ATLANTA – The Kettle Creek Battlefield in Wilkes County is now an “affiliated area” of the National Park Service (NPS), U.S. Rep Jody Hice, R-Greensboro, announced Monday.
Then-Secretary of the Interior David Bernhardt approved the designation earlier this month, marking a commitment by the federal government to preserve the Revolutionary War site for future generations.
“This is an enormous win for all of us who have spent years working toward this goal,” Hice said in a statement. “Kettle Creek Battlefield [will] finally receive the recognition it deserves.”
The battle at Kettle Creek on Feb. 14, 1779, was the first major victory for Patriot forces in Georgia, showing conclusively that the British could never pacify the South’s frontier backcountry.
Efforts to have Kettle Creek Battlefield designated a national park date back nearly a century. U.S. Sen. Richard Russell of Georgia was among those who pushed for acquisition of the property.
Hice introduced legislation directing the Interior Department to conduct a study of the battlefield. The U.S. House of Representatives passed the bill last month.
Affiliated areas are a designation within the National Park Service referring to sites that may be recognized by Congress and may receive federal assistance but typically are owned and administered primarily by nonfederal entities.
Groups that worked to make the designation a reality for the Kettle Creek Battlefield include the Kettle Creek Battlefield Association, the Georgia Battlefields Association and Georgia Piedmont Land Trust and the Watson-Brown Foundation. Wilkes County also was involved.
Supporters hosted NPS Acting Director Dan Smith on a tour of the site back in May 2019.
Gov. Brian Kemp speaks with reporters outside Amazon’s new warehouse in Gwinnett County on Sept. 1, 2020. (Photo by Beau Evans)
ATLANTA – When it comes to economic development, rural Georgia is punching above its weight.
More than half of the 16,000 jobs created in Georgia during the first half of this fiscal year and more than half of $6 billion in new investment have gone to communities outside metro Atlanta.
But more needs to be done, Gov. Brian Kemp declared Jan. 14 in his annual State of the State address. That’s why Kemp’s new budget proposals are putting a major focus on rural Georgia, with nearly $40 million earmarked to establish a Rural Innovation Fund and $30 million to continue building high-speed broadband connectivity in rural areas.
“We know that we can land major investments and job creation in rural communities throughout Georgia,” the governor told a joint session of the General Assembly. “But we also know that will not happen if we don’t invest heavily in the infrastructure and resources necessary to encourage that growth.”
In an exclusive interview with Capitol Beat News Service, Kemp said the idea for a Rural Innovation Fund came during the past year as he and his advisors thought about ways to safely reopen Georgia’s economy in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic.
The state Department of Community Affairs provides loans and grants to help cities and counties across rural Georgia acquire land and build infrastructure that will help them attract new businesses or expand existing companies.
But Kemp said he wanted something new and different.
“Having a pot of money separate from what the Department of Community Affairs normally does gives us some alternatives,” he said. “This will free up some money we can be flexible with.”
Kemp said the state tends to get involved with the larger economic development projects, while smaller businesses don’t get on its radar screen. He said the Rural Innovation Fund will look to help local governments make those smaller projects a reality.
Generating even a few jobs in a rural community can make a big difference, Kemp said.
“Five jobs here, 10 there, you do that multiple times … and the state has given hope and opportunity to a [rural] part of the state,” he said.
Kemp said one of the tasks of the Rural Strike Team he formed in 2019 will be to identify businesses that could use the Rural Innovation Fund’s help.
The governor’s broadband initiative comes in addition to $325.5 million the Federal Communications Commission allocated last month to expand broadband service in rural Georgia through the first phase of the agency’s $9.2 billion Rural Digital Opportunity Fund.
Georgia’s electric membership cooperatives (EMCs) also are working with telecom providers to add broadband service in rural communities through legislation the General Assembly passed last year.
The pandemic has given the need to expand rural broadband a greater sense of urgency, as companies have been forced to conduct business via Zoom meetings and schools have had to hold classes online.
