The Georgia Legislature is back in town (Updated)
Keep an eye on your life, liberty and property: Georgia’s Legislature is back in action starting today.
My news-side colleague Kristina Torres has an overview of the top five issues to watch during the next few months. I agree with the five and would add to them the continued murmurs about expanding gambling in Georgia to increase funding for the HOPE scholarship, as well as the difficulty of waiting while Congress debates its own spending levels for the years to come, which could affect Georgia’s funding for Medicaid, education, transportation and more. See, too, if Democratic legislators are able to cause trouble for the overwhelming GOP majorities on issues such as illegal immigration — for instance, when legislators try to tweak the 2011 illegal immigration law to fix unintended consequences for Georgians trying to renew their drivers licenses.
On the ethics front, look for the Senate to take some sort of action today on a $100 cap on lobbyist gifts — passing a bill for the House to consider and/or enacting a rule establishing a $100 cap for its own members in the meantime.
UPDATE:
The Senate today included a $100 cap on lobbyist gifts in its rules, which will govern the two-year term that began today. The cap is not without its flaws. Among them: There’s no limit to the number of $99 gifts any given lobbyist can bestow on any particular legislator; travel expenses are not subject to the cap and are only somewhat more restricted than in the past; and lobbyists are not subject to the cap if they buy, for example, dinner for all legislators on a particular committee or subcommittee. But as William Perry, executive director of Common Cause Georgia, said today, it is “a large step in the right direction.”
New Senate President Pro Tempore David Shafer made a strong session-opening call for senators to be mindful of how they deal with the people “out there” — meaning the lobbyists outside the chamber’s doors. He called the Gold Dome “a great temple of flattery” but cautioned that “most of the praise is exaggerated at best.”
“We need to each be careful not to play to the flattery and the praise and the attention,” the Duluth Republican said. “We make a mistake when we do anything in here to curry favor out there.”
Fwiw, Senate Democrats conveyed some cautious optimism about how the new regime would treat and work with them, although none of them are under any illusions about the limitations on a party with less than one-third of the chamber’s votes.
Also of note, the new Senate rules direct the Rules Committee to create an Audit Subcommittee to review legislators’ travel expenses on a regular basis. This is the procedure that was supposed to have been followed in the past but was not, leading to the ethics complaint and subsequent fine against former Rules Chairman Don Balfour. (I say “former” in anticipation of a new chairman for the Senate Rules Committee; those assignments are due out any moment now.) About ethics complaints: The new rules maintain the status quo about who can file an ethics complaint. When the violation in question is a Senate rule, as opposed to a state law, only a senator or Senate staffer or intern may file the complaint — which is virtually the same in the past (previously, a Senate “volunteer,” essentially an unpaid staffer, also could file a complaint). Citizens may still file ethics complaints not related to Senate rules.
Thirty-nine more days to go. There are rumors of a two- or even three-week recess in the middle of the session as legislators wait for Congress to decide whether it will live with its sequestration cuts, substitute other cuts or take some other route. A significant chunk of Georgia’s budget comes from the federal government, in largest part to comply with federal mandates for federal programs. We shall see what happens.
– By Kyle Wingfield
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121 comments Add your comment
clem
January 14th, 2013
12:28 pm
given the way they have changed the budget reporting under repubs, but it appears that one of the major culprits for medicaid expenditures(and only likely to rise) is nursing home expenditures. more than low income expenditures (what ever that means as folks in nursing homes are low income).
so rant all you like but its the old folks (and their non supportive kids) that are killing us?
Deep Cover
January 14th, 2013
12:35 pm
Rafe @ 11:31
Voting is a CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT!!! Driving a car is a PRIVILEGE.
CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT vs. PRIVILEGE
You may need to educate yourself on the significant difference in the definition of these words. That is why the documentation threshold should be different!
saywhat?
January 14th, 2013
12:49 pm
Just read about the senate “ethics” $100 gift limit. What a joke. It excludes multiple gifts over time, excludes travel junkets, and for the real kicker, prohibits ethics complaints from the public (like the one that got Balfour in trouble.)
