On The Flip Side . . . Where We've Got More Hope - CALL TODAY!

Call in days . . . Today and Tomorrow (Wednesday and Thursday) . . . get those fingers dialing!

We have a real opportunity to pass a budget that moves the country in the direction we need, but only if you . . .

Call Senators Saxby Chambliss, Johnnie Isakson and your Congressional Representative too!

Do it now, toll-free, at 1-888-436-8427!

GRUS distributing fliers asking the same thing last Friday's Stand for Peace at Colony Square in Atlanta, asking people to contact their Representatives and Senators NOW:



Tell them: "Please vote to support President Obama's budget priorities, to set us on the path to create jobs, provide health care for all, and develop renewable energy. I care about taking care of families during the recession, and about reducing poverty in the long run. These investments will revive our economy and build a foundation for long-term prosperity."

The President has produced a groundbreaking 2010 budget proposal to reset America's priorities.

But opposition is growing. That's because the budget is responsible in paying for these investments. There are corporations who don't want their loopholes closed, wealthy households who don't want to lose any of their tax deductions, military contractors who like their generous payments, and companies who don't want to pay a fee designed to reduce global warming. The hoofprints of a lot of gored oxen are visible on Capitol Hill.

The President included $634 billion in the budget as a down payment on health care reform. This is an historic commitment and a vital first step toward achieving quality, affordable health care for all in 2009. Put simply, Congress must pass a budget that funds health care if we want to enact comprehensive reform this year. It's time to turn our momentum into action and make sure President Obama's budget passes, so we can get our economy back on track and win quality affordable health care for all. (Join healthcareforamericanow.org )

If you want the public interest to win out over the vested interests, please call your Congressional Representative and Senators Chambliss and Isakson!

Day 33 - Like High School, with Higher Stakes

A few weeks ago one of us left a voice mail for someone and got a text back asking, "Where are you? Church?" There are multiple school choirs singing in the rotunda or on the main stairs every day of the session. "It doesn't make it hard to hear what's going on in the House and Senate?" you might ask. Yes, it does.

Today we actually had some high school's rock band. Not kidding. They had gone electric, and there were these two kids singing alt rock.

Then we had another elementary school choir, and someone commented that they felt like they were in the cafeteria in third grade.

To which a more astute lobbyist replied, "This whole place is like high school. You've got the rich kids over there [the corporate lobbyists, who hang out in one spot], you've got the poor kids over here [the progressive non-profit lobbyists, who hang out in another spot], and then in both you've got all these different cliques."

And of course there are bullies. Leaving out some of the bullies inside the chambers, there's a certain infamous, nationally-known anti-immigrant lobbyist who likes to follow around those of us who work to protect immigrants' rights, post up on a wall, and try to stare us down. Or something. It's actually a little unclear what he's trying to accomplish. But isn't it always that way with bullies?

Speaking of which, we're fighting 3 bills that have passed the House and are in committee this coming Tuesday. They all seek to keep Georgia in the past:

First of all, there's SB 20 and SB 86. Rather than rehash the issues with those bills here, you can go back to Day 21 and read about SB 20 and HB 45, which is the House version of SB 86. (Sometimes they'll pass separate House and Senate versions of a bill in case one of them gets held up somewhere and risks not passing.) Day 21 is here: http://georgiasummithotline.blogspot.com/2009/02/just-plain-mean.html.

Then there's SB 67. It would require that driver's license exams be given only in English. The sponsors apparently want to make a point about immigrants needing to learn English. But the real effect will be to discourage foreign companies from doing business here. If you're Kia -- the car company -- for example, and you're planning to build a plant in Georgia, and you find out that your executives' spouses, who might stay home with the kids and not really need to learn English to live their lives, are gonna have to learn English just to be able to drive to the grocery store, wouldn't you take another look at some other state that doesn't have such restrictions?

