Cover Story: 2014 Georgia Legislative Preview

It’s January, which means it’s time for state lawmakers across Georgia to start making their way to Atlanta for the annual General Assembly. For 40 days, men and women elected to make the state a better place will gather inside the Capitol to politick, trade horses, and decide how to spend approximately $20 billion in public cash.

With Georgia’s 2014 elections looming, state representatives and senators in the Republican-led Gold Dome, as well as Gov. Nathan Deal, will be in a hurry to start and end the people’s business. Those running for office aren’t able to raise funds until the session is gaveled to a close and papers are thrown high into the air on Sine Die. That’ll likely mean a quicker session, fewer laws passed (for better or worse), and, of course, extreme legislative proposals aimed at firing up each party’s base. Expect bold bills, less risk-taking, and for the GOP majority to cozy up to different voter types with favorable measures.

CL spent several weeks speaking with lawmakers, lobbyists, and advocates about what to expect under the Gold Dome throughout the next 40 days. High on the to-do list: passing a bill that solidifies the May 20 primary date to comply with federal law, or else incur fines. Besides that and the budget, it’ll be a race against time to debate as much as possible, including legislation that could clamp down (or even loosen) ethics rules, further split the metro region, or overhaul medical malpractice laws. Only one thing’s for sure: You can never truly count anything out inside the Capitol.

Budget

By law, the General Assembly is required to do one thing and one thing only every year: pass the budget. What sounds simple is rarely easy, however. With lawmakers planning for a short session so they can raise money and campaign in time for the May primaries, there’s a strong chance that legislators will accomplish — slow clap, please — even less than last year.

“On my horizon, it’s budget, budget, budget,” says state Rep. Lynne Riley, a North Fulton Republican and one of Deal’s House floor leaders. “There isn’t anything new we need to fund.”

Funding for departments and initiatives in the 2014 budget should largely remain the same. Tax revenue increases over the past year means the state now has more than $900 million in surplus cash. Much of those funds could go toward pay raises for state employees, many of whom have watched their net earnings decrease due to rising health care costs and frozen salaries. Some lawmakers think the extra funds should go toward educators.

Since it’s an election year, insiders anticipate that the budget process could become political theater. Deal’s running for re-election against two education advocates, state Sen. Jason Carter, D-Decatur, and Georgia School Superintendent John Barge. Deal could push for those raises as a way to win last-minute votes from teachers, one of the state’s strongest voting blocs. If so, Carter could call for even more favorable education policies and higher teacher salaries than the governor is willing to push.

“You’ve got a governor who has no record to run on with respect to education,” Carter says. “I assume, because it’s an election year, there will be some attempt by the governor to salvage that record. ... Whether it’s a good idea or if it all makes sense, we’ll have to wait and see.”

The politicization of the budget process could serve as a proxy battlefield for the May primaries. Or state leaders could simply follow conservative doctrine and opt to deposit the cash in Georgia’s rainy day fund.

Eyes will also be watching how Deal decides to allocate the hundreds of millions of dollars in cash the state generates from annual bond sales. Sometimes the debt is used to pay for capital projects such as building schools, but Deal could opt to allocate the cash to help deepen the Port of Savannah, a major economic development project. Or the governor could be sure key allies’ districts get boosts with a project or two.

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Medicaid expansion push and an Affordable Care Act ban

The Affordable Care Act is expected to remain a contentious issue even though little, if any, legislation is expected to help move the mandate forward in Georgia.

Democratic lawmakers, health care lobbyists, and progressive activists will once again push for Medicaid expansion in Georgia, one of approximately 20 states that opted not to make the federal program available to more people living on low incomes. But that likely won’t be considered until after the 2014 gubernatorial election. Deal, citing financial costs, has staunchly opposed Medicaid expansion. Reports suggest that the measure could help more than 400,000 low-income residents gain access to health care.

State Rep. Stacey Abrams, D-Atlanta, has become a White House surrogate on the issue. It will remain a hot topic — one that the Moral Monday Georgia movement began rallying behind this week — even if no actual health care laws are passed under the Gold Dome.

“We may make other health care proposals to help elsewhere, but resources may not be available,” State Senate Minority Leader Steve Henson, D-Tucker, says. “There’s nothing as serious as Medicaid expansion.”

Why bother trying to improve something when you can just try to ban it? A gang of five Republican state representatives, led by Jason Spencer of Woodbine, wants to prohibit state employees, agencies, colleges, and universities from implementing the new federal health care law to save the state from “participating in the destruction of our own economy.” An accompanying bill would also urge Georgia Attorney General Sam Olens to work on overturning the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2012 landmark ruling that upheld the ACA. The GOP’s leadership has yet to weigh in on the matter. But we’d like to think that the Republican-led General Assembly would want to avoid the negative national publicity and not go so far as to pass the measure. But judging from past behavior — who can forget members of the state Senate pondering secession in 2009? — it’s possible.

