Senate Democratic Caucus
2013 Legislative Summary
Table of Contents
Notable Legislation Passed
The Good
Ethics
HOPE Grant Expansion
SSO Reform
State Budget
Prohibition of Mugshot Websites
Financial Restitution for Lathan Ward
Tax Credit Expenditure Report
The Bad
Hijacking of Local Control
Fulton County
Macon-Bibb County
Blocked Abortion Ban for State Employees
Anti-Worker Legislation
Polling Locations in Gated Communities
The Ugly
Hospital Bed Tax Re-Authorized
Lackluster Immigration Law Changes
Legislation Passed By House and Senate
Agriculture
Appropriations
Civil Law
Criminal Law
Early Childhood Education
Economic Development
Elections
Employment
Ethics
Family Law
Financial Regulation
Finance
Government Contracting
Health Care
Higher Education
Industrial Regulation
Insurance
Judicial Process
K-12 Education
Labor
Local Government
Local Legislation of Note
Natural Resources & Environment
Public Safety
Retirement
State Government
Transportation
Urging Resolutions
Legislation that Failed to Pass House and Senate
Index by Bill Number
House Bills
House Resolutions
Senate Bills
Senate Resolutions
Notable Legislation Passed
The Good
Ethics
Ethics reform was a major theme of the 2013 legislative session, culminating in passage of HB 142 and 143 on the last day of session.
HB 142 imposes a $75 gift cap on most lobbyist gifts. While several loopholes remain, it has fewer loopholes than other proposals. HB 142 will not require citizen activists to register as lobbyists. It eliminates the $300 lobbyist registration fee. Finally, it restores rulemaking authority to the Ethics Commission, which will help the Commission actually enforce ethics laws. The most notable change in HB 143 is that it moves the January 1 reporting date to January 31, which will speed up disclosure of funds raised at fundraisers immediately before session. It will also reduce reporting requirements for local elected officials who raise and spend small sums of money.
Unfortunately, the Senate did not hold hearings on Democratic ethics proposals to create a truly independent Ethics Commission. Senate Democrats introduced legislation to create an independent Ethics Commission appointed by the judiciary and to provide sustainable funding for the commission as percentage of the state budget. These Democratic proposals would have allowed the Ethics Commission to actually investigate and enforce ethics laws without having to worry about retribution from the Governor or Legislature.
HOPE Grant Expansion
The General Assembly passed HB 372, which will expand access to the HOPE Grant for Technical Schools.
As part of the Governor’s failed 2011 HOPE reform package, the Grade Point Average (GPA) requirement for the HOPE Grant was raised to 3.0, which caused an estimated 9,860 students to leave technical schools the first year. Many technical college students are non-traditional students that do not have the time or resources to maintain a GPA over 3.0.
HB 372 will lower the GPA requirement to 2.0, which will allow several thousand technical school students to return to school.
However, there is still a lot of work to be done. The HOPE Grant still will not cover the entirety of technical school tuition. Technical education is most beneficial to low-income students who often do not have the disposable income to pay for even part of a technical education and who have concerns about saddling themselves and their families with student loan debt to make up the difference. The technical college system is one of the best programs we have to raise the quality of life of Georgians, and it is imperative that we take further steps to maximize access.
SSO Reform
The General Assembly passed SB 243, Senate Democrat-led legislation to address abuses in the Student Scholarship Organization tax incentive. The SSO program was established in 2008 and allows individual Georgians and businesses to claim dollar-for-dollar tax credits for donations to fund scholarships for private schools and has come under allegations of abuse.
The Southern Education Foundation, an educational policy group, found that student scholarship organizations and private schools throughout the state have raised funds by telling donors that they may claim a tax credit for a donation that will directly or indirectly benefit specific students. More simply, donors may donate to an SSO and then designate a particular student, including their own child, as the beneficiary while being able to write off up to $2,500 in dollar-for-dollar tax credits for Georgia citizens and up to 75 percent for corporations.
Senate Democrats fear that abuse of this law is simply another demonstration of the rampant anti-public education stance that the Georgia General Assembly has taken since 2002.
SB 243 will provide much needed transparency to the program and require full disclosure about which schools receive money and how money is allocated. With access to information about how money is allocated through the program, citizens and law enforcement will be able to identify the schools and scholarship organizations that are illegally allowing donors to designate scholarships.
Unfortunately, a $6 million increase in the size of the program was tacked on at the eleventh hour of the legislative session, but the benefits from the transparency in the measure may help to ensure that we know what is going on behind the scenes in this program.