The thing is, the road test is already given only in English. If you don't understand English well enough to understand the person riding with you administering your road test, and you fail that, you don't get a driver's license. But the bill's sponsors want the written test to be given only in English too. Lots of business folks oppose this bill. As one of them told us, he has plenty of clients -- foreign business-people working in the U.S., many with Green Cards -- who are completely fluent in English but who might not do well on a written English test full of technicalities. If we effectively make companies pay for those employees to get extra English training when they're already fluent, are they really gonna want to come here?

At a time when Georgians are suffering crisis levels of unemployment, we're apparently about to tell these companies that we don't want their jobs. All just to make a political point.

***We can really use your help on Tuesday. If you want to come to the capitol to help us oppose the bill at the committee meeting, please email brooksGRUS@gmail.com. You don't have to have any experience; we just need you to show up.***

Day 30 - Crossover Madness 4: Rules, Shmules

So, the Republicans came back from the arm-twisting recess ready to fall in line. They introduced a new version of SB 169, with at least 5 amendments and a new name. Sen. Steve Thompson (D) raised an objection, saying with the amendments and the name change, the bill either had to go through the usual committee process (which there would not be time for since it was Crossover Day) or the Senate would have to approve putting the new bill on the Calendar with a 2/3 vote.

Lt. Gov Casey Cagel and the Sec. of the Senate denied Thompson's invocation of the rule - ignoring the rule - and put the new version of the bill on the Calendar for debate.

During the debate, Thompson gave an impassioned speech about the Lt. Gov.'s violation of the rules, saying that the majority party ran the risk of damaging our system of government by playing "fast and loose" with the rules, that the Senate was supposed to be "the deliberative house," and that the embryo/stem cell issue should take a year and a half of work, not be crammed through like it was being.

He, along with others, also took issue with Sen. Ralph T. Hudgens's (R - sponsor of the bill) comparison of embryonic stem cell research to the deadly and torturous experimentation on humans of the Nazi Dr. Mengele and the Tuskegee Experiment. Yes, he really made that comparison.

Sen. David Adelman (D), read the language in the bill that made the use of in vitro fertilization legal only in cases of infertility. Adelman said that this would take away in vitro fertilization away as an option in cases where both members of a couple are fertile but the woman has health problems that make carrying a baby or giving birth dangerous. Hudgens said that in that case the woman was infertile. After much back-and-forth, Adelman nailed Hudgens down on the point, asking, Are you saying that if a woman can get pregnant, but she has a heart condition that makes it dangerous for her to carry a baby, then she is infertile? Hudgens finally answered Yes.

Day 30 - Crossover Madness 3: A Bad Bill Fails, and the Arm-Twisting Begins

As we write, some Republican senators arms are being twisted in the backroom of the Senate. We're outside listening for that snapping sound that means, well, you know...

Just a bit ago, there was applause from all the folks glued to the monitor in the hallway, after SB 169 was tabled (meaning it wouldn't have a chance to pass this year.)

SB 169, by Sen. Hudgens, was rewritten in special a subcommittee by Senator Smith. Much of the original language was removed but the revised bill would ban cloning and stem cell research and would elevate the legal status of an embryo to that of a "person".

For couples who are challenged with fertility issues, it would throw up road blocks that interfere with their ability to build their families.

Elevating the legal status of embryos, to that of a “person,” could have random implications and broad, legal and medical ramifications.

And other language that would shut down stem cell research projects in Georgia.

The "debate" was hilarious. Sen. Hudgins (R) took question after question that he admitted to not being able to answer.

In response to many questions about the bill, his response was, "I'm not a scientist" [and thus can't answer the question.]

Sen. Seth Harp (D) asked, Wouldn't the bill, if passed, make anyone who destroys an embryo guilty of capital murder? Hudgins's response, after saying at least once that he wasn't a lawyer: "I'm not gonna argue the law with you."

Apparently he isn't much of anything.

