The Evil Eyebrow

HB 837 – Lower GPA for HOPE Scholarship. All we’ve been hearing about for the last year with respect to HOPE is that it’s running out of money. Now there’s a bill which will reduce the GPA for HOPE eligibility from 3.0 to 2.5. I’m confused.

HB 834 – Energy Tax Credits. This bill would give you a tax credit against your Georgia income tax in the amount paid to utility companies for natural gas or electricity or other costs involved in the “…daily operation of a personal residence.” This would apply to “families” which are “two or more related individuals who share a personal residence and have a combined income of less than $75,000.00.” Sounds great for those families, however I will once again note that there are six cosponsors on this bill, none of whom are Republican.

SB 358 – Preference Reciprocity. This bill would require local governments or the State to grant preference to Georgia-resident vendors over vendors from another state or local government to the same amount that the other state or local government in question grants preference to their own resident vendors. This is an update to existing law that requires state-on-state reciprocity by expressly including local governments in the mix. I find it of interest that while out of state preferences by local governments are to be reciprocal, there is no such provision enacted or proposed that would require the same for in-state local governments.

SB 357 – Repeal of Laws Regarding Treated Timber Products. I find this particular bill interesting not because of the subject matter, but because I have absolutely no idea what it’s about. The bill would repeal the entirety of Part 2, Article 5, Title 2, of Article 14 of the Georgia code. As you can see from the image below, there is a reasonable amount of text that is to be deleted. I imagine there is some deep wheeling and dealing going on, but what it is, I haven’t a clue.

HB 871 – Additional Penalty for Traffic Violations. This bill extends to 2018 the provisions listed here:

(a) In every case in which any court in this state shall impose a fine or bond payment, which shall be construed to include costs, for any violation of the traffic laws of this state or for violations of ordinances of political subdivisions which have adopted by reference the traffic laws of this state, there shall be imposed as an additional penalty a sum equal to 5 percent of the original fine.

Pretty boring. Seems like a good Tea Party advocate would clamber about this, however this isn’t a tax per se, it’s an additional cherry on top of a court administered fine.

HB 870 – Residential and General Contractors. This bill would allow me to become licensed as a Residential or General Contractor without examination by virtue of being a Professional Engineer. There would still be experience requirements which I don’t qualify for. Bill says go!

HB 863 – Changing some Items on State Contracts. This bill would allow state agencies to effect contracts up to $25,000 without competitive bidding (changing from $5,000), however, that’s not why I’m bringing it up. The reason why I’m citing this is because it also changes the definition of “Small Business”.
Before:

(2) ‘Small business’ means a Georgia resident business which is independently owned and operated. In addition, such business must have either fewer than 100 employees or less than $1 million in gross receipts per year.

After:

(3) ‘Small business’ means a Georgia resident business which is independently owned and operated. In addition, such business must have either fewer than 500 employees or less than $50 million in gross receipts per year.

That’s a big change. I’m not sure how this compares to other states, or the federal government.

Update! I’ve been reliably informed that this change in the definition of small business brings us in line with the Federal Government.

Oh, Hey! Interesting! Directly related to HB 863 which I just mentioned there is HB 854 which also changes the definition of “Small Business”:

(3) ‘Small business’ means a Georgia resident business which is independently owned and operated and which does not exceed the maximum number of employees or amount of annual receipts allowed for a small business and its affiliates to be classified as a small business under the 2007 North American Industry Classification System.

I went looking and I found this: Size Standards Table

HB 853 – Georgia Right to Grow Act. Everyone wants chickens, right? This bill would prohibit a local government from “…prohibit[ing] or requir[ing] any permit for the growing or raising of food crops or chickens or rabbits in home gardens, coops, or pens on private residential property so long as such food crops or animals or the products thereof are used for human consumption by the occupant of such property and members of his or her household and not for commercial purposes.” I’m supportive of this measure, however I find it blissfully ironic that the legislators in question would probably be in favor of States’ rights over the Federal Government, but at the same time turn around and assert that local governments do not have the same desires.

