Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Day 3- January 14, 2009: State of the State

Tonight on Lawmakers, Governor Sonny Perdue delivers his seventh State of the State Address, House Democratic Leader DuBose Porter delivers the House Democratic Response and legislators and special interest groups react to the Governor’s agenda.

Governor Sonny Perdue revealed his legislative agenda and outlined his spending priorities in his seventh State of the State Address this morning before a special joint session of the Georgia General Assembly. Top priorities are education and healthcare, including a significant restructuring of the Department of Human Resources.

House Democratic Leader DuBose Porter delivered the official House Democratic Response to the State of the State this afternoon. Porter spoke out about not having a special session last summer which he says would have allowed legislators ample time to address the State’s budget woes. The Democrats went on to say that they believe the Governor is balancing the budget on the backs of Georgia’s middle class.

We’ll have reactions to Governor Perdue’s speech and priorities from legislators, educators and special interest groups. Some of those Lawmakers spoke with are intrigued and encouraged by the initiatives outlined by the Governor, but many wonder where the money will come from. Lawmakers’ Valarie Edwards and Minoo Hosseini have more on reaction to the speech.

Lawmakers’ Nwandi Lawson speaks with Voices for Georgia’s Children and the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) about the Governor’s plans to restructure the Department of Human Resources. Governor Perdue’s plan is considered the largest shakeup of the State’s health and human services agencies since Governor Jimmy Carter’s 1972 Governmental Reorganization Act. The new organization will consist of three departments: Department of Behavioral Health, Department of Health and Department of Human Services.

And we’ll bring you some highlights of our post-address analysis with Chuck Clay, former State Senator, current partner at Brock Clay and President of Insider Advantage. Mr. Clay joined the Lawmakers special live broadcast of the State of the State this morning.

All that and more, tonight on Lawmakers at 7 PM.

Lawmakers repeats on GPB Radio at 8 PM tonight and on GPB television at 5 AM the tomorrow morning. You can also catch a repeat of Lawmakers on GPB Knowledge at 7 AM tomorrow. GPB Knowledge is available to those with digital television receivers at .3 of your local GPB transmitter, for example 20.3 in Augusta, or 8.3 in Atlanta.