One of the most controversial issues of this term has focused on the right of employees to keep firearms locked in the trunks of their privately owned vehicles, even on company parking lots. 

Senator Chip Rogers introduced a bill that would have prevented employers from conditioning offers of employment on policies that would prohibit employees from keeping firearms locked, out of sight, in their vehicles.  His bill contained many exceptions, including airports, electric power companies and any employer with a controlled access parking lot.

A version of Chip’s bill was incorporated last year into House Bill 89.  Strongly opposed by the Georgia Chamber of Commerce, it was tabled on the final day of the session.

Today, the Senate Rules Committee agreed to a compromise that more narrowly protects employees who hold Georgia firearms licenses.  Firearms licenses, issued in each county by the probate judge, are available only to adults of good moral character who undergo criminal background checks.

The National Rifle Association agreed to the compromise.  The Georgia Chamber of Commerce has proclaimed victory.  Many local chambers, including the Gwinnett Chamber of Commerce, had broken with the Georgia Chamber over its opposition to the original bill.

I voted for the compromise, and it passed out of committee with bipartisan support and just two dissenting votes.

I offered two amendments to the bill dealing with the issuance of firearms licenses.  The first amendment required probate judges to request a background check within two days of receiving an application for a firearms license.  It also required law enforcement agencies to respond to the judge’s request within thirty days.  The second amendment gave applicants the right to seek judicial relief if the probate judge refuses to act on the application within 45 days.  Both of these amendments were approved by the committee and included in the final substitute.

I am not sure yet whether the bill will come to the floor this week or next, but when it does, I expect that it will pass by a comfortable margin, with bipartisan support.

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The first day of the 2008 Legislative Session began with the House of Representatives voting to override twelve of the Governor’s vetoes. The vetoed bills were then transmitted to the Senate which is required by the Constitution to “immediately consider” them. We did so by unanimously referring them to the Senate Rules Committee.

Apparently believing the committee referrals to be an attempt to avoid taking action on the vetoes, the Speaker today suggested that the Senate shirked its constitutional duty in not immediately subjecting the vetoed bills to an up-or-down vote. But the word “consider” literally means “to think about carefully.” Referral to committee is an appropriate response, and I fully expect the committee process to work.

Senator Don Balfour, Chairman of the Rules Committee, has indicated that hearings could begin as early as later this week.

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Georgia State University and the Georgia Institute of Technology are cosponsoring a seminar on stem research tomorrow, Thursday, January 10, at Georgia State’s Student Center in downtown Atlanta. I will be making a presentation at 2:00 p.m. on alternatives to embryo destructive research.  The seminar is open to the public.

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To those of you who missed my fundraising reception last month with the Governor and Lieutenant Governor, you have a second chance to support me next week on Thursday, January 10, from 4:30 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. at the 191 Club in downtown Atlanta. It is actually a joint fundraiser with Senators Judson Hill, Dan Moody, Chip Pearson, Chip Rogers and John Wiles.

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Today marks the beginning of a New Year and the first anniversary of this legislative blog.
To all those who visited throughout the year, I appreciate your interest and wish you all the best.  May God bless this great nation of ours.

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To all, the Shafer family sends every best wish for a joyous Holiday Season and happy and prosperous New Year!

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State Senators serve two year terms (as opposed to six year terms for United States Senators), and I will be on the ballot again next year in 2008.
We had a fundraising reception in Duluth yesterday evening for my campaign. I am grateful to Governor Sonny Perdue, Lieutenant Governor Casey Cagle and the many members of the host committee for their participatin in this event. Special thanks to my good friend John Fretti, the Mayor of Valdosta, who traveled the longest distance to be there in support of my campaign.

I have no announced opposition yet in either the Republican Primary or General Election but will keep you posted.

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My wife has had trouble making up her mind about who to support for President.  About two weeks ago, after watching her third or fourth Presidential debate, she advised me that she had settled on Mike Huckabee.  She was impressed, among other things, with how he is able to communicate his conservatism in an optimistic and ”nonjudgmental” tone.

Today I told her that, as President of the Arkansas Baptist Convention, Huckabee had signed a letter stating that women should graciously submit to the authority of their husbands.  She paused a moment and then informed me that if I thought that would cause her to abandon the candidacy of Mike Huckabee, I was sorely mistaken.  I told her, no, that I was simply suggesting that she should follow his advice and graciously submit to her husband’s endorsement of Fred Thompson.  That did not work either.

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I was surprised last night to be honored by the Gwinnett County Republican Party with its Reagan Roundtable Award.  Chairman Greg Howard presented me with a plaque at the party’s annual Holiday dinner.  He said that I had been chosen by County Executive Committee because my legislative service reflected the “spirt of Ronald Reagan.”

I am grateful for the recognition. 

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I spent yesterday morning visiting with Dr. Matthew Schure, President of the Philadephia College of Osteopathic Medicine, at the school’s 2 year old campus in Gwinnett County.  Although new to Georgia, the 108 year old medical school is older than Emory, Mercer or Morehouse.

Georgia ranks 40th in the number of doctors per capita, and particularly in rural areas, is confronted with serious doctor shortages.  PMOC is playing an important role in facing this challenge.  Its new campus in Suwanee, by design, draws over half of its students from Georgia and almost 90% from the southeast.  It will graduate its first class in 2009.

However, most doctors settle not where they graduate medical school but where they complete their post-graduate residency programs.  That means that we must expand residency training opportunities in Georgia.

One of the major challenges is that federal regulations discourage the expansion of existing residency programs.  Therefore, hospitals which wish to begin residency programs must start with a as large of a program as they can envision (the so-called “big bang”).  They must be willing to accept two or three years of large, unreimbursed expenses before the federal funds that pay for most residency programs begin to flow.

I have developed some ideas of my own on how to deal with this problem.  You will hear more from me as I work through the details. 

After the meeting, I joined President Schure and his top administrative staff in serving a Holiday dinner to the faculty and students of the College.

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