Category: Georgia General Assembly

Barnyard legislation lands on Gov Deal’s desk

The Georgia General Assembly stooped to a new low with HB 954. By passing this legislation, the men under the Gold Dome said that legislators know more about women’s health than women, their families, and their doctors. The bill is now on the governor’s desk. He could choose not to sign it, but that isn’t likely.

Let’s make sure the legislators and the governor own this bill as theirs when it is signed. Please share this video and remember in November (or during the July primary) that being a legislator doesn’t make anyone a health care professional. But it might qualify them as a barnyard expert.

Huge energy spill can’t be contained

The Friday Photo
A weekly photo inspired by spontaneity, art, and community.
April 6, 2012

The headline for a solar energy spill could read, “Sunscreen manufacturers reap huge profits”

If it is good for the goose….

Those who make the rules don’t have to play by them. I’ve asked my reps under the Gold Dome,  Rep Mack Jackson, and Senator Jesse Stone, both of whom voted yes on this bill, to submit a urine sample for testing. I haven’t gotten a response yet.
Watch the video on HB 861 and SB 292

Dark days for Georgia’s women

The chase to Crossover Day in the Georgia General Assembly (when bills must be voted out of one side of the legislature or die) allows our elected officials to be seen at their worst and their best. Women and men across the state who value the ability of women, and their doctors, to make responsible decisions about their health care, have opposed HB 954 and SB 438.

SB 438, which passed yesterday, is stunning in its interference in the decision-making process for women’s health. The bill removes any state employee insurance coverage for a legal abortion unless the mother’s health is at serious risk. The AJC reports that the lead sponsor of SB 438, Sen Mike Crane, R-Newnan, drew gasps when refusing to add exceptions for rape and incest victims.

The 33-18 vote so angered Democratic women in the Senate that they linked arms and left the floor. Valenica Seay, D-Riverdale, said,  “This is not a good day for women in Georgia. “Come on, guys. We are not your property.”

  

The House has also been hard at work reducing health care options for women. HB 954 shortened the window of time for a legal abortion from 26 weeks to 20. Again, the question bears asking: Do state legislators in Georgia think their wives, daughters, aunts, nieces, granddaughters, friends, and doctors, are really incapable of making good decisions about abortions (which are still legal despite Conservative efforts).

Well, Rep Terry England, R-Auburn, seems to think that the women in our state can fairly be compared to cows, pigs, and chickens. England thinks that stillborn pigs and calves make for good comparisons when talking about the difficult decisions involving abortion. I don’t think I can give his comments from the House floor their due, but fortunately Bryan Long at Better Georgia posted video footage of England explaining his thoughts before voting on HB 945.

What is next Rep. England? Giving farm animals the right to vote? Or stripping away a woman’s right to do that too?

This is no time to sit on the sidelines

To my two adult daughters in their 20s-

I hope you know what is a stake with all this shouting about birth control and access to safe and legal abortion. It hasn’t really been that long since the pill was introduced in 1960 as a safe and effective means not only of planning for/avoiding pregnancy, but as a prescription treatment for certain cancers, endometriosis, acne, and cysts involving the ovaries.

Before 1965, married couples didn’t have legal and private access to birth control. Can you imagine anyone telling you, responsible adults, that? Listen to the Conservatives now. They aren’t just telling you, they are it.

The Comstock Act, a holdover from 1873, made it illegal to even mail information about birth control because it was “obscene, lewd, and/or lascivious.” Ditto for actual birth control devices. Comstock hasn’t been wiped from the books, but the definition of obscene has changed (can you imagine television without Sex and the City or movies that even hint at sex?)

And please be aware that while your may think your parents are older than Methuselah, some of my friends remember when Roe v Wade made abortion safe and legal (1973 isn’t that long ago, really. We even had color television then.)

Which brings me to the tirades which have exploded over women’s reproductive rights since Susan G. Komen pulled its support of Planned Parenthood. That opened the door for more of us to see how threatened those rights are now. Access to safe and reliable birth control isn’t just for women. It is for their male partners/husbands/one night stand guys/boyfriends. It is for you, your sister, your nieces and nephews, your friends, and the children you have now or may want to have later.

Last Thursday Rep Darrell Issa (R-California) convened at panel of “experts” to discuss the mandated coverage of birth control. You may notice that all of the “experts” are men.

