by Dave Williams | Feb 19, 2025 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – One of the world’s leading battery manufacturers will establish its new Global Headquarters for Research and Development in Atlanta, Gov. Brian Kemp announced Wednesday.
Duracell will invest $56 million in the project, which will create 110 jobs.
The company has a manufacturing facility in LaGrange that has been in operation since 1980 and a logistics and distribution plant in Fairburn that opened in 2020.
“Georgia has set itself apart as a leader in attracting innovative companies with our research institutions, world-class logistics network, and pro-business environment,” Kemp said. “We are excited to welcome Duracell’s R&D headquarters to Atlanta and continue building on this great relationship.”
“We’re excited about the opportunities the move to Atlanta will bring, and we’re confident this new chapter will strengthen our position as a global leader in the industry,” added Liben Hailu, Duracell’s chief technology officer. “This move is a significant milestone for Duracell as we continue to drive innovation in battery technology for many years to come.”
The new headquarters will be adjacent to Georgia Tech’s Midtown Atlanta campus at Science Square, an 18-acre multi-phase development centered on innovation and featuring more than 1.8 million square feet of lab and office space.
The state Department of Economic Development’s Global Commerce team worked on the project in partnership with Invest Atlanta, Select Fulton, the Metro Atlanta Chamber, Georgia Power, and the University System of Georgia.
by Ty Tagami | Feb 18, 2025 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – A man who shot at a Georgia trooper with a Glock handgun modified for automatic fire will spend a decade in prison, federal prosecutors announced Tuesday.
Montrez Ballard received the sentence after he was convicted of shooting multiple times at a Georgia State Patrol officer in July 2023, said Richard Moultrie, Jr., acting U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia.
Prosecutors said Ballard fired the Glock 19 like a machine gun, squeezing off at least three shots after the trooper stopped him in a vehicle and Ballard fled on foot.
Ballard, 21, of Hampton, who was on probation for robbery, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge J.P. Boulee to 10 years in prison, followed by three years of supervised release, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
by Ty Tagami | Feb 18, 2025 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – The Georgia Department of Education kicked off a new teacher recruitment campaign Tuesday to address a teacher shortage.
The move is necessary as a generation of teachers nears retirement after two decades and more in the classroom, State School Superintendent Richard Woods said.
“A little over a third of our workforce is 20 years and above, so we’re looking at how do we replace that many people in a relatively short period of time,” said Woods, a former teacher who has served in his current role for a decade.
“We’re getting to a point where we’re going to lose over a third of our workforce in a relatively short period of time,” he added. “And that is very, very concerning because we’re not seeing the numbers in our colleges of education to replace those individuals.”
The state education agency oversees 180 school districts educating more than 1.7 million students. The new strategy unveiled Tuesday is fueled by $3 million from corporate donors and athletic foundations.
Britton Banowsky, executive director of the College Football Playoff Foundation, is among those leading the effort. His group, with help from the Atlanta Sports Council, kicked in about half the funding.
The initiative will drive a messaging campaign in an effort to lure more young people to the profession. The “Teach in the Peach” program will also include a website that helps people find jobs as teachers (more at teachinthepeach.org). And it will host a test that people can take to find out whether a career in teaching would fit them.
Banowsky said his foundation wanted to address a problem facing communities. About a decade ago, they started casting about for an issue.
“We sat around a table, and we all said, ‘Well, my mom’s a teacher, my sister’s a teacher. You know, I’ve got a kid who’s a teacher. And they need the help.’ “
by Dave Williams | Feb 18, 2025 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – Tax relief bills targeting victims of Hurricane Helene cleared both chambers of the General Assembly Tuesday.
The Georgia House unanimously passed legislation exempting from taxation disaster relief payments, grant funds, or crop insurance proceeds provided to victims of the massive storm that struck South, Middle, and eastern Georgia last September.
“This storm was bad. It looked like a tornado hit everywhere,” House Majority Whip James Burchett, R-Waycross, chief sponsor of House Bill 223, told his legislative colleagues. “It’s going to take years to recover.”
“I have never seen the destruction this storm did to our state,” added Rep. Matt Hatchett, R-Dublin. “No one has.”
The bill, which passed 173-0 and now heads to the state Senate, also includes $200 million in income tax credits for timber producers who suffered losses from the hurricane and a sales tax exemption on purchases of building materials used to repair or replace greenhouses, poultry sheds, or livestock barns that lay in the storm’s path.
House Democrats used Tuesday’s debate to criticize the Trump administration for denying Gov. Brian Kemp’s request to extend the deadline for Helene victims to apply for assistance from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).
