ATLANTA – Georgians whose cities and counties would be divided under a new state House map proposed by legislative Republicans complained Monday the new districts would unfairly dilute their voting power.
During a nearly three-hour hearing, residents from Coweta County, Peachtree City, Dunwoody and other communities pleaded with members of the House Legislative & Congressional Reapportionment Committee not to divide their communities into multiple House districts in order to accommodate population changes reflected in the 2020 U.S. Census.
“The plan you have is going to be a loss of voice for so many people in Peachtree City,” said Suzanne Brown of Peachtree City, which would be split between two districts under the proposed map.
A large portion of the audience at Monday’s hearing traveled to the Georgia Capitol from Peachtree City, Newnan and other portions of Coweta and Fayette counties southwest of Atlanta.
Several accused House Republicans of splitting their communities in order to target Rep. Philip Singleton, a Republican from Sharpsburg who has been critical of GOP leadership. The proposed map draws Singleton into a predominantly Democratic district in South Fulton County, splitting Coweta County among five districts in the process.
“For a Republican group to gut Coweta County the way we’ve been gutted, I wonder about the party I’ve been involved in,” said Jan Horn, a Republican activist from Coweta County.
Mike Crane, a former state senator from Newnan, suggested an alternative map proposed by House Democrats would keep more communities of interest together than the Republican map.
“These maps are hurtful,” Crane told committee members. “If you don’t fix these maps … your vote will indicate who you answer to, your constituents or the speaker of the House.”
Singleton appeared before the committee to suggest changes to the map he said would keep wholly within heavily Republican Coweta County two House districts the proposed map would split and likely flip to the Democrats.
Indeed, the committee introduced a new House map on Monday with some minor changes from the map proposed last week, mostly in metro Atlanta. However, none of the changes Singleton requested were incorporated into the new map.
Rep. Bonnie Rich, R-Suwanee, the committee’s chairman, said dividing cities and counties is an inevitable part of the redistricting process, made necessary by the legal requirements to create districts roughly equal in population and comply with the federal Voting Rights Act.
“I am sympathetic to your plight,” Rich told the group that attended Monday’s hearing to register their objections. “[But] population is what drives this whole process.”
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
ATLANTA – America’s oldest firearms manufacturer will locate its global headquarters in Georgia and open a new advanced manufacturing operation in the Peach State, Gov. Brian Kemp announced Monday.
Remington Firearms will invest $100 million and create 856 jobs in LaGrange over a five-year period on the two projects.
“Georgia’s firearms industry is responsible for thousands of jobs and millions of dollars of investment in our communities,” Kemp said. “As yet another big manufacturing win for our state, I look forward to seeing the oldest firearms manufacturer in America thrive in Georgia’s pro-business environment.”
Founded in 1816, Remington Firearms is one of the United States’ largest producers of shotguns and rifles.
Several of the company’s strategic products will be manufactured in Georgia. The new headquarters will also become home to an innovative research and development center.
“We are very excited to come to Georgia, a state that not only welcomes business but enthusiastically supports and welcomes companies in the firearms industry,” RemArms CEO Ken D’Arcy said. “We cannot wait to expand our company in Georgia.”
The company will be filling positions in production, operations, engineering, management, finance, human resources, administration, finance and administration. For more information, visit www.remarms.com.
The Georgia Department of Economic Development worked in partnership with the LaGrange Economic Development Authority, Georgia Power and the state Department of Labor’s Quick Start program in recruiting RemArms to Troup County.
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
ATLANTA – Georgia’s economy is still going strong, judging from the latest state revenue numbers.
The Georgia Department of Revenue collected nearly $2.48 billion last month, up $460.7 million over October of last year – a 22.9% increase, the state agency reported Friday.
For the first four months of fiscal 2022, state tax receipts rose by 16.6% over the early months of the last fiscal year, a time when COVID-19 vaccines were still unavailable and Georgians remained wary of getting out and spending money.
Individual income tax collections were up 26.9% last month, driven by a huge increase of 106.1% in tax return payments.
Net sales tax receipts rose by a much more modest 13.9%, with corporate income taxes up 81.2% as payments far outstripped tax refunds.
With Georgians continuing to do more driving as the coronavirus threat wanes, motor fuel tax collections in October were up 9% over the same month last year.
The itch to travel more after being pent up by COVID-19 also paid off in hotel/motel tax receipts, which rose 52.6% in Georgia in October compared to October 2020.
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
ATLANTA – Atlanta-based Southern Co., the parent of Georgia Power, is doubling down on its commitment to reduce its reliance on coal.
The nation’s third largest utility has announced plans to close most of its coal-burning units at Plant Scherer, Plant Bowen, and Plant Wansley in Georgia as well as coal units at two Southern plants in Alabama.
The closures, which will occur by 2028, will help Southern move toward its long-term goal of achieving net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, Southern CEO Tom Fanning told Wall Street analysts during an earnings call.
