The Georgia Legislature 2008

A disappointing session in which many bills languished sets up a battle in the November state election.

by Loretta Lepore

May 30, 2008

A t the outset of the 2008 legislative session, lawmakers’ hopes were high and their policy initiatives even loftier. House Speaker Glenn Richardson told skeptics that he, Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle and Gov. Sonny Perdue, all Republicans, would cooperate and address some of Georgia’s most critical needs. 
    
He went on to define those needs – water, education, transportation, taxes and trauma care. New and innovative ideas were filtered through committees. Votes were tallied. Accusations were hurled. Bills were reconsidered, and votes were tallied again. Legislation crisscrossed the House and Senate chambers. And, by the final day, the stakes were high, and hopes were fading. As the clock ticked toward midnight, the vitriol reached a shrill pitch, and then it was over. At daybreak, Georgians greeted disappointment at their doorsteps; the story no one wanted to read had been chronicled by the Capitol press corps.

Tax reform
It became clear very early that tax reform was not in the offing for Georgia, at least not this year. The speaker’s long-touted GREAT plan (Georgia’s Repeal of Every Ad Valorem Tax) to replace property taxes with a broad sales tax on personal and professional services encountered immediate resistance. Lobbyists for cities, counties and school boards fought it hard. Editorial writers discredited it as a bad idea. In response, the Republican leadership recast the constitutional amendment, seeking instead to eliminate the car tax and to cap increases on property tax assessments.
    
The revised resolution was more palatable and despite some initial resistance, the amendment passed and was sent to the Senate, where it languished for awhile. The lieutenant governor and his Senate colleagues had their own plan. Theirs involved cutting state income taxes by 10 percent over five years. And at the start of the session, the governor sought tax breaks for seniors, a campaign pledge that has yet to manifest itself. He also proposed an amendment to eliminate the state portion of property taxes. 

Revenue reality
Barely halfway through the session, the tax reform mantra hit a wall when the governor announced February revenue figures. The numbers indicated that Georgia was, in fact, feeling the impact of the national economic downturn. The governor immediately revised revenue projections, cut the supplemental budget for 2008 by $65 million dollars and the 2009 budget by $245 million. Furthermore, the governor said that any tax cuts were imprudent, and he accused legislators of political pandering in anticipation of the November elections. Supporters argued that eliminating the car tax would help Georgians struggling to make ends meet and that the money paid in taxes would instead be spent and recouped through sales taxes. Lt. Gov. Cagle chose to take up the governor’s cause and, with the Senate, eventually stripped the speaker’s resolution of the car tax, sending it back a mere shell of a bill. The House rejected it out of hand, flabbergasted by the logic. The lines were drawn; egos were bruised.
Transportation troubles

    
The injuries were compounded as the dueling chambers simultaneously debated solutions to Georgia’s traffic woes, its aging transportation infrastructure and its budget shortfall for road construction. Early in the session, Lt. Gov. Cagle stepped out in support of a resolution allowing regions across the state to approve a penny sales tax for road projects within that region. The constitutional amendment grew out of a series of listening sessions, workshops and committee meetings conducted by House and Senate lawmakers over a year’s time.
     
The legislation was coveted by an amalgamation of business interests, government leaders, transit advocates, environmentalists and road builders. Get Georgia Moving is a behemoth of a coalition held together by shared interests and is now cemented by defeat. As it turns out, the resolution became a political volleyball floating between chambers, modified time and time again up and until the witching hour. Along the way, the Senate leadership withdrew its support. Never mind that both the proposed car tax cut and transportation sales tax were both constitutional amendments, which if passed by a two-thirds majority, would appear on the November ballot and the voters would ultimately decide if and how they should be taxed.

Trauma drama
Efforts to resuscitate the state’s trauma care network, including Grady Memorial Hospital, met a similar fate. Lawmakers could not reach consensus on a handful of funding options, including a $10 vehicle registration fee. 
    
However, they did take a baby step toward meeting the needs of the uninsured by expanding the availability and affordability of high-deductible health plans and health care savings accounts. A bill allowing Cancer Treatment Centers of America to open shop in Georgia passed, and lawmakers approved the creation of a mental health patient advocacy board to prevent instances of mistreatment or abuse within state-funded facilities. 

Education issues     
Democrats are promising to make education an issue this fall. Their primary contention is that the Republican-dominated executive and legislative branches have done little, if anything, to improve education opportunities for Georgia’s children. Efforts to provide vouchers to children in consistently underperforming schools failed, and advocates for increased school funding and reduced class sizes never found their footing this year. Lawmakers did approve the creation of a state charter school commission empowered to approve charter schools applications previously rejected by local school boards.

Water, water everywhere
In stark contrast to the contentious debates over taxes, transportation and trauma care funding, was the swift passage of a statewide water management plan. Within the first two weeks of the session, the plan put forth by the state Water Council, led by the Environmental Protection Division, passed the House, the Senate and was signed by the governor. In addition, lawmakers passed legislation enabling the creation of additional public reservoirs. And, much to the chagrin of Tennessee officials, Georgia’s Legislature passed a measure that could redraw the state’s border and allow Georgia to tap into the Tennessee River as a water source.

Looking forward
 Over the coming months, memories of the tumultuous 2008 session will likely fade and in the November elections  Republicans will likely retain their majorities in the House and Senate.  The margins are too wide. It is also likely the lobbyists, legislators and lawyers will return to the Gold Dome prepared to do battle with barbs sharpened and prepared to win.