ATLANTA – Investments
in freight rail would land a permanent spot in annual state budgets under
legislation the Georgia House of Representatives passed overwhelmingly on
Monday.
House Bill 820, which was approved 162-1 and now heads to the state Senate, was among the recommendations of the Georgia Freight & Logistics Commission, a task force of legislators, business leaders and logistics industry executives formed last year to look for ways to move freight more efficiently through the state.
While the
bill does not guarantee state funding of freight rail projects, giving freight
rail a permanent line item in the budget would encourage more state investment
in badly needed rail improvements, said House Transportation Committee Chairman
Kevin Tanner, the measure’s chief sponsor.
“We have a
shortfall in investment in rail infrastructure in our state,” Tanner,
R-Dawsonville, told his House colleagues before Monday’s vote. “There’s just
not enough dollars in the budget.”
Tanner said
freight rail investment is particularly needed at the Port of Savannah, where
the amount of cargo handled each year is expected to double by 2040.
House
Majority Leader Jon Burns, R-Newington, said only 27% of freight moved through
Georgia travels by rail.
“Anything we
can do to increase that number will take traffic off our roadways,” he said.
The Georgia
Freight & Logistics Commission was due to complete its work by the end of
last year. However, a separate bill sponsored by Tanner calls for keeping the
task force alive through 2020.
A report the
commission released recently identified a series of challenges facing freight
transportation in Georgia. Tanner’s bill asks for additional time so the
commission can come up with solutions to those challenges.
ATLANTA – Sports
betting would become legal in Georgia without the need to go to voters with a
constitutional amendment under legislation introduced in the state Senate.
Senate Bill
415 would establish an app-based system allowing Georgians to bet on sports
online. The legislation is modeled after laws in Tennessee and New Hampshire, states
that offer online sports betting only because – like Georgia – they don’t have
the brick-and-mortar casinos that typically house sports betting operations.
Georgians
already are betting $1.5 billion illegally on sports every year without the
state collecting any tax revenue from it, said Sen. Burt Jones, R-Jackson, the
bill’s chief sponsor.
“We just
want to regulate and control something that’s already going on,” he said.
Supporters
of legalizing gambling have been pushing for years to bring casinos to Georgia
and/or pari-mutuel betting on horse racing. Sports betting only became an
option in 2018 when the U.S. Supreme Court overturned a federal law prohibiting
states from legalizing gambling on sports.
All efforts
to legalize gambling in the Peach State have failed because they have involved
constitutional amendments that require two-thirds majorities in the Georgia
House and Senate, a level of support the measures’ sponsors have been unable to
muster.
On the other
hand, Jones’ sports betting bill would not change Georgia’s Constitution and,
thus, would require simple majorities of the two legislative chambers of pass. Also,
if it clears the legislature, it would not be put before voters in a statewide
referendum, as is the case with all constitutional amendments.
“l’d rather
the citizens have a say on it,” Jones said. “But two-thirds of the legislature
has never allowed that to happen.”
Jones said
he has received a legal opinion from legislative counsel that legalizing sports
betting would not require a constitutional change because it would be operated
essentially as a lottery game by a newly created state commission overseen by the
Georgia Lottery Corp.
Those
placing bets would have to be at least 21 years old and physically located in
Georgia, a provision that would be enforced through geo-fencing technology.
Businesses
licensed to offer sports betting online would pay a 10% tax on their adjusted
gross incomes. The vast majority of the tax proceeds – 95% – would go to
education, while the other 5% would be allocated to the state Department of
Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities.
Bets could
not be placed on college games.
The bill has
been referred to the Senate Regulated Industries Committee.
ATLANTA – A
bill requiring the University System of Georgia to raise the percentage of
in-state students offered early admission to the state’s top public
universities drew opposition Thursday during a legislative committee hearing.
The
presidents of the University of Georgia and Georgia Tech told members of the
Senate Higher Education Committee the legislation is unnecessary and would lower
the standards for admission to the university system’s top campuses.
Senate Bill 282
would require the university system’s four research universities – UGA, Georgia
Tech, Augusta University and Georgia State University – to make sure at least
90% of students offered early admission are from Georgia.
The schools,
particularly UGA and Georgia Tech, have become increasingly hard to get into
since the HOPE Scholarship program was created during the 1990s. The lottery-funded
program covers all or most tuition costs for qualified students, a strong
motivator for the highest achieving Georgia high school students to attend
college in state.
“I want to
keep our best and brightest kids here,” said Sen. Brandon Beach, R-Alpharetta,
the bill’s chief sponsor.
But University
of Georgia President Jere Morehead said the 90% mandate is unnecessary because
UGA already enrolls a high percentage of in-state students. He said 88% of
UGA’s current cohort of undergraduates is from Georgia, while in-state students
account for 82% of the freshman class.
Morehead
also argued the 90% in-state requirement for early admissions would skew UGA’s
student population more toward Georgia’s urban and suburban communities because
most students accepted early are from metro Atlanta or the Savannah, Augusta or
Columbus areas. Consequently, the bill would “disenfranchise” rural Georgia
students, he said.
Georgia Tech
President Angel Cabrera said the legislation would damage the state’s economy
by dissuading out-of-state students from seeking early admission to Tech, which
has built a national reputation and competes with prestigious public
universities including the University of California-Berkeley.
High
achieving out-of-state students who come to Tech tend to stay in Georgia and
provide the backbone for the state’s fast-growing technology industries,
Cabrera said.
