by Dave Williams | Jan 9, 2025 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – Former President Jimmy Carter was remembered Thursday as a man ahead of his time who leaves his country and the world better off for his service.
Georgia’s only president thus far, who died Dec. 29 at the age of 100, was eulogized at the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C., at a service attended by President Joe Biden and all four living ex-presidents.
“Today, many people think he was from a bygone era,” said Biden, whom Carter had asked to give his eulogy. “In reality, he saw the future, a white Southern Baptist who led on human rights, a decorated veteran who brokered peace … a hardworking farmer who championed conservation, a clean-energy president who redefined the relationship for the vice president.”
Thursday’s service culminated three days of commemorations in the nation’s capital in honor of Carter, who lay in state inside the U.S. Capitol Rotunda on Tuesday and Wednesday. Before that, Carter’s casket lay in repose at the Carter Center in Atlanta for several days.
The national funeral service began with a scripture reading by Andrew Young, a Georgian appointed by Carter as the first African American to serve as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. Steve Ford, the son of former President Gerald Ford, who lost to Carter in 1976 but later developed a strong friendship with him, and Ted Mondale, the son of Carter Vice President Walter Mondale, delivered eulogies their late fathers wrote for Carter.
Stuart Eizenstat, who served as a domestic advisor inside the Carter White House, described Carter as a Renaissance Man with an array of skills who brought a sense of honesty and decency to the presidency after the Watergate years.
“He was the first president to make honesty a priority for U.S. foreign policy,” Eizenstat said. “He uniquely combined the soft power of human rights with the hard power of rebuilding America’s military. … He may not be a candidate for Mount Rushmore, but he belongs in the foothills of making the U.S. stronger and the world safer.”
Grandson Jason Carter talked about Carter’s four-decade post-presidency as the founder of the Carter Center and its mission promoting human rights and the eradication of diseases across the globe. He mentioned Guinea worm disease as an example of his grandfather’s far-reaching contributions.
“That disease existed from the dawn of humanity until Jimmy Carter,” he said.
After the service, Carter’s remains were flown back to Georgia for a private funeral service at Maranatha Baptist Church in his hometown of Plains. He was to be buried beside Rosalynn Carter, his wife of 77 years who died in November 2023 at the age of 96.
by Dave Williams | Jan 8, 2025 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – The Georgia House will form a special committee this year to try to get a handle on the growing demand for energy among power-dependent industries moving into the state, House Speaker Jon Burns said Wednesday.
While the effort will not specifically target data centers, it will be comprehensive, Burns, R-Newington, told reporters outside the House chamber during a briefing ahead of the start of the 2025 General Assembly session next week.
“We’ll leave no stone unturned,” he said.
An influx of data centers setting up operations in Georgia in recent years has prompted concerns that the state’s utilities might not be able to handle the increasing demand for electricity.
Just this week, Amazon Web Services announced plans to invest an estimated $11 billion to expand its infrastructure in Georgia to support cloud computing and AI technologies. Two data-center projects in Douglas and Butts counties are expected to create at least 550 new high-skilled jobs.
The drain data centers are putting on the state’s electric supply was documented early last year when executives from Georgia Power testified before the state Public Service Commission that 80% of the additional demand for electricity behind the utility’s request for a huge increase in electrical generating capacity was due to data centers.
Lawmakers also have questioned the economic value of data centers. During last year’s legislative session, state Sen. Chuck Hufstetler, R-Rome, cited a 2022 state audit that found the tax exemption for data centers was only returning 24 cents on the dollar.
The General Assembly responded by passing legislation last year that would have temporarily suspended a state sales tax exemption aimed at attracting data centers to Georgia. However, Gov. Brian Kemp vetoed the measure at the urging of business groups including the Georgia Chamber of Commerce.
