President Joe Biden is pushing to extend an expansion of the federal child tax credit through 2025. (Official Biden Twitter video)
ATLANTA – The expanded federal child tax credit Congress passed this year is expected to lift nearly 700,000 Georgia children out of poverty, including about 470,000 Black children, child advocacy leaders said Thursday.
As a result, the state’s overall child poverty rate will be reduced from 13.6% to 5.9%, while the Black child poverty rate will go from 21.8% to 11.4%, Kimberly Scott, executive director of Georgia WAND (Women’s Action for New Directions), said during a news conference in Atlanta.
“This is major tax relief for nearly all working families,” Scott said. “The expanded child tax credit will serve as a lifeline for so many Georgians.”
Georgia WAND and other nonprofit groups interested in children’s wellbeing staged Thursday’s news conference to raise awareness of the expanded child tax credit.
Starting July 15, families will receive monthly checks of up to $300 per child. Over the course of a year, that amounts to $3,600 for each child under age 6 and $3,000 for each child ages 6 through 17.
The expanded child tax credit is part of the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan President Joe Biden steered through Congress in March. Additional legislation – the American Families Plan – that remains pending would extend the credit through 2025.
Ray Khalfani, a policy analyst for the Georgia Budget and Policy Institute, said it’s important that the tax credit be extended beyond just this year because the economic effects of the coronavirus pandemic are still being felt, particularly by minority workers hit hardest by layoffs.
“While the economy may be recovering for some, for too many the crisis remains,” he said. “Racial disparities are often linked to the last-hired, first-fired syndrome.”
Mindy Binderman, executive director of GEEARS (Georgia Early Education Alliance for Ready Students) said she is glad to see a larger tax credit going to families with children under 6.
“We know poverty has negative consequences for child outcomes, for health, social, emotional and cognitive development,” she said. “We think the [larger credit] will be helpful.”
Khalfani said he expects a strong push to convince members of Congress to support making the expanded child tax credit permanent. He predicted the effort will get a boost from success stories that emerge from families helped by the expanded credit.
ATLANTA – Georgia Senate President Pro Tempore Butch Miller has raised more than $2 million in the five weeks since entering next year’s race for lieutenant governor, Miller’s campaign reported Thursday.
The fundraising haul for the Republican was jump-started by a campaign kickoff event in his hometown of Gainesville last week that drew more than 1,000 supporters, including former Gov. Nathan Deal and former U.S. Sen. David Perdue.
“We’re just getting started,” Miller said. “We’re traveling the state, we’re getting a tremendous response, and these numbers tell that story. I have a long record of conservative policy victories that have brought prosperity to Georgia, and I have a conservative vision to ensure that even better days are ahead for Georgia families and businesses.”
Miller got into the race in May shortly after incumbent Republican Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan declared he would not seek reelection. Nonetheless, Duncan had rolled up nearly $2.1 million in campaign contributions by the time he dropped out and still had more than $825,000 in his war chest as of the end of June, according to a report filed with the Georgia Government Transparency & Campaign Finance Commission.
One other candidate is running for lieutenant governor on the Republican side, Savannah GOP activist Jeanne Seaver. Her campaign finance report had not been posted on the commission’s website as of Thursday.
Two Democratic state representatives also are looking to step up to lieutenant governor. Neither Erick Allen of Smyrna nor Derrick Jackson of Tyrone had posted reports with the commission.
ATLANTA – A Utah-based manufacturer of mattresses and pillows that announced a year ago it would build its first East Coast plant in Georgia is expanding that facility.
Purple Innovation, best known for creating the Purple Mattress, will create an additional 500 jobs in Henry County on top of the 360 announced last year, Gov. Brian Kemp announced Wednesday. The jobs range across production, fulfillment, customer care, and other areas of the business.
Purple Innovation was formed in 2015 by two brothers with extensive experience in materials science, Tony and Terry Pearce. It uses a patented gel technology – the Purple Grid – to provide support without sacrificing comfort.
The planned expansion in McDonough will serve as a customer care center. It is scheduled to open next spring.
“We know that Georgia is the right place … as we build on the incredible foundation we’ve established with Governor Kemp and Henry County,” said Purple CEO Joe Megibow.
