by Dave Williams | Nov 14, 2024 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – Georgia House Democrats Thursday elected longtime Rep. Carolyn Hugley of Columbus to serve as House minority leader during the two-year term starting in January.
Hugley, who was elected to the House in 1992 and served as the Democratic whip from 2003 until 2018, will succeed Rep. James Beverly as minority leader. Beverly didn’t seek reelection this year to his Macon-based House seat.
House Democrats also voted Thursday to retain Rep. Sam Park, D-Lawrenceville, as minority whip.
Rep. Tanya Miller, D-Atlanta, was chosen to succeed Rep. Billy Mitchell, D-Stone Mountain, as chairman of the House Minority Caucus.
In other leadership elections, Democrats picked Rep. Spencer Frye, D-Athens, to serve as minority caucus vice chairman. Rep. Park Cannon, D-Atlanta, will return as minority caucus secretary.
Democrats gained two seats in the House in last week’s elections, but Republicans retained a comfortable majority with 100 of the chamber’s 180 seats.
The 2025 session of the General Assembly will convene at the state Capitol on Jan. 13.
by Dave Williams | Nov 14, 2024 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – A legislative study committee chairman exploring ways to foster safe firearm storage in Georgia Thursday recommended a carrot-and-stick approach to an issue that has taken on greater urgency since September’s mass school shooting in Barrow County.
Sen. Emanuel Jones, D-Decatur, chairman of the state Senate Study Committee Study Committee on Safe Firearm Storage, proposed legislation providing civil and criminal penalties for parents or caregivers who allow children access to a loaded firearm and lowering insurance premiums for homeowners who buy safe storage devices such as trigger locks or gun safes.
“Having laws like this on the books is critical to us curbing this senseless act of gun violence,” Jones said Thursday.
Lt. Gov. Burt Jones, who presides over the Senate, created the study committee last March, but several of the panel’s meetings have taken place since two students and two teachers were shot to death at Apalachee High School near Winder in September.
Another student, 14-year-old Colt Gray, was arrested at the scene and charged with the murders, while his father, Colin Gray, also faces criminal charges for allegedly letting his son possess the AR-15 style rifle used in the killings. The two were indicted last month and are due to be arraigned next week.
Jones also is recommending creating a director position inside state government to coordinate training and technical assistance to schools looking to create a safe and secure environment, review schools’ emergency operations plans, and produce educational materials on safe firearm storage. He said the position could be created within the governor’s office without the need for legislation.
Jones also suggested the General Assembly pass legislation requiring a 10-day waiting period before purchasing an assault rifle, unless the buyer has a state-issued license to carry firearms.
“Sometimes in those 10 days, cooler heads can prevail,” he said.
Jones’ recommendations will be forwarded to the full study committee for consideration.
by Dave Williams | Nov 14, 2024 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – The Georgia Ports Authority experienced its third busiest October on record, handling 494,261 twenty-foot equivalent container units (TEUs), the agency reported Thursday.
That number fell short only of October 2021 and October 2022, when more than half a million TEUs crossed the docks at the Port of Savannah.
Last month’s numbers were driven in part by record trade though the Appalachian Regional Port near Chatsworth. The inland port set an October high of 3,666 rail lifts, up 4.4% over October of last year.
The Georgia ports of Savannah and Brunswick were shut down in late September and early last month by a labor dispute involving the union representing dockworkers along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts. A tentative agreement suspended the strike until Jan. 15 to allow the parties to negotiate a settlement allowed the ports to reopen.
“Despite the cargo increases this year, many customers continue to divert to the U.S. West Coast while the contract negotiations are ongoing,” said Griff Lynch, the ports authority’s president and CEO.
In other news, the ports received a $46 million federal grant through the Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean Ports program in October to install electrification infrastructure to support ships at berth to plug-in to shore power and turn off auxiliary-powered diesel engines.
The grant also will pay to replace diesel terminal tractors with electric models and charging infrastructure.
by Dave Williams | Nov 14, 2024 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – Georgia’s unemployment rate was 3.6% last month for the third month in a row, the state Department of Labor reported Thursday.
The state’s labor force rose by 1,370 in October to a record-high 5.4 million, while the number of employed Georgians increased slightly to another all-time high of 5.2 million.
“While job growth has slowed nationwide, Georgia continues to drive job creation and workforce participation,” state Commissioner of Labor Bruce Thompson said Thursday. “This stability shows what’s possible with a state government that puts hardworking Georgians first.”
The number of jobs also went up last month by 1,500 to nearly 5 million.
Job sectors showing the most over-the-month gains were accommodation and food services, which gained 4,300 jobs, and health care and social assistance, posting a jobs gain of 2,200.
On the down side, the administrative and support services sector lost 3,700 jobs in October, while transportation and warehousing was down 1,400 jobs, and the information sector – which includes the motion picture and sound recording industries – lost 1,300 jobs.
Initial unemployment claims were up by 9,042 last month to 28,642.
by Dave Williams | Nov 13, 2024 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – Georgia Department of Corrections officials began laying the groundwork Wednesday for an infusion of state funding to beef up staffing, replace aging infrastructure, and improve inmate health care.
The state’s workforce of correctional officers plummeted during the COVID pandemic and has yet to fully recover, Georgia Commissioner of Corrections Tyrone Oliver told members of a Georgia House Appropriations subcommittee.
A 26% annual turnover rate before the pandemic struck in 2020 soared at one point to more than 40% before dropping slightly to 37%, Oliver said.
“This is by far the toughest position in public safety,” he said. “People don’t always grasp that when they go in.”
Oliver said the state prison system doesn’t have a difficult time recruiting correctional officers, but keeping them more than one or two years is a challenge. He said the large numbers of jobs in other industries that opened up after the pandemic are luring correctional officers away.
“You can make more money with less stress,” he said.
Oliver said deteriorating infrastructure across the system is making prisons less safe. Inmates can easily use crumbling infrastructure to fashion dangerous weapons.
Oliver said the department is working to increase the number of single-bunk cells because many of the assaults that take place inside the prisons involve inmates in two- or three-bunk cells attacking each other.
The commissioner said additional funding also would help the department combat the growing problem of contraband weapons and cell phones getting to inmates, often via drones. The federal prison system has begun using jamming devices to disrupt cell phone signals inside prisons but has not yet authorized state systems to pilot the technology, he said.
Oliver said another factor driving up the prison system’s costs is growing health-care needs resulting from an aging prison population. The average age for inmates is now 40, which results in more inmates suffering from chronic illnesses, he said.
Assistant Corrections Commissioner Jay Sanders said some of the self-help programs the prison system operates for inmates are aimed at those with substance abuse or with cognitive issues.
In most cases, those who complete those programs as well as education and job training activities are both less likely to commit additional crimes after release from prison and less likely to commit violence while they’re still behind bars, he said.
“They get up every day with a purpose,” Sanders said. “They’re active. Their mind is engaged.”
Rep. Matt Hatchett, R-Dublin, the subcommittee’s chairman, said he expects funding for the prison system to be a major priority when lawmakers take up Gov. Brian Kemp’s budget recommendations during the 2025 General Assembly session starting in January.
“Hopefully, we can fund the improvements you need,” he told Oliver.
Hatchett said he expects the subcommittee to hold a final meeting shortly before the session begins.