 

 

 

 

 

 

This expert was shut out making comments before the panel.

Sandra Fluke is young, healthy, bright (a third year law student at Georgetown) and like you, has plans, dreams and ambitions for her career and personal life. She made her way to Congress last week to comment, but was shut out so that five men, five “experts,” none of whom will ever be pregnant, could tell Rep Issa’s panel what needs to be done about requiring access to birth control for all women.

Sandra Fluke left the Congressional hearing room with Democratic leaders last Thursday when they learned who Rep Issa deemed worthy of testifying. Yesterday she returned to testify to a room filled with people who value what women have to say about their health and access to care.

Rep Issa insists that his hearing was about health care reform and religious freedom. His hearing was certainly about freedom: it was about the freedom of women to choose the type of birth control they want so they can plan when and if they want to have children.

You don’t have to testify before a Congressional panel to make your thoughts known. But you have to speak up and you need to do it now. Call or email your Congressional Representative. Tell both of your Senators too. Stand side by side with the people who worked tooth and nail for birth control to be legal and available today. Too much is at stake to sit on the sidelines.

 

HB 887 gives corporate foxes the key to the hen house

On the heels of Georgia’s largest fish kill in our history– which included five years of unpermitted dumping-the state is on the verge of giving corporate foxes the key to the state hen house with HB 887. If you think the rules and enforcement are lax now, imagine what HB 887 will do.

This bill will allow employees of the  Department of Natural Resources (DNR), which oversees the Environmental Protection Division, to ask for donations from the corporations it permits and regulates. In reality, a corporation eager to obtain a permit might find friends by writing a large check to members of the very agency that issues the permits and then enforces adherence to the permit specs.

HB 887 is sponsored by Chad Nimmer, R-Blackshear, Matt Ramsey, R-Peachtree City, Ellis Black, R-Valdosta, B.J. Pak, R-Lilburn, Robert Dickey, R- Musella, and Richard Smith,
R-Columbus.

Now you know who to blame.

I have a hard time believing that the DNR is going to hold a bake sale to protect the rivers and streams of our state. Some House leaders, including Judy Manning (R-Marietta) and Debbie Buckner (D-Junction City) have said they are uneasy with HB 887.  Rightly so.

The state should find a way to adequately fund the agency charged with “the conservation and protection of these (Georgia’s) resources for current and future generations.” Sending employees, hat in hand, to solicit funds from taxpayers and private corporations to fund their agency is absurd. What would be next? Discount coupons for permits?

SB 401: A bill conservatives and treehuggers can love

Georgia Senate Bill 401, (SB 401) would,  in a nutshell,  deregulate solar power in Georgia and serve as an incentive for both private and commercial expansion of solar power. Between the fleet of lobbyists and influential directors at GA Power, the company has maintained a stranglehold on the amount of power that can be moved to the grid from private and commercial sources, and the way solar energy production can be financed.

In addition to removing the cap on selling solar power, SB 401 will allow companies such as MAGE, which produces solar panels at its North American headquarters just down the road from me in Dublin, to finance or lease systems to customers. Currently financing or leasing is not allowed in Georgia. Restrictions in Georgia make large scale solar energy production unattractive to investors (see paragraph above, re: GA Power lobbyists and directors).

Two doctors in Savannah. Pat Godbey and Sidney Smith, got tired of waiting on the General Assembly to loosen GA Power’s control over the grid, and in open defiance, established Tabby Power. Tabby Power sells solar produced electricity to consumers. Smith and Godbey also started Lower Rates for Customers, which helps sell solar generated electricity made in one location to consumers in other areas. You can get a taste of their solar power projects at the Driftaway Cafe in Savannah, which is a Lower Rates for Customers client.

What’s not to love in SB 401 for advocates of open and free markets? What’s not to love about maximizing clean renewable solar power, which we do have in bountiful amounts here (see paragraph above, re: MAGE solar panels decision to locate in Georgia)? Supporters of SB 401 are collecting signatures here. At the end of the day, SB 401 is the rare bill that citizens on opposite sides of the political spectrum can love.

I have to give Rep Mack Jackson credit for follow through

Last week when I was doing back flips over HB 475, which gives Industrial Development Authority boards far too much power over and control of taxpayer dollars. I called my rep in the Georgia General Assembly, Mack Jackson, to “share” my concerns (he might say I vented).

