Legislature in Budget Week Recess

The Georgia General Assembly recognized Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s holiday on Monday and held joint House and Senate budget hearings for the amended fiscal year 2012 budget and the proposed fiscal year 2013 budget during the remainder of the week.

While Georgia continues to recover from the Great Recession the governor is proposing only modest increases overall in state spending.  The legislature can only pass a budget that is equal to, or less than, the revenue estimates provided by the governor.

During GDOT’s hearings, the interim commissioner indicated that 2012 state motor fuel tax receipts are expected to increase by about $60 million over last year’s receipts, to just under $1 billion annually. 

GDOT expects to use these additional funds to both reduce existing debt and invest in more capital construction.  Debt service already constitutes about 40% of all state motor fuel receipts and GDOT plans to re-finance some existing higher-interest debt to lower-interest paying bonds.

During the Department of Natural Resources presentations the commissioner and new director of the Environmental Protection Division focused on the continued challenges facing their agencies.  Legislators asked questions concerning the slow removal of abandoned tires and the reduced number of DNR law enforcement officers statewide.

ACCG/GMA/RBC TIA Education Video Close to Completion

The educational training video on the July 2013 referendum on the regional transportation sales tax is nearing completion.  The video will be shared with elected city and county officials statewide, as well as metropolitan planning organizations, Georgia’s twelve Regional Commissions, local Chambers of Commerce and other public education organizations.  The videographer is working with ACCG, GMA and RBC in hopes of having a final product available for distribution in the next few weeks.

Legislature re-convenes 2012 Legislative Session on Monday

The Senate will re-convene for Legislative Day 6 at 10 am.  The House will re-convene at 1 pm.  The Governor’s Transit Governance Task Force is expected to make public its findings, and recommended legislation, as early as Monday next week. 

Lieutenant Governor Casey Cagle to meet with RBC Board of Directors

Lt. Governor Casey Cagle will have a “conversation” with the RBC Board of Directors at the February 7 RBC Board meeting.  As a Hall county resident, Governor Cagle has always been very active with water issues related to Lake Lanier.  Recently he has taken leadership positions on studying reversible lanes on the interstates and opposing any increases in state sales taxes on groceries.  He continues to champion the college and career academy network where high school students gain career-relevant technical education and graduate prepared to enter the modern workplace.

RBC works with Georgia Water Alliance on Comments for proposed amendments to EPD drought management rules

The RBC continues to work with members of the Georgia Water Alliance to provide the Georgia EPD with suggestions to address drought conditions when they arise.  The RBC and Alliance believe that any drought management regulations should be easily understandable and take into consideration the unique abilities of every community to respond to drought challenges. 

Metro Atlanta’s population has increased dramatically over the past decade while at the same time, per capita water consumption has dropped.  In fact, metro Atlanta’s per capita water usage is 15% less than Charlotte, 25% less than Birmingham, 28% less than Tallahassee, 30% less than Chattanooga and over 40% less than Orlando.  

Mandatory “across the board” percentage reductions and similar-type restrictions to address drought issues don’t recognize the significant impact that existing conservation efforts have achieved and are counter-productive to Georgia’s continued growth.

The membership of the Georgia Water Alliance is composed of manufacturing, agricultural, recreational, general business, local government and water utility organizations.

Have a great week.

The Regional Business Coalition of Metropolitan Atlanta (RBC) is an organization of over a dozen of the largest and most active Chambers of Commerce throughout the metro Atlanta region.  RBC member chambers represent over 15,000 member companies who employ millions of metro Atlanta residents.  The RBC’s primary goal is to represent the interests of RBC Chamber members on regional public policy issues impacting our transportation, water and air quality and to advocate for solutions that improve metro Atlanta’s quality of life and economic vitality.  This weekly update is prepared for RBC member Chambers by Terry Lawler, RBC Executive Director, who can be contacted at tlawler@atlregionalbusiness.org or 770-310-1864.