Ethics reform

Last year, the General Assembly took a step toward making the Gold Dome less of a lobbyist’s Shangri-La. After much prodding by ethics watchdogs, lawmakers finally passed a $75 lobbyist gift cap, with some loopholes, naturally, and decided against forcing regular citizens to register as lobbyists.

But ethics woes for GOP lawmakers such as Deal and state Sen. Don Balfour, R-Snellville, and the implosion of the state Ethics Commission have continued the push for additional reforms. “Ethics is an issue that reoccurs every year with good reason,” says state Rep. Ed Lindsey, R-Atlanta.

Government watchdogs Common Cause Georgia and a handful of Democratic and Republican lawmakers, namely state Sen. Josh McKoon, R-Columbus, are leading the charge for additional changes. Possible fixes might include the creation of an independent ethics commission. Several state judges tasked with selecting appointees — instead of the governor and legislators — would appoint its commissioners. Funding would be tied to a fixed percentage of the state’s overall budget.

Riley thinks the General Assembly should take a “wait and see” approach and measure the impact of last year’s ethics rules, which went into effect Jan. 1, before making additional changes. In one state lawmaker’s opinion, however, any new ethics legislation will be seen as implicit criticism of Deal’s governance. Plus, Carter sponsored two ethics reform measures last year that proposed some of those changes. Don’t hold your breath for the Gold Dome’s leadership to shower them with praise.

What to do about DeKalb?

Over the past year, DeKalb County has seen its chief government official indicted and suspended and neighborhoods ponder breaking away to form their own cities. In addition, some members of the county commission are itching to eliminate the controversial CEO position. You can say the county is poised for major changes in the not-so-distant future.

More than a half-dozen cityhood proposals emerged throughout 2013. That number has dwindled down to a trio of serious contenders: the proposed cities of Briarcliff, Lakeside, and Tucker. Backers of all three municipalities say they have created viable proposals, conducted the mandatory feasibility studies, and found lawmakers to back their respective pitches. But the measures conflict just enough to snag residents’ plans to get the hell out of unincorporated DeKalb. At the moment, the proposed municipalities all want to claim Northlake Mall, a huge source of potential tax revenue.

City backers and key GOP DeKalb lawmakers could push their bills. Or, buckling to peer pressure to avoid contentious issues to keep the session short, they may decide to save their energy for 2015. Or state lawmakers who agree with opponents decrying the Balkanization of one of Georgia’s most populous counties could push for a cityhood moratorium.

“It’s not worth having the fight because they’re not going to solve any big problems,” one lawmaker says. “It’s just local politics. It’s a horrible horror mini-series like Saw VII or whatever.”

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Return of the gun lovers

Last year, Second Amendment advocates and pro-gun lawmakers — in other words, most of the General Assembly — failed to pass a proposal that would have allowed gun owners to tote their shootin’ irons in bars, churches, college campuses, and unsecured government buildings (provided, of course, that they took a training class). Some college officials, including Georgia Tech President Bud Peterson and the University System of Georgia chancellor Hank Huckaby, opposed the legislation. Some form of that proposal is expected to return in 2014. Behind closed doors, some GOP leaders have expressed concerns. But their reservations aren’t based on common sense like the obvious fact that the alcohol, bars, and firearms should be left back in the 1870s with Dodge City saloon shoot-outs. Or that a continuous wave of tragic school shootings should actually merit serious concern. Instead, lawmakers are worried college faculty layoffs might happen due to the inevitable need to hire additional security guards to protect students from the guns they’d be legally allowed to carry. And that lawmakers allowed them to carry. One possibility that might satisfy lawmakers would allow school officials to decide for themselves whether guns should be allowed on campus.

Deal’s expected to make it clear to lawmakers that he wants a strongly backed bill capable of appeasing Second Amendment fanatics. And he’ll most likely want all the kinks ironed out before it lands on his desk to prevent a messy public battle. Lawmakers who are eager to curry favor with the governor for support on future political campaigns, legislative proposals, or maybe a plum appointment in state government, will surely be ready to help.