If you follow the Georgia General Assembly during the session, it is a chase. The schedule is crazy, committee meetings are cancelled after rooms are packed, there is the race to Cross Over Day, and a helmet is suggested for the last day of the session. Lobbyists have money and staff support to sway legislators but the average citizen like me doesn’t.

Mack offered to send me a link to the House Daily Report each day. With everything he has   to do, plus keeping up with a church and congregation in Tennille, he has gotten the link to me since he made his offer to do that. He encouraged me to stay in touch and he asked me specifically about the charter school bill HR 1162 last week. The Democrats have now countered with HR 1335.

This isn’t just a bill though, it is a resolution which would go to voters to amend the state’s constitution. The vote could happen today and the hallways under the gold dome are filled with lobbyists and children (Should parents and administrators use students in the front line of political warfare? That’s fodder for another post).

My phone rang a few minutes ago with Mack calling back about a question I had raised about the Democrats counter-proposal. We had a good discussion about the impact charter schools could have on rural districts with the resolutions on the floor (I found Maureen Dowd’s column on the rural impacts since Mack and I hung up the phone). Part of our discussion also included the use of constitutional amendments for policy and program change.

Mack added, and this is sad folks, I am the only person contacting him about legislation. We commiserated about the lack of online news access for people in his district which might facilitate keeping folks current. I offered to think of some ways to get information out that would be readily accessible to his constituents (the constituent has an obligation to show up at places besides the voting booth). In the mean time I offered to forward the link to my friends who follow the session. Better yet, I am adding it as a link on my blogroll to the right.

I haven’t agreed with all the votes and bills Mack has sponsored since he was elected. That is already the case with this session too. He deserves credit for following up with someone who has been his critic. Today I want to applaud him for his efforts. Let’s step up in Georgia House District  142. Mack’s contact info is here.

 

 

HB 475 lets the fox run the hen house

Just to give folks a quick perspective on some things that are concerning to some taxpayers in Washington County, GA where I live: my General Assembly Representative in the House, Mack Jackson, who was clearly raised to be polite and considerate, ushered a bill through the General Assembly after Plant Washington ( a proposed $2.1B+ coal fired power plant which lacks a pro forma estimate) was announced. The bill allows for a public facilities authority to issue bonds on projects without taxpayer input at the polls.

That means county bonds could be issued for Plant Washington, as well as other projects, putting all taxpayers on the hook should the bond-funded project go belly up. At that time, and today as well, the Industrial Development Authority is chaired by Hugh Tarbutton, and his nephew Ben Tarbutton III, serves as the Secretary. The Tarbuttons own considerable tracts of land near the Plant Washington site, with, unless things have changed recently, Hugh owning a large chunk of land where the plant would be built.

One might think the sale of thousands of acres would be motivation enough for supporting a coal plant located almost 30 miles from the river that Power4Georgians hopes has enough water in it to keep the plant operating (16M gallons of water a day is a lot).

But the 120 rail cars of coal required each day to fire the plant have to get there somehow. Fortunately Washington County has a shortline railroad which is privately held. The President of Sandersville Railroad is Hugh Tarbutton. Ben Tarbutton III is an assistant Vice-President. Other officers include Ben Tarbutton, Jr. as Vice-President,  and Charles Tarbutton, assistant Vice-President. (What doesn’t come in by rail will be trucked in. If you own a railroad why not diversify and own a trucking company too?)

Which brings us to the vote in the Georgia General Assembly on HB 475 on Thursday, which Mack Jackson supported (he also serves on the House Economic Development and Tourism  Committee where the bill originated although he is not listed as a co-sponsor). In a nutshell, HB 475 allows industrial development authorities to issue bonds to finance projects that involve private developers. Projects can include railroads used for cargo and freight transport.

And then it gets even scarier. HB 475 provides a development authority “unfettered authority” to define projects involving public and private entities, its decisions about projects “shall not be subject to review”, and the development authority shall have the authority to issue bonds. That seems like a lot of power rested in the hands of people who are not elected by the citizens at all, but rather appointed.

I wondered who in the transportation industry might have supported Mack’s campaigns. In 2008 Ben Tarbutton (no indication of Jr or III) contributed $500.00, Hugh was good for $300, Ben III weighed in at $250.00 and Charles added $250.00 to Mack’s campaign funds.  In 2010, during a three day period, Ben Jr, Ben III, and Hugh each contributed $250.00 to Jackson’s campaign coffers. During the session legislators can’t accept campaign donations (although they are free to be entertained by lobbyists) so who knows what the 2012 campaign reports will tell us.