What a bunch of a-holes.
mike
January 14th, 2013
1:58 pm
A good idea would be to toss Georgia’s educational system since GA is very near the bottom anyway. I think GA is ahead of Alabam and Mississippi. Also let’s just toss Medicaid. Those people don’t need any help anyway.
Cheesy Grits is gone but not forgotten
January 14th, 2013
2:23 pm
Obamacare will help in the long run
Countries with Universal Healthcare spend far less per person than we do and get far better results.
They have lower rates of heart disease, diabetes, obesity etc etc.
Eventually we will get there too. Its a no brainer really.
Of the 33 developed nations in the world 32 had universal healthcare.
We were the only holdout.
td
January 14th, 2013
2:41 pm
Cheesy Grits is gone but not forgotten
January 14th, 2013
2:23 pm
Obamacare will help in the long run
Countries with Universal Healthcare spend far less per person than we do and get far better results.
Yes, the government controls the healthcare industry and controls the Dr’s pay, the test they are allowed to run and Dr’s can not be sued for malpractice. If you are 60 and need a hip replacement or knee replacement surgery then in those countries the government pays for you to have a wheelchair.
Why is it that when anyone with money around the world needs something serious done medically then they come to the US?
Politico
January 14th, 2013
2:46 pm
“Why is it that when anyone with money around the world needs something serious done medically then they come to the US?”
Not to be taken as a factual statement. While it is true that many from around the world do come to the US for medical care, it is also true that many from around the world, yes even those who are “wealthy” go to many places for treatment.
Cheesy Grits is gone but not forgotten
January 14th, 2013
3:00 pm
Why is it that when anyone with money around the world needs something serious done medically then they come to the US?
They dont. Thats a myth as explained above.
TBone
January 14th, 2013
3:03 pm
Thank the Lord that these sessions are part-time (40 days) and usually heavily laden with renaming state bridges and roads or they could do some real damage. They spend alot of time tackling those types of controversial things. I worked down at the gold dome for seven years as an influence peddler when the dems ran the show and I can attest there ain’t a whole lot of difference between the Ds and Rs down there. I think our social experiment with self-government has run into the impact of corruption on all levels.
Rafe Hollister preparing for an Obamanist America
January 14th, 2013
3:18 pm
Deep Cover
Voting is a CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT!!! Driving a car is a PRIVILEGE.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Not exactly right. Haven’t read the Constitution lately, but I do not remember anything in it about the right to Vote.
What is a Constitutional right, is owning a firearm, Second Amendment. We have to submit paperwork and ID in order to exert our right to own a firearm, if bought from a dealer.
Surely if papers are required to exercise a Constitutional right, we can demand some paperwork to vote.
press release writer
January 14th, 2013
3:23 pm
Opening up public education to more competition, and more choices for parents, have to be priorities in the 2013 legislature. My blog at http://www.pressreleasewriter.info will list suggested way to accomplish this.
Kyle Wingfield
January 14th, 2013
3:33 pm
There’s an update to the OP above…please read it for further discussion fodder.
Politico
January 14th, 2013
3:49 pm
Kyle
Legislature isn’t going to do anything that totally takes away their perks.
They will do their best to give themselves a “technicality” as an out.
Good ole boy Democrats and just the new ole boy Republicans at the Gold Dome.
With that said, keep up the pressure and pushing those guys to do what is right by the citizens of GA.
Thanks for the efforts and continued vigor on this issue.
Politico
January 14th, 2013
3:51 pm
*are not “and”
My bad
josef
January 14th, 2013
3:59 pm
Oh, rest assured, that convention of village idiots will come up with something spectacularly off-the-wall.
josef
January 14th, 2013
4:02 pm
mike
Nope. Mississippi is now coming in in the mid 40s in most rankings. Georgia is coming in in the upper 40s.