“We still need the federal government to show up,” said Rep. Derrick Jackson, D-Tyrone. “We need FEMA to be there for Georgia.”
Hatchett, who chairs the House Appropriations Committee, said Tuesday’s measure is one of a series of bills to be taken up during this legislative session that will offer state assistance to Georgians affected by Helene.
“This is just a small portion of what I think we should be doing for the citizens of our state,” he said.
Along those lines, the Senate unanimously passed legislation Tuesday aimed specifically at timber producers. Senate Bill 52 would temporarily exclude from taxation timber sold or harvested from timberland in Georgia counties declared federal disaster areas after the hurricane.
Sen. Russ Goodman, R-Cogdell, the bill’s chief sponsor, said 37% of the state’s 22 million acres of timberland was damaged or destroyed during the storm.
The tax exemption would cover the fourth quarter of last year and all of this year, Goodman said.
“No one is ever going to be made whole from this,” he said. “It’s just our job to do what we can within the power we have to help our fellow Georgians.”
Senate Bill 52 now moves to the state House of Representatives.
by Ty Tagami | Feb 18, 2025 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – The Georgia Supreme Court is raising “serious questions” about a 2019 state law that allows a judge to give someone joint custody over a former lover’s child, but the law remains intact.
The Equitable Caregiver law that went into effect in July 2019 allows someone who is not a legal parent of a child to seek custody, visitation and other rights.
To win such rights, the person must demonstrate to a judge that he or she had a “parental” role and a “bonded and dependent” relationship with the child that was “fostered or supported” by a parent of the child.
Presiding Supreme Court Justice Nels S.D. Peterson expressed concern about the law in an order on a related case.
“This case raises serious questions about whether the Equitable Caregiver Statute violates the fundamental right of parents to the care, custody, and control of their children,” Peterson wrote Tuesday in the court’s opinion in Dias v. Boone.
In that case, Abby Boone had asked the superior court in Muscogee County to give her equitable caregiver status over Michelle Dias’s minor child. The trial court decided that Boone had presented “clear and convincing evidence” that the child would suffer emotional harm by discontinuing the relationship.
The court granted Boone equitable caregiver status and required both women to follow a parenting plan.
Dias appealed the decision, challenging the constitutionality of the 2019 law.
The state Supreme Court, in a unanimous decision on Tuesday, sided with Dias and reversed the trial court ruling. But the high court did not strike down the law.
Instead, the justices issued a narrow ruling focused on this former couple, finding that the 2019 law did not apply because Boone’s relationship with Dias’s child predated it.
by Dave Williams | Feb 18, 2025 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – Legislation that would create a statewide music office to promote the industry in Georgia cleared a state House committee Tuesday.
The House Creative Arts & Entertainment Committee approved House Bill 353, which would establish the Georgia Music Office within the state Department of Community Affairs. The measure also would create a Music Ready Communities program to help local governments develop strategies for promoting music as an economic development tool.
The statewide music office would serve as a hub for coordinating efforts to build on Georgia’s rich musical history, Rep. Devan Seabaugh, R-Marietta, told members of the committee before Tuesday’s vote.
“While our talent is undeniable, the infrastructure to support, grow, and brand our music industry is missing a key piece,” he said. “We have an opportunity to cement Georgia’s status as a music powerhouse.”
The committee approved similar legislation two years ago, based on the work of a joint House-Senate study committee that held several hearings in 2022. But the bill never made it to the House floor for a vote.
Another effort in 2023 to renew a music industry tax credit aimed at luring music producers to Georgia also fizzled, and the credit expired at the end of that year.
House Bill 353 is modeled after a statewide music office created by lawmakers in Texas.
“We’ve seen it work in places like Austin, Texas, and Asheville, N.C.,” Seabaugh said. “Georgia has just as much musical heritage and potential if not more. (But) we lack a central office to advocate for, promote, and protect our musicians, venues, and industry professionals.”
Brian Hudson, a lobbyist representing Georgia Music Partners, the state’s leading music industry advocacy organization, said a statewide music office would work to attract studios, production facilities, and performance venues that could keep Georgia graduates with music degrees from moving to Nashville or other music hubs to pursue their careers.
“We have so many great artists from Georgia, but they leave,” he said. “We could potentially keep these students in Georgia.”
Seabaugh said the music office could be launched with about $2.5 million in state funds, including the salary of a director who would head the office.
The bill heads next to the House Rules Committee to schedule a floor vote.
