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By Jeff, on March 22nd, 2010%
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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By Jeff, on March 11th, 2010%
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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By Jeff, on February 8th, 2010%
Last week, State Senator David Shafer (R-Duluth) introduced a bill he calls the Voter Choice and Ballot Access Act, which is officially known as SB 359.
Equal ballot access is the number one issue on SWGAPolitics.com’s 2010 Legislative Agenda, and this bill is a solid step in that direction. The bill basically says that once a political organization has met the required hurdles to gain state wide ballot access, it would also be able to run candidates in all partisan races in this State – not just state wide. Currently, the Libertarian Party of Georgia is the only “third” party to do this, which means that under this bill Tom, Tim, myself, or any other Libertarian in the area could run for County Commission or even State Rep, if we so desired. Under current law, we could not without getting petition signatures from 5% of the registered voters in our district – and in one local election recently, the winner of the election only got 4.8% of the registered voters in the district to vote for him!
This bill also allows for a form of electoral fusion, whereby a political body (such as the Libertarian Party) could co-nominate candidates for offices along with an official “party” (such as the Democrats and Republicans). In other words, the Libertarian Party could co-nominate a candidate for State Rep with either the Democratic Party or the Republican Party, if such candidate was acceptable to the LP.
The final thing this bill does is change the wording on the POTUS requirements for official “party” status to allow for 20% of the voters in the State of Georgia to satisfy this requirement. Under current law, even if the Libertarian Party’s Presidential nominee got 100% of the vote in Georgia, if that nominee only came out with 19.5% of the vote nationally, the Libertarian Party of Georgia would not have met the 20% requirement to attain full “party” status.
This bill does almost nothing for independent candidates, as their signature requirements are not touched in any way. Because of this, the bill is not perfect. With that said, however, this bill IS a solid step in the right direction, and at this point we need a victory to start some momentum going in the right direction. Going over to my football analogy again, I agree that we don’t score on this play. But this play is absolutely one that at a bare minimum will get us the three yards we need, may even get us a first down on this play, and could potentially open up the opposing defense so that the next play is far larger. Because of this, it is absolutely the right play to call at the moment.
The General Assembly needs to pass this bill to allow fairer ballot access in this State. I fully endorse it, and I urge Secretary of State Brian Kemp and all of his potential opponents this November to endorse this proposal as well. I also urge each and every candidate in every statewide race to endorse this bill as a signal to the General Assembly, the Governor, and the Secretary of State that this is absolutely something we are all concerned about. Democratic Party of Georgia State Committee member Andre Walker has already endorsed this bill, as has Jason Pye.
By Jeff, on January 21st, 2010%
I was specifically requested to read SB 311, David Shafer’s Water Savings and Conservation Act of 2010, and give my comments on it, so here goes:
I have no problems at all with the first two things listed as findings of the General Assembly – that local governments cannot account for roughly 18% of “surface water removed for public use” and that a significant factor in this water loss “is due to aging, faulty, or poorly maintained water infrastructure”. Those two appear to be basic facts to me, from what I have heard from talking to a variety of people across the State, including some who work in local water departments.
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By Jeff, on May 14th, 2009%
I have been a harsh critic of Senator David Shafer for several of the votes he cast during the last session of the General Assembly. He recently reached out to me, and after talking with him and doing some independent research of my own, I believe that some of my criticism of him was unfair, and in the interest of fairness, I would like to set the record straight. Continue reading Setting the Record Straight on State Senator David Shafer
By Jeff, on March 31st, 2009%
HB 614, the Prescription Drug Monitoring Program that Jason Pye and I warned you about yesterday and I asked you to call your Senator about has FAILED in the Senate by a vote of 25-29-1-1. Senator Steve Thompson (D-Marietta) did not vote on the measure and Senator Ross Tolleson (R-Perry) was excused.
Of the local delegation, only Senator John Bulloch(R-Ochlocknee) voted against the measure. Senators John Crosby (R-Tifton), George Hooks (D-Americus), and Freddie Sims (D-Albany) all voted for the measure.
I was watching the debate and had the live download going, so I hope to be able to post video of the debate soon, as Senator Preston Smith (R-Rome) did an AMAZING job speaking against this measure, both when questioning the measure’s sponsor – who happens to be Senator David Shafer (R-Duluth), who is running to be your next Lt Governor – and when in the well speaking on his own.
Indeed, one particularly insightful quote from Senator Smith was this:
“We are at the end of the day, the guardians of liberty for our citizens.”
The problem is this: The following Senators chose NOT to guard our liberty, and instead voted to allow the State to monitor even further and more obtrusively your private medical decisions:
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Water Savings and Conservation Act of 2010
I was specifically requested to read SB 311, David Shafer’s Water Savings and Conservation Act of 2010, and give my comments on it, so here goes:
I have no problems at all with the first two things listed as findings of the General Assembly – that local governments cannot account for roughly 18% of “surface water removed for public use” and that a significant factor in this water loss “is due to aging, faulty, or poorly maintained water infrastructure”. Those two appear to be basic facts to me, from what I have heard from talking to a variety of people across the State, including some who work in local water departments.
[Continue Reading]