In response to Sen. Nan Orrock's (D) question about the 71,000 Georgians that have in vitro babies that wouldn't have been able to be born under this law, Hudgins said, "We want that embryo declared an 'embryonic human being' - or whatever you wanna call it."

This bill was about three things: science, the law, and legal definitions of embryos. Yet Hudgins directly and indirectly said that he couldn't address any of those things.

Thankfully, the bill failed. And now, the arm-twisting has begun.

. . .

On the House side, they're still working their way through the bills on the calendar. And we're still waiting to see if they do a supplemental Rules meeting when they're done, meaning...will they meet to add more bills to the calendar. We're crossing our fingers that the relative calm of today's Crossover Day will not be shattered in the next couple of hours, and that everybody can go home at a reasonable time and without having to deal with any more crazy bills or backroom mauneuvers.

Day 30 - Crossover Madness 2: What's Austin Scott up to?

HB 225: This bill would require a person to be a Georgia resident in order to register voters in Georgia. That's right, it would be illegal for someone to come here as a volunteer to register voters. It's most likely a response to Obama's success using voter registration teams. The bill had been tabled in committee, giving us a brief sigh of relief. Then Monday we had heard it might be added as an amendment on the floor, and people were running all over to get the opposition together. The rumor that the bill would be resurrected was only half true. It turned out that the attempt to resurrect was not on the floor but in committee. Governmental Affairs Committee Chair, Rep. Austin Scott (R), briefly had HB 225 on his agenda, but when questioned about why the tabled bill was coming back up, he removed it from the agenda. That was Monday.

So what happened yesterday...when the legislature wasn't even in session? Chairman Scott (also an announced candidate for Governor) held a committee meeting and started talking about the bill. He did not follow procedure and post a notice about the meeting on the House notice board. The meeting was at 11:00; we happened to notice at 11:30 that it was posted on the small board outside his office.

In the committee, he didn't even discuss taking it back off the table. He just started talking about it again. Both Republican and Democratic Committee members were clearly not much interested in passing the bill. Scott just said we're going to pass this bill.

Things are hard enough to accomplish when the rules are stacked against you...but ignoring the rules makes things impossible. This is what gives politicians a bad name. And the public a cynical view of government.

Rep. Alisha Thomas-Morgan (D) filed a Minority Report, a procedure which will give her 20 minutes to speak on the floor about her and fellow committee members' objections to the bill. In addition, she challenged the rules violations that occurred when the bill was not voted off the table and when the meeting notice was not properly given.

We're curious to see if Rep. Scott wants that discussion to happen on the House floor.

Technically the bill does not qualify for the regular 30th day calendar, because even with the shenanigans, it came out of committee a day too late. But it could come up again if the House calls a supplemental Rules Committee meeting to add more bills to today's calendar to try to get it through by the end of the day. We expect at least one of these meetings later today on the House side. Stay tuned.

Day 30 - Crossover Madness 1

It's Crossover Day, the 30th day of the session, when a bill has to pass either the House or the Senate or it's dead.

Here's where we are:

HB 388 passed the House, 96-66. Clost vote: They needed 91 to pass. What does it do? Allows you to adopt human embryos. Yeah. Very useful. Good use of taxpayer money. But Obama just lifted the ban on federal funding for stem cell research, right? Right. But with this bill, NONE of that money can come to Georgia. Apparently, some of our legislators would rather save zygotes than save human lives with stem cell research. "Pro-life"? Really?

SB 228 passed the Senate, 49-3. It's a terrible bill, which exempts "ephemeral" and "intermittent" streams from the statewide 25-foot stream buffer. The buffer exists to prevent construction within 25 feet of all waterways, in large part to protect our waterways from construction runoff. This bill exempts all ephemeral and intermittent streams, streams which only appear when it rains, from the buffer. The problem: When it rains, these streams appear, and whatever runs into them runs right into our water supply.

