Top Georgia business leaders now are looking toward Gov. Nathan Deal to continue his stance against discrimination – as it relates to HB 757 – also known as the religious freedom bill.
Richard Dugas, president and CEO of the Pulte Group who chairs the Metro Atlanta Chamber’s Public Policy Advisory Board, spoke out strongly against the the bill, which has now passed both the Georgia House and Senate and will rest on the governor’s desk.
Georgia’s film tax credit program may be the grand slam Gov. Nathan Deal contends, but a new GSU report reveals caveats such as the average wage paid for film jobs in Georgia was the lowest average wage among the top 10 states.
The Georgia Water Coalition used the release Wednesday of its annual “Dirty Dozen” list of threats to water quality to commend Georgia for denying a permit to facilitate construction of the Palmetto Pipeline.
Florida is bracing for a slowdown in the film industry because the state Legislature voted in June to stop funding tax incentives. Georgia is winning some of the business, and the shift underscores Gov. Nathan Deal’s trade mission to Hollywood in May, and to England in January.
Georgia is preparing to sell $75 million in bonds to fund transit needs statewide, and the state is devising the criteria by which the money will be disbursed, GRTA’s executive director said Wednesday.
Debbie Roberts has one wish for the new express lanes being built in Cobb and Cherokee counties: “I hope everybody wants to pay to get up there, and I’ll have the highway to myself.”
GRTA is completing a strategic plan that envisions Xpress bus service direct to Atlanta’s airport as part of an expansion of a transit service that has consistently received state funds for operations since the great recession.
An uptick in the sale of new vehicles that’s been linked to lower gas prices spells more trouble for state road funding.
Georgia’s collection of motor fuel taxes fell by 2 percent in the last three months of 2014. Revenues from tag, title, and fees rose by 2.7 percent during that period, according to a tabulation of monthly reports from the Georgia Department of Revenue.
By David Pendered
Gov. Nathan Deal sought Wednesday to cast a hopeful tone over the future of transportation.
Gov. Nathan Deal sought Wednesday to cast a hopeful tone over the future of transportation funding.
The current reality is grim. For starters, as of June 1, Georgia is facing a $367.2 million shortfall in necessary federal transportation funds in the federal fiscal year that ends Oct. 1, the state’s chief engineer told GRTA’s board of directors.
The No. 1 attribute that business leaders say will they want in their employees is the ability to collaborate, according to a report to Gov. Nathan Deal on high demand careers.
The report also states the top five careers of the future in Georgia will be mechanical engineer, electrical engineer, welder, machinist, and computer numerical control operator, according to the report.
Martin Luther King III has called on the federal Justice Department to intervene in the nation’s foreclosure situation, a call that could have the effect of energizing voters in Georgia’s gubernatorial election.
King issued his letter to U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder on the heels of a controversial report on the nation’s housing market by the chief economist of Freddie Mac. The report paints a fairly rosy picture of the trend line of the jobs and housing sectors, at least on the national level.
At the state level, King’s call reminds Georgia voters of home foreclosures during a campaign in which Sen. Jason Carter, a Democrat, is pressing his point that Republican Gov. Nathan Deal hasn’t done enough to help the middle class. Deal points to jobs created since the end of the great recession.
The issue of tolls on Ga. 400 may not be a hot button issue in this fall’s race for governor, but a recent media release reminds voters that tollbooths came down during the term of Gov. Nathan Deal.
The State Road and Tollway Authority, which the governor chairs, issued a statement about SRTA winning a national award related to the toll closure. The release was dated Sept. 5 and referenced an award bestowed Aug. 13.
Meanwhile, the Ga. 400 tolls are featured on Deal’s campaign website. They’re listed in the section titled, “The Results,” where the website states without elaboration: “Promise Kept, End of GA 400 Toll.”
A new report on Georgia’s education funding, from an Atlanta think tank, offers more fodder for the gubernatorial battle between Gov. Nathan Deal and challenger Sen. Jason Carter.
The report by the Georgia Budget and Policy Institute finds little improvement since GBPI’s similar report last year – which determined that cutbacks in funding for K-12 education were causing local districts to trim days from the school year and assign more students to each teacher.
The GBPI report, “The Schoolhouse Squeeze 2014,” provides context for Carter’s claims that Deal has, “slashed billions of dollars from public education,” and for Deal’s claims that he has “prioritized education and child safety funding as state revenues rebound from the Great Recession.”
The implications on the races for Georgia’s governor and U.S. senator of the Tyler Perry proposal to buy most of Fort McPherson may be starting to take shape.
The election is less than three weeks after Perry’s tentatively scheduled closing, on Oct. 15, for 330 acres of the fort. If Gov. Nathan Deal loses to Sen. Jason Carter, or if Michelle Nunn wins a Senate seat, there’s a chance that either victor may intervene to slow Perry’s deal.
At least, that’s the thought among some involved with the growing community protest that’s taking shape with an eye to slowing Perry’s project. And that’s why the size of the crowd that attended a forum last week is relevant.
Gov. Nathan Deal announced today a round of state teaching awards, months later than planned and after Deal defeated state school Superintendent John Barge in the Republican gubernatorial primary election.
Georgia created the Innovation in Teaching Competition as part of the state’s implementation of President Obama’s Race to the Top initiative, which is to provide $400 million to Georgia through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.
This fourth round of awards was slated to be announced in spring 2014, according to a state website. Teachers from metro Atlanta school districts dominate the overall winners list.
The next time wintry weather threatens Georgia’s roads, the state intends to have better equipment and strategies to handle the inevitable traffic problems.
Admittedly, this report on the state’s weather preparedness seems a little off tempo, given the spring storms this week and sunny forecast for the weekend. But the report is making the rounds, most recently in a presentation to the board of the Atlanta Regional Commission.
Better knowledge and communication comprise the backbone of the response described by Meg Pirkle, director of operations for the Georgia Department of Transportation. Weather stations that monitor the surfaces of roads, and cameras, account for $11.5 million of the $14 million the state Legislature provided this year.
The vagaries of the global shipping trade are again poised to affect Atlanta’s second major trade port, the seaport in Savannah.
Last month, the concern was construction delays at the Panama Canal. This month, it’s the question of how the Savannah port will factor into a proposed alliance of shipping companies that would control up to 40 percent of the world’s major oceanic transport.
All these events are routine business ventures compared to the state’s decision on how to proceed with the deepening of the Savannah harbor – despite the decision by the Obama White House not to provide federal funding for the project.
If any proof is needed that Georgia’s economy hasn’t turned the corner, it’s evident in Gov. Nathan Deal’s proposed budget for fiscal year 2015, which begins July 1.
Deal predicts the state’s revenue will grow by 2.9 percent in FY 2015, compared to the rate of almost 3.6 percent Deal forecast for FY 2014, according to an analysis of figures in Deal’s budget proposal.
In addition, Deal’s FY 2015 budget proposal would borrow just 7 percent more money than proposed in last year’s budget. Still, even with the increase, the amount is 16 percent less than the sum that was proposed in the FY 2007 budget.
A new report that calls for overhauling Georgia’s method of paying for K-12 education has landed near the starting gate of a potentially contentious gubernatorial campaign.
State Sen. Jason Carter (D-Decatur) has put education reform at the front and center of his new platform. Gov. Nathan Deal responded immediately that he has increased the state’s contribution to school funding despite the recession.
The timing couldn’t be better for a report from the Georgia Budget and Policy Institute that calls for the creation of a funding program to replace the state’s existing school funding formula, known as QBE (Quality Basic Education).
