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.

Day 23 - Minority Report

The House debated SB 31 for about 3 1/2 hours today. This is the bill we've reported on several times already, which would do an end run around the Public Service Commission (PSC) and allow Georgia Power to charge us, its individual customers, in advance, for the planned construction of a nuclear plant.

How ever one feels about nuclear power, this bill was terrible for consumers.

The main argument of those who supported the bill was that it would save consumers a huge rate hike in the future by allowing Georgia Power to charge us a little bit at a time so that we wouldn't have to pay interest on interest later. This was nonsense.

Rather than demonstrating that with bits of the back-and-forth debate, we'll instead give you the Minority Report.

It's rarely used, but if something about to pass is egregious enough, a legislator can call for a Minority Report. This allows, at the end of debate, for an important group to speak. Those members of the committee that sent the bill on to the full Senate who voted against the bill when it was in that committee - in other words those who were on the losing side when the bill was voted out of committee - are allowed 20 minutes to speak about why they opposed the bill, and their report is printed up and given to all Senators.

Democrats Brian Thomas and Dubose Porter gave the Minority Report.

Thomas dismantled the arguments of the bill's supporters with the skill and precision of the archaeologist that he is. (Yes, he really is an archaeologist - pretty cool.)

First, he crushed the argument that this plan will save consumers money. Of the money that we would have added to our Georgia Power bills in fees that's supposedly going to prevent us from paying interest on interest:
Only 25% - $500 million - is going towards that goal of paying as we go so that we don't pay interest on interest later on.
50% - $1.1 million - is going straight to Georgia Power as profit. (They call it "return on equity".)
25% - $500 million - would go to paying taxes on that profit.
So, rather than saving us money, 75% of the extra fees we're charged will go towards Georgia Power making bigger profits.

Second, he said that this was not a referendum on nuclear power. The PSC will decide on construction of nuclear plants March 17 at its next meeting.

Third, he pointed out that it's not a referendum on jobs in Augusta. Those jobs will arrive if and when a nuclear plant is built there, which has nothing to do with this bill.

This bill was only about how Georgia Power gets its money.

Dubose Porter informed younger members that when a scheme like this passed through the Georgia Legislature many years ago, it became known as the "Retirement Bill," because so many members lost their seats for voting for it.

Of course, this valiant effort didn't take the day.
The converts to the church of Georgia Power ignored the many unanswered questions, and didn't seem to think it mattered if we had to fight to get them answered later. Apparently their votes were lined up in advance.

The bill passed 107-66, with about 20 Republicans voting against it and about 20 Democrats voting for it.

With so many people and groups opposing it, it's a tough loss to take, because legislators admitted that they had gotten very few to zero calls in favor from constituents. That's not the way things are supposed to work.

Our Town Hall

Check out video of the GRUS Town Hall on Health Care and the Economy, which we held last Thursday at the Academy Theatre in Avondale Estates.

Representative Michelle Henson, Tim Sweeney of Georgia Budget and Policy Institute (www.gbpi.org), Kathy McClure of VoteHealthcare.org (www.votehealthcare.org) and our own Health Care for America Now! (www.HealthCareforAmericaNow.org) director, Charity Woods presented, followed by Q & A with great questions and comments from the attendees.

This clip is from the Q & A. Some vid of the presentations is on our YouTube page.

Day 21 - Just Plain Mean

The Anti-Immigrant Zealots are at it again. Not quite as bad as last year, but still really bad. One sane Senator said today that loss of state funds, when cities declare themselves "Sanctuary Cities", as bad as it is, was "mild for these anti-people, and sometimes you have to throw them a bone." How sad when laws get made this way.

The bill was SB 20, and it did pass out of the Senate today by a wide margin. The problem is, as Sen. Emanuel Jones said from the well, "It's a bill in search of a problem."

SB 20 would make it illegal for any Georgia locality to be a "Sanctuary City." But no city in Georgia has said it had any intention of being a Sanctuary City. What's a Sanctuary City? Exactly. . . . You haven't heard of it before because it's not an issue.

And there's the rub... In committee last week, the bill's author said that he really did want it to apply to cities that "acted like" Sanctuary Cities. So it would be a technical violation...no city declaration but still liable if someone thinks you act like you declared.

The bill doesn't say how one would identify that a city is acting like that, or how the state could enforce such a law. Or even who could report violations. So what the Senate has now passed is a bill that opens up a Pandora's Box where any anti-immigrant vigilante with a gripe can go after any locality he or she wants and report it for violating some standards that don't exist.

It's just another mean-spirited bill aimed at showing how hostile Georgia is to immigrants. Sen. Nan Orrock raised, from the floor, the concern that a bill like this would discourage foreign companies from coming to Georgia. We share that concern. But for some of our legislators, it's more important to look tough by demonizing whole sectors of the population than it is to look out for the real interests of hard-working Georgians -- like, say, jobs.

Which is why yesterday another anti-immigrant bill passed out of committee.

