ATLANTA – First-time unemployment claims in Georgia fell by 7,896 last week to 28,016, reflecting a weekly decline at the national level, the state Department of Labor reported Thursday.
The agency paid out more than $238 million in state and federal benefits last week as it continued to implement the 11-week payment extensions provided in the latest COVID-19 relief package Congress passed late last month.
Additional U.S. Department of Labor requirements contained in the legislation must be integrated into the state systems before eligible payments can be released.
The state labor department is encouraging claimants to continue requesting weekly payments for those who have exhausted benefits or are waiting on determinations on eligibility.
Meanwhile, the agency is warning about the potential for fraud as it begins to send out more than 1.1 million 1099-G tax forms to Georgians who received unemployment benefits last year.
Anyone who receives a 1099-G form but did not file a claim in 2020 is urged to notify the labor department. The agency will investigate any reports of identity theft, make any necessary adjustments to the potential victim’s 1099-G and resubmit an amended form to the Internal Revenue Service.
“We are asking Georgians to be vigilant of their credit information and help us combat the fraudsters who are unlawfully taking funds from the [state Unemployment Insurance] program,” Georgia Commissioner of Labor Mark Butler said Thursday. “This is a critical issue that is plaguing labor departments across the United States involving local, state, and even international criminals.”
Since the coronavirus pandemic broke out in Georgia last March, the labor department has paid out almost $17.6 billion in state and federal benefits to more than 4.3 million Georgians, more than the last nine years before the pandemic combined.
During the week ending June 23, the job sector accounting for the most initial unemployment claims in Georgia was accommodation and food services with 6,064. The health care and social assistance job sector was next with 3,145 claims, followed by manufacturing with 3,052.
More than 170,000 jobs are listed online at EmployGeorgia.com for Georgians to access. The labor department offers online resources for finding a job, building a resume, and assisting with other reemployment needs.
ATLANTA – Georgia would observe daylight saving time all year long subject to congressional approval under legislation that cleared a committee in the state House of Representatives Thursday.
Switching every six months between daylight and standard time disrupts sleep patterns and has been shown to increase the number of heart attacks, car crashes and workplace injuries, Rep. Wes Cantrell, R-Woodstock, the bill’s sponsor told members of the State Planning & Community Affairs Committee.
“Our bodies are built to adjust slowly to the amount of daylight,” he said. “The vast majority of people want time change to stop.”
Cantrell introduced three bills on the topic last year. Two of the measures called for Georgia to observe daylight time all year or standard time all year.
The third called for a statewide non-binding referendum to gauge the sentiments of Georgians toward the issue.
None of the bills got far last year because the coronavirus pandemic intervened, forcing a three-month break in the 2020 General Assembly session.
Sen. Ben Watson, R-Savannah, pre-filed two bills before this year’s session calling either for a non-binding referendum or putting Georgia on standard time permanently.
A wrinkle in the possibility of switching to daylight time all year is that -unlike switching to standard time permanently – it would require congressional approval.
Cantrell said U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., is sponsoring legislation that would put the entire nation on daylight time permanently.
Florida, South Carolina, Tennessee, Arkansas and Louisiana have passed bills calling for year-round daylight time, Cantrell said. If those became law, other states in the region would follow suit, he said.
“The entire Southeast would have it if Congress approves,” he said.
Cantrell said he favors daylight time because it provides more daylight in the early evening hours for recreation and exercise, saves on energy, reduces traffic accidents and leads to less crime.
But Rep. Derrick Jackson, D-Tyrone, wasn’t convinced. He proposed that the committee delay acting on the bill until Cantrell returns with more definitive data on the potential effects of switching to daylight time.
“All I heard was anecdotal,” Jackson said following Cantrell’s presentation of his bill.
But the majority of the committee decided to move ahead and passed the bill on a voice vote. It heads next to the House Rules Committee to schedule it for a vote of the full House.
ATLANTA – The Georgia House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed a $26.3 billion mid-year budget Thursday that uses a large influx of federal aid to help with the state’s fight against COVID-19 and restores cuts to education.
The fiscal 2021 mid-year plan, which now moves to the state Senate, cleared the House 149-20. The House doesn’t usually act on the mid-year budget before February, but lawmakers are In a rush to get it in place in case the General Assembly has to call a temporary halt to the legislative session because of the virus.
The mid-year budget, which covers state spending through June 30, includes $58.7 million in state and federal funds to support nursing homes, which have been hit hard by COVID-19. The House also added $18 million in state funds for a new computer system to track COVID testing and immunization and $285,997 to hire three Department of Public Health managers to support the state’s pandemic response.
