Gov. Brian Kemp gives an update on coronavirus in Georgia on March 9, 2020. (Photo by Beau Evans)
ATLANTA – The state of Georgia’s credit rating is holding strong despite the coronavirus pandemic’s impact on the state’s finances.
Georgia again has secured a AAA rating from each of the three main credit rating agencies, Gov. Brian Kemp announced Friday. Only nine of the states that issue general obligation bonds currently meet this high standard.
Georgia’s AAA ratings from FitchRatings, Moody’s Investors Service and S&P Global Ratings will enable the state to sell its bonds at the lowest possible interest costs when it takes bids for its new issue of general obligation bonds next week.
“This announcement is great news for Georgia, demonstrating our ongoing commitment to fiscal balance and ensuring we can meet our present and future obligations, even as we combat the COVID-19 pandemic’s significant effects on the health of Georgians and the state’s economy,” Kemp said. “This recognition is why the state’s bonds are highly attractive to investors, and as a result, enables the state to save taxpayers millions of dollars each year with low interest rates for borrowing.”
Georgia’s upcoming general obligation bond sale will fund more than $1.1 billion in capital projects approved by the General Assembly in June.
The three ratings agencies credited Kemp and his Republican predecessors in Georgia for conservative fiscal management practices during good and bad economic times and for using a healthy balance of spending cuts and reserves to help offset economic slowdowns that dampen state tax collections.
ATLANTA – Initial unemployment claims in Georgia fell last week to a level not seen in the 21 weeks since the coronavirus pandemic took hold, the state Department of Labor reported Thursday.
Unemployed Georgians filed 62,335 first-time claims last week, down 11,598 from the week before and less than 50% of the numbers the agency was seeing a month ago.
Georgia’s numbers reflected a nationwide drop in initial unemployment claims to 963,000, the first time that number was below 1 million since mid-March and a decrease of 228,000 from the previous week.
The labor department issued $309 million in regular unemployment benefits and federal funds last week, significantly less than the state had been paying out because the program supporting the $600 weekly federal checks the agency had been distributing expired at the end of July.
Georgia Commissioner of Labor Mark Butler said there’s no need for recipients to call the agency to ask about the federal program because not enough information is available.
President Donald Trump issued an executive order last weekend to partially extend the benefits at the level of $400 per week, with the federal government to cover $300 and the states the other $100. But just how that money would be delivered remains uncertain.
“The president’s executive order gives states various options for implementing the White House plan,” Butler said. “The [labor department] is working with the governor’s office to provide financial resources to continue to bridge the gap for Georgia’s unemployed workforce. … [The agency] will deliver a system to process these weekly supplements as quickly as possible.”
Whether the money will come at all is in doubt. Officials in some states have complained they don’t have the money to provide the state match, while congressional Democrats have questioned whether Trump’s order is constitutional.
Since mid-March, the job sectors accounting for the most initial unemployment claims in Georgia is accommodations and food services with 818,180 claims. The health care and social assistance sector is next with 407,516 claims, followed by retail trade with 373,200.
As of Tuesday, the state’s unemployment trust fund balance had plummeted 85% since mid-March, to $385.4 million. Earlier this week, the state applied for a $1.1 billion federal loan to help replenish the fund.
More than 125,000 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 – A dispute broke out Thursday between U.S. Sen. David Perdue, R-Ga., and Democratic challenger Jon Ossoff over whether the incumbent supports requiring health insurance plans to cover pre-existing conditions.
Perdue launched a television ad highlighting his commitment to coverage for pre-existing conditions that features his younger sister, Debbie Perdue, a cancer survivor.
“I’ve lived this problem,” she says in the ad. “David’s making a difference for all of us, and anyone who says otherwise doesn’t know my big brother’s heart.”
Perdue is a cosponsor of the Protect Act, Republican-backed legislation introduced last year by Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., supporters say would guarantee health-care coverage for Americans with pre-existing conditions.
But Ossoff’s campaign accused Perdue of siding with other Republicans in efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA), legislation then-President Barack Obama steered through a Democratic Congress in 2010 that guarantees coverage for pre-existing conditions.
“Senator Perdue voted at least three times to gut protections for Americans with pre-existing conditions, and last month he said he supports [President Donald] Trump’s Supreme Court lawsuit to overturn the ACA, which would completely destroy protections for pre-existing conditions,” said Jake Best, Ossoff’s press secretary.
PolitiFact, a nonprofit project operated by the Florida-based Poynter Institute, criticized the Protect Act for lacking provisions that would ensure health plans covering pre-existing conditions are affordable.
ATLANTA – The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) is awarding a $13 million grant to help build a new bus operations and maintenance center in Clayton County, MARTA officials announced Wednesday.
The $116 million facility will include a MARTA police precinct, training area, operations and administration offices, and enough maintenance capacity to service more than 250 buses and 50 paratransit vehicles.
“We recognized the need for this project several years ago and have been steadily advancing it since,” MARTA General Manager and CEO Jeffrey Parker said. “We are grateful to the FTA for validating its importance and are already working on real estate acquisition and design concepts.”
The facility will be built in northern Clayton County, a location that will significantly reduce what are known as “deadhead” costs, or the distance a bus travels without customers.
The project will feature energy-efficient design elements including rainwater/rinse water recycling for the bus wash and a solar canopy. Close proximity to electric infrastructure will allow the facility to accommodate a potential future all-electric bus fleet.
Clayton County voters approved a referendum in 2014 making Clayton the first county to join the MARTA system since the transit agency’s inception in the late 1970s. While MARTA has operated buses in Clayton since early 2015, the transit agency also is working to eventually bring rail service into the county as well.
Clayton County Commission Chairman Jeff Turner said the bus center will bring 650 jobs to the Forest Park area.
“The overwhelming majority of Clayton County voters who supported MARTA did so with the understanding that jobs and economic development were part of the equation,” he said.
University System of Georgia Chancellor Steve Wrigley
ATLANTA – The University System of Georgia (USG) awarded a record-high 70,879 degrees during the last fiscal year, despite the challenges imposed by the coronavirus pandemic.
That marked a 4.5% increase over fiscal 2019 and the largest year-over-year increase since 2011, when the university system joined the Complete College America program with its emphasis on earning a degree.
“This success is thanks to the hard work of USG’s 26 public colleges and universities, which have taken critical steps to increase support and help students stay on track toward their degree,” system Chancellor Steve Wrigley said. “I am especially grateful to our students, faculty and staff for all they do to ensure more Georgians enter the workforce with a college credential.”
The number of degrees the university system has awarded each year since 2011 has risen by more than 29%, far outstripping enrollment growth of less than 5%.
Over the last five years, the number of students completing their degrees within six years has increased by 9% to 61%, moving Georgia up 10 places to 20th in the state-by-state rankings.
The record for degrees awarded came despite a systemwide conversion from in-person classes to online instruction for much of the spring semester, as COVID-19 began to spread across Georgia. While the virus still holds the state in its grip, students are returning to the 26 campuses this month to resume in-person learning.
