ATLANTA – The federal government is stepping up with $1.5 billion to replenish Georgia’s depleted Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund, Gov. Brian Kemp announced Wednesday.
The money, which will come through the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act, will repay funds the state has borrowed to provide unemployment benefits to Georgians who lost their jobs during the pandemic.
“COVID-19 has brought unprecedented challenges to nearly every business – large and small – and upended the lives of millions of Georgians,” Kemp said. “Through no fault of their own, thousands of people became unemployed overnight, businesses were shut down, and countless families suffered.
“Today’s announcement will save Georgia employers millions of dollars in state and federal unemployment taxes, prevent significant layoffs, and save the state millions of dollars in interest payments.”
By allocating up to $1.5 billion in coronavirus relief funds to avoid raising state and federal unemployment taxes, the average Georgia employer will save about $350 per year for each employed worker.
But the state still won’t be out of the woods. With benefit payments projected to outpace tax revenue, Georgia will have to continue to borrow federal funds to pay benefits.
After the Great Recession of 2008-2009, it took three years until tax revenue outpaced benefit payments.
Unless the state raises employers’ tax rates for unemployment insurance or provides an injection of capital through another means, Georgia would have to borrow an additional $1 billion by 2023 to keep up with benefits payments, according to state Department of Labor estimates.
“Without the transfer of funds, the state will have to increase unemployment tax rates for employers between 300% and 400% to make headway on paying off the loan,” Georgia Commissioner of Labor Mark Butler said Wednesday. “This reallocation of federal funds will allow more employers across the state to focus on the growth and success of their businesses without having the additional pressure of a rising unemployment tax.”
The line outside South Cobb Regional Library in Mableton stretched around the block on the first day of early voting for the Nov. 3 elections on Oct. 12, 2020. (Photo by Beau Evans)
ATLANTA – Georgians are mailing in absentee ballots and voting early in record numbers and are expected to break another record on Election Day, Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said Wednesday.
“Georgia voters are excited and setting records every hour,” Raffensperger told reporters during a news conference at the state Capitol. “And this is all during a pandemic.”
Raffensperger said 1.6 million voters have requested an absentee ballot. Nearly 500,000 of those votes have been received and accepted, he said.
Another 241,706 voters cast their ballots in person during the first two days of the early voting period this week.
The deluge of early voters resulted in hours-long waits on Monday and Tuesday for some voters.
Raffensperger said his office is adding voting equipment at the precincts experiencing the longest lines.
Besides the sheer volume of early voters, Raffensperger said voters who cast mail-in ballots then showed up at early voting locations anyway are slowing down the process.
Also, it takes time to print the paper backups accompanying the new voting machines the state began using this year, he said.
“That’s going to give voters confidence,” Raffensperger said. “They can look at their vote before they cast it.”
Raffensperger said another contributor to the long lines is the time it takes to clean and sanitize voting machines following each use.
Anheuser-Busch is donating hand sanitizers at early voting locations, while The Home Depot is providing free plastic face shields.
The American Civil Liberties Union’s Georgia chapter and the Metro Atlanta Chamber also have contributed to the effort by sending the secretary of state’s office lists of volunteers willing to serve as poll workers.
“Together, we will have a successful election, keeping all of our options open,” Raffensperger said.
While some of the longest early voting lines have been in Fulton County, early voters at State Farm Arena in downtown Atlanta were having to wait 20 minutes at most, Raffensperger said.
Voters in many North Fulton precincts were waiting much longer.
“In other parts of Fulton County, you don’t have as many machines because the building won’t hold them,” Raffensperger said.
Raffensperger urged Georgians who have asked for an absentee ballot to use it rather than show up to vote in person at an early voting location.
Early voting in Georgia leading up to the Nov. 3 election runs through Oct. 30.
ATLANTA – The University System of Georgia (USG) delivered an economic impact of $18.5 billion to the Peach State during fiscal 2019 while generating 157,770 jobs, system Chancellor Steve Wrigley reported this week.
That represents a 4.5% increase over the previous fiscal year.
“USG and our 26 institutions play a critically important role in local economies all across Georgia,” Wrigley said. “At the same time … USG remains committed to improving on the state’s investment in higher education and carrying out our ultimate mission to prepare students for life and work with a college degree.”
