ATLANTA – Controversial legislation making it harder for Georgia homeowners to file nuisance lawsuits against neighboring agricultural operations cleared the Republican-controlled Georgia House of Representatives Thursday.
The Freedom to Farm Act, which passed 102-62 mostly along party lines, would replace a law the legislature enacted in 1989 governing nuisance suits against farm operations in areas zoned for agricultural use.
Under House Bill 1150, neighbors bothered by bad smells, dust, noise or water pollution emanating from a farm would have one year to file a nuisance suit. After that statute of limitations expires, the farm would be protected, House Agriculture & Consumer Affairs Committee Chairman Robert Dickey, told his House colleagues.
The current law is vague on that point, leaving farmers vulnerable, said Dickey, R-Musella, the bill’s chief sponsor.
“I want to keep our farmers on their tractors, not in a courtroom.” he said.
But the bill’s opponents said the current law has worked for decades, so well that Georgia has not seen a flurry of nuisance suits against farmers.
“I can’t find a single record of a standalone nuisance lawsuit against a farmer in Georgia,” said Rep. Debbie Buckner, D-Junction City. “[The current law] is clear. It is concise. It is well defined.”
Rep. Stacey Evans, D-Atlanta, said the bill would take away protection from suits the current law provides to farmers whose operations existed before residential encroachment in their neighborhood.
“We’re infringing on private property rights,” she said. “This is no longer a matter of who was there first.”
Opponents also charged the bill’s real purpose is to pave the way for giant corporate chicken farms to move into Georgia.
But Dickey pointed to a provision added to the bill that protects residential property owners from “confined animal-feeding operations” including corporate hog farms.
“This bill is not about big farmers but being able to keep our small family farms,” he said. “They cannot weather multiple nuisance lawsuits by developers and neighbors that want them to go away.”
The bill now moves to the Georgia Senate.
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
ATLANTA – Georgia Rep. Winfred Dukes has declared his candidacy for state agriculture commissioner.
The Democrat from Albany promised to use his 26 years of experience in the General Assembly to work on behalf of the one in seven Georgians who work in farming, forestry or related fields by creating good-paying jobs and profitable farms.
Dukes serves on the House Appropriations and Agriculture & Consumer Affairs committees.
“His leadership as a legislator gives him an understanding of the needs of both rural and urban communities,” said former Lt. Gov. Mark Taylor, another Albany Democrat. “Dukes will work to expand the market for small farmers, improve food safety and support the next generation dedicated to a green, growing Georgia.”
The agriculture commissioner post is open this year, as Republican Commissioner Gary Black is running for the U.S. Senate.
State Sen. Tyler Harper, R-Ocilla, also vying to succeed Black.
Dukes would have faced a difficult race had he chosen to run for reelection to the House this year. The new House redistricting map the General Assembly’s Republican majority drew last fall placed Dukes in the House District now served by veteran Rep. Gerald Greene, R-Cuthbert.
This story isavailable through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
ATLANTA – The Georgia Senate unanimously passed a $29.9 billion mid-year state budget Thursday that includes raises for teachers and state employees.
With the state in sound financial shape coming out of the pandemic thanks to growing tax revenues, Gov. Brian Kemp and lawmakers are giving most state workers a $5,000 increase, with the Senate putting up an additional $4,000 raise for adult and juvenile corrections officers to address high turnover.
Teachers are due to get a $2,000 raise, the last installment of a $5,000 increase Kemp promised during the 2018 campaign.
“Georgia’s economy has remained resilient despite challenges on many fronts,” Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Blake Tillery, R-Vidalia, said Thursday. “We continue to add jobs. We continue to add businesses. … It’s reflected in the revenue numbers.”
Besides the pay raises, the mid-year budget covering state spending through June 30 includes $93 million to reflect an increase in public school enrollment reported last fall, $388.2 million to fully fund the state’s K-12 student funding formula and $432.5 million to upgrade the prison system.
“Many of these facilities are very old,” Tillery said. “It’s a safety issue.”
Senators also supported Kemp’s proposal to take advantage of the influx of tax revenue by returning $1.6 billion in rebates to Georgia taxpayers.
Senate changes to the mid-year budget the state House of Representatives adopted last month include $4.1 million to give school nurses $2,000 raises, $20 million for rural downtown development grants and $14.9 million to match an equal amount the House put toward fixing wear and tear at state parks, which have gotten a lot of use during the pandemic.