State Budget
The legislature’s only constitutional mandate is to pass a budget each year. The process begins with a recommended budget from the Governor, and the House and Senate make changes over the course of session. Despite another year of lackluster revenue, Senate Democrats were able to fund some important projects and protect several key programs.
One of the most important changes in the Senate version of the budget is to fund the construction of new facilities at two Georgia colleges. The Senate has allocated funding to build a new science building at Clayton State University and to renovate the Academic Sciences Building at Atlanta Metropolitan College.
The Senate also restored funding to several important programs. The Senate restored full funding to for North Georgia College military scholarships. In health care, the Senate eliminated cuts to tuberculosis detection and treatment and reduced cuts to trauma care. It also restored full funding to the school nutrition program.
Finally, both the Senate and House have already agreed to maintain sparsity grants for low-income schools, particularly those in rural areas with low population.
Prohibition of Mugshot Websites
The General Assembly passed HB 150 to prohibit websites from posting mug shots of people who were arrested but not convicted of a crime and charging them to take them down. These websites perpetuate a scam where they post people’s mug shots online and then charge large sums of money to have the mug shots removed. Under this Democrat-led legislation, any website that posts mug shots of people who were exonerated or otherwise had their cases dismissed would have to remove them upon request without imposing any charges.
Financial Restitution for Lathan Ward
Days before he was scheduled to enter military service, Mr. Lathan Ward was wrongly charged and convicted of robbery. After serving 11 years in prison, new evidence in the case proved the wrongful imprisonment.
Democrats led the charge through HB 73 to provide $400,000 to Mr. Ward to help compensate for the time he served. While some in the GOP tried to block the payment on political grounds, the Senate passed the measure in the final hours of the 2013 session.
Tax Credit Expenditure Report
HB 454 will allow for a tax expenditure report to be included in the budget outlining for each expenditure a description of the objective of the tax expenditure taken from original legislation; information relevant to determining whether the expenditure is meeting its stated purpose; an analysis of the tax expenditure's effect on the administration of the tax system; and an analysis of the persons, corporations, or other entities that are directly benefited by the expenditure.
The legislation is currently advisory to allow the state time to implement the report, but negotiations are already underway between the Department of Revenue, Georgia State, and independent watchdog groups to have this report included as soon as feasible.
The Bad
Hijacking of Local Control
Increased state interference into local matters was a continued and troubling theme throughout the 2013 session. The Republican supermajority used the 2012 redistricting process to give itself control over Democratic areas through the local legislative process.
Under Georgia law, legislation that affects cities or counties must be approved by a majority of the legislators representing parts of the local government. The new maps were drawn so that numerous Republican districts have small areas of Democratic counties, which gives the GOP control of the local delegations. Some of the more egregious laws passed are listed below.
Fulton County
HB 171 creates new Fulton County Commission maps. The GOP-controlled General Assembly refused to consider new maps last year, instead waiting until this year when they control the local delegation. The most notable feature is that the new maps eliminate a majority-minority at-large district and replaced it with a heavily white district in North Fulton. The maps will now head to the Department of Justice and eventually the courts to determine whether the new maps violate the Voting Rights Act and US Constitution.
HB 347 will give the Fulton County legislative delegation power to appoint the chair of the Fulton County Board of Elections. Currently, that position is appointed by the Fulton County Commission. This legislation is a blatant power grab, and creates a system that is completely unheard of elsewhere in Georgia.
HB 443 will make the Fulton County Chief Magistrate an elected position. While this change may seem to make sense, the legislation also allows the Governor to appoint the next Magistrate with no election. This handpicked appointee will be able to run for re-election as an incumbent without ever having to win an open election or win as a challenger. This is just another example of the state’s attack on Fulton County sovereignty and sets a dangerous precedent for local governments across the state.
HB 594 makes all new Fulton County employees and all current employees who change jobs at-will employees. It will not apply to law enforcement, firefighters, and EMTs. This is a clear example of the state dictating how Fulton County should spend its tax revenues. Fulton County has used a merit-based employment system, and that system has worked well and protected workers’ rights for many years. It is not the place of the state to mandate that Fulton County change its employment practices to fit a GOP ideology.
HB 598 enshrines in the Fulton County Charter that all court employees are at-will employees. The County Commission has already elected to make court employees at-will. This is merely a state power grab to rob the Commission of its discretion on how to classify employees.