The new positions the expansion will create include customer care representatives, training and content specialists and quality assurance analysts. Potential applicants can visit the company’s website at purple.com/careers for additional information.
“We take a lot of pride when one of our established industries expands in Henry County,” said Pierre Clements, chairman of the Henry County Development Authority.
“Purple Innovation doubling their manufacturing footprint and adding a customer care center to their Henry County campus proves that our efforts in leveraging our strong supply chain position to grow our advanced manufacturing and professional services sectors are working.”
The Georgia Department of Economic Development (GDEcD) worked with the development authority, the Metro Atlanta Chamber, the state Department of Labor’s Georgia Quick Start program and Georgia Power to land the project.
Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger (Photo by Beau Evans)
ATLANTA – A federal judge Wednesday threw out a challenge to portions of Georgia’s controversial new election law as poorly timed.
U.S. District Judge J.P. Boulee ruled that with runoff elections for vacant state House seats in Cobb County and southeast Georgia set for next Tuesday, it’s too late to change provisions in the current law.
“The underlying elections have already occurred, and Plaintiffs seek an order that would mandate different rules for the related runoff elections,” Boulee wrote in an 11-page order.
“Election administrators have prepared to implement the challenged rules, have implemented them at least to some extent and now would have to grapple with a different set of rules in the middle of the election.”
The Republican-controlled General Assembly passed Senate Bill 202 in March, and GOP Gov. Brian Kemp signed it that same day. Among other things, the legislation replaces the signature-match verification process for absentee ballots with an ID requirement, restricts the location of ballot drop boxes and prohibits non-poll workers from handing out food and drinks within 150 feet of voters standing in line.
A lawsuit filed by the nonprofit Coalition for Good Governance takes on other provisions in the new law governing election observers and requiring requests for absentee ballots to be made at least 11 days before an election.
The plaintiffs argued those provisions violate the federal Voting Rights Act of 1965 and constitutional free speech rights.
The suit is one of a series of legal challenges that Democrats and voting rights advocates have mounted against Senate Bill 202, most recently a lawsuit the Biden administration’s Justice Department filed late last month.
“This is just another in the line of frivolous lawsuits against Georgia’s election law based on misinformation and lies,” Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said Wednesday. “We will continue to meet them and beat them in court.”
Boulee limited the scope of Wednesday’s order to the upcoming runoff elections. The judge reserved a decision on future elections and indicated a second order will be forthcoming at a future date.
The July 13 runoff in Cobb County will pit Republican Devan Seabaugh and Democrat Priscilla Smith to complete the unexpired term of former Georgia Rep. Bert Reeves, R-Marietta. Reeves left the legislature for an administrative position at Georgia Tech, his alma mater.
In southeast Georgia that day, Republicans Leesa Hagan and Wally Sapp will vie in House District 156, which covers parts of Appling, Jeff Davis, Montgomery and Toombs counties. Former Rep. Greg Morris, R-Vidalia, is now serving on the State Transportation Board representing Georgia’s 12th Congressional District.
ATLANTA – Georgia energy regulators have authorized Georgia Power Co. to move forward with plans to buy 970 megawatts of solar power from five other utilities.
The state Public Service Commission (PSC) voted unanimously Tuesday in favor of five power-purchasing agreements (PPAs) Georgia Power intends to pursue during the next couple of years.
The 30-year PPAs are among Georgia Power’s renewable energy programs the PSC signed off on when it approved the utility’s 2019 Integrated Resource Plan (IRP.)
Georgia Power is required to submit an IRP to the commission every three years showing what sources of electrical generation it intends to rely on to meet customer needs during the next 20 years.
Here is a breakdown of the new PPAs:
Utility Megawatts to be purchased
CED Timberland Solar 140
Decatur Solar Energy Center 200
Double Run Solar 220
Wadley Solar 260
Washington County Solar 150
TOTAL 970
Georgia Power’s purchase of 970 megawatts of solar power is enough to serve roughly 165,000 homes.
“Georgia Power has one of the largest voluntary renewable portfolios in the country and expects to continue as a leader in solar energy production by continuing to grow its renewable generation resources,” Georgia Power spokesman John Kraft said.
The company plans to have about 5,400 megawatts of renewable energy resources in its portfolio by the end of 2025, accounting for about 22% of its power generation mix.