The mid-year budget now returns to the House, which could either agree with the Senate changes or send the spending plan to a joint conference committee to work out the two chambers’ differences.
This story isavailable through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
ATLANTA – A new partnership between an electric membership cooperative (EMC) in Taylor County and a major internet service provider will deliver broadband service to 31,000 customers across a swath of Middle Georgia.
Flint Energies and Kansas City-based Conexon Connect will launch a 3,000-mile fiber network to homes and businesses in Crawford, Macon, Marion, Muscogee, Peach, Schley, Talbot, Taylor and south Houston counties.
The $90 million project is being funded through a federal American Rescue Plan grant of $25 million, $7.5 million from a fund overseen by the Federal Communications Commission and substantial investments by Flint Energies and Connect.
“Today is another milestone in the ongoing effort to bring broadband to unserved and underserved customers in rural Georgia,” Gov. Brian Kemp said.
The project is the latest in a series of broadband initiatives across Georgia since the General Assembly passed legislation in 2019 allowing EMCs to get into the broadband business.
Including Flint Energies, 20 EMCs in Georgia are currently providing high-speed internet or partnering with a provider to expand broadband service in rural communities across the state.
Collectively, these projects represent an investment of $770 million serving more than 282,000 Georgians in 89 counties.
Flint Energies CEO Jeremy Nelms said the new project will serve two goals.
“The system will deliver immediate benefits such as improved power outage response times, better load balancing, and more efficient power delivery,” Nelms said.
“Of equal importance, the fiber system provides an opportunity to help meet the critical need of high-speed broadband for rural Flint members who have been waiting for adequate service.”
This story isavailable through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
Georgia House Speaker David Ralston (Photo by Beau Evans)
ATLANTA – A bipartisan overhaul of Georgia’s mental health system took a first step toward passage Wednesday when it cleared a state House committee.
The House Health and Human Services Committee approved the comprehensive legislation and sent it on to the House Rules Committee to schedule a floor vote.
Wednesday’s vote came after House Speaker David Ralston, the bill’s chief sponsor, urged the panel to act on what he said is the most important issue lawmakers are facing this year.
“This discussion impacts most every family in Georgia in one way or another,” said Ralston, R-Blue Ridge. “Many Georgians are suffering with mental health issues. Their families are suffering.
“They’re looking for help and either don’t know where to turn or may not have a viable option for mental-health services.”
Georgia ranks 48th in the nation in access to mental health and substance abuse services.
The Mental Health Parity Act would require health insurance companies to treat mental illness in the same way they treat physical illness. The parity provision also would apply to Georgia’s Medicaid and PeachCare for Kids programs and to the State Health Benefit Plan for Georgia teachers and state employees.
The legislation also would require care management organizations (CMOs) participating in Georgia Medicaid to dedicate at least 85% of their revenues to patient care.
To address the shortage of mental health and substance abuse workers, the bill would create a service-cancelable loan program, an initiative expected to cost $8 million to $10 million.
“Whoever can be part of growing and expanding the workforce is paramount to what we do,” said Rep. Katie Dempsey, R-Rome.
The lengthy bill underwent a series of changes as it made its way through the committee aimed at concerns mental health and substance abuse treatment advocates raised.
For one thing, it removed a proposed registry of children who have required the intervention of the state’s crisis services after complaints it would amount to an invasion of privacy.
Advocates also complained the legislation would make it too easy to involuntarily commit Georgians to mental health care.
Another sticking point has been over who should provide “subsequent transport” of patients brought to hospitals by law enforcement or emergency medical services personnel and how to pay for it.
Rep. Mary Margaret Oliver, D-Decatur, one of the bill’s cosponsors, said the state’s mental health system serves most mentally ill Georgians well but is broken when it comes to those in the most distress.
“The money we’re trying to spend in an effective way is about the folks who are not being managed well,” she said. “They end up in jails, as homeless or in our emergency room system.”
Oliver said financial help is on the way. Georgia expects to receive $600 million from a recent national opioid settlement, including $88 million that will be available in next year’s state budget, she said.
Committee Chairman Sharon Cooper, R-Marietta, said the extension work the panel has put in on Ralston’s bill has helped identify gaps in Georgia’s mental health services delivery system.
“It will help us see how we need to change the system to make it more efficient,” she said.
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
