THE ASHE ADVOCATE – February 16, 2007

Legislative session passes midway point

By Rep. Kathy Ashe

Thursday, February 15, was the 21st legislative day of the 2007 session of the Georgia General Assembly, meaning we are now past the halfway point. Frankly, very little has been completed so far on the major issues, but I would expect the pace to pick up when we return to the Capitol on Tuesday, February 20.

Still up in the air is the fate of the funding issue for PeachCare for Kids, which will have a significant impact on finalizing both the midyear adjustment to the fiscal year 2007 state budget and the annual budget for fiscal year 2008.

This week, a majority in the House of Representatives voted to approve legislation that would allow motorists to conceal loaded firearms in their cars without a permit. State law now requires motorists who do not have concealed handgun permits to keep their loaded firearms “fully exposed to view” or in the glove box, console or similar compartment.

House Bill 89 would allow people to hide guns under seats or wedge them between seat cushions and center consoles. I voted against this measure, which would circumvent the state’s concealed handgun background check requirements and endanger police making traffic stops. Hopefully, this legislation will be unsuccessful in the Senate.

This week, I was pleased to co-sponsor two important education-related measures. HB 431 would provide for mandatory kindergarten for all children prior to entering the first grade. HB 432 would direct the state to make the required statewide assessments of effectiveness of educational programs under the Quality Basic Education Act available in languages that are the primary language of 2 percent or more of the state’s population. Limited English-proficient students would be permitted to take the assessments in their native language.

House members unanimously passed HB 91, which would require each executive branch department and agency in state government to provide annual financial reports to the General Assembly. The bill would take effect September 30, 2007. Too often, some state agencies have become unresponsive to legislative inquiries into their use of taxpayer dollars. This legislation, which also goes to the Senate, would help ensure proper legislative oversight over departmental spending habits.

To help attract and retain the best and brightest legal minds in the state to serve as judges in our courts, House members overwhelmingly approved legislation that would implement the first state pay raise for judges since 1999. Under HB 119, state Supreme Court justices and Court of Appeals judges would realize a 5 percent increase, and Superior Court judges would receive a 10 percent boost in their state pay. HB 120, also passed and sent to the Senate, would reimburse appellate judges who live outside metropolitan Atlanta for their weekly travel expenses when court is in session.

I am strongly supporting efforts to authorize the portraits of Coretta Scott King, Rosa Parks and other civil rights leaders to be displayed in the State Capitol There presently exists a lack of diversity of those who are memorialized under the Gold Dome. Of the 93 portraits now on display in the Capitol, only five depict African-Americans, including Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Some have said the Legislature no longer has the authority to hang portraits in the Capitol. That power, they said now rests with the state’s Capitol Arts Standards Commission, which oversees artwork in the building. Regardless, I will continue to work to see that this situation is addressed so that these heroes of the Civil Rights movement are memorialized properly in our State Capitol.

• Rep. Kathy Ashe (D-Atlanta) represents the 56th District (Fulton County) in the Georgia House of Representatives. Contact her at 409 Coverdell Office Building, Atlanta, GA  30334; by phone at 404-656-0116 or by e-mail at kathyashe56@mindspring.com.