 Roberta Abdul-Salaam The second session of the 150th Georgia General Assembly convened Monday with one word near the forefront of nearly all of the minds inside Atlanta' gold dome: Budget.
"We're facing major challenges as revenues continue to shrink," explained Valencia Seay, who serves most of the city of Fayetteville and a chunk of northern Fayette County in the state senate.
"Like your typical household in this economy, the state has to decide how best to use the limited revenues we have available."
Seay, a Democrat, serves on the senate appropriations committee, placing her in the spotlight during a session that promises to be dominated by spending debates.
Roberta Abdul-Salaam, who serves north and central Fayette County in the state house, also listed the budget as her primary 2010 concern.
"One of the biggest challenges is creating a workable state budget that minimizes the impact on our local governments,"Abdul-Salaam stated.
"Truthfully, I'm not really looking forward to the difficult decisions ahead. In terms of the local economy, I have already talked to [Fayetteville mayor] Ken Steele and we will promote the city's redevelopment efforts, including tax-allocation districts."
Precedent suggests a statewide tax increase during this election year is out of the question. With federal stimulus dollars drying up, legislators will be forced to decide where to cut and by how much.
This means teachers could see more furlough days or some state parks and prisons could close.
"I hope we can come together and agree to prioritize education," Seay said.
"It makes sense to put the focus on education rather than other areas like corrections. The better we educate our youth, the less likely they are to find themselves in the penal system."
While budget issues will stay at the forefront, legislators representing the county have some other issues on their plates as well.
Seay said she will deliver a bill this week that mandates basic first aid training in Georgia's public schools. She sees her bill as an alternative to one of the more controversial proposals floating around the state, Mitch Seabaugh's (R-Coweta) Common Sense Carry Bill, which is also expected to be introduced this week.
"We have to take a pro-active approach to preparing our citizens for both man-made and natural disasters," Seay noted.
"I believe arming Georgians with common sense first aid training is much more important than allowing them to carry handguns on college campuses."
Abdul-Salaam said she will continue to advocate for HB 708, a piece of legislation she co-sponsored with David Ralston (R- Blue Ridge) last session.
It would ban the sale of energy drinks with illicit drug referenced names. She said her constituents in Fayette County have complained about a soft drink marketed as 'Cocaine' available in some convenient stores throughout the area.
"A product like that sends a terrible message to our youth," Abdul Salaam noted.
"Our bill has good across the aisle support. I encourage those who see that particular product in Fayette County to call me when they find it in stores."
The biggest news coming out the General Assembly's first session day of 2010 was the election of new leadership.
Ralston, Abdul-Salaam's co-sponsor of the energy drink bill, is Georgia's New Speaker of the House. Ralston was picked by a vote of 116-58. Several Democrats crossed party lines to vote in his favor. Ralston is most widely known as a former candidate for Georgia Attorney General.
According to the Gainesville Times, Ralston is the first state house speaker from North Georgia in more than 150 years. He replaces Glenn Richardson (R-Paulding County) who resigned in late 2009 amid controversy over a suicide attempt and an extra-marital affair with an Atlanta lobbyist.
Jan Jones (R- Alpharetta) was elected as Senate Speaker Pro Tem, becoming the first woman in Georgia to hold the senate's top ranking leadership position.
Messages were left for State senator Ronnie Chance (R-Tyrone) and the four other representatives that serve Fayette County Monday (Matt Ramsey, John Yates, Virgil Fludd an Darryl Jordan), but only Seay and Abdul-Salaam returned calls by deadline.
Check back later this week for more news from those representing Fayette in the Georgia General Assembly.
|