The annual economic impact study conducted by the University of Georgia also revealed every dollar spent by the system’s colleges and universities generates an additional 47 cents for the surrounding region’s economy.
Of the jobs generated by USG during fiscal 2019, 33% are on campus, while the remaining 67% are located within institutions’ home communities. On average, each on-campus job led to the creation of two additional off-campus jobs as a result of spending by the institution.
The 2019 study also showed $12.6 billion of the $18.5 billion in economic impact came from direct spending by institutions, while $5.9 billion came from additional spending within their local communities.
The annual study is conducted by Jeff Humphreys, director of the Selig Center for Economic Growth at UGA’s Terry College of Business.
This year, Humphreys and Alexandra Hill of the Selig Center also conducted a companion study titled “Lifetime Earnings for University System of Georgia Class of 2019.” The center’s research shows lifetime earnings increase substantially with each step up in postsecondary educational attainment, a finding that holds true for both Georgia and the nation as a whole.
On average, each Class of 2019 university system graduate is predicted to earn $888,563 more over the course of their career as a result of their degree from a USG institution.
ATLANTA – The Georgia Public Service Commission (PSC) is holding the line on electric rates by aggressively pursuing renewable and nuclear power while de-emphasizing coal, two Republican commissioners seeking reelection said Tuesday
But their Democratic challengers said the PSC is letting Georgia Power Co. keep too much of the profits from its operations while passing on too much of the financial burden to customers.
District One Commissioner Lauren “Bubba” McDonald and District Four Commissioner Jason Shaw took on Democrats Daniel Blackman and Robert Bryant in separate online debates sponsored by the Atlanta Press Club. Also on the virtual platform Tuesday were Libertarian candidates Nathan Wilson and Elizabeth Melton.
McDonald, who has served on the PSC since 1998, said he has led the way during the last decade as the commission has approved plans to retire coal-fired power plants and boost the state’s commitment to solar, nuclear and wind energy.
“In 2013, Georgia Power did not have a single watt of solar power,” he said. “We put in 525 megawatts. … We’ll have 2 gigawatts of solar power by the end of next year.”
But McDonald said the Green New Deal being floated by the progressive wing of the Democratic Party would tilt the scales toward renewable energy too far because Americans can’t afford the massive price tag.
Blackman, who is opposing McDonald, differed with the incumbent.
“Let’s be honest: What we’ve been doing has not been working,” said Blackman, who has served as an advisor to the Congressional Black Caucus and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on environmental justice issues.
The incumbents and their challengers also disagreed over the PSC’s decision last March to suspend disconnections of service to electric customers having trouble paying their bills due to the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic.
Bryant, who is challenging Shaw’s reelection bid, criticized the commission for lifting the moratorium on disconnections in July.
The Democrat from Savannah also argued the PSC should not let Georgia Power pass on to ratepayers either the costs of cleaning up coal ash ponds around the state or the cost overruns at the Plant Vogtle nuclear expansion, which have nearly doubled the project’s budget from the $14 billion the commission approved in 2009.
“Every time Vogtle is prolonged or delayed, Georgia ratepayers pay an additional $1 billion,” Bryant said. “That’s just not how we should be treating Georgians.”
Shaw, appointed to the PSC last year and now seeking his first full term, said the commission’s job is to strike a balance between protecting ratepayers and making sure Georgia utilities have the resources to provide safe reliable service.
“We’ve taken advantage of low-cost natural gas,” he said. “Consumers are paying the same [for electricity] as back in 2011.”
Melton, the Libertarian challenging Shaw, said there are free-market solutions to the lack of broadband connectivity in rural Georgia. She pointed to a project that has equipped a rural county in Kentucky with some of the fastest internet connections in the nation.
“They were able to do this voluntarily, on their own, using existing institutions,” Melton said.
Nathan Wilson, the Libertarian taking on McDonald, suggested letting businesses rent portions of their properties to be used for installation of solar panels as a way to boost solar power in Georgia.
While members of the PSC are elected statewide, they live in and represents districts. District 1 covers all of South Georgia, while District 4 includes North Georgia and the state’s border with South Carolina down to Augusta.
