Georgia Legislative Watch

Yesterday, the Senate approved the House version of the statewide water plan:

The House version was no different from the Senate version, but one of them needed to pass both bodies:The state’s first water management plan is on its way to Gov. Sonny Perdue’s desk.

With a 42-10 vote and no discussion, the Georgia Senate on Tuesday approved a plan that had been passed by the House last month.

The plan, which calls for three years of assessments to measure Georgia’s water supply and demand, comes as the state continues to face a severe drought. It creates 11 regional councils charged with drafting their own water plans. Opponents had wanted the council districts based on watershed boundaries, not political lines.

The Governor signed the plan into law this afternoon.

In a press release issued jointly by House Democratic Leader DuBose Porter and Senate Democratic Leader Robert Brown, attention was brought to House Bill 1057; a bill that would “put a stop to school cuts and take the burden of $1.5 billion in property tax shifts off local government.”

According to the Democratic leaders, HB 1057 would reward city and county school systems that lower their property taxes by increasing their funding for public education. Under the Democratic plan, a total of $600 million over the next two years would be used to fully fund the Quality Basic Education formula that funds public education. For example, under HB1057, if the Atlanta Public School system lowered their property taxes, they would receive a refund from the state for $7,963,680 to be used towards education.

“It’s not too often in politics that you find a win-win scenario, but the Democratic plan is just that,” said House Democratic Leader DuBose Porter (D-Dublin). “We keep our promise to Georgia’s students to give them a world-class education and schools we can finally be proud of, we put an end to $1.5 billion in education cuts forced on families by the Republicans, and we provide some fiscally sound tax relief for homeownership. This is true property tax relief.”

“This is a win-win situation; we invest in education without burdening the local taxpayer,” said Senate Democratic Leader Robert Brown (D-Macon).

State Rep. Kevin Levitas (D - Atlanta) has teamed up with fellow Democrat Alan Powell and Republicans Harry Geisenger & Tom McCall to introduce a constitutional amendment that would “end back door tax increases.”

According to Levitas, the proposed amendment, House Resolution 1170, would “effectively freeze a home’s value for property tax purposes at the original purchase price of the home or the 2002 assessed value.”

If a county wants to raise taxes, then it will have to do so directly and uniformly, rather than using inconsistent increases in individual property assessments to accomplish that goal,” Levitas said.

State Rep. Alan Powell also spoke favorably of HR1170 saying, “Property taxes have risen at an alarming rate. Enough is enough; it is time to cure the system.”

If approved by a two-thirds vote in both the House and Senate, HR1170 would be placed on the November General Election ballot for approval by the voters.

State Sen. David Shafer wants to redraw the border between Georgia and Tennessee:

Desperate for water amid a historic drought, some Georgia lawmakers are trying to reopen an 1818 border dispute with Tennessee.

They have set their sights on a stretch of the 652-mile long Tennessee River that flows tantalizingly close to the Georgia line - and by some historic accounts, should be within Georgia’s borders.

“It’s never too late to right a wrong,” said state Sen. David Shafer, R-Duluth.

Shafer’s Senate resolution says a flawed survey in 1818 mistakenly marked Georgia’s border one mile south of the 35th parallel - and thus excluded the Tennessee River from Georgia’s reach.
[…]
The resolution would not change Georgia’s borders, but it would create a “boundary line commission” that aims to resolve the dispute. It was co-sponsored by all of Georgia senators, and a similar proposal was introduced in the House.

The border debate centers on an 1818 survey that has entered the folklore of north Georgia. As the story goes, surveyors charting out the 35th parallel were either frightened by a nearby Indian party or simply used flawed math to draw the line.

The article notes that it has been 37 years since the issue has been visited and the border was first disputed in 1887 by North Carolina.

Shafer’s resolution on the matter can be found here (it’s not live yet, but should be shortly).

Whats good for the goose is good for the gander:

Senate Regulated Industries Committee Chairman David Shafer (R-Duluth) submitted a bill that would eliminate the need for telecommunications companies to separately negotiate franchise agreements with each city in which they want to do business.

Last year the Senate R&I committee heard legislation (which became law) to allow AT&T to negioiate a single state-wide franchise for TV Service. This now allows phone companies to do the same and compete with AT&T.

This year’s bill is SB 408