HB 475 is so far from good legislation that late this afternoon Tom Crawford quotes one legislator saying, “they could be contributing to ‘the biggest scam going in the state of Georgia today.’ Crawford’s article quotes Representative Mark Hatfield (R-Waycross) saying, “It’s the biggest scam in the state of Georgia today. We know it’s going on all over the state.” (Hatfield is the attorney trying to have Obama removed from the Democratic primary ballot in Georgia because both of his parents weren’t natural born citizens. His argument is that the Framers of the Constitution really meant the President must be at a minimum second generation American).

Should I be afraid, or consoled, that Mark Hatfield thinks HB 475 is a bad piece of legislation? Politics makes for strange bedfellows. My goal is to avoid being run over by a train.

Senate Bill 269: Georgia’s rivers and streams for sale to lowest bidder

One would think that if an elected official, like Jesse Stone of Senate District 23, had an opportunity to introduce legislation that would create stronger safeguards for the already polluted rivers in his district, he would. But in fact, as a co-sponsor of SB 269, he hasn’t.

The Ogeechee River, which experienced the largest fish kill in our state’s history last year, meanders through Stone’s district. Reedy Creek and Brier Creek also pass through the district, and both were recently polluted with spills (the Reedy Creek spill happened over New Year’s weekend).  Stone sits on the Senate Natural Resources and the Environment Committee, so he certainly has access to and influence on a committee that should be attuned to clean air and water issues.


SB 269, which Stone co-sponsored, as written now, would allow the director of the Environmental Protection Division (sometimes referred to as the Environmental Pollution Division among citizens) to negotiate a settlement with a polluter (both private companies and local governments) rather than imposing a stiff fine or penalty. SB 269 would allow the EPD director to notify “any person” (i.e. the polluter) and offer to negoiate an agreement    In short, the polluter and the EPD director can ignore penalties and just settle on some type of corrective action.

The director may also extend the period of time for clean up in six month increments with no limit on the number of extensions allowed.

So who has Jesse Stone’s ear? Of local interest were Stone’s campaign contributors Ben Tarbutton, Jr and Hugh Tarbutton, both donating $500.00. Hugh Tarbutton chairs the Washington County Industrial Development Authority. (The Tarbuttons have been advocates for coal fired Plant Washington, organized by Power4Georgians since it was announced over four years ago.)  Ben Turnipspeed, an engineer who has worked for the cities of Sandersville, Davisboro, Deepstep, and Louisville, donated $200.00 to Stone’s campaign.

The citizens of Georgia know that the EPD failed completely and absolutely to conduct proper inspections at King America Finishing during a five year period when the company dumped unpermitted fire retardant chemicals into the river. The EPD tucked its tail between its legs and entered into a $1M consent agreement with King Finishing, when the penalty could have been as high as $91M. And now Stone supports giving the EPD even more freedom to negoiate way our natural resources?

Right now I don’t have a lot of confidence in the inspection and oversight conducted by the EPD, or its ability and willingness to pursue companies and local governments responsible for spills and dumping which endanger the drink water supplies of both municipal water systems and home and farms depending on well water in the aquifer. Drinking water alone is a reason to have and uphold the highest regulations and penalties possible. Add the damage to wildlife, recreational areas, and businesses connected to the rivers, and the damage is even greater. Georgia can’t afford to have dirty water.

I called Stone’s office and left a message that will leave no doubt in his mind how disappointed I am in this bill and his support of it. The bill now moves to the Senate Rules Committee. Citizens across the state are contacting Rules Committee members Jack Hill, Buddy Carter, and Johnny Grant by phone and email to urge them to VOTE NO on SB 269. These three senators know and value the rivers in our state. We are counting on them to stand up for clean water for all Georgians. Apparently we can’t count on Jesse Stone to do that.

Moving from one site to another

Rural and Progressive is in the process of moving from blogpsot to ruralandprogressive.org. Please bear with me while I get everything in place. I hope you will comment and be engaged in addition to sharing the posts.

Got ideas on how this can be a really great site? Let me know.

Katherine

Rural and Progressive

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