House Bill 290, which passed out of the House Motor Vehicles committee last week, would make it illegal to drive a vehicle with an unrestrained animal in the back. The punishment? A $15 fine. The bill’s sponsor, Democrat State Representative Karla Drenner, told the AJC that “The fine is not designed to be a deterrent.
This week’s Courier Herald column: One of the more interesting semi-public power plays during this year’s General Assembly has been between legislators and the Board of Regents. Georgia’s Constitution insulates the Board of Regents and thus the University System of Georgia from direct political influence. This is to keep the whims of modern politics from
Members of the Georgia Senate are misleading the public in a shameful attempt to impose a full throated anti-LGBT agenda. On Friday, the Georgia Senate approved HB757. HB757 was once called the Pastor Protection Act, but HB757 is unworthy of the name in its current form. Indeed, after the Senate hijacked HB757 by inserting into
PARKatlanta, the private parking enforcement firm that the City of Atlanta contracted with in 2009, maintains that it is “a collaborative initiative led by the City’s Department of Public Works that is modernizing the City’s parking operations to improve convenience, access, fairness, and service for City motorists, residents, businesses, and visitors.” Pretty much everyone who
House Bill 952, assigned to the Small Business Development Committee, stands to strip rulemaking power of state licensing boards and harm business professionals around the state should it makes its way through the General Assembly this session. Sponsored by the Governor’s Floor Leaders, Representatives Chad Nimmer, Christian Coomer, Robert Dickey, Terry Rogers, and Amy Carter,
At last we leave the safety of the shallow end of the budget knowledge pool, and dive into deeper waters that require a comfortability with the basics to tread. Consider videos four through six of this series from PolicyBEST a bit more advanced and hitting at a deeper level for discussion here at GeorgiaPol. Georgia
Those attending a Tuesday Senate Rules Committee hearing believed it would consider two bills, the Pastor Protection Act, sent over from the House, and the First Amendment Defense Act, sponsored by Senator Greg Kirk of Americus. Instead, what they got was a substitute for the Pastor Protection Act that took the original, and added on
The growing spat between Speaker Ralston and Senator Josh McKoon of Columbus got a bit more tense today. To review, on Thursday, as the House was preparing to pass the Pastor Protection Act, Senator McKoon took to the well to lament that the Pastor Protection Act was in reality a Politician Protection Act. As the
State Representative Geoff Duncan (R-GA-26) is sponsoring a proposal to help the struggling hospitals of rural Georgia. House Bill 919, proposed by Duncan, would allow individuals and corporations to get a state tax credit for donating money to rural health care organizations. Duncan met with rural hospital officials at the State Capitol on Thursday to
This past Monday was Esophageal Cancer Day at the Georgia State Capitol, in order to raise awareness of the disease and the work being done to help fight it. Chairman Paul Battles of the Georgia House of Representatives recently recognized the Esophageal Cancer Awareness Association (ECAA), an all-volunteer national organization who is dedicated to battling
