Archive By Section - Opinion
Live from Trump Broadcasting
Every time I turn on the news, which is almost never anymore, I get something to laugh about. My biggest laugh of the week is President Obama's vow to reduce the budget by $4 trillion over the next 12 years. What. Ever. First of all, I don't see him getting re-elected, but stranger things have happened. I don't think he's a bad guy, I just think he's not the right guy. If he was gonna ...
There is still time to get tax reform right
Perhaps the most important issue hanging over the heads of the General Assembly in the final three legislative days of the 2011 session is tax reform. What started out as a well thought out, although not perfect, comprehensive tax reform proposal from the Special Council on Tax Reform and Fairness for Georgians has morphed into a much narrower legislative proposal that has hit a political roadblock in the General Assembly over perceived winners and losers. ...
Tax reform tops issues list
Though both the tax reform and immigration initiatives continue to change as the 2011 session enters its final week, a number of major features and the rationales behind them have remained in place throughout the legislative process, and will likely end up in the final bills as well.
Addressing tax reform, immigration
The first full week in April, also known as Masters Week throughout most of Georgia, is the traditional spring break period for K-12 schools in our state. For similar reasons, the General Assembly also took a brief break this week.
Once upon a mattress
Well, we knew it had to happen. There would be no way we could get another move off without a hitch. I was thinking that things were going good, we were getting stuff packed and loaded and no one had pulled a muscle or hamstring or whatever. The bull in the china shop hadn't dropped, kicked or shoved anything so hard that it caused a chain reaction of broken items. Hubs can be really rough ...
Prescription abuse bill passes
To our readers: State Sen. Buddy Carter (R-Pooler) will be reporting each week during the Legislative Session. The session began Jan. 10 and is expected to last until the middle of April.
DOT is delivering projects and accountability
Some three years ago, a seemingly never-ending series of studies, audits and reports criticized the Georgia Department of Transportation on a variety of fronts. Harsh comments made headlines across the state. Georgians were left to wonder if the DOT was an unaccountable, broken, unfixable bureaucracy.
Tax reform proposals create a stir under the Gold Dome
The Georgia General Assembly has completed its 37th day of a 40-day session. On March 31, the Georgia General Assembly recessed and will reconvene on April 11.
Senate approves budget
On Wednesday the Senate approved its version of HB 78, the FY2012 budget, by a vote of 47-4. This concludes the Senate stage of the process, and the bill will now go to conference committee for finalization.
Putting limit on prescription abuse
As this session draws to a close, the General Assembly continues to debate and vote on issues of importance to our state. Most of what my colleagues and I passed in the House were bills whose intent was to increase safety for Georgians in several professional fields.
Just call me Mrs. Buzzkill
So I'm getting ready to turn things down for the night, you know the routine: shut off the lights, turn off the TV, make sure nothing is "on" in the kitchen, when my little DJ. takes his headphones off and says, "Ma, you gotta listen to this song. It is so cool...".
Affordable Care Act is still a good deal for Georgia
Last week marked the one-year anniversary of the passage of the national health reform law, the Affordable Care Act. Several provisions have gone into effect such as eliminating pre-existing condition exclusions for kids, allowing young adults to stay on their parents' coverage until they are 26, the creation of a new pre-existing conditions insurance pool, and a program to help employers (including the state of Georgia) offset retiree health care costs. The bulk of the ...
Not-so-happy birthday for Obamacare
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) commonly referred to as ObamaCare was signed into law on March 23, 2010. One year later, the law remains unpopular with the public and a core fiscal concern for many voters, while many are learning just how intrusive are the government mandates.
Statewide drug courts are still much debated
To our readers: State Sen. Buddy Carter (R-Pooler) will be reporting each week during the Legislative Session. The session began Jan. 10 and is expected to last until the middle of April.
Slow progress on tax reform
The Special Joint Committee on Revenue Structure met to discuss possible changes to Georgia's tax laws in response to the report published earlier this year by the Special Council on Tax Reform. Currently, there are four House Bills, HB 385-388, that contain the recommendations of the council, and these have caused some confusion and consternation as of late. The fact of the matter is that these bills and the recommendations in them were required to ...
Articles by Section - Opinion
Voters send signal to state leaders: We don’t trust you
Georgia voters sent a very clear message in last week's primaries: they don't trust the state's political leadership.
Endorsement raises questions
What in the world was State School Superintendent John Barge thinking when he endorsed the reelection campaign of State Sen. Majority Leader Chip Rogers (R-Woodstock)? Chip Rogers, in case you are not aware, is not exactly public education's best friend.
Inside the equalization formula
In the 2012 legislative session, the House and Senate passed a revision of the Quality Basic Education Equalization (QBE) formula (HB 824), which assists low-wealth K-12 school systems in funding an adequate classroom education. While this goal was a good one, some issues with the formula had cropped up in recent years that made it difficult for the equalization funding to achieve its objective. These issues include the following:
Eating mor’ chik’in
Just have to laugh at the folks who are all goin' bananas over Dan Cathy's statement that he doesn't think gay marriage is the way to go.
Peanuts and progress
For a long time I have wanted to build a labyrinth at Sandhill, a spiraling path for intentional walking.
Financial hardships have busted up the Legislature
The crash of 2007-08 that torpedoed the American economy has given us many hard-luck stories to tell.
An alarming downward trend
Even though the headlines led with overall growth for state revenues of 4.8 percent for the 2012 fiscal year, serious issues are coming to light as we review not only June's year-end revenue drop-off but the steady decline of the revenue increase rate over the previous year since December.
Let the Games begin again
Hard to believe, but it has been 16 years since the Olympic Games were held in our state. As I watch the festivities in London, I remember the phone calls I had received over the past year from media members in Great Britain, asking me if I had any thoughts on what was going to happen when the Games began in London. Here is what I told them:
DOT scrap tire programs to reduce waste and save taxpayer dollars
Ten million vehicle tires are discarded in Georgia every year. That's more than 27,000 tires scrapped every single day of every single week. What to do with them; how to pay for it; and how to prevent more than a million of them from being illegally dumped are questions that have frustrated the tire industry, environmentalists, and state and local governments for years.
Arriving at a new station in life
It has been a long and hard journey to a place I always thought was for other folks, "not me." Over a lifetime, one must learn who we are and what we are supposed to be doing down here on this earth. We feel self-important and just know that we are but invincible.
Who really is his daddy?
I know that I laugh a good bit about conspiracy theorists, because some of them just seem to pull fluff out of thin air and come up with a great story to tell the grandkids.
The voters will speak — but will anyone listen?
Do you have strong feelings about gambling, abortions, or the influence of lobbyists?
Taking nothing for granted
I have just returned from a memorable trip to Valdosta. I went there to speak to the Rotary Club. The members laughed in all the right places, which not only was memorable, but downright remarkable. What made the trip even more special were two visits I made while there. I dropped by to see my beloved college professor, Dr. Raymond Cook on his 93rd birthday. My detractors will find little comfort in this but I ...
Another look at ruling
Last week we began an overview of the effects of the Supreme Court upholding much of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). That decision upheld virtually all of the act except the mandatory expansion of Medicaid to cover more people (as a gauge, the income level set would cover families of four with up to $33,000 in income or 133 percent of the federal poverty rate.)
Time for city to put ugly episode in rear-view mirror
It appears the city of Springfield is getting its good name back.
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