I spoke this afternoon at the 3rd Annual Rally for Darfur, an interfaith rally at the State Capitol organized to draw attention to the atrocities being committed in the Darfur region of the Sudan.

Arab militiamen backed by the Government of Sudan have killed nearly 400,000 African inhabitants of Darfur and driven millions more from their homes. Entire villages have been destroyed, and an ancient civilization is in danger of extinction. The President and Congress have labeled this campaign of terror as genocide and imposed sanctions on the Sudanese government.

Last month, President Bush signed into law the Sudan Accountability and Divestment Act of 2007 which authorizes and encourages the states to divest themselves of holdings in companies that are complicit in the genocide in Darfur.

I announced today my plans to introduce legislation that would implement the the Sudan Accountability and Divestment Act in Georgia. My bill will make sure that public funds are not invested in companies that sell military weapons to the Government of Sudan or help finance its campaign of genocidal terror against the people of Darfur.

I approach the subject of divestment with a high degree of caution. I understand the arguments on both sides of the issue, and I am not dismissive of the concern about slippery slopes. But I am persuaded that the artrocities being committed in Darfur are of such magnitude that simply doing nothing is not an option.

I will post a link to the bill as soon as it is introduced. It has been very carefully drafted. Representative Wendell Willard, who also took part in today’s rally, has agreed to carry the bill in the House.

[UPDATE]  It is Senate Bill 370 and will be posted here shortly. 

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Last week I was interviewed by Steve Goss of WABE 90.1 FM about the problems at Grady Hospital.  The interview was broadcast this morning. 

The station is airing a number of interviews this week as part of its “Saving Grady” series.  Interviews with Lieutenant Governor Casey Cagle, the deans of the Emory and Morehouse medical schools and others are all available at the station’s website. 

Also, WABE’s Odette Yousef did a good job presenting the pros and cons of the proposed governance change in this segment. 

For trivia buffs, the letters ABE stand for Atlanta Board of Education.  The station is owned by Atlanta Public Schools and is a local affiliate of National Public Radio.

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I support virtually every practical limitation on the power of government to tax, and as a general matter, favor the taxation of consumption over productivity or its fruits.

But I will admit to being initally skeptical about the workability of Speaker Glenn Richardson’s plan to eliminate all taxes on real and personal property.  These taxes are, for the most part, collected by local governments and eliminating them would require an entirely new mechanism to fund the operations of our cities and counties.

Last week, the Speaker presented his GREAT Plan to the North Fulton Chamber of Commerce.  After hearing him out, my skepticism has given way to open mindeness.  There are many details to be worked out, and I remain far from convinced, but the Speaker makes the excellent point that if we were designing a tax system from scratch, no one would suggest the one we have now.

Property taxation was created as a way to tax farm income.  When property taxes were first levied, only planters and farmers owned land, and the tax came due in the fall, right after the harvest.  It made sense two hundred years ago.   It made sense one hundred years ago.  But does it make sense today?

Most politicians shy away from bold ideas, calculating that political longevity is best maintained by the avoidance of controversy.  The Speaker is to be commended for putting forward a very bold and thought provoking proposal.  I am looking forward to the debate.

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Three Democratic state senators today urged Governor Perdue to call a special session to terminate legal proceedings in the Genarlow Wilson case and take “immediate and decisive action to set Genarlow Wilson free and end this terrible nightmare for him and our beloved state once and for all.”

I am not sure what they are now proposing.  Every earlier legislative attempt to free Mr. Wilson would have opened up hundreds or even thousands of child molestation cases to judicial review, with mandatory notifications to the victims of these crimes.

Two weeks ago, House Democratic Leader DuBose Porter urged Governor Perdue to call a session to reduce the gas tax.

Given that a special session for any purpose would force the immediate transmittal of the Governor’s vetoes and almost certainly result in an intraparty confrontation over the budget, I suspect the Democrats would embrace virtually any reason to meet in special session.

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House Democratic Leader DuBose Porter has written to the Governor urging a special session of the General Assembly to consider a reduction of the gas tax.   A special session for any purpose would force the Governor to immediately transmit his budget vetoes to the House, bringing that issue to a head now as opposed to next January when the fiscal year will have been largely completed. 

I do not anticipate the Governor calling a special session.

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Dick Pettys wrote a pretty good analysis of the Governor’s budget vetoes for Insider Advantage. Most of the reported “vetoes” were not vetoes at all, rather statements of his belief that state agencies should not feel bound by language in the state budget directing them to spend funds in certain ways. With a “veto,” an appropriation is disapproved, meaning that the funds cannot be spent and are returned to the unappropriated reserve. But by simply ignoring the language laying out legislative intent, the appropriated funds can still be spent, just differently than contemplated by the General Assembly.

