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.

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Meanwhile . . .

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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.