by Dave Williams | Aug 22, 2022 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – University System of Georgia (USG) graduates from the Class of 2021 will earn more than $1 million more during their lifetimes than they would have without earning a bachelor’s degree, according to a new study.
The study, conducted by Jeff Humphreys, director of the Selig Center for Economic
Growth at the University of Georgia’s Terry College of Business, revealed the
breakdown of how much each level of higher education can add to a USG
graduate’s total earnings over their lives.
“The difference higher education makes on a person’s life is dramatic,” said system Chancellor Sonny Perdue said. “Whether you are a high school graduate trying to decide
between going to college or entering the workforce, or you are a mid-career
adult wanting to improve your earning potential by completing your degree or
adding to your education, this study clearly demonstrates a college degree in
Georgia is a worthwhile investment.”
The report showed that earnings increase substantially with each step up the ladder
of post-secondary education. On average, the study found each credential
generates additional earnings over a person’s lifetime by:
· $238,455 for a certificate.
· $377,000 for an associate degree.
· $1,152,500 for a bachelor’s degree.
· 1,399,500 for a master’s degree.
· $2,037,500 for a doctorate.
Based on work-life earnings estimates for Georgia, the analysis showed the 70,641 USG graduates from the Class of 2021 can expect combined total lifetime earnings of $179
billion, $60 billion more than they could expect to earn had they not gone on to college or graduate school.
Perdue announced at this month’s Board of Regents meeting the creation of a new
website, Georgia Degrees Pay, where students and their families can glean
comparative information on schools, majors, academic outcomes, costs and future
earnings.
The future earnings tool allows users to see earnings after graduation by major and
institution. It also compares a range of earnings by academic area one, five
and 10 years after graduation.
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
by Dave Williams | Aug 19, 2022 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – Georgia’s plan for a network of electric vehicle charging stations crisscrossing the Peach State is in the hands of the Federal Highway Administration.
But the state won’t be able to start tapping into $135 million in federal funds set aside to build EV charging stations in Georgia until the General Assembly sets rules for what is now a fledgling industry.
“This is going to be one of the biggest transitions we have ever seen in this country in transportation and in the way of life,” said state Rep. Alan Powell, R-Hartwell. “We need to be prepared.”
Powell is a member of a joint legislative study committee that will begin meeting Aug. 24 to look for ways to move the EV charging industry forward in Georgia. He and House lawmakers learned the difficulty of the challenge during this year’s legislative session when two bills fizzled amid a dispute between lobbyists for the state’s power companies and Georgia convenience stores.
Some of the obstacles stem from EV technology, which is still in its early stages. While slow charging is fine for homeowners who park their EVs in their garages overnight, even the fast chargers designed for public charging stations can take up to 30 minutes.
“We’re used to pulling up at a filling station or convenience store, filling up and hitting the road,” Powell said. “Folk aren’t going to sit there for 30 minutes.”
Other technological challenges include dealing with the drain on the power grid that would result from the widespread charging of EV batteries and disposing of batteries following their useful life, Powell said.
But what tripped up the General Assembly this year was where to put EV charging stations.
Angela Holland, president of the Georgia Association of Convenience Stores, testified during a House subcommittee hearing last winter that convenience stores would be a logical choice since they already sell gasoline.
“Convenience stores are specifically designed to accommodate cars without disrupting traffic,” she said. “It makes sense for the electric-vehicle driver to search for fuel in the same place as the gas-powered engine drivers search for fuel.”
Other potential retail sites for EV charging stations include restaurants, hotels, and shopping malls.
Representatives of Georgia utilities say power companies also should have a place in the EV charging industry. Besides selling electricity to retailers operating charging stations, utilities also could build and operate their own stations.
Georgia EMC, with its rural customer base, would be particularly well suited to enter the EV charging station business, said Kevin Curtin, the company’s senior vice president for government relations.
“We serve 73% of the state land mass, the vast majority in rural areas of the state,” he said. “We have experience providing services to areas that are unavailable to commercial providers.”
Stephanie Gossman, electric transportation manager for Georgia Power, said retail businesses could be reluctant to invest in charging stations in rural areas in this early phase of the industry’s evolution.
“We are uniquely situated as a regulated utility to be able to invest in our rural and underserved communities, so this technology will be available to all Georgians when they’re ready for it,” Gossman told the House subcommittee.
But Holland cautioned that letting utilities in on the ground floor of the EV charging station business would stifle competition because – unlike retailers – power companies could recover the costs of the stations from their commercial and residential ratepayers.
“Without a business model that makes sense – that includes some statutory and regulatory framework that provides our industry a level playing field – convenience store owners will continue to shy away from building [EV charging] infrastructure,” she said.
Curtin and Gossman said there’s room for everyone who wants to get into the EV charging business because the need is so great.
To qualify for the federal money that’s out there, Georgia must build 40 to 45 EV charging stations along designated “alternative fuel corridors” on interstates and U.S. highways, Mark Smith, senior planning policy coordinator for the Georgia Department of Transportation, told members of the State Transportation Board Aug. 18. Only 11 have been built thus far, he said.
The federal funds are expected to serve as a catalyst for the businesses eventually expected to invest in owning and operating charging stations in Georgia.
“It doesn’t make sense for the private sector to be there today,” Georgia Commissioner of Transportation Russell McMurry said. “This is trying to help private industry meet that business case.”