COBRA Extension: Read the post from yesterday for the details on what SB 182 would have done. It's a no-brainer. All it will do is help Georgians keep health insurance while they're unemployed, and it will cost taxpayers nothing. So it's hard to figure out why it wasn't put on the calendar today. But it wasn't. We're looking at other ways to get the extension passed, and we're hoping our legislators will do the right thing. Read the post from yesterday and stay tuned.

COBRA before Crossover (Call Today)

In addition to the bills to take action on listed in the "Sleep with the Lights On" post from Monday, we've got a proactive bill that needs support

SB 182 would go a long way towards helping all the folks who are or will soon be out of work. Here's how:
When you lose your job and with it the health insurance provided by your employer, the COBRA program allows you to pay a premium for health insurance until you find another job. Right now in Georgia, however, there is a 3 month cap on COBRA coverage.

The good news is that the Federal Stimulus Package provides for 9 months of COBRA subsidized by the federal goverment at 65% (meaning the federal government will pay 65% of your COBRA premium for 9 months). But with the 3-month cap in Georgia, Georgians who are unemployed are still out of luck.

So SB 182 has been forth to remedy the problem. SB 182 calls for increasing the Georgia cap on COBRA coverage to 18 months. That would allow Georgians to accept the 9 months of subsidized COBRA coverage. And unlike so much legislation, it includes the foresight that the federal government may renew the subsidies at the end of 9 months and add on another 9 months. This is a bill that just makes so much sense in these desperate times of increasing unemployment.

What you can do:
1. Of course let your own representatives and senators know you support this bill, but more importantly:
2. Call Senator Don Balfour at 404.656.0095 and tell him that you support the bill and ask him to please put the bill on the Senate Calendar. Balfour is the chair of the Senate Rules Committee, which decides which bills get put on the calendar to even get a chance of being passed. Since all bills have to be out of committee by tomorrow ("Crossover Day" - the 30th day of the session, when a bill has to get passed out of committee or it dies), your call is needed TODAY to tell him that you support SB 182 and you want it heard.

More from yesterday

Quick Hits:

Who got hit? Super speeders. The House passed a bill that would levy an additional fine and the dollars will partially go toward funding trauma care.

Who got hit? Clean water advocates. The Senate passed a bill (SB 155)that strips protection from streams carrying rainwater. Construction buffers intended to reduce pollutin were weakened.

Who got hit? Voters. A bill that had been tabled and thought dead, HB 225, was temporarily revived in committee then pulled from debate. The bill proposes to make it illegal for a person who is not a resident of Georgia to do voter registration campaigns in the state. Hopefully, the bill will go away permanently this time.

Who got hit? Anyone who eats. Last week two bills moved out of committee that were legislators idea of addressing the economic crisis. One would repeal corporate income taxes. The other was to balance the loss of revenue by adding back the grocery tax. The tax repeal author yesterday announced he would hold up the bill because it needed "study". Ya think? Couldn't they have come to this conclusion before committee passage? But the tax on groceries bill moves forward and is eligible for a floor vote any day now.

Not a hit, but a home run? For voters!!! In a surprise move, after all the other voter suppression proposals this year, SB 11 was passed by committee. This bill requires that all those who lost their right to vote after a felony conviction, are to be given a certicicate of voter restoration at the time they complete their sentence requirements. This is necessary because the Georgia Constitution allows restoration but many ex-offenders were being told and have been told, that they could never vote again. We feel safe in saying this was intentional misrepresentation of the law, again to suppress voting. So it's good news that this bill attempts to correct that injustice. We want ex-offenders to feel like they can get back into the game of life and should be encouraged to be involved in their community. It remains to bee seen, however, whether the bill will ever be scheduled for a floor vote.

Will the tree of knowledge be allowed to grow in Georgia?

The branches
Yikes...abortion doctors charged with murder, fertilization defined as the moment of conception, allowing adoption of human embryos, stem cell research restrictions...where do legislators think they are going with all of this? Into the 19th century no doubt.

The roots
Despite all scientific evidence and advancements it's a struggle to get legislators to give up their perception they must represent their religions when adopting laws. And not just on this issue.

