Lawmakers Sine Die Special at 11 PM

Since 1971, Georgia Public Broadcasting Television has produced a special newscast every day the Georgia General Assembly is in session. “Lawmakers” concludes its 39th season today, Friday, April 3. Join David Zelski and Nwandi Lawson for a one hour live presentation of the Lawmakers Sine Die Special at 11 PM.

In addition to highlights of the day’s most important House and Senate action, we’ll bring you the latest on the Four T’s: Taxes, Transportation, Trauma and Teachers.

TAXES
There are still several measures yet to achieve final passage this year in regard to taxes. Proposals that failed this session include: SB 83, a bill that would have increased the statewide homestead exemption by doubling the ad valorem tax exemption failed in the House back on March 25; HB 39, the co-called “Pass the Buck” bill that would have added $1 excise tax per pack on cigarettes or tobacco products; SB 91, the so-called “sin tax” that would have added a $5 surcharge for patrons of adult entertainment clubs; and HB 67, which would have brought back sales taxes on groceries. Some proposals are still undecided: HB 261 would give an income tax credit for the purchase of a single family home of either 1.2% or $3600, whichever is less; the House agreed to a Conference Committee report just before 9 PM; the Senate would still have to agree; HB 439, a corporate tax break proposal backed by Governor Perdue passed the Senate by substitute Wednesday, the House still needs to agree; HB 480 would eliminate of the ad valorem tax on cars, but add a significant title fee onto cars purchased after the act would go into law, that legislation was tabled in the Senate on Wednesday and although it could come up for a vote, it may be dead for the session. HB 482, which would provide an ad valorem tax exemption for property constituting the inventory of a business has passed both chambers and is headed to the Governor.

TRANSPORTATION
In the Transportation arena, the House and Senate have dueling proposals in regard to funding transportation. While the House favors a statewide 1% sales tax to fund a specific list of transportation projects, the Senate favors a T-SPLOST, or Transportation Special Local Option Sales Tax, which aims to provide funding solutions for local traffic woes by asking voters to approve a regional 1% sales tax. The vehicle for a funding solution is HB 277, originally titled the Georgia 2020 Transportation Act. Conferees have met numerous times to come to an agreement on a compromise between the two plans. Lawmakers’ Valarie Edwards has been following this issue all session and will bring us the latest.

TRAUMA
With the third T, Trauma, we’ll be taking a look at Georgia’s lack of a Statewide Trauma Care network. Currently, there are no trauma centers south of Macon to almost the Florida State line. There are several issues that pose problems here: funding, staffing and emergency transport. SB 156 would extensively revise the duties and powers of the Georgia Trauma Care Network Commission, abolishes the existing Georgia Trauma Trust Fund and establishes a new State Office of EMS/Trauma. The real sticking point is funding. HB 160, the so-called Super Speeder legislation, will increase fines for those driving in excess of 85 MPH on highways or 75 MPH on two-lane roads by $200. It will also increase the fee to renew a driver’s license. The $23 million expected to be generated by the new fines and fees is intended to go towards funding trauma, but the monies will go into the general fund rather than a specific fund for trauma care.

TEACHERS
The final T is Teachers but really that is education in general. There are several education proposals that have already failed this legislative session: SB 90, Senator Eric Johnson’s universal school voucher bill failed to make it out of the Senate Rules committee before crossover day; SB 93, an initiative of Governor Sonny Perdue which would have established a program to reward high performing principals with $10,000 bonuses also failed to make crossover day; and HB 282 which would have created the Georgia Master Teacher Program and provided a bonus for those master teachers also failed to make crossover day and appears to be dead for the session. Of the proposals that are still alive at this point in the session are: HB 243, legislation that repeals the salary increase for teachers that gain National Board Certification, that bill will likely go to a conference committee as the Senate passed the bill by substitute on Wednesday; HB 251, legislation that would have allowed students to attend any public school as long as the school board approved the transfer the new student- State funding would accompany that student to the new district; the House agreed to the Senate substitute, but amended the bill on the floor- it goes back to the Senate and may end up in Conference Committee. One measure that affects Georgia’s educators has passed and goes to Governor Perdue: HB 280, legislation that provides additional compensation for “highly qualified” math and science teachers.