Burns said he will ask state Rep. Brad Thomas, R-Holly Springs, to chair the special committee. Thomas chaired a House subcommittee on artificial intelligence last year.
by Dave Williams | Jan 8, 2025 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – The state Department of Transportation (DOT) will begin treating roads, bridges, and overpasses in Northwest Georgia at 7 p.m. Wednesday night in anticipation of a winter weather system expected to hit the northern half of the state early Friday.
Brining operations will begin at midnight in metro Atlanta and 7 a.m. Thursday in Northeast Georgia.
Crews will work 12-hour shifts and will prioritize treating interstates, state routes, bridges, and overpasses north of and including Interstate 20. State routes and interstates south of I-20 are also slated to be treated Wednesday into Thursday and then re-treated as needed.
A mix of rain, freezing rain, sleet, and snow will begin to move into western Georgia early Friday morning and cover much of North and Middle Georgia by sunrise. This wintry mix will continue throughout the day Friday into Friday night before diminishing early Saturday morning.
A few inches of snow and one-quarter of an inch or more of ice will be possible on Friday across much of North Georgia and parts of Middle Georgia.
“As with any weather system that might impact Georgia communities, we are actively monitoring the approaching winter storm and taking action now to ensure our communities are prepared for any possible impact,” Gov. Brian Kemp said. “Along with other state agency leaders, I’m urging Georgians to stay weather aware, especially as they make plans for the coming days.”
Motorists in affected areas are asked to plan now to limit travel as much as possible from Friday morning through mid-day Saturday. Those who must venture out during this time are advised to give DOT crews space on the roads to help ensure they can safely do their jobs by staying back at least 100 feet.
by Dave Williams | Jan 8, 2025 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – The U.S. House of Representatives has passed Republican-backed legislation named in honor of Georgia murder victim Laken Riley as the first act of the new Congress.
The Laken Riley Act requires detention of illegal immigrants charged with nonviolent crimes including theft and burglary. It cleared the House 264-159 on Tuesday, with 48 Democrats – including U.S. Rep. Lucy McBath of Marietta – joining majority Republicans in voting for the bill.
Riley, a 22-year-old nursing student, was murdered last February while jogging on the campus of the University of Georgia. An illegal immigrant from Venezuela was convicted and sentenced to life in prison without parole. Jose Ibarra had previously been detained on shoplifting charges but was released from custody.
The Riley case became fodder for last year’s presidential campaign, with Republican former President Donald Trump raising her murder in his call for a crackdown on illegal immigration on his way to winning a second term in the White House. Trump will take the oath of office Jan. 20.
The four Democrats in Georgia’s House delegation other than McBath voted against the bill, while all nine Republicans voted in favor of it.
The House passed the legislation last year, but it failed to get through a then-Democratic controlled U.S. Senate. While the Senate is now in Republican hands, some Democrats still would have to support the bill to gain the 60-vote threshold needed to pass legislation in the 100-member Senate.
by Dave Williams | Jan 7, 2025 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – The celebration of the life of former President Jimmy Carter moved from Atlanta to the nation’s capitol Tuesday, with a day full of pageantry capped by a memorial service inside the Capitol Rotunda.
The nation’s top political leaders praised the many accomplishments of Georgia’s only president thus far not only during his four years in the White House in the late 1970s but during more than four decades after leaving office when he founded the Carter Center and built houses for the poor as a volunteer with Habitat for Humanity.
“Jimmy Carter established a new model for what it means to be a former president,” Vice President Kamala Harris said late Tuesday afternoon during the service inside the Rotunda. “(He) leaves an extraordinary post-presidential legacy.”
U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said he was just 4 years old when Carter was sworn in as president in 1977 and was the first president he remembers.
“President Carter’s life, his selfless service, his fight against cancer and his lasting contributions to his fellow man are truly remarkable,” Johnson said. “Whether he was in the White House or during his post-presidential years … President Carter was willing to roll up his sleeves to serve and get the job done.”