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Rehabilitation over incarceration

Georgia spends an average of $1 billion annually on housing prisoners in the state correctional system. For the past three years, Deal has used a conservative argument to tackle a progressive issue: reforming Georgia’s criminal justice and juvenile justice systems to save money and rehabilitate lives. This year, he plans to embark on the initiative’s third phase to help ex-offenders re-enter society. In recent months, the governor has suggested that he’ll push to create better educational opportunities for inmates so they’ll be more prepared and employable after prison. This year that includes hiring more staff to help former offenders find housing and, potentially, prohibiting state agencies from disqualifying job seekers with a criminal background during the application process. It’s only the public sector. And it’s only a small step. But it could give ex offenders a chance at getting a job and becoming productive members of society. The American Civil Liberties Union is supportive of the proposal. Now we just have to see whether legislation actually gets passed.

All this is great news. But it’s not clear whether the cash saved by locking up fewer prisoners will be reinvested in additional rehabilitation programs. Or if the cash will simply go into the general fund to bankroll other initiatives.

Edumucation

Yes, lawmakers are mulling long overdue educator pay raises in hopes of winning voter support. But that’s not the only proposal that could affect classrooms this session.

Two years ago, Republican lawmakers pushed for a constitutional amendment to revive the state charter school commission, which many believed would become a rubber stamp for the approval of more nontraditional public schools. But then the commission actually ended up doing its job, much to the dismay of conservative lawmakers. State Sen. Vincent Fort, D-Atlanta, thinks the GOP could return with a new proposal that makes the charter school application process far less rigorous. Or even limit the commission’s ability to deny bad charters. Another bill likely to come up for debate would force charter schools in Atlanta’s city limits to help contribute to Atlanta Public Schools’ pension debt, effectively bypassing a Georgia Supreme Court decision last September that said otherwise.

A few Democratic lawmakers have raised concerns that their GOP counterparts could continue the fight against Common Core, the national standardized tests for grades K-12 that right-wingers ferociously attacked last year because it “obliterates Georgia’s constitutional autonomy,” according to a resolution from Georgia’s Republican Party. Backlash grew so great that hard-line conservatives eventually forced Deal to nix the state’s assessment plans. Discussions may be rekindled under the Gold Dome in 2014.

State Reps. Stacey Evans, D-Smyrna, and Earl Ehrhart, R-Powder Springs, have pre-filed legislation that would allow HOPE grants to cover 100 percent of tuition costs for technical college students and effectively reverse cuts made to the statewide scholarship fund three years ago. Sources tell CL that Deal’s office has pushed back and some tweaks to the current legislation may occur. But the HOPE measure is expected to pass and to land on the governor’s desk for his signature. In addition, Deal wants to invest $45 million to improve public schools’ slow Internet connections. Funny how that works in an election year.

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Transportation

Remember a few years back how Georgia’s gridlock and lack of transit options were arguably considered the state’s most pressing issue? Oh, how times have changed!

Since the epic failure in 2012 of the transportation sales tax known as T-SPLOST, no real solutions to raise cash for new rail and roads have been presented. And it’s unlikely any bold visions will be unveiled this year under the Gold Dome. State leaders are content to pursue toll roads instead of transit to address congestion.

The closest we can expect is a proposal by state Rep. Ed Setzler, R-Acworth, of a modified version of the sales tax, one that could ostensibly pass in Fulton and DeKalb counties. The legislation would allow two or more counties to band together and, with voter approval, levy a 1 cent sales tax to fund transportation. It’s similar to the proposal that was most favored by environmentalists and transit advocates over other funding solutions when it was first introduced years ago. An alternate proposal by Fort to allow revenues from car rental taxes to build new transit projects actually passed the upper chamber and almost made it to the House floor last session, and will be pushed again this year.

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MARTA, that perennial piñata for state lawmakers, last year fended off a proposal by state Rep. Mike Jacobs, R-Brookhaven, that would’ve forced the transit agency to privatize certain functions and change its governance structure. MARTA’s new CEO Keith Parker at least deserved a chance to right the cash-bleeding ship. A year later, MARTA actually has a budget surplus. Still, Jacobs, who chairs the joint committee that oversees MARTA and has been singing Parker’s praises, might revisit parts of the proposal.

The talk of creating a regional agency to oversee the various transit systems in metro Atlanta is no closer to becoming a reality. That is, unless you consider a plan by state Sen. Brandon Beach, R-Alpharetta, to create an online trip planner — a bold step toward catching up with other major cities such as Chicago, Washington, D.C., and New York.

Handout for the Braves

Did you think that $300 million in county funding would be enough to appease the Atlanta Braves? Think again! Team officials might try to shake loose additional cash from the state’s piggy bank.