“Attracting
students from out of state is increasingly important to our economy,” he said.
“They are the reasons companies across the nation are increasingly calling
Georgia home.”
While many of
the students admitted early to Georgia Tech are from out of state, Cabrera said
in-state students still account for 60% of the university’s total enrollment.
Sen. Brian
Strickland, R-McDonough, suggested moving away from the 90% mandate and simply requiring
the research universities to consider whether an early admission applicant is
from Georgia in deciding offers.
But
university system Chancellor Steve Wrigley argued there’s no need to tinker
with what the universities are already doing.
“Their
approaches make sense,” he said. “Both institutions are self-conscious about
Georgia students. What they’re doing now is working.”
The committee
took no action on the bill Thursday, and it’s uncertain whether or when a vote
will take place.
ATLANTA – The state House of Representatives took another
crack Thursday at legislation giving Georgians the legal ability to sue the
state and local governments.
The House unanimously passed a constitutional amendment
targeting the doctrine of sovereign immunity, a centuries-old legal concept
that holds the “sovereign” – or government – cannot be sued without its
consent.
Lawmakers have adopted previous versions of the measure
twice in the last four years. But both Gov. Brian Kemp and his predecessor,
Nathan Deal, have vetoed it, arguing it would hurt the government’s ability to
function.
The legislation stems from Georgia Supreme Court rulings in
recent years that broadly interpreted sovereign immunity. But those decisions
also opened the door for the General Assembly to amend Georgia’s Constitution
to give citizens a limited right to sue, essentially inviting lawmakers to take
up the constitutional change.
Under the proposed amendment, plaintiffs could sue when a
government agency or official causes harm to them by enforcing an
unconstitutional law or regulation. It would apply to lawsuits seeking either
declaratory judgement or injunctive relief but would not let plaintiffs seek to
recover monetary damages or attorney fees.
“It is a limited waiver,” said Rep. Andy Welch, R-McDonough,
the measure’s chief sponsor. “It has one purpose: to protect our constitutional
and statutory rights.”
Rep. Rick Williams, R-Milledgeville, said he was worried the
legislation could be used to target members of state regulatory boards carrying
out their duties.
But Welch said the legislation would allow lawsuits only
against a state or local government agency or agency board, not an individual.
“You have the power to open up the courthouse so people can
come and sue if they think the government has violated their constitutional
rights,” Welch told his House colleagues Thursday. “Let the third branch of
government be a check on the other two branches.”
The constitutional amendment now moves to the Senate.
ATLANTA – The
Georgia House of Representatives passed a mid-year budget Wednesday that would
restore many of the spending cuts Gov. Brian Kemp proposed last month to help
offset lower-than-expected tax collections.
The $27.4 billion fiscal 2020 mid-year budget, which passed 126-46 and now moves to the state Senate, covers state spending through the end of June. It reflects a lower revenue estimate the governor issued in January amid sluggish tax receipts going back to the middle of last year.
The mid-year
budget includes $159 million in state funding reductions and eliminates or
delays filling 1,255 vacant positions. But during days of hearings that
prompted a break in this year’s General Assembly session, the House
Appropriations Committee still managed to fully restore cuts the governor recommended
to the state’s accountability courts and county health departments.
“We tried
our best with this budget to address the needs of Georgians,” House Speaker
David Ralston, R-Blue Ridge, told reporters after the vote.
For many budget
line items, the House wasn’t able to fully restore planned cuts but acted to
reduce the severity of the reductions. Lawmakers put back significant portions
of cuts slated for mental health and child welfare services and restored all of
a $164,800 reduction to the Georgia Memory Net program.
“If you
haven’t dealt with dementia or Alzheimer’s yet, you will,” Appropriations
Committee Chairman Terry England, R-Auburn, told his House colleagues. “Get
ready.”
The House
also restored funds used to market the state’s farm products as well as marketing
money for the Georgia Department of Economic Development’s Global Commerce and
Tourism divisions.
Lawmakers
also rejected reducing spending on equipment and operations at state parks and
historic sites.
England said
they not only put money in the coffers of local governments in rural
communities but provide Georgia families a place to get away and enjoy nature.
“It’s
important that we continue to maintain these sites in a way that makes them
attractive,” he said.
A tourist
attraction operated by the Georgia Department of Natural Resources – the Historic
SAM Shortline Excursion Train from Cordele to Plains – received $250,000 in
one-time funds from the House.
House
Minority Leader Bob Trammell praised members of the Appropriations Committee
for working hard to limit the impact of the cuts in the mid-year budget.
But he said
the culprit behind Georgia’s budget crunch is the income tax cut the
Republican-controlled General Assembly passed two years ago, which cost the
state $550 million a year in tax revenue.
“When
unemployment is at a record low and the economy is doing very well, we are
cutting Georgia’s budget,” said Trammell, D-Luthersville. “The choices we are
making are choices we’re supposed to have to make when times are tough. … We’re
having to cut when times are good.”
But Ralston
said the economic damage Hurricane Michael wreaked on Georgia farms and forests
in October 2018 is to blame for the downturn in tax collections.
“It was a
crippling blow to our economy,” he said. “We’re still paying for that.”
Lawmakers will
face steeper spending cuts when they tackle Kemp’s fiscal 2021 budget later in
this year’s session.
But England
said the mid-year budget has been more challenging because lawmakers will have more
time and, thus, more flexibility, in dealing with next year’s spending.
