Back in May, Georgia Insurance Commissioner Jim Beck ran into a bit of trouble over allegations of mail fraud, wire fraud and money laundering – totaling up to something like $2 million. In August, the feds added another count of mail fraud and four counts of aiding and assisting preparation of false tax returns.
Perhaps seeing the writing on the wall, Beck voluntarily suspended himself – though suspension was a foregone conclusion by that point. One catch though, the insurance commissioner makes $120,000 a year. And that pay hasn’t stopped despite the suspension. So, despite not having worked because of an ongoing criminal investigation, the taxpayers have paid Beck $60,000.
House Minority Leader Bob Trammell would like to see that stopped. Trammell has pre-filed two bills that would address the issue. HB 742 and HR 874 would suspend the compensation for officials who are suspended because of a felony indictment and for those of “certain suspended officials,” respectively.
Trammell hopes this will be an easy one.
“I would hope that this is the most uncontroversial bill of the legislative session. It’s a good government bill which attempts to correct a flaw in the present law so that elected officials who have been suspended from their public office pursuant to the procedure for review by an appointed commission after felony indictment,” said Trammell. “Simply put, taxpayers should not be paying elected officials who aren’t going to work and doing the job because they have been suspended from office.”
The resolution of 874 is needed to address making the change for statewide constitutional officers, and that change must be made in the Georgia constitution. House Bill 742 applies to all other elected officials, and the change it makes is to existing provision in the Georgia Code.
The resolution would specifically apply to the Governor, the Lieutenant Governor, the Secretary of State, the Attorney General, the State School Superintendent, the Commissioner of Insurance (see Beck, above), the Commissioner of Agriculture, the Commissioner of Labor, and any member of the General Assembly. Those are the positions which require attention in the constitution to make major changes, thus the resolution. HB 742 would apply to a wide range of other officeholders, from county officers to school superintendents to Public Service Commissioners (statewide but not a constitutional office).
Interestingly, felony indictment does not automatically equal suspension. Trammell points to the layers of review to ensure due process. “A three person review commission is appointed to review whether the indictment relates to and adversely affects the administration of the office and then makes a recommendation that the public official be suspended from office,” said Trammell. “If the public official is reinstated after the suspension, the bill would provide that the elected official would be entitled to receive any compensation which had been withheld.”
Trammell sees it as very simple and that other legislators are supportive of the measure.
“Feedback from other legislators has been very positive. Again, this fixes a flaw in existing law and makes sure that taxpayer money isn’t held hostage by someone indicted for a felony that adversely affects the administration of the office.”
