by Maggie Lee / Staff

The first shots have been fired in a skirmish over a new gun bill that would allow people to legally carry firearms in a lot more places, including college campuses. 

The bill’s author, Tim Bearden (R-Villa Rica), summed it up succinctly:  “What I’d like to see is the right to carry in public buildings.” 

He was addressing a subcommittee of the House Judciciary Non-Civil Committee about HB 615.

Bearden is still gathering law enforcement opinion on the definition of “public buildings,” but he would definitely strike current prohibitions against carrying firearms in “public gatherings”: churches, political rallies, sporting events or any government-owned or -operated building.

Representatives of the University System of Georgia came to testify in favor of the status quo.

But Bearden favors a broad interpretation of the Second Amendment with a minimum of “infringements” — regulations — on gun ownership and use, or even safety training. 

Rep. Stacey Abrams (D-Atlanta) disagreed. Because guns are especially dangerous, she said, “I’d push away from the idea that having a training program is an infringement of Constitutional rights.”

Bearden, along with his ardent supporters at GeorgiaCarry.org, argue that the Constitution is simple, whereas Georgia gun law is confusing because it is unclear and spread among too many code sections. They aim for gun law to settle in one easy-to-understand code section. 

“Citizens need to know what they can or cannot do,” Bearden said, adding that he’d hate to see a would-be law abiding citizen in jail over an ignorance of the law.

Bearden cited New Hampshire as a good example of liberal gun laws, which he equated with that state’s lower crime rate, significantly lower than Georgia’s. 

Abrams and Rep. Randall Mangham (D-Decatur) were not impressed with the example of New Hampshire,  pointing out  that the Northeastern state is very different from Georgia in size, population and per capita income. 

Rep. Shannon Cooper (R-Marietta) said she has a huge concern with the bill because if a gun owner subsequently commits a crime that would disqualify him from buying a gun, the system is not set up to find and remove his gun. 

Cooper, a nurse — who also said her father was killed with a baseball bat —  rejected the idea that guns are only as dangerous as other weapons like clubs, bats or cars. “I’ve seen it in the ER,” she said.

Though the hearing attracted about 20 citizens — a lot for a committee hearing — the meeting was assigned to the subcommittee’s usual place:  a tiny basement room, packed past the legal capacity.  

There will be at least one more day for hearings before the subcommittee vote on the bill or any amendments; that date is not yet set.

The bill’s top six sponsor are all Republicans, though none is from North Fulton. 

Friends of the Fulton County GOP were on hand to pass out invitations for the Second Amendment club’s annual breakfast on Feb. 13.  Immediate past president of the National Rifle Association Sandy Froman headlines it; state Sen. Chip Rogers (R-Woodstock) will also speak.

TRANSPORTATION PANEL NEGOTIATES TWISTS AND TURNS
by Maggie Lee / Staff

A House Transportation Committee ended with some confusion last week as legislators tried to figure out how the Georgia Department of Transportation picked projects for FY2011, while GDOT’s planning boss instead came to introduce the workings of the new law that has started governing the whole process. 

In a meeting laced with jargon like SSTP, P3, STIP, ARC, “core services” and TSPLOST, it’s no wonder committee Chairman Jay Roberts (R-Ocilla) closed with, “Every time I think I have something, it turns up wrong the next day.”

The powerful Director of Planning at GDOT, Todd Long, ended by saying the planning process is like “trying to make a square peg fit in a round hole.”

Long appeared at the hearing girded with a nice powerpoint presentation on Senate Bill 200, the common name for a 2009 law that dictates the creation of a Statewide Strategic Transportation Plan 2010-2030 (the SSTP), and a Director of Planning job to help set that policy and make sure it gets done.  That’s Long, in the job since August. 

His SSTP, still in draft form, “does not prioritize planes, trains, or automobiles,” he said. In fact, it pays a lot of attention to freight. 

“We aim to make Savannah the Long Beach of the East Coast,“ explained Long, referring to the second-busiest seaport in the country, in terms of cargo value. 

That would require some big upgrades to rail and roads in Chatham County, dredging the Savannah River and enticing shippers to a port that has beefy East Coast competition from Norfolk, Va.; Charleston, SC; and the Port of New York/New Jersey. 

Rep. Donna Sheldon (R-Dacula), looking over the STP said, “It seems like you depend heavily on tolls and managed roads in the metro Atlanta area.” 

