In this third installment of Become a Budget Expert from PolicyBEST, we see how the state plans to spends your money this year. The two largest state policy expenditures are education, which is over 50% of the budget, and healthcare, which is 22%. Also, it’s important to keep in mind the planned increase in transportation
Once upon a time back at the old place, we were more of a comment driven blog. Times have changed and I don’t expect us to return to all of those days. That said, I do like the idea of promoting comments worthy of celebration to their own front page post. With that preface, I
This week’s Courier Herald column: Justice Antonin Scalia died Saturday. The immediate political reaction was as expected as it was unseemly. Expected because one of the courts most conservative members has left a vacancy during a heated election to replace our country’s most progressive President. Expected because the candidacies of Donald Trump and Bernie sanders
This morning U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia was found dead in Texas. He had apparently been there for a quail hunt. From his official Supreme Court biography: Antonin Scalia, Associate Justice, was born in Trenton, New Jersey, March 11, 1936. He married Maureen McCarthy and has nine children – Ann Forrest, Eugene, John Francis,
It’s Valentine’s Weekend, There’s a potential Icepocalypse coming on President’s Day, and the chill that you feel isn’t coming from a Polar Vortex but from under Georgia’s Gold Dome. How’s that for a backdrop to an hour of GeorgiaPol Radio on WGST? It’s the mid-point of the General Assembly session and usually that’s when things
In the second installment of Become a Budget Expert, we discuss the three areas that make up state funding: taxes and fees, bonds, and the rainy day fund. Taxes and fees make up the yearly state budget in good economic times and are supported in bad times by reserve revenues, called the rainy day fund.
When I’m not organizing GeorgiaPol most of my time is spent on policy education issues as the Executive Director of PolicyBEST. We focus on issues of Business Climate & Economic Development, Education, Science & Medicine, and Transportation. In the state of Georgia, every one of these issues comes back to the budget. We have to
House Majority Whip Matt Ramsey (R-Peachtree City) will not be running for re-election. Ramsey had been considered a possible front runner to replace Congressman Lynn Westmoreland, but decided not to enter that race. Instead, he’s decided (as many others are this cycle) that the difficulty of running a business and being a citizen legislator are
The Supreme Court has ruled the Obama Administration overstepped its authority with new EPA regulations that would affect the coal fueled power plants. This has direct implications for Georgia, and looks to be setting up a possible trend where the Supreme Court begins to assert its own power in an attempt to contain the powers
Last night (AFTER Fat Tuesday celebrations) I decided I would follow up on last week’s Iowa results with another 5 takeaways from New Hampshire. After reading them, they were circular and contradictory – a lot like this Presidential race. So I’ve taken another pass. Now I think they’re just mostly circular. Consider it the start
