Georgia Legislative Watch

Last week, Atlanta Unfiltered pointed out that 40 state legislators have failed to file their financial disclosures.

As I reported three weeks ago today, SB 200, the Transportation Reorganization bill, gave the House Transportation Committee a very unusual power – the power to confirm one particular appointment of the Governor. Normally in the General Assembly, as in the US Congress, the Senate has the confirmation power and the House of Representatives doesn’t [...]

Below are the disclosures for Georgia’s 9th Congressional District. We’ll have the other districts posted soon. A couple of notes before you read, in case you aren’t familiar with how to read fundraising numbers.
- “Individuals” are contributions received from an actual individuals.
- “PACs” are contributions from established entities. This is an important note. As you [...]

Revenues are off by more than $250 million since June 2008:
Governor Sonny Perdue announced today that net revenue collections for the month of June 2009 (FY09) totaled $1,364,350,000 compared to $1,618,879,000 for June 2008 (FY08), a decrease of $254,529,000 or 15.7 percent.
The percentage decrease year-to-date for FY09 compared to FY08 is 10.5 percent.

The following commentary is from Phred Barnet for the Georgia Public Policy Foundation. The GPPF publishes a column weekly, it can be found here.
Giving a tax incentive to a business to encourage economic development sounds like a great idea, but it is not. Tax breaks for businesses are little more than corporate welfare at the [...]

Below are campaign disclosures filed with the State Ethics Commission for the reporting period ending on June 30, 2009 for Democratic candidates for state-wide office. Candidates have until July 7th to file their disclosure. Candidates that file between July 8-14 are subject to a $25 fine. They are subject to an additional $50 fine after [...]

Below are campaign disclosures filed with the State Ethics Commission for the reporting period ending on June 30, 2009 for Republican candidates for state-wide office. Candidates have until July 7th to file their disclosure. Candidates that file between July 8-14 are subject to a $25 fine. They are subject to an additional $50 fine after [...]

As campaign disclosures begin to come in, we should point out that contribution limits have increased pursuant to O.C.G.A. § 21-5-41(k).
The new limits for state-wide office are:
- $6,100 for a primary election
- $6,100 for a general election
- $3,600 for run-off election (primary or general)
For all other offices:
- $2,400 for a primary election
- $2,400 for a [...]