The planning director countered that tolls are such a small part of the money needed for building that they’re not a big part of revenue plans. Tolls would likely come with so-called P3 projects:  public-private partnerships. But, he added, “The tolling aspect, the P3 is not mentioned much at all ... If P3 fits a particular project, then yes, that could be a tool to help you get to the end.” 

Completely different from the SSTP is the old STIP, the State Transportation Improvement Program, a document that names and prioritizes major construction jobs in four-year segments. Georgia is operating under the FY2010-2013 STIP; Long is drafting FY2011-2014.

But in the meantime, the legislature must approve the list of projects Long has suggested for priority in FY2011. 

He suggests spending about $3.6 million in North Fulton, out of a statewide total of $192 million. Most of it would go for three intersection improvements on Jones Bridge Road.

But, according to Rep. Pat Gardner (D-Atlanta), Long failed to heed the requirement to keep Georgia’s “core services” working. Long’s SSTP document called core services a No. 1 priority and named MARTA a core service.  

Alas, the FY2011 money was prioritized according to the STIP, not the SSTP. 

 
Transit money should come from a regional tax plan now being debated at the Capitol, Long said.  If that bill becomes law, groups of counties could choose to create Transportation Special Local Option Tax (TSPLOST) districts and vote themselves a tax for transportation or transit. 

Gardner seemed frustrated:  “It’s not been clear who the decision-makers are in projects ... you all have a plan, ARC has a plan.”

The Atlanta Regional Commission is the forum in which the leaders of the 10 metro counties meet to come up with metrowide transportaion plans. Under SSTP, the ARC will be able to recommend projects to Long and his team.

The draft SSTP will be submitted to the GDOT governing body and Gov. Sonny Perdue; approval won’t come until Feb. 15 at the earliest. That’s the deadline for legislators to give their suggestions to Long —  which also caused a bit of confusion. 

“According to SB 200,” said Chairman Roberts, sounding a bit frustrated, “I’m supposed to submit to the Planning Director any changes that you might want him to look at. So if there are any changes to this plan, I will need to have them as soon as possible because I need to deliver them to him [Long] by Feb. 15.”

PERDUE INTRODUCES WATER CONSERVATION BILL
by Maggie Lee / Staff

Gov. Sonny Perdue introduced water conservation legislation aimed at ensuring a water supply for metro Atlanta since a federal judge ruled the area has no right to Lake Lanier for drinking water.

Perdue wants to modify behavior for one, mandating low-flow toilets and submetering multifamily dwellings, among other changes to building codes.  That’s not far from the minimum that environmentalists were calling for last year. He also thinks reservoirs, a pricey option, have a place; his bill will include some kind of reservoir study committee.

No details or benchmarks on the bill are available. Perdue gave only broad hints about the bill in a recent press conference.

JOBS, BUSINESS VITALIZATION HOPED FOR

House and Senate Republican leaders last week introduced a Jobs, Opportunity and Business Success Act of 2010 aimed at bringing the private sector back to life. It would give companies a pair of tax breaks: up to $125 per new employee for hiring people calculated as least likely to come off unemployment, and $2,400 for keeping new hires on a job for 24 months. 

Companies and individuals will also effectively be able to declare a lower taxable income to Georgia than to the federal government if they’ve got long-term capital gains income. Georgia would allow a state income tax deduction of up to half the value of capital gains that are subject to federal taxation. Those measures depend on the state’s shortfall reserve topping $500 million and staying there. 

The bill also abolishes the corporate net worth tax which hits a ceiling of $5,000 once a business is worth $22 million or more.

‘HAWK’ SYSTEM  THROWN OUT OF HOUSE

The House unanimously threw off a particularly hated institution of the past four years:  the “hawk” system.  That was an invention of ex-House Speaker Glenn Richardson, which allowed him to dispatch his lieutenants to vote in any committee. 

That same House resolution also bars any but  technical or minor changes to bills when they are on the floor for debate. That means no putting in major changes and asking legislators to vote without time for deliberation or a committee check.

Moreover, it allows reporters to return to the House floor, but only long enough to ask someone to come outside for a few words. Previously, reporters could ask House Communications staff to bring someone out or, more commonly, ambush legislators just outside the chamber.   

House Minority Leader  DuBose Porter (D-Dublin) said, “We’re doing away with the cloud that hung over this body.”   

ONLINE POSTING GETS A THUMBS-UP

And finally, Rep. Ed Lindsey’s (R-Atlanta) legislation requiring any local government with a budget over $1 million to post a budget, audit, expenditures and revenues online got the nod from a House committee. 

There’s no date yet for House floor action or a carrier in the Senate.