Carter died Dec. 29 at his home in Plains at the age of 100. His remains were transported from his hometown to the Carter Center in Atlanta last Saturday and flown to Washington, D.C., on Tuesday morning.
Upon his arrival at Joint Base Andrews in suburban Maryland just outside of Washington Tuesday afternoon, his flag-draped casket was taken inside the city to the U.S. Navy Memorial to commemorate his service as a submarine engineer during the 1940s after graduating from the U.S. Naval Academy.
There, a military honor guard placed his casket in a horse-drawn caisson for the trip to the Capitol. Members of his family walked behind along Pennsylvania Avenue, harkening back to Inauguration Day 1977, when Carter and wife Rosalynn stunned their Secret Service escorts by getting out of their car and walking so they could wave to the crowd of admirers.
During the ceremony, Harris recited a long list of accomplishments by Carter during his White House years, including a series of environmental protection bills, more than doubling the size of the nation’s national parks system, and appointing an unprecedented number of Blacks and women to federal judgeships.
But Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said Carter’s work after leaving the White House was just as impressive.
“Jimmy Carter knew that his status as a former president could bring attention to good causes,” Thune said. “But simply lending his name or maybe attending a gala or two wasn’t Jimmy Carter’s style. … Well into his nineties, he could be found with his hard hat and and tools on construction sites doing the practical work required to get families into homes.”
Carter will lie in state inside the Capitol Rotunda until Thursday morning, when a national funeral service will take place at the National Cathedral. President Joe Biden, who was away from Washington traveling on Tuesday, will deliver a eulogy.
by Dave Williams | Jan 7, 2025 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – Gov. Brian Kemp and the Georgia Department of Corrections asked state lawmakers Tuesday for $372 million to improve a prison system the Justice Department criticized last fall in a scathing report.
Most of the additional investments would go toward hiring more correctional officers and pay raises aimed at gaining parity with neighboring states.
In a 94-page report following a multi-year investigation, the Justice Department accused the state prison system of violating inmates’ constitutional rights by failing to protect them from widespread violence.
“We want to make sure our prisons are safe for our employees, safe for our inmates, and safe for the public,” Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Blake Tillery, R-Vidalia, said Tuesday during a joint meeting of House and Senate subcommittees formed last summer to explore funding levels needed to improve safety inside the state prisons.
Many of the spending recommendations Georgia Commissioner of Corrections Tyrone Oliver outlined Tuesday came from Chicago-based Guidehouse Inc., a consultant the state hired last June after an inmate at Smith State Prison in Glennville shot and killed a food-service worker before turning the gun on himself.
“Public safety is the No.-1 priority of state government, and that is why we have taken a comprehensive and deliberate approach to strengthening law enforcement and improving our corrections system,” Kemp said Tuesday. “I want to thank the teams at Guidehouse for their diligent and detailed work over the past several months, as well as the Department of Corrections personnel who have been helpful at every step of this process and who face incredible challenges each day to keep violent criminals behind bars.”
The spending recommendations include providing 4% pay raises for correctional officers as well as education, chaplain, food service and maintenance personnel. Behavioral health counselors would receive 8% salary increases.
The corrections agency also wants to hire 330 additional correctional officers to improve staff-to-inmate ratios.
The spending plan also calls for $40 million to plan and design a new prison and $93 million in additional funds for sitework and construction associated with four 126-bed modular correctional units.
Another $2.8 million would go to develop a statewide marketing initiative to recruit new correctional officers and $900,000 to update the officer training curriculum.
Tuesday’s presentation was highly unusual in that Georgia governors historically don’t present budget recommendations to the General Assembly until the first week of the annual legislative session. Lawmakers won’t convene the 2025 session under the Gold Dome until next week.
“It shows the emphasis (Kemp) and us are putting on this issue,” said House Appropriations Committee Chairman Matt Hatchett, R-Dublin. “This has been studied and studied. It’s time to get something done.”