The mid-year budget request Gov. Brian Kemp submitted early this month restores $567 million of $950 million in cuts to K-12 schools the legislature imposed last year as state tax revenues slowed due to the pandemic. Combined with $411 million Georgia has received in federal COVID relief for education, the state actually is $28 million ahead in school funding.
Local school systems also have done their part to deal with last year’s cuts by tightening their budgets, House Appropriations Committee Chairman Terry England told his legislative colleagues Thursday.
“It’s a three-way funding partnership: state, local and federal,” said England, R-Auburn. “When one of the three partners stumbles … we always lean on the others.”
The House also added just more than $500,000 to the mid-year budget in start-up costs for the state’s new hemp farming and medical cannabis initiatives.
Another $1 million is earmarked for tourism marketing in a bid to help the hospitality industry recover from huge pandemic-driven losses.
“Once everyone starts feeling comfortable with the vaccine and the pandemic goes away, folks will start traveling,” England said. “We want them to have Georgia on their minds when they do.”
The House also signed off on Kemp’s request for $20 million to expand broadband connectivity in rural Georgia.
Several House Democrats questioned why the state continues to use private prisons when President Joe Biden signed an executive order this week ordering the Justice Department to stop using them at the federal level.
Opponents argue companies that operate private prisons are motivated to put as many convicted criminals in them as possible to maximize profits.
“[Private prisons] are a school-to-prison pipeline, and we have to stop it,” said Rep. Donna McLeod, D-Lawrenceville.
England said private prisons save the state money by removing the need to build more state prisons and hire more staff with full state benefits.
“That population has to be housed somewhere,” he said.
While stronger-than expected state tax collections allowed Kemp and the legislature to avoid the 10% across-the-board budget cuts they imposed last year, England warned of “some headwinds” facing the state this year.
He said state revenues likely will take a hit at tax-filing time as the Department of Revenue issues refunds to a large number of unemployed Georgians whose benefits were taxed.
ATLANTA – The Georgia Lottery generated a record $731.3 million in profit during the first half of the last fiscal year, Gov. Brian Kemp announced Thursday.
July through December of last year marked the most profitable first half of a fiscal year for the lottery since its inception in 1993.
That strong showing followed a record fiscal 2020 that allowed the Georgia Lottery Corp. to contribute more than $1.23 billion to Georgia’s HOPE Scholarships pre-kindergarten programs.
“This record success is great news for students in communities throughout Georgia,” Kemp said. “Georgia Lottery’s continued success ensures that Georgia’s students and families remain the ultimate winners.”
Lottery President and CEO Gretchen Corbin said a solid first half of fiscal 2021 provides momentum for the remainder of the fiscal year, which ends June 30.
“Since its first year, the lottery has returned more than $23 billion to the state for education. More than 1.9 million students have received HOPE, and more than 1.6 million 4-year-olds have attended the statewide, voluntary pre-kindergarten program.
ATLANTA – Georgia House budget writers approved a $26.3 billion mid-year state spending plan Wednesday, making few changes to Gov. Brian Kemp’s recommendations while pumping additional funds into education and public health.
With state tax collections stronger than expected amid a global pandemic, the governor is asking for $567 million to restore a large portion of the K-12 education cuts the General Assembly imposed in the current budget. The mid-year budget will cover state spending through June 30.
Kemp’s fiscal 2021 mid-year budget request also reflects a large influx of federal aid through last year’s Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act to help the Georgia Department of Public Health with COVID-19 testing and vaccinations.
The House Appropriations Committee added $18 million to the mid-year budget Wednesday to buy a new public health surveillance system to help measure the state’s progress in vaccinating Georgians against the virus.
The committee also added $38.6 million to buy 500 new buses for school systems across the state.
While schools haven’t needed as many buses to take students to school during the pandemic because so many are staying home for online instruction, the buses haven’t been idle, Appropriations Committee Chairman Terry England said Wednesday.
“A lot of systems have been using these buses to take meals to these kids during the week,” said England, R-Auburn.
Other significant additions to the mid-year budget the committee approved Wednesday include a plan to use existing funds for 10% pay raises for the state’s corrections officers, a move aimed at stemming the loss of trained officers to higher-paying jobs.
Committee members also earmarked $474,303 to hire more nursing home inspectors, $453,049 to add three positions to help run the state’s new hemp farming initiative and $427,401 to let the Georgia Bureau of Investigation add more medical examiners.
Another $50,345 would go to the Georgia Access to Medical Cannabis Commission for information technology improvements, including a virtual call center.
The committee agreed with Kemp’s recommendations to spend $20 million to expand broadband connectivity in rural Georgia and put $1 million toward tourism marketing to help the hospitality industry recover from pandemic-related losses.
The full House will take up the mid-year budget on Thursday.
