From the Senate

The Georgia Legislature really kicked into full gear last week, as we looked at important bills from the Governor’s 2006 education package.

Education was the main focus of the week and dominated most of the debate as the members of the Senate worked long hours to pass legislation important to Georgia’s children.

On Tuesday, we took up Senate Bill 390, which is known as the Classrooms First for Georgia Act. The bill would require that every local school system spend a minimum of 65 percent of its total operating funds on direct classroom expenditures, beginning with Fiscal Year 2008.

These expenditures include classroom teachers, personnel, instruction supplies, field trips, music, athletics and private institutions for special education. The bill passed the full Senate and now moves onto the House for consideration.

After a spirited debate on the floor, the Senate made the right move by passing the bill. This legislation is sure to improve our school systems by ensuring that education funds are spent where they matter most—in the classrooms.

I am a strong supporter of this particular bill, because it emphasizes our priority of putting teachers and students first. We are putting more money in the classrooms, and more money in the classrooms means higher student achievement.
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On Thursday, we looked at Senate Resolution 655, the HOPE Chest amendment, which is part of Gov. Perdue’s two-fold agenda. The resolution provides for a constitutional amendment that would limit the use of state lottery revenues to costs associated with the HOPE scholarship and Pre-K programs. After another big debate, this piece of legislation failed to achieve the required two-thirds vote (38 Senators). This was a shame!

I do not understand the reasoning for a “no” vote on this particular bill. A no vote here basically says that you don’t care about preserving the HOPE program for our college-bound students.

The following day we voted to reconsider the resolution, which was very good news. The legislation will come up again this year, and I hope when it does that my colleagues on the other side of the aisle will vote “yes” for Georgia’s HOPE scholars.

One of the most talked about issues in the past year has been eminent domain. Recently, as many as 15 different bills have been introduced in the General Assembly that address eminent domain and/or the power of condemnation.

On Friday, we passed Senate Bill 391, which is an eminent domain bill that simply places a moratorium on the use of eminent domain for urban development, and it received bipartisan support in the Senate.

The bill passed, 52-0, and now goes to the House. I will keep you posted on the status of this legislation as we get deeper into the 2006 session.

We are working diligently to protect the things in Georgia that are of importance. We need to preserve the rights of our private property owners, so their land is not taken from them at prices that are much lower than their actual market value.

We want to protect small business owners—diners, small shops, restaurants, etc.—because they provide unique products to our economy that we cannot replace if their place of business is taken. We will continue to stimulate new economic growth and jobs in Georgia; we just have to look more closely at the way that eminent domain is being used.

Eminent domain should only be used when it would be of benefit to the general public.
Remember, I work for you and your concerns are my concerns.

Contact Sen. Johnny Grant at his office in Atlanta at 404.656.0082 or by e-mail at sengrant@alltel.net