Ethics

A joint meeting of the House and Senate Ethics Committee met on Monday and opened up with a presentation from former House Minority Leader Bob Irvin, Chairman of the Board of Common Cause Georgia. Irvin laid out several specific requests from the General Assembly in the area of ethics reform, including that campaigns be prohibited from moving money from their campaign accounts, and that a $50 limit be placed on lobbyist expenditures. Irvin also urged for a code of conduct for legislators, and then called unmet pledges to reform ethics by Republican lawmakers an "unredeemed campaign pledge." House Ethics Chairman Joe Wilkinson (R - Sandy Springs), responded firmly that Republicans passed major ethics reform in 2005 (the first year of a Republican majority in the House), and that Irvin's characterization was "something I just cannot accept." Irvin was followed by Bill Jordan , past chair of the Georgia Ethics Commission. Jordan outlined the history and current environment of the ethics system in Georgia for the joint committee. Jordan was followed by Robert Highsmith and Doug Chalmers, two attorneys who have been involved with ethics legal reform in Georgia. Due to time constraints, the meeting was adjourned early and Senator Dan Moody (R - Johns Creek) announced that both Chalmers and former Executive Secretary of the Georgia Ethics Commission Rick Thompson would speak at the next meeting.

Transportation

Yesterday, the Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) held a special called Board meeting to discuss their previous action asking GDOT employees to move GDOT to a flow-of-funds method of accounting. Board Chairman Bill Kuhlke opened the meeting by describing his concerns with the resolution, stating that it would be tremendously difficult for the Department to make such an accounting change in the middle of the fiscal year. Kuhlke elaborated that it was his feeling that continuing the Board's previous action would jeopardize the interest rates on $300 million in bonds that Governor Sonny Perdue has proposed in his FY2011 budget. Kuhlke then suggested that the Board rescind the original motion (that passed last week), except for the portion asking Attorney General Thurbert Baker for a speedy opinion on the accounting issue. Board member Roy Harrington made the motion suggested by Kuhlke, which was seconded by Board member Robert Brown. During the discussion period, Chief Counsel Sandra Burgess opined that it would be illegal for the Board to take this action at all, citing Title 50 of the O.C.G.A. annotated, which requires all agencies in Georgia's executive branch to operate on uniform accounting principles. After a lengthy discussion over various definitions involved, the Board voted 6-4 to defeat Harrington's motion. Thereafter, Board member David Doss made a motion to amend his original motion to postpone the institution of accrual accounting methods until July 1, contingent on receiving a favorable opinion from the Attorney General's office. Board member Brandon Beach suggested that a favorable opinion also be obtained from the State Accounting Office. The motion passed with only one dissenting vote.

Across town, work continues at the state Capitol on a funding solution for Georgia's strapped transportation infrastructure. Currently, the leadership of the House and Senate are working with Governor Perdue on a piece of legislation to address this issue. The current proposal being floated would add $300 million in bond revenue to be added to the general fund annually for the next 10 years. That money would be subject to appropriations, and the Department would present a list of projects each year to the General Assembly to justify those appropriations. Current intent is for that money to go to completing the Governor's Road Improvement Program (GRIP) and the creation of freight corridors around the state. Additionally, the legislation would set up a statewide SPLOST vote in the boundaries of the 12 Regional Development Councils (RDCs). Each RDC would vote on a specific list of projects within that region. The vote would be held statewide on a specific day in 2012. However, the results of the vote within each RDC would stand alone. This proposal closely mirrors a legislative proposal presented several years ago, and elements of the proposal currently have the support of varied members of the General Assembly and executive branch.

Texting While Driving?

The House Public Safety & Homeland Security Committee met on Wednesday to discuss HB 938 by Rep. Allen Peake (R - Macon) and HB 944 by Rep. Amos Amerson (R - Dahlonega).

Both pieces of legislation ban texting on cell phones while driving. Much of the discussion on these pieces of legislation centered on how law enforcement would be able to know that a driver is texting, how law enforcement could determine the difference between a driver texting or dialing a phone number (since talking on a cell phone would not be banned), and which types of people should be exempt since the legislation would be applicable to using laptops or other electronic devices (such as law enforcement, fire, EMS and utility workers).

Public Safety Committee Chairman Burke Day (R - Tybee Island) placed both pieces of legislation in a subcommittee that will work to iron out major issues with the bills and merge them together.

On a similar note, the Senate passed SB 306, which removes the prohibition of wearing headsets or headphones while driving if used for communication purposes (this would make it clear in law that hands free head devices could be worn while driving).

Telecom Modernization

On Thursday, the Senate Regulated Industries and Utilities Committee met and Chairman David Shafer introduced a committee substitute to HB 168 . According to the chairman, the committee substitute would eliminate antiquated regulations, level the playing field for telecom competitors, and phase out fees on consumers. At issue are regulations, fees and rules that were established decades ago. However, now that competitive forces from newer technologies are in force in Georgia, Chairman Shafer stated the need for regulations to be updated to reflect the new competitive environment. Another major portion of the bill deals with oversight of the Public Service Commission. Recent editorials have been written in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution , and the Georgia Public Policy Foundation released a study in conjunction with the Discovery Institute arguing for movement on this issue to make Georgia competitive with other Southeastern states and encourage investment.

Speaker David Ralston: No New Taxes

This week, Speaker David Ralston (R - Blue Ridge) spoke out about Governor Sonny Perdue's proposed 1.6% tax on hospitals, which Perdue says is needed to fill an increasing gap in Georgia's Medicaid budget. Perdue's budget forecasters have warned that healthcare providers could experience an across-the-board rate cut of up to 16.5% if supplemental funding for Medicaid is not found. Ralston stated that he'd asked House Appropriations Chairman Ben Harbin to find additional cuts in the budget, anticipating that the 1.6% "bed tax" would not be utilized.