HR 1237 – Urging the Federal Government to Cease Collecting Motor Fuel Taxes in the State of Georgia. This resolution isn’t quite what it says. Instead of ceasing to collect, it’s urging the Feds to go away and leave the State alone, allowing the State to collect the taxes and put it to its own uses. I’m pretty sure that the majority of the actions proposed in the resolution would require some serious changes to existing federal statute. Bill does not support.

SR 766 – US Constitutional Amendment for a Balanced Budget, Urge. This resolution urge Congress to prepare a constitutional amendment for ratification by the states that would require a balanced budget except in time of declared war or other national emergency. You may recall that I discussed HR 1095, which basically does the same thing except that instead of calling on Congress to draft an amendment, it calls for a Constitutional Convention to do the same.

AND NOW FOR WATER

Senate Resolution 781 and Senate Bill 374 both seem to call for taking water from the Tennessee River basin and distributing it into the state of Georgia. For those of you not aware of the Tri State Water Wars going on right now, be glad. You may not know that the Tennessee flows jussst a bit north of the Georgia/Tennessee state line¹. There’s a lot of water there and Georgia could use some to help with its growth.
I won’t pretend to you to understand the deep issues behind water here in the southeast, I’ll just note the bills and resolutions that pop up in the Legislature.

1. In fact there has been the occasional discussion of mistaken boundary surveys which might legally put part of the river in GA [↩]

Hot on the heels of the Penn State child abuse scandal comes Georgia Senate Bill 355. This bill makes it a mandatory legal requirement that anyone “…who has reasonable cause to believe that a child is abused shall report [the abuse]…”

I went and pulled up Title 19, Chapter 7, Article 1 to see what the definition of “abuse” is. It is quite extensive:

(b) As used in this Code section, the term:

(1) “Abused” means subjected to child abuse.

(2) “Child” means any person under 18 years of age.

(3) “Child abuse” means:

(A) Physical injury or death inflicted upon a child by a parent or caretaker thereof by other than accidental means; provided, however, physical forms of discipline may be used as long as there is no physical injury to the child;

(B) Neglect or exploitation of a child by a parent or caretaker thereof;

(C) Sexual abuse of a child; or

(D) Sexual exploitation of a child.

However, no child who in good faith is being treated solely by spiritual means through prayer in accordance with the tenets and practices of a recognized church or religious denomination by a duly accredited practitioner thereof shall, for that reason alone, be considered to be an “abused” child.

There is a further section detailing what “sexual abuse” is; I won’t repeat it. You can always go read it for yourself

This bill takes the list of people who are required to report child abuse (already contained int the code, repeated at the bottom of this post) and expands it to include everyone.

I find the wording of the child abuse definitions to be unhelpfully vague. For example, let’s take this one:

(A) Physical injury or death inflicted upon a child by a parent or caretaker thereof by other than accidental means; provided, however, physical forms of discipline may be used as long as there is no physical injury to the child;

This could be interpreted, I suppose, that any form of sport that is deliberately undertaken by the guardian and child, that involves contact or other physical stress, could be child abuse. Football, after all, involves hitting people. So does hockey.

This bill was put up by Renee Unterman (R-Buford) and the Senate Majority leader, Chip Rogers (R-Woodstock) (also my state senator). It’s in the senate hopper right now, so it hasn’t gone anywhere (yet). We’ll see what happens.