“Internet access is one of the most important things that impacts us in rural Georgia,” said state Senate Majority Whip Steve Gooch, R-Dahlonega, who represents a rural district in North Georgia. “If you don’t have internet access, you can’t reach out across the world as a small business and do the kind of things that other people do who are in bigger cities.”
“This is just another step forward,” Kemp said of the $30 million he is requesting for broadband. “Getting broadband to rural Georgia is going to be a grind we have to methodically work on year after year.”
With the need for a permanent state commitment in mind, Kemp’s new budget proposals call for annual funding for rural broadband. He’s asking for $20 million for the current fiscal year and $10 million for each year going forward.
Georgia Rep. Ron Stephens, chairman of the House Economic Development & Tourism Committee, said the state Department of Transportation is exploring the possibility of extending broadband into parts of rural Georgia by running cable along state highway corridors.
Stephens, R-Savannah, who sponsored last year’s broadband bill, said he’d also like to see the state subsidize the private sector to spur more broadband projects.
“I hope there’s some sort of tax incentive or credit that will jump-start this state,” he said. “It might as well be the Sahara Desert in rural Georgia as far as broadband.”
The $20 million Kemp is seeking for rural broadband during this fiscal year could start flowing soon. The General Assembly has put the governor’s $26.3 billion fiscal 2021 mid-year budget on a fast track for passage in case the COVID-19 outbreak worsens and lawmakers are forced to call a temporary halt in the legislative session.
ATLANTA – The U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Georgia throughout the Trump administration is moving back to private practice.
Byung J. “BJay” Pak will rejoin Alston & Bird as a partner in its Litigation & Trial Practice Group next month, the Atlanta-based firm announced Thursday.
“BJay is a gifted attorney, dedicated public servant, and a leader of considerable experience and skill,” Alston & Bird Chairman and Managing Partner Richard Hays said. “He brings additional stature and deepens our reputation as a leading choice for internal investigation counsel, white-collar defense, and other complex civil and criminal litigation.”
Pak was sworn in as a U.S. attorney in October 2017, becoming the country’s first Korean American to hold the post. He resigned from the Justice Department early this month, reportedly because he refused to pursue unfounded claims of fraud in Georgia stemming from the Nov. 3 election.
From 2011 until 2017, Pak served in the Georgia House of Representatives representing a district in Gwinnett County.
As the chief federal law enforcement officer for 46 counties in North Georgia, Pak oversaw all criminal and civil matters and supervised more than 100 assistant U.S. attorneys. Under his leadership, the U.S. Attorney’s Office prosecuted significant cases related to insider trading, domestic and international corruption, financial fraud and cybersecurity.
Pak began his career at Alston & Bird in 2000, where he focused on complex litigation and government investigations. Two years later, he was named assistant U.S. attorney in the Northern District of Georgia, prosecuting money laundering, intellectual property, and white-collar crimes.
ATLANTA – Some Georgia employers are having a hard time filling job openings because generous unemployment benefits are encouraging them to stay home, state Commissioner of Labor Mark Butler said Thursday.
Before $600 weekly unemployment checks authorized by Congress during the early stage of the coronavirus pandemic ran out last year, unemployed Georgians receiving maximum state and federal benefits were bringing in $50,180 per year, Butler told state lawmakers during a House Appropriations subcommittee meeting.
Even those receiving minimum state and federal benefits were taking home the equivalent of $34,060 a year, he said.
At the same time, about 90% of Georgians receiving state unemployment benefits were earning $30,000 or less before being laid off, Butler said.
“Companies are having to increase entry-level pay” to compete, he said.
Butler said generous unemployment benefits also are making it difficult for the labor department to hire the additional staff the agency needs to cope with the massive increase in unemployed Georgians seeking benefits since COVID-19 shut down the state’s economy last March and forced businesses to lay off workers.
The labor department has paid out nearly $17.3 billion in state and federal unemployment benefits to more than 4.3 million jobless Georgians since the virus struck, more than during the last nine years combined.