HB 604 caps the Fulton County millage rate until 2015, at which point it would require a vote of five or more Commissioners to raise the rate. Once again, the state is dictating how Fulton County decides to tax itself. This legislation is also unnecessary as Fulton County has never raised property taxes since 1991 and has lowered them many times since then. Fulton County is fiscally solvent and provides many important services, including funding for Grady Hospital.
Macon-Bibb County
Macon-Bibb County has also been the target of local legislation. Last year the county passed legislation to consolidate the governments of the City of Macon and Bibb County. The local delegation has been gerrymandered to be controlled by two Republicans, including one from all the way up in Butts County, who are now pushing legislation to drastically alter the structure of the new consolidated government.
The Macon strategy is to move as many elections as possible to the July nonpartisan election. The primary purpose of this strategy is to shrink the size of the electorate and disenfranchise voters, particularly minorities and the elderly. While voter disenfranchisement is always deplorable the Macon legislative package is particularly troubling because it changes the structure of the consolidated government right after the voters approved it.
The voters of Macon-Bibb County voted to create a government with partisan elections conducted in the November general election. The voters did not approve partisan elections; the voters did not approve holding elections in July. By changing the rules right after the incorporation vote, backers of this legislation have intentionally deceived to the voters.
Blocked Abortion Ban for State Employees
In its original form, HB 246 was a measure that allowed the Georgia World Congress Center Authority to provide its own insurance plan for employees. However, the GOP added language in the Senate that prohibited any state-sponsored insurance plans from providing abortion coverage.
The measure would have banned abortion coverage for roughly 650,000 people covered by the State Health Benefit Plan—including workers, retirees, and dependents, During a time of economic hardship, the measure would have taken away health coverage from Georgian’s who have coverage right now, and unilaterally take away the health rights of women, regardless of their social, economic or physical circumstances that they pay for themselves.
Democrats worked hard to prevent the passage of HB 246, which ultimately was not passed during the 2013 legislative session.
Anti-Worker Legislation
It seems that a year cannot go by without some sort of anti-worker legislation being forced through the General Assembly by special interests and the Georgia Chamber of Commerce.
HB 361 was one of this year’s major anti-labor initiatives. It would allow union members to revoke authorization for automatic dues payment at any time, which would cause an accounting nightmare for both labor and management. There is no reason to mandate such an inefficient process on companies and labor organizations except to essentially punish companies that have unionized employees.
SB 179 was hijacked by the House to add language prohibiting local governments from entering into project labor agreements. PLAs are a useful tool, which allow local governments and labor to set out each other’s rights before entering into a large-scale construction or other economic development project. These agreements are mostly used to allow unions to help finance large projects without fear of being cut out of the process later on. By removing this tool, the state has taken one more tool out of the local development and redevelopment toolbox.
Polling Locations in Gated Communities
In yet another example of trying to game the system, GOP-backed HB 87 was passed to allow polling locations to be placed in gated communities. This is clearly to make it as easy as possible for the well to do to vote, while middle and working class voters have to wait in long lines to have their voices heard.
The Ugly
Hospital Bed Tax Re-Authorized
In the first week of session, the General Assembly passed SB24, also known as the “bed tax,” to extend a two-year old funding mechanism to avert a crisis in the state’s budget.
SB 24 would allow the Department of Community Health to levy the tax – in the form of fees – on hospitals to fill a Medicaid funding hole of nearly $700 million.
Under the current structure, most Georgia hospitals pay fees of 1.45 percent of net patient revenue. The state uses money raised by the tax to qualify for the additional federal funds based on how much Medicare they provide in the community.
While it is necessary to ensure our rural, safety net and trauma care hospitals have the money they need to continue to serve our communities, SB 24 is only a stopgap solution. There are also concerns that SB 24 reduces transparency and the legislative oversight necessary by delegating too much authority for setting fees and monitoring the Bed Tax to the Department of Community Health.
The longer term solution necessary to provide our hospitals, physicians, citizens and families the health care funding they need is for Governor Nathan Deal to accept the state Medicaid expansion funds that are provided under the new Affordable Health Care Act that was passed by Congress last year.
Lackluster Immigration Law Changes
SB 160 does fix one of the larger administrative issues with the disastrous 2011 immigration bill by no longer requiring business or people renewing business licenses, occupational tax certificates, etc. to provide proof of legal residency if they had previously established residency. It also allows copies of documents to satisfy the “secure and verifiable document” requirement and would allow electronic submission of documentation.