Yesterdays hearing on a stem cell research bill proved that pandering to the threats of fundamentalist-right Christian voters is all that matters to some. It's fine to have deeply held religious beliefs, but don't make laws that make everyone else have to follow your religion, by law. The fundamentalist-right is neither fun, nor mental, nor right.

The trunk...Baggage we'll have to carry.
On the very day the restrictions on stem cell research were lifted nationally, the bill seeking imposition of restrictions was passed out of committee. Let's hope SB 169 goes no further. Despite testimony that life-saving stem cell research resrtictions would hurt Georgia (and close down at least 4 Georegia university programs) the committee voted 7-6 for the bill. Are we supposed to be encouraged that the vote was close?

Sleep With Your Lights On

Be alert this week, several big issues are expected to hit the floor for a vote.



Some battles anticipated and what you can do:

Vouchers, SB 90 - the scheme to undermine public schools, more at www.gae.org and www.lwvga.org

Stem Cell research Restrictions, SB 169 - Adoption of Human Embryos, SB 204 (and other similar far-out stuff) - so visit www.ppga.org

Save the Georgia Commission on Family Violence, HB 385 - more at www.gcfv.org

Medicaid and Peachcare changes that promote reduced benefits in private plans, SB 92 - find your State Senator at www.vote-smart.org and call to oppose

Want Clean Water? Then you won't like SB 155 - see alert from Georgia Conservation Voters at http://protectgeorgia.net/takeaction.asp?aaid=3772

Voting Rights and Restoration of Voting Rights, various bills so get update from League of Women Voters Georgia www.lwvga.org

What is Crossover Day? - If You Were Joan of Arc, you'd rather see a match

Crossover is the 30th day of the 40 day General Assembly session. By legislative rules, it is the last day that a bill must be passed by it's originating chamber to be eligible to continue to be "alive". So it is a mad scramble to load up the calendar of the 30th day with bills to get a final chance toward becoming law. Well, "final" is actually a relative term in the Gold Dome. Because bills can be amended, that is the manuever that can be used to by-pass the Crossover rule. Legislators and/or leadership can take a bill that failed to make the cut-off and just attach it to a bill that did. This is difficult to track and often happens at the last minute. Imagine the possibilities: a bill you thought had died is attached to another bill and all the sudden there is a new bill number to follow, amendments can happen on the floor and legislators are somewhat blindsided, those favoring or oppossing the contents of the amendment have to get word into the chamber for a last minute battle...well, you get the picture.

But what makes it to the floor by the 30th day is generally an indication of leaderships priorities. So many of the contoversial bills that don't make the cut are truly seen as not moving this year. Since General Assembly is in the first of a two year cycle, the bills can be reactivated next January.

And that's how it is.

Budgets Passed But Not Behind Us

Both Chambers passed their versions of the 2009 Amended Budget, which goes through June. The Supplemental Budget, they call it. Email smithlowe@earthlink.net to get a summary, in plain language, of where there are differences between the House and Senate versions. What happens next is a Conference of three House and three Senate members get together to hash out compromises. You can also get info on the budget at http://www.gbpi.org/ The BIG budget, for FY 2010, is still being worked on. It could go a couple of more weeks before floor votes...and there will certainly be a conference committee needed after that.



Speaking of the budget, we are all still perplexed by the lack of serious movement of the revenue enhancing bills. So what did move last week? Corporate tax cuts. You guessed it. Rep. Tom Graves (R-Ranger, District 12) got HB 481 passed out of committee. It would phase out corporate income taxes. That's a huge hit for revenues at any time, but intolerable during the current economic crisis. So, what could possibly replace the revenue loss? This you probably would not have guessed...bring back the grocery tax!!!! Yes, Rep. Chuck Sims (R-Ambrose, District 169) has had the grocery tax HB 67 passed out of the same committee.