Hillbilly D
January 14th, 2013
4:18 pm
Dusty @ 12:25
Actually they’ve gotten worse through the years, the current group being the worst. And nobody up here ever drank from stills that had radiators, that stuff went to the shot houses in Atlanta and Chattanooga. Them people would drink anything.
On the right to vote
The original Constitution left voting rights up to the states, (George Washington helped get Virginia’s vote restricted to property owners, to help with Ratification in Virginia). Voting rights are referenced in Amendments 15, 19, 24 and 26 directly and in a couple others, indirectly.
Rafe Hollister preparing for an Obamanist America
January 14th, 2013
4:29 pm
Hillbilly D
Thanks for the info on Constitution and voting. I should have known that, I guess I was thinking of the right to vote for president, everyone things they have the right to vote in presidential elections, when the Constitution leaves the choice of how the electors are selected up to the states.
You have already demonstrated a more indepth knowledge of the document than the guy in the WH, who has claimed to be a Constitutional scholar.
Skip
January 14th, 2013
4:31 pm
If God wanted the poor to have medical care he would have made more of them Doctors. Right Cons?
Hillbilly D
January 14th, 2013
4:33 pm
Rafe
I basically know what’s in there but I have to go back and look up a lot of stuff. A friend of mine is a GT grad and he said he had a professor who told him “It doesn’t really matter what you know, as long as you know where you look when you do need to know something”.
It’s like when I was in the car biz, we used to have to take tests on service and parts bulletins, such as “Situation A is covered by what bulletin?”. The purpose of that wasn’t really to see if anybody knew the bulletin number, it was just basically to make people aware that there was a bulletin on a certain topic, or refresh the memory.
Saw you registered over at the Sports blogs. I think that’ll be a good thing, once they get the bugs worked out.
Rafe Hollister preparing for an Obamanist America
January 14th, 2013
4:35 pm
Kyle, hard to get excited about the bill the Senate passed. It seems more along the line of doing something for “show” rather than seeking to “fix” the problem. Why is it only for this session, why no limit on how many $99 donations.
Seems like the Firearm proposals, they are just pretend efforts, that no one expects to accomplish anything, but soothe the masses.
Hillbilly D
January 14th, 2013
4:40 pm
they are just pretend efforts, that no one expects to accomplish anything, but soothe the masses.
Ain’t that the key to electoral self-preservation?
In seriousness, though, I agree with you. If they were serious, they’d make it no gifts, like what the secretaries, janitors, etc, that work for the state have to abide by. We’re all equal but some us are more equal than others, as the saying goes.
Jefferson
January 14th, 2013
4:47 pm
Day one and no problems (real problems NOT caused by themselves) solved. Pay them.
Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed
January 14th, 2013
4:53 pm
“Countries with Universal Healthcare spend far less per person than we do and get far better results.”
Cheesy once again proving that lies, damned lies and statistics are one in the same.
Walleriin' at the trough...
January 14th, 2013
4:56 pm
“The boys are back in town!” Gettin’ all they can and more… Hopefully these clowns will not waste all 39 days and maybe they can come together and get something accomplished for the citizens.
Rafe Hollister preparing for an Obamanist America
January 14th, 2013
4:59 pm
Hillbilly
Yes, I should have looked at the Constitution before posting that, but the privilege argument just got me going, get tired of hearing that about driving. You have a right to drive if you follow the laws, you aren’t granted some great privilege from a despot.
On memory, I had an old old Latin teacher, who constantly argued against memorization. She said you only have limited storage up there, don’t clutter it up with trivial crap, just remember where you found it, you can always go back. She got irritated when the other teachers had us memorize some Robert Frost poem or something, thought it was not good teaching.
Yes I like the registration format. I have been on the sports blogs before as Dawgdad (the original), but the new system made me choose one name. I hope we go to it here, so some of these duplicate posters will quit talking to themselves.
BTW, I haven’t spent a whole lot of time with it, but how do you get the picture on your posts. I like the mule, that is a cool looking mule!
