SWGA Politics

Veto Tuesday

Governor Perdue, on the very last day he was able to, took the ax of his veto pen to roughly 25 bills yesterday – a FAR cry from the number of bills he signed. You can see the full list of every bill he vetoed in both 2009 and 2010 here.

Among the bills he axed that have already received much attention were Zero Based Budgeting, SB 291 (State Senator David Shafer’s gun bill), the JOBS bill, and a bill that would have enticed the construction of a $1 Billion indoor ski park – at Red Top Mountain/Allatoona Lake.

What is particularly interesting about the ski park bill is that the veto of it is being DECRIED by some fiscal conservatives. Yep. The same people that got all riled up about the “Bridge to Nowhere” in Alaska are now saying that Red Top Mountain – an area nearly as hot as it is down here in SWGA – needed a ski park that givernment needed to help fund. (And no, that was not a typo moments ago..)

Now for a brief discussion on some vetoed bills I haven’t seen as much discussion on…
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Welcome to the new world

I’m a cynical cuss sometimes, and I know it.  Anything less than real freedom isn’t close to enough for me, and I’m vocal about it.  For me though, the touchstone of a free society is how the treat firearms.  Ultimately, more gun freedom will ultimately equal other freedom, come hell or high water.  Yesterday, Georgia became a lot more free. Read More …

Way to dispell the rumors, Sims

Senator Sims claims she’s been targeted by us vicious bloggers. After all, we’re such a monolithic force in Georgia politics that even the Georgia House pays tribute to us, right?  Of course, she could easily have proven Jeff’s accusations wrong.  All she had to do was change the language on the consolidation bill, the one that gives us a vote on the issue, so that it removed the change from partisan to non-partisan elections that would allow the bill to be exempt from cross-over day.

But she didn’t. Read More …

Crossover Day Live Blog

Today marks one of two days every year where most of the Ga political bloggers put aside our differences and work together. This is a Georgia Legislative Watch initiative, but Peach Pundit, SWGAPolitics.com, Ga Liberal, and possibly other blogs will also have this same conversation on their sites as well. (If you operate a blog and would like the code to put this on your site as well, let me know and I will get it to you.) Last year was a great time where we even had some legislators on their laptops chatting with us from the floor, and we hope to have them and others join us this year.

For those who are unaware, Crossover Day is the last day where any bill MUST pass its originating chamber to stand a chance at becoming law. The budget is one exception to this, and local legislation (such as Albany/Dougherty Consolidation) may be another.

Feel free to join in any time! We’d love to have you!

Ballot Access Reform: Dead In the Water

This Thursday, March 25, 2010, is Crossover Day in the General Assembly. If a bill does not clear the chamber it originated in by the close of business on that day, it cannot be considered in the other chamber, and therefore cannot go to the Governor for his signature into law.

To clear the chamber it originated in, a bill must first clear the committee to which it is assigned, and in some cases it must first clear the subcommittee before it can clear the committee. If it sits in committee, it can possibly be cleared in a single day. I believe it takes two days to clear a bill that sits in subcommittee.

Here’s the problem: No ballot access bill has cleared the committee or subcommittee it is currently sitting in, and as of right now neither the House Governmental Affairs committee (where all four House ballot access bills currently reside) nor the Senate Ethics committee (where the Senate ballot access bill currently resides) is scheduled to meet this week.

We put up a good fight in 2010 for ballot access. We had FOUR separate bills introduced to address some form of ballot access reform.
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Change HOPE to Need Based?

Senator Jack Hill, the Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, has introduced a bill to allow HOPE scholarships based on need, with the explicit intent that these scholarships “be targeted at the neediest students”.

Now, before going too far into this post, I should note that this is in ADDITION to current HOPE scholarships, it is NOT replacing them.

With that said, HOPE is one of those entitlement programs that is costing the State quite a bit of money – money that, as I’ve been discussing for the past week on this site, the State really doesn’t have right now. The problem for legislators is that, like Social Security at the National level, HOPE really has become the third rail of Georgia politics.
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Zombie Bill!

This one just won’t die!

Last year, one of the first bills I took on head on here on this site was HB 614, the Prescription Drug Monitoring Program. I teamed up with Jason and others across the State – including Neal Boortz at one point! – to get this bill killed once it was brought to our attention, and it died in the Senate only to have a resuscitation attempt made in the House in the form of an amendment to another bill.

Now, it has been re-introduced in a new bill, SB 418, minus the “Prescription Drug Monitoring Program” title. 418 is largely the exact same thing as 614. Clearly, there are elements within the General Assembly that desperately want this measure to pass.
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Roosters in Subdivisions? Say It Aint So!

Lately, some “liberty” (I use the term loosely here) activists have gotten it into their heads that local governments are trying to persecute them.

How?

By saying “no” to roosters in subdivisions.

So they had their go-to boy, State Rep Bobby Franklin, introduce a bill that would preempt local control on this issue and mandate that no local government could prohibit gardening nor the keeping of chickens, goats, or rabbits – and nor could they require a permit for these activities.
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Open Letter to Members of House Government Affairs Elections Subcommittee

Dear Rep,

I know with the session starting back in full swing today, you really don’t have time to read a lot of emails, so I’ll make this short.

Please vote for favorable passage of Rep Reese’s HB 1141 in the Elections subcommittee meeting today.

I don’t know if you’re aware of this, but right now anyone who seeks to run for a statewide office under any banner other than Democrat/Republican/Libertarian must collect signatures from 5% of the registered voters in the state -roughly 50,000 signatures- on a nomination petition, just to be allowed to be on the ballot. This is in addition to the same filing fee D/R/L candidates pay. This represents an undue burden that has RARELY – if ever – been met. Rep Reese’s proposal changes this requirement to the lesser of 5% or 5,000.
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Ballot Access Bill Introduced in Ga House!

Last week, a ballot access bill was introduced in the Ga House that is much more compact than Senator Shafer’s Voter Choice and Ballot Access Act. Where Senator Shafer’s bill allows ballot access at ALL levels once a political body gains statewide access, this bill makes it easier for political organizations to run candidates statewide – and thereby possibly gain statewide ballot access.

This bill is Rep Bobby Reece’s HB 1141. What this bill does is essentially cuts the number of signatures required for an organization to gain statewide ballot access by a whole order of magnitude. Instead of having to get 1% of registered voters for a statewide race (roughly 50,000 signatures, per Jason Pye), this bill says that a minimum of 5,000 signatures are needed. It also says that for any other office, the lesser of 5% of the registered voters in the district or 5,000 signatures is needed.
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