Team leaders last November shocked the city with their decision to leave Turner Field behind for Cobb County, where they plan to build a new $672 million stadium near I-285 and I-75 that would be nearly half-funded by local taxpayers. According to internal documents obtained by Atlanta magazine contributor Jim Walls through the Georgia Open Records Act, both Cobb officials and club leaders have considered upward of $60 million in state tax credits. That cash could come in the form of job, energy, or tourism incentives designed to help businesses that choose to expand or relocate within Georgia. Braves Executive Vice President Mike Plant, who talked with the Georgia Chamber of Commerce about potential Turner Field developments before inking the Cobb deal, says the same tax credits could potentially be used for the new ballpark.

Both county officials and Braves execs may also seek state funds for road projects near the new stadium. Many nearby residents and commuters have already expressed concerns over potential traffic woes that baseball games could create near the already congested junction. The governor told WABE (90.1 FM) in November that state transportation funds “could be involved,” but didn’t expect public investment in the foreseeable future. Still ... he’s saying there’s a chance.

Atlanta’s wish list

Every year, City Hall lobbyists are given a list of what Mayor Kasim Reed and Atlanta City Councilmembers want to see accomplished at the Gold Dome. Sometimes the General Assembly throws the city a bone and a wish is granted. Most often it does not. This year, the list includes: new fees to help fund the municipal court; permission to allow air travelers to start imbibing at 5 a.m. at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport; requests to clarify what the city can do with blighted property; and an oldie but a goodie asking for citizen review boards to be exempt from Open Records Act requests until after an investigation is completed.

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Repeal Stand Your Ground

In 2012, Fort pushed for a revision to Georgia’s Stand Your Ground law after the killing of Florida teenager Trayvon Martin. Now he wants an outright repeal of the controversial self-defense law. “Essentially at this point, all you have to do is perceive that you are, or be afraid that you are, in harm’s way,” he says. “It amounts to, in effect, a ‘shoot first and ask questions later’ approach.”

Civil asset forfeiture

According to some activists, Georgia’s laws for civil asset forfeiture — the power given to law enforcement and public officials to seize property without a conviction — are among the nation’s loosest. A bipartisan bill introduced last year with Deal’s backing requires district attorneys and sheriffs across Georgia to show a higher burden of proof and increase transparency. The current proposal, civil liberties groups argue, doesn’t go far enough, but it would be a step in the right direction. There’s nowhere but up from here!

Statue brouhaha

Now that the state has exiled the statue of Thomas Watson, a former Georgia politician who also happened to be a flaming racist and anti-Semite, across the street from the Georgia Capitol grounds, everyone has an idea of what should take its place. Why not, says state Rep. Greg Morris, R-Vidalia, a monument featuring the 10 Commandments? Or how about the proposal by state Rep. Tyrone Brooks, D-Atlanta, to erect a statue honoring Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., which would be a first at the Gold Dome? Look for grandstanding on this media-friendly issue and politicians looking to score cheap points.

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Income tax

Many lawmakers on both sides of the aisle think the current system is flawed. But judging from comments from Senate President Pro Tem David Shafer, R-Duluth, and Deal, it’s unlikely we’ll see any drastic changes this year. The mindset under the Gold Dome appears in favor of a consumption tax, which could primarily hurt the poor, and potentially not help the state’s budget in the long run. On Sine Die 2013, state Rep. Tom Kirby, R-Loganville, introduced a one-page piece of legislation that would eliminate the income tax and replace it with a higher sales tax. Expect debates, but probably not much action, on the issue in some shape.

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Immigration

Since Republicans took control of the Gold Dome in the early 2000s, lawmakers have shown a keen interest each year in rolling out legislation aimed at making the lives of undocumented immigrants so unbearable that they have no choice but to leave. The effort peaked in 2011 when lawmakers approved legislation modeled after Arizona’s law, which was considered one of the strictest immigration measures in the country. Last July, a federal judge dismissed a challenge to the Georgia law. Frankly, there’s not much lawmakers can do to make it worse. Still, immigration advocates are bracing for potential curveballs. It’s an election year and nothing fires up the conservative base like good old fashioned xenophobia.

Stupid bills

The legislative session wouldn’t be complete without its fair share of absurd, head-turning proposals. Aside from the aforementioned measures for ACA bans and statue replacements, state lawmakers have already introduced legislation to fight the “War on Christmas” in Georgia classrooms and a Hail Mary attempt by some health care bigwigs — and Home Depot co-founder Bernie Marcus — to end medical malpractice lawsuits. The proposal to launch the country’s first-ever administrative panel to handle malpractice cases, rather than a jury, isn’t expected to pass. Although it’s a quick session, there are bound to be additional bills that will do nothing to restore our faith in the Gold Dome.