You can also expect an update on HB 119, the FY 2010 budget. A Conference Committee report has been adopted by the House and Senate on that $18.6 billion spending plan.

We’ll also be joined live by the National Editor for CapitolImpact.com, Tom Crawford.

And in celebration of the conclusion of the 39th season of Lawmakers, we’ll take a look back at episodes from the past four decades.

All that and more on the Lawmakers Sine Die Special at 11 PM tonight!

The Lawmakers Sine Die Special repeats Saturday morning on GPB Knowledge at 7 AM. 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. You can also watch a repeat of the Lawmakers Sine Die Special on Monday, April 6 on GPB television at 5 AM.

Day 31- March 17, 2009

Tonight on Lawmakers, an update on the big issues of the session, the Four T’s: transportation, taxes, trauma and teachers; on the first post-crossover legislative day, a review of bills that are likely dead for the session; the Public Service Commission gives Georgia Power the go-ahead to build two new nuclear power plants; Georgia Virtual Schools lobby legislators to provide funding on par with other public schools; and we’ll talk with Tom Crawford of Capitol Impact.com for his thoughts on the remaining days under the gold dome.

TRANSPORTATION
It was always anticipated that transportation would be a big issue in the 2009 session. First, the Senate and house revealed two different approaches to funding the State’s transportation needs- the Senate with a transportation special local option sales tax or T-SPLOST and the House with a statewide 1% sales tax. Then Governor Sonny Perdue announced his plans to reorganize the State’s transportation agencies. Lawmakers’ Valarie Edwards has the latest on transportation initiatives.

TAXES
Always an important issue, tax proposals have gained an even higher profile during these troubled economic times. We’ll have updates on some of the tax-related legislation that is making its way through the legislative process. Senate Bill 83 would have doubled the homestead exemption from $2,000 to $4,000, but failed to pass the House. House Bill 143 preserves the Homeowners Tax Relief Grant, or HTRG, in years when the State experiences a surplus. That legislation has already been signed by Governor Perdue. House Bill 481 would exempt business inventory from ad valorem taxes. That legislation is currently in Senate committee.

TRAUMA
Everyone seems to agree that Georgia needs a statewide trauma network but no one seems to agree on exactly how to fund such an undertaking. A $10 car tag fee has been proposed, as well as House Bill 160, known as the “Super Speeder” legislation. That bill would add about $200 to a speeding ticket with the violator is driving in excess of 85 MPH on a highway or 75 MPH on a two lane road.

TEACHERS
Almost two-thirds of Georgia’s state budget goes to fund education, so, it’s no surprise that educators are the subject of a great many proposals before the General Assembly. Our review will include Senate Bill 93, a proposal backed by Governor Perdue that would have provided $10,000 bonuses to principals in high performing schools; House Bill 243, which repeals the salary increase for National Board Certified teachers; House Bill 280 which provides for additional compensation for highly qualified math and science teachers and information about budget cuts that would eliminate the school nurse program.

Lawmakers’ Nwandi Lawson takes a look at some of the legislation that failed to pass out of the chamber of its origination by legislative day 30, crossover day. From measures that would have placed a $1 per pack tax on cigarettes or brought back the sales tax on groceries to generate revenue to a bill that would have required the use of safety belts in pickup trucks.

Last week marked the end of eighth legislative week under the gold dome, a perfect time to check in with Tom Crawford, National Editor of CapitolImpact.com. Nwandi talks with Tom about bills that passed on crossover day, including a measure that would eliminate the birthday tax on cars.

The Public Service Commission gave Georgia Power the go-ahead for two new nuclear power plants today. These power plants have been a hot topic in the General Assembly with the passage of the Georgia Nuclear Financing Act. Lawmakers’ Brittany Evans has the details.

JUST Georgia, an organization seeking justice for children and youth, held workshops today to educate members on how to contact their legislators about proposed revisions to Georgia’s juvenile justice code. Lawmakers’ Minoo Hosseini attended a workshop and has that story.