“We’ve been working seven days a week pretty much since this started,” Butler said.
Butler said the agency has brought back retirees to help with the increased claims workload, hired temporary workers and redirected current staff from other duties into handling claims. The number of employees working claims has more than doubled from 330 to about 700, he said.
Butler said some of the more recent economic numbers give him reason for optimism that an end is in sight.
Georgia has gained back 82% of the jobs lost since the pandemic first gained a foothold in Georgia last March, the labor department reported Thursday.
The state’s unemployment rate fell by a slight 0.1% last month to 5.6%, while the number of jobs in December grew by 44,700 to 4.56 million.
“December is yet another month where we have seen job growth throughout the state,” Butler said. “We more than doubled our job growth from November, which is very promising, considering how challenging of a year this has been.”
First-time unemployment claims in Georgia were down last week after increasing significantly last month. Unemployed Georgians filed 35,912 initial claims last week, down 1,127 from the previous week.
However, that followed a 19% increase in initial unemployment claims filed last month compared to November.
During the week ending Jan. 16, the job sector accounting for the most first-time unemployment claims in Georgia was accommodation and food services with 8,132 claims. The manufacturing job sector was next with 5,040 claims, followed by administrative and support services with 3,726.
More than half of the more than 170,000 jobs currently listed on EmployGeorgia advertise annual salaries above $40,000.
Resources for reemployment assistance along with information on filing an unemployment claim can be found on the labor department’s webpage at dol.georgia.gov.
ATLANTA – The Georgia House of Representatives got some new committee chairmen Wednesday, as the chamber’s Committee on Assignments promoted some committee chairs to more prestigious chairmanships left vacant by departing members.
The Ways and Means Committee, which handles all tax legislation, will now be headed by Rep. Shaw Blackmon, R-Bonaire. He will take over from former Rep. Brett Harrell, R-Snellville, who lost his bid for re-election last fall.
Blackmon’s former chairmanship of the Governmental Affairs Committee will be assumed by Rep. Darlene Taylor, R-Thomasville.
Rep. Rick Jasperse, R-Jasper, will move over from the House Education Committee to chair the Transportation Committee. Former Transportation Committee Chairman Kevin Tanner, R-Dawsonville, left the House last year in an unsuccessful run for Congress.
Rep. Matt Dubnik, R-Gainesville, will take over as the new Education Committee chairman.
With the retirement from the House of former Rep. Tom McCall, R-Elberton, Rep. Robert Dickey, R-Musella, will take the reins of the House Agriculture & Consumer Affairs Committee.
Rep. James Burchett, R-Waycross, is the new chairman of the House Judiciary Non-Civil Committee. He’s replacing Rep. Chuck Efstration, R-Dacula, who is moving over from Judiciary Non-Civil to chair the other House Judiciary Committee, which has jurisdiction over legislation related to civil law.
And in a rare move, a Democrat is going to chair a committee in the Republican-controlled House. Rep. Mary Margaret Oliver, D-Decatur, will chair the committee that oversees MARTA.
Most House committee chairs for the 2021-22 term will remain unchanged, including Appropriations Committee Chairman Terry England, R-Auburn; Economic Development & Tourism Committee Chairman Ron Stephens, R-Savannah; Energy, Utilities & Telecommunications Committee Chairman Don Parsons, R-Marietta; Health & Human Services Committee Chairman Sharon Cooper, R-Marietta; Higher Education Committee Chairman Chuck Martin, R-Alpharetta; Natural Resources & Environment Committee Chairman Lynn Smith, R-Newnan; Regulated Industries Committee Chairman Alan Powell, R-Hartwell; and Rules Committee Chairman Richard Smith, R-Columbus.
“We have a dynamic group of leaders joining the ranks of our committee chairmen this year,” said House Speaker David Ralston, R-Blue Ridge, who chairs the Committee on Assignments. “I appreciate their willingness to serve this House and the citizens of our great state.”