HB 45 would require proof of citizenship to register to vote. Has the state, or the bill's sponsors, or anyone, demonstrated a single instance of a non-citizen attempting to register to vote or to vote? No. Not a single one. And as Rep. Pedro Marin has said, no undocumented immigrant in her or his right mind would risk deportation by attempting to register. So this is another bill in search of a problem. Undocumented immigrants are not trying to vote.

While the bill won't address any problem, it will hurt elderly people, especially African-Americans, who don't have access to a birth certificate because they were born in another state or weren't born in a hospital. So, while there is not supposed to be any cost or poll tax for voting, you might have people who have to pay for document searches and perhaps even have to get a lawyer...just to straighten out their legitimate eligibility to vote. Put up enough barriers and people lose interest. Is that what's intended? You betcha!

It's always fun to be a spectator

They’ve been dragging their feet down here under the Gold Dome, but this week things are picking up big time.

Sen. Fort introduced a bill to impose a moratorium on the death penalty. SB 175. Shalom.

Johnny Isakson announced his intention to run for his U.S. Senate seat again in 2010. Lots of people gathered around, but no one asked the question..."Six more years of what, exactly?"

There are some whispers that they may be reconsidering the long break between March and June. Maybe we’ll get a better feel for that when Gov. Perdue holds his press conference on how more federal dollars might influence the state’s budget.

On top of that, this week we’re staying on top of hearings on Sunday Sales and School Vouchers, and the Senate version of the GSU professors sex Inquistion. http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/stories/2009/02/02/sex_experts_legislature.html
And there's still Georgia Power's plan to get us all to pay in advance so they can build a couple of nuclear reactors in Georgia. The first one is not even scheduled to begin construction until 2016. And even this first plant has not yet received all approvals. Senate Minority Leader Robert Brown reflected eloquently from the well this morning and bemoaned the Senate vote to approve this sweetheart deal. Actually his booming voice reflected too...one of the better raise-the-rafters speeches heard in a long time. Sometime speaking with authority has its proper decibel level.

It’s always nerve-wracking to have 2 or 3 committee hearings to get to every afternoon, but now there are 2 or 3 at the same time – in different buildings.

More Highlights from this Week: In Defense of Sanity

Voter ID redux – The big battle in ’05 was to require photo ID for voting and it was a pretty transparent effort to reduce the voting power of minorities and seniors. The more moderate and liberal portion of the potential voting pool. Under the unproven claim that requiring ID would eliminate some imaginary fraudulent voting conspiracy, the ID requirements were passed on a strictly partisan vote. The Dems even staged a protest walkout in both Chambers when the bill was loaded with barriers to registering and voting. 

The majority Repubs crafted lots of requirements that wound up as a neat little circle around who they thought was worthy of being a voter. One part of the bill allows for college ID’s from UGA and state universities to be acceptable proof of voting eligibility. But NOT ID’s from Spelman, Morehouse, Morris Brown…well, you get the picture. 

Now Rep. Alisha Thomas Morgan seeks to rectify this backhanded discrimination with HB 209. 

Her bill passed out of subcommittee but the Secretary of State’s office threw out some last minute requests for changes to the bill. Rep. Morgan questioned why, after an agreeable meeting with the Secretary of State, she had to deal with last minute change requests. No answer is yet available. We’ll keep you posted. Passage out of subcommittee does not guarantee final passage, of course.

-------------------

Meanwhile . . .

-------------------

Rep. Karla Drenner took to the well and defended academic freedom against the mistaken onslaught from some conservative legislators. 

You may have heard that Georgia State University released a list of its professors who would be considered experts in various topics. You know, promoting the expertise of their faculty for press article quotes, researchers and other reference. 

Well, Reps. Calvin Hill and Charlice Byrd thought that the list of topics was a list of classes that the professors offered. So when they saw “oral sex” and “male prostitution” they railed against Ga State’s morals for offering such “classes”. And suggested Ga State’s budget should be cut. They continued railing even after they were informed they had misinterpreted the media guide. 

We are not happy to report that the legislature actually wasted time holding a hearing on this silly matter. We are happy to report that the two challenged professors eloquently defended themselves and showed the value of their research to public health policy development. 

Another example of why you leave curriculum to the education professionals and not the legislators. That’s a Gold Dome over the Capitol, not a Big Steeple.

 

The Real State of the Union

The longtime tradition of the annual REAL State of the Union event was to hoot and holler in counter to the Bush State of the Union message. A chance to reverse the adminstration’s spin. What would it be like when the Bush empire ended? Well, this year's event - held on Tuesday, Feb. 10 - was still a stem-winding good time delivered by AJC columnist Jay Bookman and Rev. Joe Lowery.

Lowery about our role in relation to Obama: "We have to continue to speak truth to power, no matter who holds the reins of power." 

Lowery on the first black chairman of the Republican Party: "Michael Steele shows that no one race holds a monopoly on foolishness.” The church was full of Amens.

 

Day 16, Part II - Dateline: Fantasy Island (Part III)

And connecting the dots between the last two posts:

Did we mention that Georgia Power has exempted its corporate customers from the rate hike? That's right - it's only we individual customers who get to pay the extra fees.

