Legislative leaders, including Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle, Speaker David Ralston, House Majority Leader Jerry Keen and Senate Majority Leader Chip Rogers, announced plans to create the Special Council on Tax Reform and Fairness for Georgians (HB 1405), which could lead to a substantial overhaul of the state’s tax system.
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House Speaker David Ralston has finally released the committee roster for 2010. There are some changes in Chairmen, which noted in italics (a list of chairmen is provided below). You can view the full roster
Jim Galloway has the names of the Democrats that voted for Ralston:
Maybe they did it in a spirit of bipartisanship, maybe they have legislation in the works. Maybe they like the guy. In any case, these are 10 Democrats who voted to make Republican David Ralston of Blue Ridge the new House speaker:
Ellis Black of [...]
The House of Representatives elected a new Speaker and Speaker Pro-Tem during the first day of the 2010 session. Nothing unexpected happened.
During each of the speeches on behalf of and by the candidates for these two offices, there was much talk about changing the atmosphere in the General Assembly, as recent events have further [...]
No doubt Georgia Republicans are glad to have this drama behind them, at least for now, as the House Republican Caucus nominated three legislators to lead them into the 2010 session of the Georgia General Assembly. The posts of Speaker and Speaker Pro-Tem must be confirmed by the full House on January 11th.
Speaker of [...]
The House Republican Caucus has elected Rep. David Ralston (R-Blue Ridge) to be the next Speaker of the House of Representatives.
Ralston will face an election before the full house. However, that is little more than a formality.
Today is decision day for the House Republican Caucus. They will be meeting in the House chamber at the state capitol at 11am to elect a new Speaker, Speaker Pro-Tem and Majority Whip (you can see the list of candidates here).
It’s clear that Larry O’Neal represents the status-quo if elected to be Speaker, and [...]
Below are what lobbyists have spent on candidates for the three open leadership spots in the House Republican Caucus in the first three quarters of 2009. You can find more detail here.
Candidates for Speaker
Larry O’Neal – $5,292.57
Bill Hembree – $1,653.60
David Ralston – $1,330.02
Barry Loudermilk – $596.57
Tommy Smith – $346.37
Candidates for Speaker Pro-Tem
Jan Jones – $4,691.82
Rich [...]