The plant closings Fanning outlined Thursday, combined with the recent retirement of two coal plants in Mississippi, will mean a reduction in Southern’s coal generating capacity from more than 20,000 megawatts of electricity across nearly 70 generating units in 2007 to fewer than 4,500 megawatts of capacity remaining at just eight generating units.
Environmental groups have pushed for years for utilities to move away from using coal in power generation toward solar power and other sources of renewable energy.
“After years of pressure from grassroots organizations, clean energy advocates, and concerned community members, Southern Company has finally decided to take a step in the right direction and close down some of the dirtiest power plants in its fleet,” David Rogers, Southeast deputy regional director for the Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal Campaign, said Friday. “Southern Company deserves credit for making this decision.”
But Rogers said more work needs to be done. For one thing, Southern plans to continue operating Plant Miller in Alabama, the largest carbon polluter in the nation.
Rogers also called on Southern to work with affected communities to help coal plant workers transition to other jobs.
“We need to make sure communities are given the resources to thrive through this transition, rather than be left behind,” he said. “Additionally, legacy pollution from these coal plants, like coal ash, must be cleaned up properly to protect the health of communities nearby.”
Fanning said the exact timing of the planned coal plant closings in Georgia will be subject to approval by the state Public Service Commission in its review of Georgia Power’s next Integrated Resource Plan (IRP).
The utility files a new IRP every three years outlining the mix of power sources it will rely on to generate electricity for the next two decades. The next IRP is due to be submitted to the commission early next year.
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
ATLANTA – The Republican-led Georgia Senate Reapportionment and Redistricting Committee adopted a redrawn Senate map Friday Democrats and citizen activists criticized as partisan and rushed.
The panel voted 9-4 along party lines to send a proposed map to the full Senate an independent nonpartisan analysis showed could let Democrats reduce the Republican majority by one seat.
But opponents said a fairer map such as an alternative prepared by Senate Democrats would result in districts that more accurately reflect minority population growth in Georgia during the last decade.
The map’s opponents also criticized the committee’s timing – releasing the proposed map last Tuesday on the same day as municipal elections were being held across the state and voting on it even as the Atlanta Braves celebrated this week’s World Series victory with a parade within a few blocks of the Georgia Capitol.
“Georgians have demanded fair maps and a transparent redistricting process, and Georgia Senate Republicans are failing on both fronts,” said Scott Hogan, executive director of the Democratic Party of Georgia. “Georgians deserve an open redistricting process – not one that rushes a decision that will affect Georgians for the next decade.”
The General Assembly redraws Georgia’s congressional and legislative district lines every 10 years to accommodate changes in population reflected in the U.S. Census.
The Peach State grew during the last decade by about 1 million to 10.7 million, primarily the result of increasing numbers of minority residents.
“Georgia’s growth has been driven by Black, Hispanic and Asian Georgians,” Senate Minority Leader Gloria Butler, D-Stone Mountain, told committee members Friday. “Every map must reflect that reality.”
Instead, Butler complained the map proposed by Senate Republicans would split several counties with large minority populations to dilute minority voting strength. She cited as examples Bibb, Chatham, Athens-Clarke, Douglas and Henry counties.
The alternative map Senate Democrats proposed would give minority voters a better chance to elect candidates of their choice by keeping Athens-Clarke together inside a single district and putting most of Henry County in a single district, Butler said.
Sen. Harold Jones, D-Augusta, said the courts frown on “racial gerrymandering,” redrawing districts in a way that reduces minority voting power.
“If you have the opportunity to create a majority-minority district without a lot of crazy gerrymandering, you ought to take it,” Jones suggested to the committee.
Other Democrats as well as representatives of civil and voting rights groups who testified Friday during a public-comment period accused Republican leaders of rushing the Senate map through the committee in just three days without sufficient chance for public review.
“Transparency is a big deal,” said Sen. Ed Harbison, D-Columbus. “If you subscribe to that, you can’t go wrong.”
But committee Chairman John Kennedy, R-Macon, said the Senate map was the product of weeks of public hearings across Georgia.
Sen. Bill Cowsert, R-Athens, said interested members of the public have had access to 2020 Census data since September and have been able to submit comments on an online portal set up by the committee.
Cowsert said the Republican map complies with the federal Voting Rights Act as well as such general redistricting principles as keeping districts as close to equal in population as possible.
“These districts are compact,” he said. “There are no pairings of incumbents and very minimal splitting of counties.”
The map will head next to the Senate floor for a vote, probably next week.
Meanwhile, the Georgia House Legislative and Reapportionment Committee began work Friday on drawing new House districts. The panel was presented with both Republican and Democratic maps.
“We’re proud of our map, and we think it’s the best for all Georgians,” said House Minority Leader James Beverly, D-Macon. “This is a map that people will look at and say, ‘Hey, they got it right.’ ”
Rep. Bonnie Rich, R-Suwanee, who chairs the committee, introduced the GOP leadership map, which she said complies with all constitutional and federal voting rights requirements.
Rich said the map includes 48 House districts that are majority Black, and 78 “minority opportunity” districts.
The committee will hold a hearing on both maps on Monday.
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
