The Democratic minority showed its strength this legislative session by remaining united on most issues while Republicans split.
“There were several times where we found a faction of the Republican Party willing to work with us on issues,” Senate Minority Leader Steve Henson, D-Tucker, told InsiderAdvantage Georgia. “They were not in lockstep.That kind of bodes well for Democrats continuing to have influence in the future.”
Henson said the Democrats’ main accomplishment was “keeping the caucus together on transportation and other issues. We were able to stay united and try to get something accomplished.” He said the party came out of the session “united and not splintered.”
The Democrats supported the transportation spending bill after receiving administration commitments to aid minority businesses in receiving state work. Henson cited a decline in state Department of Transportation minority contracts from 14 percent in 1985 to 2 percent today.
The DOT, which will receive an additional $900 million a year from the transportation bill, has lessened small contractors’ involvement by awarding projects in big packages, Henson said. Now, the DOT will break projects into smaller units. Gov. Nathan Deal also put money into the Fiscal Year 2016 budget for minority engineering scholarships. The governor will also “see if there are some ways we can help some of the smaller contractors with bonding issues if they are qualified and responsible,” Henson said. In another offering, the DOT board is expected to pass a resolution to conduct a disparity study on minority contracts.
But Henson said the main reason Senate Democrats changed course to support the final transportation bill was removal of a provision to transfer $250 million from the general budget to the DOT. The Senate version of the bill included the funds shift.
The provision was “a poison pill for Democrats,” Henson said. “We felt it was trying to send a message to take all of the growth money in next year’s budget and use it for transportation at the expense of education.” Instead, the Democrats wanted to use increasing revenues to “pare down the austerity cuts in education.”
Legislation removing spending restrictions on MARTA also helped win Democratic support. The Democrats united on the session’s final day to cut a measure that would have allowed MARTA to ask voters to increase its sales tax from 1 to 1.5 percent.
Henson cited Democratic cooperation with Republicans in an effort during the session’s last hectic moments to stop a vote on legislation loaded with tax exemptions. House Bill 202 eventually passed the Senate after midnight, when the session traditionally ends.
Senate approval of the “Christmas tree” legislation giving tax breaks to Truett-McConnell College in Cleveland, Ga., and Mercedes-Benz employees came after a confusing series of parliamentary maneuvers.
. First, Sen. Bruce Thompson, R-White, sponsor of the bill in the Senate and a college trustee, twice asked for votes to suspend Senate rules requiring two hours for consideration of conference committee measures. But the Democratic-Republican coalition prevented Thompson’s motions from receiving the two-thirds majority required for passage. As the noise and excitement at the session’s end rose, Thompson then moved that a vote on HB 202 be conducted by unanimous consent. Cagle quickly ruled that there was no objection. The Senate then approved HB 202, with just a simple majority of votes now required.
Henson said he couldn’t hear Thompson’s motion with all of the noise. “I hate to see a bill passed at that hour that has so much in it,” Henson said. “It’s s shame that they were all tied together ,and the bill came at the last minute so it couldn’t be amended or changed.”
Henson said his biggest disappointment during the session was passage of Deal’s proposed constitutional amendment to allow the state to take control of failing schools. “It’s kind of a red herring,” Henson said. “How can we fix these schools unless we address the underlying causes of poverty?”
The Democrats during the session presented a community schools alternative calling for school districts to receive aid for health, counseling and tutoring programs. Henson said such community schools efforts have shown success in Kentucky and other states, and he’s hopeful the Democratic plan will gain approval next year.
“I think there is support,” he said. “A lot of our Republican colleagues are impressed by the results in other states.”