Hillbilly D
January 14th, 2013
5:12 pm
She said you only have limited storage up there, don’t clutter it up with trivial crap,
She would’ve hated me. My head is filled with interesting but useless information.
Hillbilly D
January 14th, 2013
5:14 pm
Rafe
When you’re signed in over there, go up to the top right of the page (by where you sign in) and got into Member Center. It’s pretty simple from there.
My Grandpa had a mule that bore a striking resemblance to the one in the pic. So the pic is for Ol’ Mary, once of the smartest creatures I ever knew. I swear that mule knew what day Sunday was.
Politico
January 14th, 2013
5:16 pm
Hillbilly
I’ve read a lot of your posts. We might disagree on numerous political issues, but no doubt you are one smart, level headed dude…
josef
January 14th, 2013
5:20 pm
RAFE
Interesting Latin teacher, that one! Did she let you have the paradigm for the 4th declension and the 3rd conjugation on hand when you took the test?
Jokes aside, though, this lies at the heart of the Harby Method…some things must be committed to memory, others it is more important to know where to find the information.
HILLBILLY
“She would’ve hated me. My head is filled with interesting but useless information.”
Which, Sir, in my uppity opinion, is what makes you an interesting person to spend some time with.
Lil' Barry Bailout - OBAMAPHONE!!!
January 14th, 2013
5:26 pm
Skip: If God wanted the poor to have medical care he would have made more of them Doctors.
——————–
How much did you donate to charity last year to make your dream of free health care for the poor a reality?
That’s what I thought.
Hillbilly D
January 14th, 2013
5:27 pm
Politico, josef
Thanks (now I’ve got to buy a bigger hat).
some things must be committed to memory, others it is more important to know where to find the information.
I think that’s where some of the education problems lie, we’ve lost sight of which is which. In my opinion, reading, writing, basic math, those need to be committed to memory (multiplication tables, etc). If you know those basics, you can find out anything else you need to know, if you really want to know.
Aesop's Fables and other Lib Economic Theories
January 14th, 2013
5:29 pm
Josef wanting to spend time with you could be a good or a bad thing, all depending.
JamVet
January 14th, 2013
5:33 pm
Driving a car is a PRIVILEGE.
Nope.
Dead wrong.
It is a right that has been upheld in numerous court cases.
Fact free slogans are not your friend…
Aesop's Fables and other Lib Economic Theories
January 14th, 2013
5:36 pm
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid told a Nevada television station Friday that the Senate is unlikely to pass an assault weapons ban or a radical revamp of filibuster rules.
Passing it’s only the first step, hairy, the easy part, in fact. Enforcing it, eh, I don’t think so.
josef
January 14th, 2013
5:40 pm
HILLBILLY
I agree with you on that which is which being where the problem lies in education.
” If you know those basics, you can find out anything else you need to know, if you really want to know.”
And there it is in a nutshell…we forgot what “elementary” and “primary” education are.
AESOP’S
True, that! -)
BTW. REGULARS HERE….
Do a lot of posts go into the ether around here…?
Georgia
January 14th, 2013
5:41 pm
Poor Kyle Wingfield. He doesn’t want to be the conservative that nobody will vote for, he want’s to be the “people’s conservative”, but he can’t seem to form the language for that platform, because it’s an oxymoron of which Kyle is a king of them all. WTF? Please tell me that the readers here aren’t this stupid and ignorant. Please tell me that the commenters are paid by the AJC. I don’t believe the populace is this filled with morons. I refuse to believe.
Rafe Hollister preparing for an Obamanist America
January 14th, 2013
5:42 pm
josef and Hillbilly
You both are right, you have to memorize somethings, but what she detested was memorizing dates or definitions for a test, or having to stand up in front of a class and recite a poem from memory. She thought that was abuse. As far as vocabulary, she said don’t memorize it, just practice using it so frequently that it naturally flows. The old learn from doing approach, rather than just sitting down with a vocabulary list and memorize.
Georgia
January 14th, 2013
5:48 pm
Josef, do you work for the AJC??