Democrat Jon Ossoff (left) is challenging Republican U.S. Sen. David Perdue
ATLANTA – U.S. Sen. David Perdue, R-Ga., and Democratic challenger Jon Ossoff lobbed the same criticisms at each other Monday that Georgia TV viewers have grown used to from their relentless attack ads.
During an hourlong debate sponsored by the Atlanta Press Club, Perdue labeled Ossoff as a “radical socialist” pushing an agenda that includes de-funding the police and a government takeover of health care.
Ossoff accused Perdue of downplaying the threat posed by the coronavirus pandemic while doing nothing to respond to the demands of millions of peacefully protesting Americans for criminal justice reform.
Perdue, seeking a second six-year term in the Senate after a career as a corporate executive, and Ossoff, an investigative journalist running for statewide office for the first time, have been locked in a dead heat for months, according to numerous polls.
With Democrats needing to capture just three or four seats to take control of the Senate, depending on the outcome of the presidential election, the Perdue-Ossoff contest is one of a handful of Senate races that could sway the outcome.
On Monday, the two took turns charging the other with corruption.
Ossoff accused Perdue of selling special access to campaign donors, including at lavish retreats at his home in coastal Georgia.
“He works for his donors, not ‘We the People,’ ” Ossoff said.
Perdue said Ossoff has received financial backing from the Chinese government and was endorsed by the Communist Party of the USA, the latter charge later declared false by an Associated Press fact check.
“One of his largest clients is Al Jazeera, a mouthpiece for terrorism,” Perdue said.
While denying those charges, Ossoff countered that Perdue supports a lawsuit filed by the Trump administration seeking to repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA).
At the same time, Ossoff said, Perdue and his Senate Republican colleagues are working to ram through a U.S. Supreme Court nominee who would overturn the ACA and thereby deny Georgians health coverage for pre-existing conditions. Those same Republicans refused to consider then-President Barack Obama’s Supreme Court pick in 2016, arguing Congress shouldn’t act on a court nominee during an election year.
“[Perdue] has thrown those so-called principles aside,” Ossoff said.
Perdue said the political landscape has changed since 2016, when the Senate’s Republican majority blocked a Democratic president’s pick for the Supreme Court.
Now, Perdue said, Ossoff wants to join a Senate Democratic caucus that plans to offset the expected confirmation of conservative court nominee Amy Coney Barrett by adding more seats to the court.
“[Ossoff] will be nothing but a rubber stamp when [Senate Minority Leader Chuck] Schumer wants to pack the court,” Perdue said.
Ossoff said he wants to champion criminal-justice reform in the Senate, a demand made during street protests following the deaths of several Black Americans this year at the hands of white police officers. He specifically cited the shooting death of Ahmaud Arbery, a Black man, near Brunswick and the subsequent arrest of three white men.
“We have to recognize that racial profiling and police brutality are systemic,” Ossoff said.
Perdue defended the Trump administration’s record on the issue, including congressional passage of criminal justice reform legislation in December 2018.
“The [1994] crime bill was written by Joe Biden, and it locked up more Black men than any law in the last 25 years,” Perdue said.
On COVID-19, Ossoff charged Perdue with echoing President Donald Trump’s response early on in the pandemic.
“You assured us the risk was low,” Ossoff said to Perdue. “You told us this disease was no more deadly than the flu.”
Perdue said both Trump and Congress responded quickly to the economic impact of coronavirus by approving a relief package that brought $47 million to Georgia and created 1½ million jobs.
“We’re doing everything we can to break through the regulations to bring a vaccine quicker,” Perdue said.
Libertarian candidate Shane Hazel criticized the Paycheck Protection Program, which provided loans to small businesses affected by the pandemic, as an overreach of the federal government’s powers under the U.S. Constitution.
Hazel also took Gov. Brian Kemp to task for the statewide stay-at-home order he handed down during the pandemic’s early stages to discourage the spread of the virus.
“Governor Kemp does not have the right to block us from assembling,” Hazel said. “Good ideas don’t require force. … Evaluate the risks on your own and go out and do what you need to do.”