When we hear politicians talk about "safe districts", I guess they think of District 12 & 169. Think the folks back home are paying attention?

Even Cagle Had the Blues

Last week there was excitement when Democrats in both chambers waged spirited opposition to a pair of voter registration bills. As you know from previous blog entries, the bills seek to require birth certificates, passports et al as proof of citizenship when a person registers to vote. A continuing assault on the right to vote for those most affected by adding more barriers...African Americans, older citizens, naturalized citizens, college students. Imagine conducting a voter registration drive and having all registrars needing to carry a copy machine. Wouldn't balance very well on the traditional clipboard.

Anyway, all that debate rhetoric was overshadowed by the squable over a bill by Sen. Eric Johnson that would have allowed the State Revenue Dept. to release the names of Legislators who had disputes with them. Currently the law says the dispute charges are not made public until there is legal action by the Revenue Deptartment. So, no matter what we might think about those who are investigated...or why...legislators would be treated differently than other citizens and essentially be guilty until proven innocent. Tough territory to be in if you are an elected official.

Senate Minority Leader Robert Brown argued that even he was the subject of malicious prior judgement on this kind of issue, since he filed an extension on his tax filing due to a lengthy illness. But in a stunning one-upsmanship screed, Brown expounded on the intentions of Johnson to embarass what he thought might be Democrat scuffows. Although Johnson never anwered to the charge of being a "blood-sucker", he did recoil when the overhead projector behind Brown displayed a photo of Johnson wrapping himself in the old Georgia Confederate flag. Jaws dropped, mouths hung open and we were all sure that the Senate was going the way of Rome, Greece and big time vaudeville.

Perhaps it was an attempt to diffuse the intense levels of feelings, but Lt. Gov. Cagle commented that the bill never should have gotten to the floor. He didn't take the position of the Dems ("Blues"...get it?) but he did recognize that there are some battles that shouldn't be played out on the Senate floor. Exhausting just thinking about it.

New Schedule for End of Session

After rumblings for more than a week, it turns out to be true...General Assembly will now adjourn April 3rd. Leadership feels they now have a good enough idea of how much and how to use the federal Recovery Act funds coming to Georgia. It was just two days ago that the Governor gave a clear signal that he was going to apply for all the avaiable funds. For way too long, he was hinting that he'd follow some of the other Republican Governors and take a "conservative stand" to not accept "strings" that come with federal dollars.

So, now they think they can come up with a bidget and be out of here April 3 instead of having to break and come back in June.

In addition, it was announced that the 40th day would NOT have a Rules Calendar and would only deal with Agrees and Disagrees...which are bills that have to be reconciled after House and Senate pass diffferent versions of the same bill. In the past there was a huge amount of criticism when these bills came out of Conference Committee (Reconciled) and were slipped in between other bills on the calendar for agree or disagree votes. This process was extra chaotic because legislators were forced to vote on bills that were changed and they did not even know how they were changed .

Most folks in the halls were pretty happy that folks would not have to return in June.

Day 26 - "The United States of this country"

That's how Rep. Mills managed to refer to our nation when speaking in support of his HB 45. Ironic that the point of the bill is to require proof of citizenship to register to vote. Shouldn't you have to know the name of the country too?

As we write this, debate has begun on HB 45, yet another voter disenfranchisement bill. For the reasons it's such a bad idea, go here:
http://www.lwvga.org/documents/proofofcitizenship2AA7EC_000.pdf

The Gold Dome was swarming with folks this morning. By the People Day/Women in the Halls (co-sponsored every Wednesday by the ACLU, Planned Parenthood, Feminist Women's Health Center, and GRUS), had two special foci today: Immigrants' Rights and Raising the GA Minimum Wage. So many people came to advocate that we had to split into two different rooms.

The group headed from the LOB over to the Capitol, we had a lot to work on. We lobbied hard against HB 45, sending information in to legislators and calling them out from the floor to talk to them about why it's such a bad bill.

