by Dave Williams | Dec 17, 2024 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – Georgia’s Republican presidential electors formally cast their votes for former President Donald Trump Tuesday in a ceremony at the state Capitol.
The 16 electors, consistently largely of local GOP leaders, met on the same day electors in every state cast their votes either for Trump or Vice President Kamala Harris, depending on which candidate the majority of voters in their state supported on Election Day last month.
Trump received 312 electoral votes – well above the 270 needed to win the election – to 226 for Democrat Harris. The former president carried Georgia by more than 115,000 votes.
Democrats have complained in recent years about the Electoral College, which was incorporated into the U.S. Constitution by the nation’s founders.
Democrat Hillary Clinton won more popular votes than Trump in 2016 but lost to Trump in the Electoral College. The same thing happened to Democrat Al Gore in 2000, when he won the popular vote but lost to Republican George W. Bush.
But Georgia Republican Chairman Josh McKoon, who served as an elector and chaired Tuesday’s meeting, defended the Electoral College as a wise decision by the founders.
“They didn’t want the most populous state in the nation picking the president,” McKoon said. “That’s why every state is able to participate in the Electoral College.”
McKoon said he was gratified that Tuesday’s meeting ran “like clockwork” in contrast to four years ago, when Republicans fielded an alternate slate of electors that met at the Capitol to vote for Trump, even though Democrat Joe Biden had won the popular vote in Georgia. The real electors – all Democrats – met on the same day inside the state Senate chambers to vote for Biden.
On Tuesday, McKoon said the Republican group met on the advice of lawyers who said the alternate slate of electors was necessary to preserve Trump’s legal options to challenge the results of the 2020 election. Those challenges were later dismissed in a variety of courts.
Congress will meet on Jan. 6 to count the electoral votes from across the nation. Trump will take the oath of office Jan. 20 on the steps of the U.S. Capitol.
by Dave Williams | Dec 16, 2024 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – The General Assembly should adopt licensing and regulation requirements for Georgia’s tree care industry, a legislative study committee recommended Monday.
The House Study Committee on Safety & Consumer Protection in the Tree Care Industry was formed this year to look for ways to protect tree care workers from suffering deaths or injuries in an occupation identified by the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) as among the most hazardous in the country.
OSHA reported in 2020 that the fatality rate for tree trimmers and pruners may be as high as one in 1,000, nearly 30 times higher than the national death rate for all workers.
A 2017 report by the Tree Care Industry Association indicated that Georgia has the third highest rate of reported incidents in the tree care industry, below only California and Florida.
The danger tree care workers face was driven home this month when a U.S. Department of Labor investigation found a Marietta tree trimming contractor could have prevented the death last May of a 38-year-old worker whose equipment came into contact with an unprotected powerline less than 10 feet from an Acworth worksite.
“Serious Tree Services failed to meet their obligation to protect workers by adhering to industry safety standards, resulting in a preventable tragedy,” OSHA Area Director Jeffery Stawowy said. “Employers must prioritize training and hazard prevention to avoid such devastating consequences.”
The House study committee approved four recommendations, including a suggestion that the tree care industry be encouraged to emphasize safety and training.
The panel also recommended that the General Assembly adopt legislation establishing licensing and regulation of the industry in Georgia.
“There is a place for state involvement from a regulatory and oversight standpoint, said Rep. Victor Anderson, R-Cornelia, the committee’s chairman.
The study committee also suggested putting the tree care industry under the oversight of the state Department of Agriculture and asked the General Assembly to appropriate adequate funding to support the program.
Municipalities and utilities that conduct tree trimming operations would be exempt from the regulations.
“The biggest thing we’re trying to capture here are the folks who put themselves out as professionals for hire,” Anderson said.
The study committee’s recommendations will be forwarded to the full House to take up during the 2025 legislative session that starts next month.
by Dave Williams | Dec 13, 2024 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – Tax credits are the weapon of choice for Georgia lawmakers looking for ways to make child care more accessible and affordable.
A state Senate study committee wrapped up its work Dec. 12 by recommending a series of new and expanded tax credits aimed both at families with young children and the child-care providers who serve them.
A new Georgia Child Tax Credit would help families with the youngest children offset the costs of child care as their children reach school age.
Expanding eligibility for the state’s existing tax credit for employer-sponsored child care and increasing the amount of that credit would help companies retain their workforce.
And a refundable tax credit for early childhood educators would help child-care providers offset their costs of doing business.
“We won’t solve this problem as a state government,” Sen. Brian Strickland, R-McDonough, chairman of the Senate Study Committee on Access to Affordable Child Care, said shortly before the panel unanimously approved a list of recommendations. “(But) there are things we can do to make child care more accessible and more affordable.”
Affordable child-care options that already were limited in Georgia became even less so during the pandemic, which forced many child-care centers to close. Many have failed to reopen or opened back up with limited staff.