All that and more tonight on Lawmakers at 7 PM.

Lawmakers repeats on GPB Radio at 8 PM tonight and tomorrow morning on GPB television at 5:30 AM. You can also watch a repeat of Lawmakers tomorrow morning on GPB Knowledge at 7 AM. 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.

Lawmakers Returns Monday, January 12 at 7PM

Since 1971, Georgia Public Broadcasting Television has produced a special newscast every day the Georgia General Assembly is in session. “Lawmakers” begins its 39^th season this Monday, January 12 at 7 PM on GPB. Lawmakers will repeat on GPB Radio at 8 PM and on television the following morning at 5:30 AM on GPB and 7 AM on GPB Knowledge.

This Monday, Aside from highlights of the day’s House and Senate action, the editorial staff is already working on stories about the Four T’s: Taxes, Transportation, Trauma and Teachers. We expect all of those issues to be very important this session.

TAXES
We’ll have information about several measures that failed to gain passage last year: elimination of the ad valorem tax on cars, reducing State income taxes and freezing property tax assessments, and we’ll include new proposals like HB 39, a bill that has been prefiled by Representative Ron Stephens to assess a $1 per pack tax on cigarettes.

TRANSPORTATION
We’ll also be taking a look back at last year’s action in the Transportation arena in regard to the T-SPLOST, that’s the Transportation Special Local Option Sales Tax, which was aimed at providing funding solutions for local traffic woes. We’ll also talk about recently released opinion polls that say the majority of Georgians want immediate action to solve transportation problems. I’m sure that conversations about light rail and expanding mass transit will also come into play.

TRAUMA
With the third T, Trauma, we’ll be taking a look at Georgia’s lack of a Statewide Trauma Care network. Currently, there are no trauma centers south of Macon to almost the Florida State line. There are several issues that pose problems here: funding, staffing and emergency transport to name a few.

TEACHERS
The final T is Teachers but really that is education in general. We’ll talk about Governor Sonny Perdue’s request for a 2% reduction in State funding for public schools, charter schools, school vouchers and class sizes. The State Board of Education voted yesterday to allow school systems to raise the maximum class size by 2 students in core subjects for elementary and middle schools as a cost saving measure. That means the maximum size for kindergarten would increase to 20 students; grades 1-3 would increase to 23; and grades 4-8 would increase to 30. Core classes cover English, math, science, social studies and foreign languages. We’ll have

IN-DEPTH INTERVIEW WITH LT. GOVERNOR CASEY CAGLE
Monday evening we will also broadcast an exclusive interview with Lieutenant Governor Casey Cagle. Lawmakers’ David Zelski had the opportunity to talk with the Lt. Governor about his expectations for the session.

IN FUTURE LAWMAKERS PROGRAMS:
I don’t think it will come as a surprise to anyone that in this economy that the budget will be a major issue. The fiscal year 2009 State budget came in at $21.2 billion. I would expect a reduction in that amount for FY 2010. The Governor is expected to outline some of his legislative and spending priorities on Wednesday of next week in his State of the State address. Lawmakers will be broadcasting the Governor’s address live at 10 AM on GPB Knowledge. We will also play the address in it’s entirety on a special one-hour edition of Lawmakers on Wednesday evening at 7 PM.

WHAT’S NEW FOR LAWMAKERS IN 2009?
There have been a great many changes internally with the Lawmakers program in the past year but none that will adversely affect our coverage or what the viewers see. The most exciting change for Lawmakers this year is our collaboration with the GPB Radio news team. Valarie Edwards will be joining Lawmakers on a daily basis and you can expect to see Susanna Capelouto and John Sepulvado throughout the session and we expect to tap our Radio bureaus around the state for interviews as well. The biggest expansion of our collaborative coverage will definitely be on the website. Everyone should check out www.gpb.org/lawmakers for all the latest legislative news, audio from radio, video from television and a new “Daily Poll”. www.gpb.org/lawmakers launches on Monday when the Georgia General Assembly is gaveled into session.