Chatham Dems

Rep. Lester Jackson is going to send us periodic updates on the legislative session. Here is the first one from his communications people, Capitoline Communications, a division of Claudia & Company.

The House, in history-making fashion, overrode 12 of Governor Perdue’s vetoes. At the conclusion of the 2007 Georgia Legislative Session, there were many indications that the opening of the 2008 Session would prove to be a unique and lively one. Traditionally the first day of the session is generally casual that includes family members and mostly many “welcome back” and “great to see you” exchanges amongst the representatives.

However for the opening day of the 2008 session, the theme was without doubt, ladies and gentleman, it is time for business in Georgia. For those that enjoy a shot of fireworks with their political cup of coffee, you got the 4th of July special.The dreaded word “impeachment” was even spoken in reference to Lt. Governor Cagel by a member of his own party. For the first time since 1974, the House invoked its veto override rights swiftly on day one. This is quite significant for Georgia politics because as stated previously, the last time a veto override occurred was over thirty years ago under the Carter administration, thus meaning it was the first veto override that Governor Sonny Perdue has had to swallow. This without doubt left a bitter taste in his mouth as he has ultimately enjoyed the privileges that usually come when your party is in a comfortable majority in both chambers of the legislative branch.

However in a bold show of confidence in overriding the 12 out of over 40 bills the Governor vetoed upon the completion of the 2007 session, Speaker Richardson (R-HD 19 Hiram) showed zero apprehensiveness in encouraging his chamber to override these vetoes. The 12 bills that were vetoed had strong bipartisan support in both the House and Senate, and were passed by both chambers easily with an overwhelming majority. Yes citizens of Georgia, your checks and balance system, designed so that no one branch of government has ultimate authority, is in play for you despite Republican control. For many this is very refreshing in a political climate that for decades has been very partisan, without very much compromise between the two major political parties. Speaker Richardson’s actions for the Democrats set a great bipartisan tone for the remainder of the 2008 session. While vetoing these 12 bills on the very first day of the session appeared to be setting up a crash landing for the Governor, it appears the Senate may be softening the landing for him. Upon completing the veto overrides, Speaker Richardson demonstrated his expectations for his opposing chamber to not delay moving on the overrides in the Senate when he said,

The constitution requires them to immediately consider [the overrides] and not to play a game, But I predict the other body that took an oath may well shirk their responsibility and not address these matters.

There now has been much speculation on what exactly the words “immediately consider” mean now in regards to the Senate’s constitutional duties regarding their role in addressing the vetoes. While there have been many occurrences already this session that politics as usual will not be the case this year, the common use of semantics in politics of what exactly a “word” means will be used as the Lt Governor sees fit. The intentions of the Senate will hopefully become more clear once the Legislature returns and the session begins again on January 28th. The Governor’ s vetoed bills that were overridden and sent to the Senate are as follows in numerical order:

• HB 69- bill aimed to eliminate the fee charged for access to a person’s online driver’s records.
• HB 91- bill that would force state agencies to report financial information to the Georgia Legislature
• HB 162- bill would give exemptions from state sales tax for the construction of health clinics and centers for performing arts.
• HB- 218 bill modifies the power held by security guards in order for police powers to be able to be exercised by the Georgia Port Authority
• HB- 229 bill aimed to keep current allowances for books by changing the method lottery reserve funds are measured
• HB- 413 bill provides an exemption from the sales tax in the sale of property that would expand the Chattahoochee Nature Center
• HB- 441 bill that repeals a law from 2005 that regulates bank dividends
• HB- 451 bill aimed to authorize a tax refund from the State in order to put in place incentives to entice development of tourist attractions in Georgia
• HB- 529 Bill corrects the references to the legislative budget office in current state law to reflect the current status of the House Budget Office.
• HB- 549 bill addresses physical therapy for children with disabilities and occupational speech
• HB- 559 bill would provide authorization for state health insurance benefits to public charter school teachers and their employees
• HB 807- bill concerns local legislation of the city of Auburn

For the House veto overrides to be upheld it will require a two thirds approval from Senate members. Besides the veto overrides, the other hot topic facing the General Assembly was the highly publicized and anticipated water bill that was outlined by The Water Council.

The initial plan that was submitted underwent many changes by the time it was before the Assembly for a vote. Ultimately the final draft of the plan was passed by both houses.

It passed the House by a 131-37 vote and 39-12 in the Senate. The vote was primarily not along party lines, rather being voted based on the geographical location of the Assembly members. After the votes were cast, it was obvious it was not Republicans versus Democrats, but metro Atlanta versus the remainder of the State. While those in the Atlanta area’s thirst seemed to be quenched, it left the rest of the members parched. Many feel that the needs of metro Atlanta’s water needs are being met at any cost at the expense of the rest of the State. This issue has further supported the argument by many that there is not one Georgia, but two, north Georgia (which has come to mean Atlanta) and south Georgia. This idea has increasingly been accepted as the unofficial truth since the extremely quick growth of the Atlanta area began.

In the opening week, also on the agenda was Governor Perdue’s greatly anticipated State of the State address before a joint session of the Assembly. It outlined mostly the Governor’s budget proposal for fiscal year 2009. His budget proposal shows an increase from his previous year’s request at the tune of $1 billion dollars. In his address the Governor encouraged the Assembly to address the proposal quickly. Hearings and committee meetings were scheduled to be held the week before the Assembly returns to session January 28 to discuss each item of the budget proposal.

Representative Jackson was generally pleased by the manner in which the session began. He was encouraged by the show of bipartisanship in the House. He feels the House took the moral high ground in overriding the 12 vetoes from the Governor. He believes it to be unfair for the Governor to with the stroke of a pen to veto legislation that was carefully examined in committees and overwhelmingly passed by both chambers of the Assembly.

With regards to the Water Plan that ultimately passed in the House, Representative Jackson was not satisfied with the results. He felt there was no urgency to vote on the plan that had undergone many changes before being presented to the House. Representative Jackson would have liked more time to carefully examine the final draft and bring it back to his district in order to discuss the plan thoroughly with his constituents. Representative Jackson wants to ensure that the water plan will adequately serve Savannah just as well as it will Atlanta. When asked what he believes will be the main issues addressed in the assembly, he stated that taxes will be a major theme of the session. He hopes to find ways through the assembly to provide better quality jobs in his Savannah district.

Local crime is also a very important concern of Representative Jackson. One of the many ideas he has to lessen the crime and increase the safety of his constituents is to put in place surveillance cameras in high crime areas. These cameras would not be placed only in the high traffic tourist areas of Savannah, but in the residential areas as well. While it is important to Representative Jackson to protect tourist that come to Savannah and bring their dollars, it is his utmost priority to protect the families that live, work, and make great contributions to their great city. (Representative Jackson D- HD 161 Savannah) Representative Jackson currently serves on the following committees: Banks & Banking; Health & Human Services; Higher Education; Insurance.

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