2012 Legislature Convenes

The 2012 session of the Georgia General Assembly convened on Monday, January 9 at 10 a.m.  By law, the legislative session lasts for forty legislative days, not forty calendar days.  Because 2012 is an election year, initial estimates for the final day of this year’s legislative session are sometime in mid to late March.  Last year’s legislative session did not adjourn until April 14, 2011.

New Legislation Slow to be Introduced

During the first week of the 2012 legislative session, the House and Senate introduced just over 150 bills and resolutions.  This is about a 30% reduction in activity from the first week of the 2011 legislative session. 

However, legislation that did not pass in 2011 can still be considered during the 2012 legislative session.  That leaves approximately 1,000 bills and resolutions introduced in 2011 that could potentially be acted upon in 2012, in addition to any new legislation introduced this year.

Hold-Over Legislation from 2011 Could be Considered in 2012

Numerous pieces of legislation introduced in 2011 that impact transportation, natural resources and economic development remain for consideration in 2012.  Some of this legislation includes:

Transportation:

Over eighty pieces of 2011 legislation already reside in the House and Senate Transportation Committees.  They include efforts to encourage GDOT to construct a list of subcontractors to use during weather emergencies, increasing the age requirements for using child restraint seats and creating a Georgia Department of Public Transit.

Natural Resources:

Over forty pieces of 2011 legislation already reside in the House and Senate Natural Resources Committees.  They include efforts to further regulate inter-basin water transfers, urging a feasibility study of removing water from the Tennessee River water basin, restrictions on the number of solid waste management facilities within an area and increasing restrictions on certain municipal solid waste land fill sites.

Economic Development:

Dozens of bills residing in numerous House and Senate committees remain from 2011.  Some of the existing legislation includes removing the state sales tax from energy used in manufacturing, repeal of the inventory tax, changes to the jobs tax credit that negatively impact metropolitan areas, efforts to increase angel investor/venture capital investments in Georgia and providing flexibility to state retirement systems to invest in Georgia companies.

Potential 2012 Legislative Actions

During the interim, the RBC and other business related organizations have been working with public policy makers to address transportation, natural resources and economic development issues during this legislative session.  Some of those activities included:

Transportation: 

The RBC spoke before the Joint Study Committee on Transit Governance.  This committee will be proposing legislation in 2012 to address transit governance issues in both the metro Atlanta region and other multi-jurisdictional transit systems statewide.

Legislation is expected to be introduced to change the date of the statewide Transportation Investment Act (TIA) referendum from July to November.  During the RBC Annual meeting, jointly held with the Georgia Municipal Association and the Association of County Commissioners of Georgia, Speaker Ralston indicated that he didn’t believe such legislation, if introduced, would be considered in 2012.

Natural Resources:

Further investments in improving Georgia’s access to water are expected in 2012.  Debate will continue over the appropriate level of regulation of water resources and potentially air quality measures as well.

Economic Development:

RBC Chairman Larry Callahan was one of the main speakers at the metro Atlanta region’s kick-off for Governor Deal’s Georgia’s Competitive Initiative.  Legislation will be introduced by the governor to address the findings of this statewide initiative.  The legislation is expected to address both issues of removing the sales tax on energy used in manufacturing and changes in the jobs tax credits to encourage more investment throughout Georgia. 

Next Week – Legislature in “Appropriations Recess”

Monday is a state holiday recognizing the birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.   

The legislature will be in its “Appropriations Recess” and will hold joint appropriations hearings daily from Tuesday through Friday next week.  Additionally, the House and Senate will be holding other committee meetings throughout the week as well.

The initial plans for the following week will be to reconvene for Legislative Day 6 on Monday, January 23 and go into recess again on Thursday, January 26 on Legislative Day 9.

Have a great week.

The Regional Business Coalition of Metropolitan Atlanta (RBC) is an organization of over a dozen of the largest and most active Chambers of Commerce throughout the metro Atlanta region.  RBC member chambers represent over 15,000 member companies who employ millions of metro Atlanta residents.  The RBC’s primary goal is to represent the interests of RBC Chamber members on regional public policy