Ideisha Bellamy, CEO of the Georgia Child Care Association, told members of the study committee early this month that a survey of member child-care providers found 86% were having problems finding enough employees and retaining the workers they have. Nearly 70% said they are operating at less than capacity because of staffing shortages or funding gaps.
“What this lends itself to is an instability for centers and a lack of child-care access for families,” Bellamy said.
Added to the shortage of child-care options is affordability.
Strickland said the average cost of child care in Georgia is $11,000 per year, while 35% of Georgians spend one-third or more of their incomes on child care.
Bellamy said the shortage of accessible and affordable child care is being felt throughout the state’s economy.
“(Child-care) providers are the backbone of Georgia’s economy, ensuring parents can work and businesses can thrive,” she said.
The Senate is expected to take the lead on the tax credits. Lt. Gov. Burt Jones, who presides over the Senate, has endorsed several of the study committee’s tax credit recommendations.
The panel also is suggesting that the state create a dedicated trust fund to support child care, a step that would require amending Georgia’s Constitution.
Ife Finch Floyd, director of economic justice at the Georgia Budget and Policy Institute, told committee members this month that child care trust funds are succeeding in other states. New Mexico, for example, set up a trust fund in 2020 with $300 million in seed money, Floyd said.
“This trust fund has really contributed to the increase in resources for child care in New Mexico,” she said. “It’s helping the state continue a lot of the improvements they were able to make during the pandemic.”
The study committee also recommended increased funding of Georgia’s CAPS (Childcare and Parent Services) program, which assists low-income families with the cost of child care. After operating at about the same level of state funding since 2005, the CAPS program received a $9.2 million increase this year.
“It’s the biggest increase we’ve seen in a generation,” Floyd said.
The study committee’s recommendations will be forwarded to the full Senate for consideration during the 2025 legislative session starting next month.
by Dave Williams | Dec 13, 2024 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – Georgia high school and college student-athletes born male should not be allowed to participate in women’s sports, a state Senate committee recommended Friday.
If adopted by the General Assembly’s Republican majorities, the recommendation would resolve a controversial issue that has been percolating under the Gold Dome for more than two years.
A bill introduced in the legislature in 2022 called for prohibiting transgender students born male from competing in most girls’ sports. Supporters said students who went through puberty as males would have unfair advantages in speed and strength over female participants.
But the measure ran into opposition from Democrats and transgender rights activists who argued such a policy would further stigmatize transgender students, who already feel isolated and suffer a much higher suicide rate than other students.
The General Assembly ended up essentially punting the issue by passing legislation giving jurisdiction over policies governing participation of transgender athletes in school sports to the Georgia High School Association (GHSA). The association’s executive committee voted unanimously in May 2022 to require transgender students to participate in school sports based on the gender identities on their birth certificates.
A nine-page report approved Friday by the Senate Special Committee on the Protection of Women’s Sport recommended repealing that delegation of authority to the association and giving it back to the legislature.
“This is an issue that should be decided by the people’s elected representatives,” the report stated.
The report went on to recommend legislation prohibiting students born male from participating in women’s sports. As envisioned by the committee, the measure would apply to public high schools, colleges, and universities in Georgia, as well as private institutions that compete against public schools in sports.
The report also suggested requiring schools that host or sponsor sporting events to provide separate changing and dressing facilities for male and female athletes based on their biological sex at birth.
Five former elite-level college women swimmers testifying before the committee in August said they were traumatized when they were forced to share a locker room with Lia Thomas, a transgender athlete born male, during the 2022 NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships at Georgia Tech.
The proposed legislation is likely to pass when Georgia lawmakers convene under the Gold Dome next month. Lt. Gov. Burt Jones, who presides over the Senate, appointed the special committee and has endorsed the bill.
Likewise, House Speaker Jon Burns, R-Newington, has pledged to make the issue a top priority for the 2025 legislative session.
by Dave Williams | Dec 12, 2024 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – Gov. Brian Kemp will lead a regional workforce development initiative to be undertaken by the Southern Regional Education Board (SREB).
Kemp, the board’s chairman, announced Thursday the formation of a commission charged with developing lists of high-demand career pathways, priority occupations, and the credentials that will be needed to pursue careers valued by local businesses and industries.
“With the South experiencing incredible economic and population growth, one of the biggest challenges we currently face is preparing the next generation of workers for success in the ever-evolving job market,” Kemp said.
“By bringing together leaders from across industries in the South, we can better align our efforts to equip citizens with the right skills and knowledge to thrive in and beyond the classroom.”
The Commission on Career Pathways and Credentials will be made up of members from each of the SREB’s 16 states, including officials and staff from governor’s offices and state agencies, K-12 school superintendents, principals, teachers, postsecondary deans and faculty members, and business leaders.
“The goal is to bring us all together behind the north star of aligning education with the needs of our workforce,” SREB President Stephen Pruitt said. “This is complex work beyond the ability of K-12, higher education, adult education, or workforce agencies to do alone.”
The nonprofit, nonpartisan SREB was created in 1948 and is headquartered in Atlanta.
