Georgia State Representative LaDawn Jones, an Atlanta Democrat, has kept her promise. Jones recently filed House Bill 760 to “change the purpose of Stone Mountain” and allow elected officials and bureaucrats to effectively change, alter, and remove monuments from certain memorials. Specifically, House Bill 760 would: Eliminate Stone Mountain Memorial Park as a memorial to the
The House and Senate appropriation Committees began several days of joint hearings on Tuesday, as they begin to consider both the amended FY 2016 budget and the budget for fiscal year 2017, which begins on July 1st. For the most part, these hearings are pretty dry, with the agency head reviewing the information presented in
This week’s Courier Herald column: The first week of the annual meeting of Georgia’s General Assembly is filled with a lot of ceremony and pageantry. The annual Wild Hog Supper welcomes legislators back to Atlanta. The Georgia Chamber of Commerce’s annual Eggs & Issues breakfast allows the Governor, Lieutenant Governor, and Speaker of the House
Governor Nathan Deal released his proposed fiscal year 2017 budget Thursday afternoon that would raise and spend $23.7 billion in the fiscal year beginning July 1st. Many lawmakers will spend the weekend reviewing it, and will return to the gold dome on Tuesday for a week of budget hearings. The pie chart at right shows
State Representative David Stover (R-HD-71) filed HB 723 prior to the convening of the 2016 session of the Georgia General Assembly. The premise is simple: if you’re a current member of the General Assembly, or you’ve been out less than a year, you would not be able to take a non-elected job within state government.
Senate Majority Leader Bill Cowsert of Athens released the agenda of the Majority Caucus this morning, including seven priority items the Senate will focus on this year. At the top of the caucus’s agenda are efforts to combat the possibility of terrorist attacks in Georgia. The caucus will conduct an assessment of threats to the
House Bill 731, filed by Georgia democrat Mary Margaret Oliver, is one of the most extreme anti-second amendment bills the state has seen in some time. Co-sponsored by Minority Leader Stacey Abrams and Reps. Carolyn Hugley, Pat Gardine, Dar’shun Kendrick, Dee Dawkins-Haigler, the bill seeks to focus on “dangerous instrumentalities and practices” by prohibiting the “possession,
The Georgia House and Senate will gather in the House Chamber at 11 this morning to hear from Governor Deal. The speech is expected to last about an hour, and it is believed the governor will focus on education. We will be tweeting the speech on Twitter, so follow along at @GeorgiaPol_com. You can let
On WABE this morning, host Denis O’Hayer shared a conversation he had with House Minority Leader Stacey Abrams (D-Atlanta) on the eve of session, noting that the House democrats hold just enough seats in the House to block a Constitutional amendment. Their conversation centered on: Governor Deal’s proposals for education reform – “Money following the
