The 2007^th Session of the Georgia General Assembly Cometh

© Dr. Gary D. Lemmons, January 7, 2007

We are about to enter upon the most dangerous time in the State of Georgia…the 40 days that the General Assembly is in session.  Of course, with intermittent recesses that, that august body will take, the session will likely run into late March or even into April.  During this period of time, as the old man once said, “No man or his wife is safe in this state!”

A term of the General Assembly runs for two years.  Each year is session.  This year’s session is doubly important because it is the beginning session of a newly elected General Assembly.  That means that new tax laws and spending measures can be introduced.  Such legislation cannot be introduced during the second year of the term.

Not surprising, the pollsters have been at work and have discovered that the people of Georgia rank education, taxation, and immigration as the three most important items to be faced by the elected officials of Georgia.

There is no doubt that the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 and the A+ Education Act of 2000 are driving the best and the brightest teachers out of the profession in Georgia.  The illogic and idiocy of these pieces of legislation, as currently implemented, are requiring competent teachers to devote 18 hours a day, at a minimum, to just keeping up with all the jumps and hoops that are expected to demonstrate accountability.  Too bad we don’t apply the same accountability standards to our legislators and other political leaders.

Within ten years there will be such a shortage of teachers that positions will be advertised in the “want ad” section of local newspapers.

The second issue…taxation…is one that continues to grow in interest.  Georgians, like all Americans, realize that taxes are necessary to support the services that the citizens enjoy.  However, there is a growing feeling that other forms of taxation besides the income tax and the property tax might assure that everyone shares in the responsibility of paying for citizen services.  Suggestions from the flat tax (same rate for all) to the fair tax (a form of universal sales or consumer tax) are being floated.  Personally, I don’t think most of the clowns in the General Assembly have the intelligence to redesign the state tax system to the point that it will be fair and equitable, but I could be wrong.  We shall see.

The third issue is, of course, immigration.

With this issue, “Georgie” Bush and the national government have demonstrated their total incompetence in dealing with the threats arising out of the influx of millions of illegal immigrants across the southern border of the United States.  Until the Bush administration is over in 2009 and further changes are made in the Congress as a result of the 2008 election, don’t expect much to be done about this difficulty.  Georgia can do some things, but, by and large, immigration, illegal or other wise, is a task for the national government.

The next eight to ten weeks will be full of much interest.  If we are lucky, they will not mess things up too much.