Holland said she’s optimistic lawmakers and lobbyists will come up with workable legislation on EV charging stations during the 2023 General Assembly session starting in January.
With EV manufacturers Rivian and Hyundai Motor Group building huge plants in Georgia, there’s a sense of urgency to act, she said.
“Georgia’s so ingrained in this industry,” Holland said. “This is something we’ve got to do.”
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
by Dave Williams | Aug 18, 2022 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – Georgia’s unemployment rate fell again last month to a record-low 2.8%, while the Peach State hit an all-time high in job numbers, the Georgia Department of Labor reported Thursday.
The jobless rate declined slightly in July from 2.9% in June and was seven-tenths of a percent lower than the national unemployment rate of 3.5%.
The number of jobs in Georgia rose last month to an all-time high of more than 4.8 million, up 12,500 from June and 214,300 from July of last year.
Job numbers were at record highs in the trade and transportation; financial activities; professional, scientific, and technical services; and education and health services sectors.
“Georgia’s job numbers continue to climb, reinforcing the state’s position as one of the nation’s best places to find employment,” Georgia Commissioner of Labor Mark Butler said Thursday.
“These all-time highs in multiple sectors demonstrate the employment opportunities the state is experiencing across the board.”
On the downside, initial unemployment claims increased by 11% last month from June to 28,545. However, first-time jobless claims have fallen significantly during the past year and are down 52%, or 30,266, from July 2021.
There are more than 217,000 jobs listed online at EmployGeorgia.com, resulting in a minimum of more than 285,000 unfilled positions.
Industries with more than 10,000 job postings include health care; retail trade; accommodation and food services; manufacturing; professional, scientific, and technical services; finance and insurance; and transportation and warehousing.
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
by Dave Williams | Aug 17, 2022 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – Gov. Brian Kemp is seeking to quash a subpoena to testify before the Fulton County special grand jury investigating attempts to overturn the 2020 presidential election in Georgia.
A motion state Attorney General Chris Carr filed Wednesday on Kemp’s behalf questioned the timing of the subpoena – in the midst of the governor’s reelection campaign – and maintained Fulton District Attorney Fani Willis has no legal right to force Kemp to testify.
“Georgia courts have no authority to compel a sitting governor to provide testimony about matters involving his official duties due to sovereign immunity,” Carr wrote.
“Even if that were not the centuries-old law of this state, the subpoena at issue is improper … because its timing is neither driven by a genuine investigative need for information nor compliant with the established ethical rules governing prosecutors and election cycle investigations.”
Unlike other Republican politicians the special grand jury has subpoenaed, Kemp did not try to cast doubt on Democrat Joe Biden’s victory in Georgia over then-GOP President Donald Trump. The governor refused to interfere with the election’s outcome, declaring he did not have the authority to do so.
Kemp had volunteered to testify to the panel late last month, Carr wrote in Wednesday’s motion. However, Willis canceled that session and subpoenaed Kemp instead after the governor asked “reasonable” questions concerning the scope of the testimony, the attorney general wrote.
“For more than a year, the governor’s team has continually expressed his desire to provide a full accounting of his very limited role in the issues being looked at by the special grand jury,” a Kemp spokesperson said Wednesday.
“We are now just weeks away from the 2022 general election making it increasingly difficult to dedicate the time necessary to prepare and then appear. With the special grand jury empaneled until May 2023, we are simply asking the judge to allow the governor to come in after the November election.”
Others who have fought subpoenas to appear before the special grand jury include former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who as Trump’s personal lawyer raised questions about the legitimacy of the 2020 election in Georgia at several legislative hearings at the state Capitol. Giuliani lost his bid to avoid the panel and testified on Wednesday.
Lawyers for U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., also are fighting a subpoena from Willis. A federal judge ruled earlier this week that Graham must testify.
A spokesman for Willis said the district attorney would defer comment on Kemp’s motion until her office files its response.
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
by Dave Williams | Aug 17, 2022 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – A plan to add toll lanes along Georgia 400 in Fulton and Forsyth counties is back on track a year after the State Transportation Board rejected the only qualifying bid on the project.
The Georgia Department of Transportation (DOT) will issue a draft request for proposals next month from roadbuilding companies interested in competing in a second round of bidding, Tim Matthews, state express lanes administrator for the DOT, told board members Wednesday.
Three roadbuilding consortiums have indicated interest and are being evaluated, Matthews said.
The project calls for two new toll lanes in each direction on Georgia 400 from the North Springs MARTA station in North Fulton north to McGinnis Ferry Road, and one toll lane in each direction from there north to McFarland Parkway in Forsyth County.
The new lanes will be built as a public-private partnership project, meaning the contractor will not only design and build the lanes but also finance the construction. The contractor will recover its investment by collecting the toll revenue.
The board rejected the earlier bid as far in excess of the $1.7 billion the DOT had budgeted for the work.
Matthews said the project also will include a transit component. MARTA is planning to run a bus-rapid transit line (BRT) using the toll lanes from the North Springs station north to an existing park-and-ride lot on Windward Parkway in Alpharetta.
BRT stations are planned at the Georgia 400 interchanges with Holcomb Bridge Road and the North Point Mall, he said.
Matthews said the DOT plans to put out a final RFP for the project next March, with bids due in June. The board then would award the winning bid next August.
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
