For the next two-and-a-half weeks, we’ll be caught up in the season’s Christmas parties, but we also expect to see a flurry of last-minute fundraisers as the 2014 Session nears.
Elected state officials, which includes Governor Deal, the two members of the Public Service Commisison who are seeking reelection, and all state legislators, are prohibited from accepting or soliciting campaign contributions during the session. However, up until the first bell rings them into session on January 14, they’ll be raising money at a fever pitch.
The reason for more alacrity than normal is that next year’s elecitons will be held earlier than they have been during my career in politics. The federal elections are almost certain to be held May 20th and the state legislature is expected to change state elections to match the date.
That means that the usual late-March or early April date for Sine Day, the last day of the legislative session would leave a very short period for lawmakers seeking reelection. And qualifying for office is expected to take place in March, so that whatever warchests can be compiled before Session starts will determine how formidable a state legislators seeking reelection looks while potential foes decide whether to run.
And that’s part of the reason we expect a short legislative session for 2014.
And aside from changing election dates, here’s what we can expect to see this year.
The AJC’s Political Insider writes today that Governor Deal is discouraging legislators from tinkering with tax reform this year.
Gov. Nathan Deal has a message for GOP lawmakers who might be tempted to showboat: When it comes to tax proposals, stick to what’s already been done.
The governor said he wants legislators to take a wait-and-see approach on the tax changes enacted over the last two years, including the overhaul of the “birthday” tax on vehicles, the phase-out of the sales tax on energy used in manufacturing, and a new agriculture tax exemption.
“We’re probably going to see what the changes that have already been in place actually achieve,” he said. “It’s always dangerous to make precipitous judgment calls until you know you’re standing on solid ground where you actually are. I do not anticipate major tax reforms this coming session.”
With state revenues looking up, many will be pondering how to spend additional state revenues, and the challenge for conservatives is how to best fund budget items that have been trimmed during the recession without simply throwing money at whomever in state government is shouting the loudest.
Senate President Pro Tem David Shafer (R-Duluth) expects much of the action in the 2014 Session to involve the state budget. From the Augusta Chronicle:
“Beyond the budget, I don’t know that there’s going to be a very ambitious agenda at all,” said Sen. David Shafer, the president pro tempore of the Senate.
The Duluth Republican was the featured speaker Thursday at the Augusta Metro Chamber of Commerce pre-legislative breakfast at the Augusta Convention Center.
“We’ve had some tough years. We passed a budget in 2007 that would have spent $21 billion, and several years ago we passed a budget that only spent $15.5 billion,” Shafer said.
The budget approved in the last session was $19.9 billion, up from $19.3 billion a year earlier.
Shafer said the state government is better off smaller than $21 billion because it forced leaders to focus on “what government ought to do.”
“And a lot of the people who complained about the cuts don’t want to talk about how we got to $21 billion to begin with,” Shafer said. “In 1992, the population of Georgia was 5.9 million people. The budget for state government was $5.9 billion.”
Shafer said that 15 years later, the breakdown went from $1,000 per person to almost $2,500 per person for state government in the $21 billion budget.
“During this period of explosive government spending, which somehow managed to ignore the infrastructure needs of the state … all that money was plowed into social services for which we have very little to show,” Shafer said.
The Cobb County Board of Education is among the first with their hands out, seeking additional state funds for local schools, and threatenting Governor Deal with political reprisals if they don’t get more cash.
“Gov. Deal needs to feel uncomfortable,” Sweeney said to about 100 parents gathered at East Side Elementary School. “He needs to think the people of Cobb County will not support him unless he writes in additional funding for education. It’s a fight for dollars.”
Board Chairman Randy Scamihorn and member David Banks, who were also at the meeting, agreed with Sweeney.
“The second largest school system in the state of Georgia is broke. That’s alarming,” Scamihorn said.
My personal opinion is that what’s alarming is that a group of nominal adults elected to be stewards of tax money by a mainly-conservative Cobb County electorate thinks that the only solution to their spending woes is an additional infusion of Other Peoples’ Money, even if they have to extort it from the state.
Members of the Clayton County delegation expect a quick session in advance of an expected May 20, 2014 Primary Eleciton date. From the Clayton News Daily:
Clayton County legislators told business leaders they expect the Georgia General Assembly’s 2014 to move faster than normal Thursday.
The legislators addressed the Clayton County Chamber of Commerce’s annual legislative update breakfast to discuss pending legislative issues that could affect the county. Much of the discussion focused on mass transit and what the legislators felt was the Clayton County Board of Commissioners responsibility to bring it back.
Other issues legislators said they expect to see come up in 2014 included immigration, health care and raising the minimum wage level. However, the biggest news about what to expect may have been how legislators are not expected to dilly-dally during their upcoming session under the Gold Dome.
“This will probably be one of the fastest moving sessions we’ve ever had,” said state Rep. Darryl Jordan (D-Riverdale).
Several legislators said they expect an earlier court-mandated federal primary date to move the legislative session along more swiftly next year.
State Sen. Gail Davenport (D-Jonesboro), the delegation’s chairwoman, said the usual sine die date for the General Assembly is during the last week of March, but she expects it to come at least a week earlier than that in 2014.
“It’ll be a little past the middle of March, I think,” said Davenport.
A federal judge has set the primaries for U.S. Congress and Senate seats to be no later than early June. There’s been talk among county officials and legislators in recent weeks that indicates the primary will be held in late May.
The Secretary of State’s office also indicated several months ago that it plans to ask that the primaries for state and county-level offices be moved to the same date as the federal primary to cut down on elections costs.
Davenport said she expects the General Assembly will approve that request when it reconvenes in mid-January.
“I think all of the elections are going to be on the same day,” said Davenport. “I don’t think the state of Georgia is going to do them separately, and so qualifying would be in March.”
The Bibb County delegation heard local concerns, including the Bibb County Board of Education asking for more money from the state. From WMGT in Macon:
The Bibb County Board of Education says its primary concern is the teachers. School board member Lester Miller asked state leaders for a one percent raise for all employees, which would equal $1.5 million. He also asked them to restore one percent of the BOE’s budget.
Miller says in the past, the BOE hasn’t worked well with the delegation, but believes it has shown progress. He adds he understands the state is in a budget crunch, but hopes the state leaders who ran on improving education platforms will step up.
“They wanted to know are we still top heavy, are we taking steps ourselves to get our finances in order,” Miller said. “Based on the questions that were asked to me and my local board members, I feel like they asked the right questions and they show that we have made progress and perhaps they’ll consider giving us more money this year.”
Gainesville Public Schools are asking for changes in the distribution of SPLOST tax money between the county and city schools systems.
Currently, Gainesville Schools, the Hall County School District and Buford City Schools must agree on when the tax should come up for a vote and how the money will be divided.
According to Dyer, Buford has asked to receive a set amount of money rather than divide tax monies by number of students.
“Buford has made a proposal of how much they would accept, or how much they would need to have in order to participate, and if we did not agree with that, then they would not agree to have a referendum (on the ballot),” Dyer said. “They do this with Gwinnett County as well.”
Gainesville school board members think it’s more fair to divide the money by number of students.
“I feel as if that’s a lot of money for us, especially because we are still needing to build new schools,” Chairwoman Maria Calkins said at Monday’s work session. “We need to (bring this up) every year until we get equal, fair dollars for each of our children.”
