Sunday Solutions — Feb. 5, 2023
Whew. We made it through Groundhog Day and learned, thanks to 538.com, that The Groundhog is usually wrong anyway. So let’s not trust decisions to large rodents: Read or take a field trip instead. Let’s go.
Bill and thrills
The Georgia House passed the mid-year budget this week, including an average $500 property tax rebate to homeowners. While the Senate debates that, the people’s chamber can start work on the main fiscal year budget. The Senate wasn’t slouching, though. It sent the House a bill to widen powers for the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, mostly related to terrorism cases. Some say the bill is unnecessary and others want to make sure peaceful protests aren’t tagged as domestic terrorism.
The speed of legislation picked up this week in Atlanta as bills are dropping quickly on a slew of topics. Here are some filings that caught our eye for one reason or another.
- Sports betting: In what is likely to be just one of many legislative moves for and against legalized betting, Senate Bill 57 would put a new Georgia Sports Betting Commission under the auspices of the already active Georgia Lottery Corp. In essence, that could make it possible for the state to allow betting without a public vote to amend the Georgia Constitution for that purpose.
- Kimchi Day: House Bill 133 would recognize South Korea’s “Kimchi Day” and sets Nov. 22 each year as “Kimchi Day” in Georgia. The idea is to recognize the specific fermented dish and Korean cuisine.
- Restrictions on wakeboarding: House Bill 121 would set some rules for those who are surfing a wake as well as those being pulled by a boat in the vessel’s wake. They’ll have to wear a flotation device, surf only in daylight hours and stay at least 200 feet from a dock, pier, pier or shoreline.
- Instant runoff: House Bill 200 has picked up bipartisan support to allow cities to use ranked-choice voting in nonpartisan municipal elections. This could pave the way for dumping runoffs from the Georgia ballot.
Celebrate Georgia’s birthday with a field trip
It’s Super Museum Sunday, and it’s the best time to get out and explore all those places you said you wanted to go but just haven’t yet. Today’s your day: Almost all of Coastal Georgia’s historic sites and museums are open free of charge, thanks to Georgia Historical Society and its annual Georgia Days Celebration that honors the colony’s founding in 1733. Well-known and wondrous spots like the Telfair Museums are open, but so are the hidden gems we know and love: like the Savannah-Ogeechee Canal Museum & Nature Center, Pin Point Heritage Museum in Chatham County, and the Susie King Taylor exhibit at the Liberty County Historical Society.
And, there’s this one if you’re tired of explaining to kids what you mean when you tell them to “dial the phone” or say “she’s on the line”: the International Telecommunications Pioneer Museum in Hinesville. You can show them what it means. The unique collection of telephones and communications history moved from Washington, D.C., in 2001. It’s a great stop on your way to a lighthouse or a fort or a hike. If you’re in a mood, take them to Jekyll Island to see the site of the first transcontinental phone call. Then, you’ll have to explain what “long distance” means. Here’s the full list of today’s free sites.
And don’t forget: The Georgia Day Parade is 10:45 a.m. Friday in Savannah. Children in kindergarten through 8th grade will walk Bull Street from Forsyth Park to City Hall. It’s a good way to celebrate the state’s 290th birthday and recognize the lessons of the past represented in our future.
Ogeechee Riverkeeper monitors progress
This week, Chatham County learned it will gain a new auto parts plant to employ more than 700 workers. The Seoyon E-HWA announcement was one of a steady stream of industrial entities flowing into Coastal Georgia since Hyundai said last year that it would build its new electric vehicle metaplant just a few miles from the Ogeechee River in north Bryan County. A new wastewater treatment plant will serve the giant facility and area development, providing its own steady flow of treated wastewater into the river. Black Creek, a sturdy tributary for the Ogeechee, will receive runoff from the land where the giant manufacturing center will sit. On Thursday, researchers with the Ogeechee Riverkeeper organization placed monitors to start gathering baseline assessments for water quality and the small water creatures that come with a healthy river. Environment reporter Mary Landers went with them and describes how the monitoring process will work to make sure new neighbors don’t disrupt the beloved blackwater river.
A birthday many can’t recognize
Today is the 30th anniversary of the Family and Medical Leave Act, but most Georgians aren’t able to use its benefits. The groundbreaking law grants up to 12 weeks of job-protected unpaid leave to certain workers, and 12 weeks of paid family and medical leave to federal workers. Most Georgians aren’t eligible for the FMLA protections under current definitions because 99.6% of all businesses in the state are small businesses with fewer than 10 employees. So, while you’re out this week, notice how many small business workers, independent contractors and and start-up entrepreneurs you meet. Chances are they have no job protections if they or a family member gets sick. A story from GPB describes the impact on businesses that still face turnover costs and renewed staffing shortages, as well as families who lose wages and jobs.
Your second cup: Charting school progress
The Covid pandemic and the louder culture wars have complicated an already complex process: Keeping schools accountable for specific standards of student success. Comparing annual achievement over the past 3 years is nearly impossible, and disagreements over curricula and testing bring different perspectives to the work that must be done to educate future generations. This story from Chalkbeat looks at different processes and changes in other states and raises questions for all of us about what we expect from our tax money and for our future generations.
Enjoy.
House passes beefed-up mid-year budget with a $1B property tax break
Georgia’s budget spends nearly $3,000 per person on everything from road infrastructure and K-12 education to agricultural inspectors and health care, and much of the increased funding is directed toward one-time expenses such as new battery backups for the state’s voting machines, increased benefits for retirees and upgrading safety for domestic violence shelters.
Legalized sports betting, horse racing quick out of the gate as Georgia Senate readies opening bid
In this bill, online sports betting is proposed, as well as licensing for three horse tracks where gamblers can also wager over self-service kiosks or at betting windows. Casino enabling legislation is also often filed by Georgia lawmakers without success.
Instant runoff voting bill introduced in Georgia House
Under an instant runoff voting system, voters rank candidates in order of preference. If no candidate wins more than half of the first-choice votes, the candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated.
Georgia Senate bill aims to regulate third-party food delivery industry
During the pandemic, food delivery grew so rapidly that health regulators couldn’t catch up, resulting in complaints from customers of unsanitary practices.
List: Super Museum Sunday offers free admission at many Georgia parks, historic sites
Dozens of Coastal Georgia sites open, including forts, museums.
Riverkeeper monitors Ogeechee ahead of Hyundai boom
Ahead of the development of the massive Hyundai plant in Bryan County, the Ogeechee Riverkeeper takes the pulse of its beloved recreational waterway.
New poll shows Georgians support Medicaid expansion, increasing education funding
About three-quarters of poll respondents also expressed strong support for providing additional funding to public schools that serve families at or near the poverty level. Forty-four other states already have implemented an “opportunity weight” to help schools serving students from low-income families.
Georgia may be best for business. But this 30-year-old policy is why some say it’s worst for workers
Georgia is often touted as “best for business,” but some policy experts say the state is one of the worst for workers.
How to grade schools post-pandemic? States must decide.
Mandated by federal and state laws, the systems set goals for schools, rate their performance, and direct support to schools identified as struggling. But the pandemic has complicated every step of that process.
Affordable housing challenge puts local control issue in the spotlight
Local governments oppose state laws that would preempt local regulation of zoning, building designs and control over the construction of build-to-rent projects.
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