(c)(1) The following persons having reasonable cause to believe that a child has been abused shall report or cause reports of that abuse to be made as provided in this Code section:

(A) Physicians licensed to practice medicine, interns, or residents;

(B) Hospital or medical personnel;

(C) Dentists;

(D) Licensed psychologists and persons participating in internships to obtain licensing pursuant to Chapter 39 of Title 43;

(E) Podiatrists;

(F) Registered professional nurses or licensed practical nurses licensed pursuant to Chapter 24 of Title 43;

(G) Professional counselors, social workers, or marriage and family therapists licensed pursuant to Chapter 10A of Title 43;

(H) School teachers;

(I) School administrators;

(J) School guidance counselors, visiting teachers, school social workers, or school psychologists certified pursuant to Chapter 2 of Title 20;

(K) Child welfare agency personnel, as that agency is defined pursuant to Code Section 49-5-12;

(L) Child-counseling personnel;

(M) Child service organization personnel; or

(N) Law enforcement personnel.

I was hoping to tell you about HB 798 and its fanfare, however I’ll just let Jay Bookman do it for me.

Related to that, the Democrats have submitted a Senate Resolution calling for an amendment to the GA constitution that would provide continuous funding of the Georgia Ethics Commission.

HB 814 – Amendment to the Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax requirements for reporting by local governments. This will probably be horribly boring to anyone who isn’t in the transportation industry in GA. This bill makes a slight change to the reporting requirements for counties and cities that receive SPLOST funds and also specifically empowers the superior courts and the Attorney General with the power to enforce compliance with the code section in its entirety, not just the reporting provisions.

HB 807 – Revising Truancy Age. This bill raises the required schooling age in GA from 16 to 17. Bill has no opinion. Here’s the quote:

(a) Mandatory attendance in a public school, private school, or home school program shall be required for children between their sixth and sixteenth seventeenth birthdays. Such mandatory attendance shall not be required where the child has successfully completed all requirements for a high school diploma.

HR 1165 – Urge the Governor to base a Georgia Film Commission in/near Savannah. This resolution, bipartisanly sponsored by Savannah area representatives, would urge the governor “…should the budget allow for it to base a Georgia Film Commission in Savannah-Chatham, Georgia;…” I thought we already had a Georgia Film Commission? And wouldn’t this directly compete with the Savannah Film Commission? I obviously don’t know what the heck is going on with this.

SB 350 – Treatment of Seized Firearms. I like this one. They should pass it. Essentially, this updates existing law related to the sale of seized firearms by the seizing agency in order to provide more clarity as to the responsibility/authority of the agency in where to dispose of the firearm. They can sell it, give it to the Georgia Bureau of Investigations for forensic tests, give it to a licensed museum, or destroy it. There are also specific provisions for the return of a stolen or lost firearm to the original (innocent) owner. Makes sense to me. Oh, and it specifically absolves the selling agency from liability if the firearm is subsequently used in another crime.

If you dispute the reasonableness of selling seized firearms and think they should all be destroyed, well sorry but this is already the law of Georgia. This bill merely makes it better.

SB 347 – Moratorium on Future HOT Lanes. This is another DOA bill due to 100% democratic co-sponsors. This bill would prohibit the further designation of HOT lanes by the Department of Transportation or State Toll and Roadway Authority after July 1, 2012 unless specifically authorized by the Legislature through further legislation. I can think of several reasons why this bill may have dropped now, from legislators that are Tucker, Stone Mountain, Atlanta, Decatur, and Riverdale, but I don’t know the precise reasoning. Suffice to say, this one won’t go anywhere.

SR 728 – Call for National Moratorium on the Death Penalty. This basically says everything that the Senate Bill I mentioned in the last post does. See that post for details.

SB 730 – United Nations Agenda 21 is Insidious and Destructive. Honestly, I have no opinion on this one right now, but I’ll note that it’s centered around so called policies “…which would be accomplished by socialists and communist redistribution of wealth;” That triggers my Republican Nut Job radars. However, I’ll note that I’m not educated on this topic so it could very well be the base truth.