I spoke to the Governor briefly yesterday about a specific appropriation, and he told me that he supported it and would find a way to fund it, but that he would do it his own way and not necessarily as instructed by language in the state budget. Under his theory of how the state budget should work, he will have plenty of money to do so.

It is unclear to me how this issue is resolved. Over the last several years, the General Assembly has been much more assertive in the budget writing process. To his credit, the Governor invited this assertiveness through his introduction of program based budgeting. The General Assembly, particularly the Senate, took advantage of the Governor’s laudable new emphasis on “bringing spending in line with priorities” to give detailed guidance to state agencies on how funds are to be spent.

Some of this guidance is apparently unwelcome.  By disregarding it in this fashion, the Governor seems intent on adjusting the constitutional scales which balance the budgetary powers of the executive and legislative branches. There will be much more to follow as the General Assembly determines its response. In the meantime, here is the Pettys column that I mentioned: Continue Reading »

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I was honored today to receive a 2007 Family Service Award from the Georgia Family Council.  This conservative group cited my sponsorship of Senate Bill 148, the Saving the Cure Act, and Senate Resolution 5, the Taxpayers Dividend Act.

The Georgia Family Council, headed by Randy Hicks and represented at the State Capitol by Jamie Self, does an excellent job advocating for public policies that strengthen the family.

Speaking of Senate Bill 148, the Governor will sign the bill tomorrow afternoon at the State Capitol.  Keone Penn will be joining us for the bill signing ceremony.

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The Senate Rules Committee met this afternoon to set the calendar for tomorrow, Day 29.  We will have a full calendar, with over thirty bills.  Senate Bill 148, the Saving the Cure Act, willl be on the calendar tomorrow, along with Senate Resolution 5, the Taxpayers Dividend Act. 

Senate Resolution 20, the Taxpayer Protection Act, sponsored by Senator Chip Rogers, is also on the calendar.  As I mentioned in an earlier post, the provisions of Senate Resolution 5 have been incorporated into Senate Resolution 20.  If Senate Resolution 20 passes tomorrow, my plan is to withdraw Senate Resolution 5.

The only bill that generated controversy during the Rules Committee meeting was Senate Bill 154 by Senator Jack Murphy.  The bill deals with solid waste contracts, requiring municipalities to honor existing contracts when they annex land.  It is vigorously opposed by the Georgia Municipal Association, which complains that the language is vague and could have unintended effects.  Senator Murphy plans to introduce amendments tomorrow that he believes will address all outstanding concerns.

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Many of you have emailed about the status of Senate Resolution 5, the Taxpayers Dividend Act.  This proposed constitutional amendment, which would eliminate the “supplemental budget” as a took of pork barrel spending, was passed out of the Senate Finance Committee over three weeks ago with a “do pass” recommendation.

The provisions of Senate Resolution 5 have also been added to Senate Resolution 20, the Taxpayer Protection Act, which limits the growth of government spending.  Unfortunately, Senate Resolution 20 failed to receive the required 2/3 vote when it was brought to the floor, with only one Democratic legislator, Senator J.B. Powell of Augusta, voting with Republicans to pass it.  But Senator Chip Rogers is still working to get Democratic votes for this measure.

I have asked that Senate Resolution 5 be held in the Rules Committee, pending a second vote on Senate Resolution 20.  I am much more interested in the advancing the idea than I am in passing a bill with my name at the top.

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Although it was barely mentioned in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution today (which focused its legislative coverage instead on bills related to the disposition of partially consumed bottles of wine at restaurants and the Sunday sales of alcohol), Senate Bill 12, the Zero Based Budgeting Act, unanimously passed out of the Senate yesterday.

As I have discussed before, Georgia’s budget is currently prepared on a continuation basis.  Once a new appropriation is approved, it is automatically rolled over into the next year’s budget under a single line item labeled “continution.”  Approximately 95% of the budget is continuation.

Senate Bill 12 puts Georgia’s budget on a zero basis, requiring all spending to be detailed and justified, not just new programs.  The original version of Senate Bill 12 would have required the entire budget to be justified once every four years, during the second year of each gubernatorial term.  The committee substitute, crafted with the help of Senate Appropriations Chairman Jack Hill, instead requires that 1/4 of the budget be rebuilt from scratch each year, achieving the same goal in a different way.

I believe that zero based budgeting will be a useful tool in identifiying and eliminating unnecessary or wasteful spending.  As Chairman Hill has said, it is the logical next step after the system of “program based budgeting” began by Governor Sonny Perdue four years ago.

I championed a similar bill in 2003, which passed out of the Senate over Democratic objections and died in the House of Representatives, then under Democratic control.  I am heartened by the growing bipartisan support for this effort.

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