by Dave Williams | Apr 28, 2025 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – Gov. Brian Kemp signed three workforce development bills Monday during a leadership summit sponsored by the Technical College System of Georgia.
“As the No.-1 state for business, Georgia has seen record-breaking jobs and investment come to communities in every part of the state,” Kemp said. “With the bills I signed today, we’re taking further steps to prepare Georgians to walk through those open doors.”
The General Assembly passed all three workforce bills overwhelmingly during this year’s legislative session with little fanfare, unlike several higher-profile education measures Kemp also signed Monday during a separate ceremony at the state Capitol.
House Bill 217 will extend a pilot program that allows technical college students to qualify for a high-school diploma for an additional five years, for a total of 10. The legislation also authorizes the Georgia Student Finance Commission to use data compiled by the state Department of Revenue to verify income eligibility for applicants for Georgia’s new private-school vouchers program.
Senate Bill 180 will allow sponsors to apprenticeship programs to participate in funding the state’s High Demand Apprenticeship Program. Currently, the program is limited to employer sponsors.
Senate Bill 193 establishes an adult workforce high school diploma program within the technical college system for students between the ages of 21 and 40.
by Dave Williams | Apr 28, 2025 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – Former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms is forming an exploratory committee ahead of a potential run for governor next year.
“I am honored by the encouragement I have received as I considered running for governor,” Bottoms wrote in a prepared statement released Monday.
“I am taking an important administrative step in this journey by filing necessary paperwork to establish a campaign committee. I look forward to making an announcement in the coming weeks.”
Bottoms was elected mayor of Atlanta in 2017 but decided not to seek reelection four years later. Instead, the Democrat joined the administration of then-President Joe Biden in 2022 as a senior advisor.
Reports surfaced soon after Republican President Donald Trump took office in January that he had fired Bottoms. She responded that the president couldn’t fire her from a job that she had already quit.
Bottoms joins state Sen. Jason Esteves of Atlanta in the 2026 gubernatorial race on the Democratic side. Multiple news outlets have reported that former Georgia House Minority Leader Stacey Abrams of Atlanta, a two-time Democratic nominee for governor, also is considering mounting a third bid for the state’s highest office.
The only announced Republican candidate thus far is state Attorney General Chris Carr. Other potential candidates to succeed Kemp include Lt. Gov. Burt Jones and Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger.
by Dave Williams | Apr 25, 2025 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – Shareholders of The Chemours Company are urging the chemical producer to assess the impacts on ecologically sensitive areas before plunging into a mining project, a move aimed largely at plans to mine titanium near the Okefenokee Swamp.
Green Century, an environmentally responsible mutual fund, and the Felician Sisters of North America filed a resolution that received 6.4% of the vote at Chemours’ annual shareholder meeting this week. While that might seem a low number, it was enough to qualify the sponsors to re-file the resolution next year and is being seen as a victory.
“Chemours should more thoroughly assess biodiversity risks before they can’t turn back the clock,” Green Century Funds President Leslie Samuelrich said. “Since Chemours mines near ecological gems such as the Okefenokee Swamp, taking extra care to prevent irreversible damage to nature is a no-brainer.”
The shareholder resolution came during the same week groups of conservationists, religious leaders, and students wrote separate letters asking Chemours’ Board of Directors to make permanent the company’s 2022 pledge not to engage in titanium mining adjacent to the largest blackwater swamp in North America, either directly or through subsidiaries.
“Students have historically been a key force behind legislative action,” said Lily Mason, a senior at Georgia Tech and a leader of the Georgia Student Swamp Coalition. “Our hope is that by building awareness across Georgia’s college campuses, we can help secure protections for the swamp for future generations.”
The Georgia Environmental Protection Division (EPD) has released draft mining permits to Alabama-based Twin Pines Minerals for the 700-plus-acre first phase of a proposed titanium mine. Eventual plans call for opening an 8,000-acre strip mine along Trail Ridge on the southeastern border of the Okefenokee.
While Twin Pines officials have said the project would not harm the swamp, opponents cite research showing the mine would threaten the swamp’s water levels, increase wildfire risks, harm wildlife, and release toxic contaminants into nearby surface and groundwater.
Opposition to the mine has surfaced on several fronts. Members of the Georgia House of Representatives have introduced legislation during several recent General Assembly sessions – including this year – seeking to stop the mine. While more than 90 of the 180 House lawmakers have signed onto the measures, none have made it to the floor for a vote.