SB 715 – Call for Expansion and Redirection of H2A Guest Worker Program. This particular resolution is so steeped in irony that it’s particularly bitter to swallow. This lack of season workers in this state was directly caused by HB 87, passed last year, which did a number of things to drive seasonal workers, both documented and undocumented, out of the state. Good job, guys. The really ironic part about it is that Republican lawmakers from agricultural parts of the state basically said, “you’re killing us!” but they passed it anyway. Schadenfreude tastes weird sometimes.

SB 342 – Prohibition of the Death Penalty. I am philosophically in favor of the death penalty, as it is generally applied in the U.S., however I am procedurally opposed to it due to the number of people on death row who have been exonerated. Until you can guarantee 100% that everyone who is convicted of a capital crime is guilty guilty guilty, I will not support the death penalty. I am also positive that a 100% certainty rate is unachievable. Bill supports this legislation, however it’s probably DOA here in the Georgia Legislature because it has no Republican co-sponsors.

There are others that dropped this week that are of middling interest, however I note that most of them are Democratic bills without Republican co-sponsors. This here be politics at work and in this thoroughly red state (all branches of government are controlled by Republicans) Democratic ideals are not going to get a lot of traction this year.

There is SB 313 which will require public entities to explore private companies’ rates for broadband before enacting a public service. That’s somewhat interesting.

New bills are dropping because the Georgia Legislature is in session this week. Some, that are of interest to me:

HB 799 – Expungement of DUI Conviction. If you don’t have any traffic violations for 5 years after conviction, your record of DUI would be expunged. I’m not sure what I think about this. On the one hand, it would be nice to give everyone a second chance and to remove the albatross after they’ve demonstrated good character. On the other, this seems like special consideration for a specific class of offense. Do people convicted of Driving without a License (or other similar offenses) get the same consideration? I don’t know the answer to that question. Are there sunset provisions for “minor” traffic offenses?

HB 766 – “…regarding Foundations of American Law and Government displays; to extend the locations
4 in which such displays may appear;…”. This bill seems to make it lawful to display the 10 Commandments in public buildings. I’d get all Separation of Church and State in your face right now except that it also seems that this was legal for all Judicial buildings already.

From Georgia Code Annotated Section 45-13-51 (2011):

(b) Each municipality and political subdivision of this state shall be authorized to post the Foundations of American Law and Government display, as described in subsection (c) of this Code section, in a visible, public location in the judicial facilities of such municipality or political subdivision.

And here is Subsection (c):

(c) The Foundations of American Law and Government display shall include:

(1) The Mayflower Compact, 1620;

(2) The Ten Commandments as extracted from Exodus Chapter 20;

(3) The Declaration of Independence;

(4) Magna Carta;

(5) “The Star-Spangled Banner” by Francis Scott Key;

(6) The national motto;

(7) The Preamble to the Georgia Constitution;

(8) The Bill of Rights of the United States Constitution; and

(9) The description on the image of Lady Justice.

I don’t think there is controversy over any of these items except the 10 Commandments. For backup, here is the justification for inclusion of the Commandments in this list, taken directly from the same Georgia Code (annotated) section.

The Ten Commandments have profoundly influenced the formation of Western legal thought and the formation of our country. That influence is clearly seen in the Declaration of Independence, which declared that “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.” The Ten Commandments provide the moral background of the Declaration of Independence and the foundation of our legal tradition.

I think they might be stretching a bit on their justification, however who am I to question already enacted Georgia Law? Oh, that’s right: A taxpaying citizen. I think this is officially a storm in a tea cup. Go ahead. Approve the legislation. Bill doesn’t really care and would prefer that our legislators spent time on more important things.

HB 763 – Grand Jury Eligibility for Felons and Mentally Incompetent Persons. This bill would make it legal to exclude convicted felons and the Mentally Incompetent from grand juries. I’m all down with the mentally incompetent portion of this, but it seems like excluding felons is legislating part of the judicial process away. Isn’t this what Voir Dire is for? I can conceive of times either as the Defense or the Prosecution when you’d want a convicted felon, who had served their time, on a jury.