After hearing about Illinois State Rep Monique Davis (D) on the KO Countdown show last night, it reminded me of how bad the state government is here in GA. So I decided to do a "State of the State" for GA. And how is the state of the state?

The state of the state of Georgia is... awful. Well - what can you expect from a state with a Republican Governor and a Republican majority in both houses of the state legislature? This was a particularly awful year with horrible bills and bad behavior by a group of incompetents. The information in this post has been culled and quoted directly from the AJC and the Creative Loafing Golden Sleaze Awards.

First, the worst bills that passed into law:

SB 430: Gives law enforcement agencies more access to a national DNA database to find out whether a suspect is wanted for crimes in other states. Passed.

HB 1245: Puts the director of the Georgia Public Defender Standards Council under the control of the governor. Removes the authority of the Georgia Supreme Court and the state Court of Appeals to appoint council members. Passed.

HB 89: Gun owners with concealed-weapon permits may carry weapons into restaurants, state parks, MARTA trains and workplace parking lots with the company's permission. Passed.

SR 996: Calls for a statewide referendum in November to allow cities and counties to tap school property taxes to help pay for redevelopment projects. Passed.

SB 379: Bans "robo calls" — automated recorded telephone calls from political campaigns. Bill passed, but robo call ban removed. [So what's the point?? ]


Thankfully, these bills failed, although you have to wonder how they made it out of committee for a vote:

HB 1165: Would stop making Florida Gator and Auburn Tigers specialty licenses plates for Georgia motorists if the legislatures in those states don't make Georgia Bulldog tags. Failed.

HB 97: Makes it a misdemeanor for an illegal immigrant to drive in Georgia with a license from another state. Failed.

SB 449: Prevents landowners who hold hunts on their properties from getting sued if a guest gets killed. Failed.


And then there's the good bills that didn't pass. Oy...

SB 519: Extends the foreclosure notice requirement for homeowners from 15 to as much as 60 days. Failed.


Singled out by Creative Loafing for particularly bad behaviour:

Rep. Ron Forster, R-Ringgold: Against stiff competition, Forster may have succeeded in drafting the flat-out stupidest bill of the year. Titled the "Life to Life" program for reasons we couldn't discern, the legislation would have allowed the Parole Board to outsource prison labor to private companies working in overseas war zones. Yes, you read that right: If Forster had his way, Halliburton could use Georgia inmates to dig latrines in Kabul or build roads in Baghdad. "Seems like there's a lot that could go wrong," observed a fellow legislator when Forster presented his bill in committee.

Rep. Bobby Reese, R-Sugar Hill: Reese cares for mutts, as he showed with his bill to toughen Georgia's dogfighting laws. What he doesn't care for are Mexi-kids. In one of the most mean-spirited of a host of mean-spirited anti-immigrant bills this session, he floated a resolution to urge Congress to deny citizenship to children born in the United States of parents who cannot claim legal residency. Essentially, Reese was seeking the repeal of the 14th Amendment, which was passed in 1868 to guarantee citizenship to slaves freed by Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation. Ironic, isn't it, that a Republican lawmaker would blithely suggest overturning the most enduring legacy of the country's first GOP president?

Rep. Charlice Byrd, R-Woodstock: ...A telling moment came when Byrd, sitting in the committee that considers bills affecting criminal statutes, remarked that Georgia would be better off if criminals simply were never let out of prison. We might expect those sentiments from the high school dropout who empties grease traps for a living, but for a state lawmaker to have such a meager understanding and respect for our legal system and the concept of due process is, frankly, disgusting.

Rep. Tom Knox, R-Cumming: Whenever Knox authors a bill, Christmas seems to come early for the insurance industry. This year, the curmudgeonly Cummingite may have given his beloved auto insurers their best present yet. When a long-winded Senate bill dealing with uninsured motorists landed in the House Insurance Committee, which Knox chairs, he snuck in an amendment allowing insurers to raise rates on policyholders – that's all of us – without needing approval from the state insurance commissioner. In years past, the Legislature has rejected this blatant give-away to the insurance lobby; this time it sailed seemingly unnoticed through both chambers

Rep. Wendell Willard, R-Sandy Springs: ... Willard also introduced a cloak-and-dagger bill that would've rendered deals brokered by development authorities – which are public agencies and use public money – off-limits to Open Records Requests. That one appears to have died before getting to the House floor.

There's much more at both links, so go take a look at what passes for "leadership" in GA. How're things in your state?