Rafe Hollister preparing for an Obamanist America
January 14th, 2013
5:50 pm
Clean up on aisle 5:41, please step over the mess! Someone’s mother wasted her breath, speaking about good manners.
Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed
January 14th, 2013
5:53 pm
“It is a right that has been upheld in numerous court cases.”
Cite, please?
Fact free grousing may be your modus operandi, but it doesn’t pass the smell test here. Please provide where something that isn’t available to you unless you pass a test and show proficiency is considered a “right”.
Hillbilly D
January 14th, 2013
5:56 pm
Do a lot of posts go into the ether around here…?
No more so than anywhere else in my experience, though it seems to come in bunches. I highlight and click copy before I send, usually. It’s saved me many a time.
On the education topic, I think people really missed the boat when they went away from “sounding out” words. When I was learning to read, that’s how we did it and it kept the “what’s this word” questions to a minimum.
As far as vocabulary, she said don’t memorize it, just practice using it so frequently that it naturally flows.
That’s a good point. I had an English teacher once who said I was a pretty good writer. We discussed it and how, I never really learned all the grammar rules, etc. but I have always been a voracious reader and I reckon it just sunk in by osmosis, what flows and what doesn’t.
It’s interesting how general conversation and the written word are different. In talking, I’ll answer you in half a sentence, if I can but that doesn’t really work on the page (I had a boss who couldn’t stand it because I always answered his questions “yes, no, or I don’t know”). And I think we’ve all experienced how wit, humor, irony, etc. can get totally misunderstood on here, since you can’t see the mannerisms, hear the voice inflections, etc.
hsn
January 14th, 2013
5:56 pm
Tell them they should go back to the caves they were hiding under !
josef
January 14th, 2013
5:57 pm
GEORGIA
No, why do you ask?
RAFE
Certainly. I had some magnificent Latin teachers, starting with my Granny when I was nine, the morning after my first possum hunt on which Granddaddy and Uncle Ralph (the Leprechaun of the
Hedge School) recited this poem from memory to me…the lesson objective? Learn to be able to pull the meaning of the word from its forms and context
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carmen_Possum
Rafe Hollister preparing for an Obamanist America
January 14th, 2013
6:00 pm
Tibby
For once in my life, I agree with Jamvet, God that is scary. Driving is a right. You can not legally keep someone from driving if they comply with all the driving rules. You are not granted some driving privilege by some despot or tyrant, you have the right to take the test and comply with the rules and government can not legally prevent you from driving, without cause.
Georgia
January 14th, 2013
6:00 pm
WTF? Am I the only one who doesn’t know that this is an editor’s employees’ blog? That the opinions expressed are from the AJC payrolls? Honest Injun, I din’t know. WTF is your problem, RAFE? Do you work for the AJC too, and you’re like the thugs that Henry Ford sent in to bust up the union trouble makers? I want information. If this blog is nothing but paid stooges with their google links to ad revenue, then it needs to be exposed as such. Newspapers are supposed to host open public free forums. No stooges, sorry.
Hillbilly D
January 14th, 2013
6:02 pm
josef
That poem reminds me of that thing, that most have probably seen, that goes around in e-mails, which has letters missing from every word but you can pretty easily read it, just the same.
Cletus
January 14th, 2013
6:03 pm
“…David Shafer made a strong session-opening call for senators to be mindful of how they deal with the people “out there” — meaning the lobbyists…”
Naw, knowing Shafer I’m pretty sure he was talkin about us.
Rafe Hollister preparing for an Obamanist America
January 14th, 2013
6:04 pm
hsn
Tell them they should go back to the caves they were hiding under !
Now, that would be pretty hard to do! Your put down does not work!
JamVet
January 14th, 2013
6:07 pm
“Cite, please?”
Lots and lots of case law here to show that driving is a right. Now let’s see your case law evidence that it is a “privilege”. Oh that’s right, you don’t do what you ask of others.
http://educate-yourself.org/cn/drivingisrightnotprivledge07apr05.shtml