Day 16 - Dateline: Fantasy Island (Part II)

Wednesday, February 12

Well, the Senate passed the bill written by 70-some Georgia Power lobbyists to allow the electric company to bill customers, in advance, for the costs of building new nuclear power plants. (That’s not a typo, 70 lobbyists.) The monthly additional consumer charges will help pay for plants that have not yet even been approved for construction.

Usually the Public Service Commission oversees the rate increase process, but the legislature usurps power here as a favor to their corporate benefactors. Why a bill to step in now? The PSC’s own staff researchers recommended against approval of the Georgia Power scheme. Inquiring minds want to know why the PSC has rolled over and allowed the regulatory power to be taken away. Could it be that they would have likewise knuckeled under to their corporate friends and voted for approval against staff recommendation and they don’t want to be blamed? Shame.

Day 15 - Dateline: Fantasy Island (Part I)

Tuesday, February 11

Another corporate bailout sails through as Delta and others get fuel tax breaks further reducing the state’s income to fund budget shortfalls for services. Said Rep. Roberta Abdul-Salaam from the well: "It is incumbent upon the state of Georgia to educate our children; it is not incumbent upon the state of Georgia to bail out private companies." In other words, with all the cuts we've made to services like education this year, why on earth would the House vote to reduce the state's revenues?

Georgia’s legislature has been giving out tax breaks to corporations for a long time. There isn’t even a list of who has received long-forgotten favoritism. And no one evaluates whether the breaks are still appropriate. The conservative mantra has been that tax cuts are best given to business so they can trickle down benefits to everyone. And how has that theory been working out for us? Time to look at who gets what, why they got it and did they do what they prom ised in exchange for the break.

Day 14 - "Pass the Buck" and Buckle Up

"Pass the Buck" is gaining momentum. The coalition aiming to pass Ron Stephens' (R-Savannah) $1/pack cigarette tax held a press conference this morning with probably 30 doctors, and Stephens spoke to the Working Families Caucus this afternoon.

He noted that each pack of cigarettes carries with it $9 in healthcare costs for Georgia taxpayers, and that what he's asking for is only what turns out to actually be a $1 voluntary user fee. And could be expected to raise $350 million for the state.

Rep. Stephens and many doctors also noted that studies have proven that price hikes do help prevent teens from smoking, because, let's face it, most teens are broke.

With the current budget crisis, this bill -- which would help financially and directly help save lives -- seems like a no-brainer. A smokin' good idea.

And also remember, there are a couple of bills floating around that would remove the exemption from truck owners having to wear seat belts. This little change in law would trigger $4 million in Federal Highway Safety Funds to be released to Georgia. Hey this stuff adds up. Anyone have any more good ideas? Could be helpful.

Day 13 -- One way to get out of the house

Another person commented on school vouchers today: "After 9 years of cuts, this is just another chip in the plan to eventually eliminate public schools."

Maybe it was because this assault on public education was on our mind, but it was difficult to be excited about the homeschoolers lobbying all over the place today. Not wanting to disparage them or their education, it was sort of painful to watch them unsuccessfully try to interact. They were cute, and they had their literature and their promotional tables, but they really did seem to need to get out more. Sorry.

Day 13 -- Who said fathers know best?

The Women's Policy Group held a lunchtime Capitol Briefing today that was so well-attended that about 15 of us sat on the floor.

And it was a good thing it was crowded -- with the budget cuts, women are taking some of the hardest hits, as usual.

Nice to hear from the crowd that many of them intended to run for office, as women are underrepresented under the Gold Dome.

Lobbyist Extraordinaire Elizabeth Appley listed some of the things coming down the pike:

The Governor's proposal to eliminate the Family Violence Commission: Since its creation in 2001, the Commission has reduced Georgia's per capita family violence homicides by 26.2%, a rate almost 6 times better than the national average. So why does he think cutting it is such a good idea?

He also wants to eliminate the Temporary Protective Order Registry, which keeps a computer record of every restraining order, so that when a woman flees her abusive partner with her kids in tow in the middle of the night, she doesn't have to find the paper copy of the restraining order first.

Oh, and he wants to freeze funding for Domestic Violence Shelters and Rape Crisis Centers. Who needs 'em anyway.

In the meantime, Appley pointed out, the state gives $5 million a year in tax exemptions to llama farmers. Call us if you want to find out how to get in on this great deal.

Oh, and if the state's in such a budget shortfall, wouldn't you think the 90% federal matching funds for family planning money make the state think twice about the 34% family planning cuts?

It's amazing how some people in our state government have said they are willing to turn down matching federal dollars.

Day 13 -- One of the most frequently asked questions was . . . not answered today

Don't you know politicians always have to have it both ways . . .

This morning we heard legislative session would be 40 consecutive workdays and General Assembly would be out early this year -- Hooray.

But wouldn't you know, this afternoon, equally credible sources were saying, "Hey, it looks like they'll be taking Fridays and Mondays off for a couple weeks."

We're kind of hoping they go home early, because then we'll be safe until next year.

Day 12

February 3

Cutting education funds, cutting school nurses, and now proposing vouchers, which would take even more money out of the education system.

Why don't they just go ahead and engrave the tombstone "Public Schools R.I.P." and be done with it?