians who had taken advantage of the early voting opportunity at this point in the early voting period ahead of the 2018 midterms.
“It’s been going very smoothly, with very short lines,” Raffensperger said during a pre-election online media briefing sponsored by the Center for Election Innovation & Research (CEIR), a nonpartisan nonprofit that seeks to build voter trust and confidence in elections.
Raffensperger and other Georgia Republican leaders have held out the record early-voting numbers as proof the controversial election-reform legislation the GOP-controlled General Assembly passed last year is not suppressing the vote, as Democrats have alleged.
Aunna Dennis, executive director of Common Cause Georgia, attributed the high early voting turnout to the thousands of baseless challenges to voter registrations that have been filed in recent months, particularly in Gwinnett County.
Also, many Georgians who have requested absentee ballots have yet to receive them, Dennis said.
“[High early voting turnout is] a reaction of folks not wanting to go through the hurdles of what could potentially happen on Election Day,” she said.
The Gwinnett elections board dismissed more than 11,000 voter challenges last month.
While early voting totals are soaring, Raffensperger said the number of absentee ballots received thus far has been well below the 2020 election cycle, when many voters mailed in absentee ballots so they wouldn’t have to go to the polls during a pandemic.
About 6% to 7% of votes cast so far have been absentee, which Raffensperger described as “normal” compared to two years ago, when absentees ended up accounting for 25% to 27% of the total.
Raffensperger said the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, Georgia National Guard, and Georgia State Patrol will be working on Election Day Nov. 8 to ensure voting is conducted safely.
The secretary of state’s office will have a “poll worker protection tool” available in 85 of the state’s 159 counties to handle reports of any problems poll workers might encounter, he said.
CEIR Executive Director David Becker said he expects Election Day around the country to go smoothly. But he said he’s worried about what might happen after the polls close.
“We’re already seeing extremist election deniers questioning … how long it will take to count the ballots,” he said.
Becker said it could take days to determine the results in many areas of the country because so many races are likely to be close.
“It’s going to be important to set expectations realistically,” he said.
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
ATLANTA – U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock has raised more than $100 million toward his reelection bid, according to the final campaign finance report the Democrat will file before Election Day next week.
The $101.7 million Warnock raised through Oct. 19 dwarfs the $37.7 million in the campaign war chest of Republican challenger Herschel Walker – no slouch himself when it comes to fundraising – and put the Georgia Senate campaign on a path toward becoming the nation’s most expensive of the 2022 election cycle.
Warnock also outpaced Walker in 11th-hour fundraising. The incumbent’s campaign brought in almost $12.2 million just between Oct. 1 and Oct. 19, according to a report Warnock submitted to the Federal Election Commission.
The Walker campaign took in nearly $5.9 million in contributions during roughly the same three weeks.
Both candidates have spent profusely in recent months, as is obvious to any television viewer from the withering barrage of political ads they’ve aired.
But they still have plenty of money to spend for the stretch drive toward the Nov. 8 election.
Warnock’s campaign reported almost $10.5 million in cash on hand as of Oct. 19, compared to $5.4 million for Walker.
While Warnock has drubbed Walker in the battle for bucks, he hasn’t been able to put much – if any – distance between himself and the challenger. Recent polls have the two in a dead heat, with a strong possibility they could be forced into a Dec. 6 runoff to decide the winner.
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
ATLANTA – Representatives of convenience stores asked Georgia lawmakers Wednesday to ensure the electric vehicle charging stations they build in the coming years can compete fairly with those owned by utilities.
The General Assembly’s Joint Study Committee on the Electrification of Transportation is due by Dec. 1 to recommend legislation to be considered during the 2023 session starting in January.
A key task Georgia policymakers face is rolling out a network of public EV charging stations extensive enough to meet the demands of what is expected to be a huge increase in EVs plying the state’s highways.
Combination gas station/convenience stores are expected to host many of those EV charging stations.
But the private sector won’t be willing to make those construction investments if utilities are allowed to build stations and recover their costs from customers, said A.J. Siccardi, president of Metroplex Energy, the wholesale fuel supply arm of Georgia-based RaceTrac.
“Private investment will go where competition is encouraged,” Siccardi said. “It’s hard to compete with someone whose capital comes from consumers.”
Jay Smith, executive director of Charge Ahead Partnership, a coalition of more than 100 businesses and organizations focused on developing a network of EV charging stations, said the General Assembly could level the playing field between convenience stores and the power companies by requiring utilities interested in operating charging stations to create a separate subsidiary for that business.
Representatives of both Georgia Power and the state’s electric membership cooperatives (EMCs) told members of the study committee utilities aren’t interested in competing with convenience stores for EV charging business.
Jeff Pratt, president of Green Power EMC, said the utilities see their role as providing public EV charging opportunities in rural parts of the state where private investors aren’t willing to go.
Stephanie Gossman, electric transportation manager for Georgia Power, said the Atlanta-based utility owns only 3% of the state’s EV charging infrastructure.
An issue representatives of both the utilities and convenience stores agreed on Wednesday was the need for legislation allowing EV charging stations to base their charges on the amount of electricity sold – in kilowatt-hours – not on the time customers spend charging their vehicles.
Committee members were told during previous meetings that charging by time makes no sense because chargers operate at different speeds.
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