One member, who started out telling us he wanted to prevent voter fraud, but who seemed to come around to the reality that voter fraud is not an issue that we have any reason to be worried about, and that this bill would in fact threaten citizens' right to vote, finally just said, "What am I supposed to tell my constituents in North Georgia? They won't understand me voting against it."

Well, it just so happened that a few of his constituents, who had come down to the Capitol for other issues, happened to be standing behind us, overheard us, and then said that they in fact did want him to vote against it. They called him back out from the floor to talk to him about it. No word, unfortunately, on how that went.

Speaking of all these voter ID-voter registration-picture ID-birth certificate bills, if they ever get around to passing one of the several bills giving rights to embryos (or zygotes at this point), does the mother get the embryo's vote? (Yes, bills have been introduced allowing you to adopt embryos. Yea! I'm already picking out names for mine!)

So here we are almost at the end of the session, and as bad as the budget is, they still haven't moved any revenue bills. What's up with that?

At the same time, Ways and Means has a dozen tax credit bills for corporations that they're considering. When have you ever benefited from corporate tax breaks?

*** And we're abruptly brought back to more ridiculousness: HB 45 has now passed. A partisan vote with only one Republican voting No. So get ready to find your birth certificate when you want to register to vote. Don't have it? Just get your passport. Too poor to think about traveling overseas? They don't care.

And that legislator who said he had to listen to his constituents' wishes, and whose constituents told him they wanted him to vote against it? He voted for it. Republican leadership called for a block vote and only one had the courage to bolt, but not this guy who actually had consituent input.

Meanwhile, the Senate ended up passing another terrible anti-immigrant bill this morning. SB 136 is intended to speed up the deportation process for those undocumented who are incarcerated. It would allow Pardons and Paroles to half the sentence when the inmate agreed to voluntarily waive legal rights and representation. And then be immediately deported without possibility of return. The bill also takes the decision issue final deportation orders away from an immigration judge and delegates that part to the prison system folks. So, no matter what you think of the immigrantion issue, it is not a good idea to entice people to give up their rights...and an even worse idea to take away the role of judges to determine what the law actually allows.

So let's recap, shall we?

What our legislators are spending time on:
- Taking away and/or erecting barriers for the right to vote.
- Allowing us to adopt embryos.
- Giving tax breaks to corporations.

What our legislators are not spending time on:
- Budget shortfalls.
- Jobs.
- Education.
- Health Care.
- Things on top of the list of what you actually need.


Remember that you can always look up legislation and find out who your legislators are and how they voted on legislation, on the General Assembly's website: http://www.legis.ga.gov/

And you can come down here and talk to your legislators whenever you want.

Speaking of which, Polly McKinney of the League of Women Voters had about 25 third graders down here with her this morning. We suspect they were a bit disappointed when they left.

Day 25 - Deja Vu all over again

It was another marathon debate in the Senate March 3 when Democrats offered spirited and near unanimous opposition to a bill by the author of the 2005 Voter ID bill. This time it was a bill that would require proof of citizenship at time of registration. SB 86 is said by sponsor Cecil Staton (R-Macon) to "just prevent fraud" and voting by illegal aliens. But in close to three hours of debate, no one spoke in favor of the bill except Staton. Same old claims that the "potential" for "illegals" voting outweighed the disenfranchishment of those who cannot produce or cannot afford to track down the paperwork necessary to satify the voter registration requirements. Nevermind that no examples of anyone voting illegally exists. Nevermind that no non-citizen, who might be undocumented, is likely to rush down to register to vote and thus turn themselves in for deportation. Nevermind that African Americans, the elderly, the disabled and those born at home will have a heck of a time producing papers the state would require. Putting up barriers that actually discourage voting is not preventing fraud, it's voter suppression. Republican Senators silently sat through the impassioned reasoning and still voted as a block to prevent a "problem" for which no actual case exists. More about this later, the House is expect to vote on it's version of this same scheme (HB 45) later today.