More than 150,000 comments opposing the project have been submitted to the EPD. Polling has shown overwhelming support for banning mining along Trail Ridge.
Other ammunition bolstering opposition to the mine includes the Okefenokee’s nomination to join UNESCO’s World Heritage List. Opponents also see a plan by the National Park Service to expand the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge as aiding their case.
Chemours signed an agreement in 2022 pledging not to engage in mining near the swamp and not to buy Twin Pines, which the Delaware-based company had been looking into acquiring. The announcement came in response to a shareholder resolution Green Century had filed the previous year.
Chemours has a history in the region, having spun off of DuPont in 2015, which proposed a strip mine during the 1990s near the swamp that failed to come to fruition amid strong public opposition.
The chemical company manufactures and sells “performance chemicals,” including titanium dioxide, a common whitener in products from toothpaste to sunscreen.
“I don’t think anyone would say that slightly whiter toothpaste is worth irreversible biodiversity loss,” said Annie Sanders, director of shareholder advocacy for Green Century. “We’ll keep pressing Chemours to ensure that it considers and protects biodiversity before mining starts. That’s what’s best for investors, customers, and the planet.”
by Dave Williams | Apr 24, 2025 | Capitol Beat News Service
ROSWELL – Extending the tax cuts Congress passed early in Republican President Donald Trump’s first term will be the first order of business when federal lawmakers return to Washington next week from the Easter recess, U.S. Rep. Rich McCormick said Thursday.
The tax cuts, which are due to expire at the end of this year without congressional action, played out to former President Joe Biden’s advantage when the Democrat gained the White House four years ago, McCormick, R-Suwanee, said after hosting a roundtable for North Fulton business owners at the offices of Axis Infrastructure.
“The impacts gave Biden a pretty decent economy,” he said.
McCormick gave the business owners a sense of hope that the uncertainty plaguing the business climate in the wake of Trump’s roller-coaster tariffs will settle down.
“Everybody understands that what we see now is not what we’re going to get,” he said. “Hopefully, the EU (European Union) tariffs will zero out. The big unknown will be China.”
However, McCormick said the tariffs are likely to produce supply-chain disruptions when the dust settles.
“A lot of people are withholding orders right now,” he said. “When the market reopens, there’s going to be a glut of orders and a shortage of supplies. That’s what happened with COVID.”
McCormick said there’s widespread agreement in the House Republican Caucus on the need to maintain the 21% top marginal tax rate on corporate income the 2017 tax cuts put in place. How to pay for removing taxes on tips and Social Security, as Trump promised on the campaign trail last year, is less certain, he said.
Congressional Democrats oppose extending the tax cuts, arguing it would benefit primarily upper-income Americans while threatening the social safety net.
But McCormick said programs including Social Security and Medicare will go bankrupt by the middle of the next decade unless federal policy makers take action to control entitlement spending, which makes up 76% of the federal budget. But he called warnings by Democrats of looming cuts to Medicare and Medicaid “scare tactics.”
Republicans only have three votes to spare from their narrow House majority in order to extend the Trump tax cuts. In the Senate, use of the “reconciliation” process means only a simple majority vote will be required to pass the legislation.
by Dave Williams | Apr 24, 2025 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – Cybercrime is on the rise in Georgia and around the country.
Georgia ranked 11th in internet-related complaints last year, up from 13th in 2023, according to the FBI’s newly released Internet Crime Report 2024. The potential losses of $420 million represented a 40% increase between 2023 and last year.
Nationally, internet crime complaints rose to 859,532 in 2024, with related losses topping $16.6 billion up by 33% over the previous year.
The top three cybercrimes nationwide measured by the number of complaints reported, were phishing/spoofing, extortion, and personal data breaches. However, losses related to cryptocurrency far exceeded any other category.
“While the top threats facing Georgia and the nation from cyber criminals and fraudsters continue to evolve, their main goal remains stealing your hard-earned money,” said Paul Brown, special agent in charge at the Atlanta FBI office. “The cornerstone of the FBI’s mission remains to protect American citizens.”
Elderly Georgians are particularly vulnerable to cybercrime. Internet crime complaints lodged by adults ages 60 and older soared by 71% last year, while reported losses increased by 89%.
Reports of cryptocurrency-related crimes in Georgia jumped even more in 2024 – by 122% – while estimated losses were up by 66% from 2023.
