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The ADVANCE, Februory 24,2021/Page 11A
Governor Kemp Announces $552M
Georgia Rental Assistance Program
Stricter absentee voter ID rules
advance to Georgia Senate
Today, Governor Kemp
announced that the State of
Georgia has received more
than $552 million in stimu
lus funds through the fed
eral Emergency Rental As
sistance Program. Congress
appropriated $25 billion to
provide relief to landlords
and tenants who are behind
on rent and utility payments
due to the coronavirus pan
demic.
“The effects of CO-
VID-19 have hit many
Georgians hard financially”
Governor Brian Kemp said.
“In addition to protecting
fives, we have to protect
livelihoods so that Geor
gians can continue to have
economic opportunity. I am
pleased to be able to pro
vide this rental relief to rent
ers and landlords who have
been impacted the most.”
The Department of
Community Affairs (DCA)
By Dave Williams
Bureau Chief
Capitol Beat News Service
Georgia would observe
standard time all year long
under legislation that
cleared a state Senate com
mittee Wednesday.
Senate Bill 100 would
do away with the current
practice of switching back
and forth between standard
time and daylight saving
time every six months.
“Most people want to
stay on the same time all
year,” Sen. Ben Watson, R-
Savannah, the bill’s chief
sponsor, told members of
the Senate Government
Oversight Committee.
Watson cited studies
that point to an increase in
heart attacks during the two
weeks in spring following
the switch from standard to
daylight time.
On the other hand,
judges have been found to
mete out harsher sentences
to criminal defendants im
mediately following the
switch from daylight to
standard time in the fall, he
will administer the State of
Georgia Rental Assistance
(GRA) program, which will
be subject to US Treasury
guidelines (which are still
under development). The
payment will be made di
rectly to the landlords and
utility providers. Payments
generally may not exceed 12
months, but some house
holds may qualify for a total
of 15 months under certain
circumstances.
In general, households
meeting all following crite
ria will be eligible:
• Qualified for unem
ployment benefits or has
experienced a reduction
in household income, in
curred significant costs, or
experienced other financial
hardship due directly or in
directly to COVID-19; and
• Demonstrates a risk
of experiencing homeless
ness or housing instability;
said.
“It interferes with our
sleep ... for about a one- to
two-week period every fall
and spring,” he said.
Watson said his bill
calls for going on standard
time permanently only be
cause federal law prohibits
states from unilaterally go
ing on daylight saving time
all year.
He said most people
would rather be on daylight
time permanently if given
the choice.
As a result, he has
amended his original bill to
provide that Georgia would
observe standard time all
year until Congress acts to
allow states to switch to
daylight time permanently.
If and when that happens,
the substitute version of the
legislation the committee
approved on Wednesday
would move Georgia to
daylight time all year.
Before the vote, fresh
man Sen. Kim Jackson, D-
Stone Mountain, said going
on standard time perma-
and
• Has a household in
come at or below 80 percent
of the Area Median Income
(AMI), with priority given
to: 1) households below
50 percent of the AMI, or
2) households with one or
more individuals who have
been unemployed 90 days
or longer at the time of ap
plication.
The CDC Eviction
Moratorium has been ex
tended until March 31,
meaning that no one should
be evicted solely for non
payment of rent until that
date. Visit GeorgiaLegalAid.
org for more information.
DCA anticipates
launching the public ap
plication portal in March,
and additional program de
tails will be available soon.
For more information, visit
www.GeorgiaRentalAssis-
tance.ga.gov.
nently could hurt busi
nesses in Georgia. Earlier
sunsets would lead to fewer
daylight hours during the
evenings for shoppers, she
said.
“I’m concerned this
would have a significant
economic impact, particu
larly in the summer,” Jack-
son said.
But Watson, who is a
physician, said he’s heard
from trauma surgeons who
worry that later sunrises
during the winter if Georgia
goes on daylight time per
manently would increase
the risk of children being hit
by cars on their way to
school.
Watson’s bill isn’t the
only one before the General
Assembly dealing with
time. The House State Plan
ning and Community Af
fairs Committee approved
legislation sponsored by
Rep. Wes Cantrell, R-
Woodstock, last month call
ing for Georgia to observe
daylight saving time all year.
By Beau Evans
Staff Writer
Capitol Beat News Service
Georgia senators sent
legislation to boost iden
tification requirements for
absentee voters to the state
Senate floor Thursday in a
committee vote along par
ty fines.
A bill sponsored by
state Sen. Larry Walker
III, R-Perry, would require
voters seeking to request
and cast absentee ballots
to provide their driver’s
license or other valid ID
such as passports, employ
ee ID cards, utility bills or
bank statements.
The measure was
among a slate of bills to
clear the Senate Ethics
Committee Thursday and
head to the Senate floor
for votes as early as next
week.
Other bills that passed
included legislation to cre
ate a new state elections
supervisor, allow county
officials to count absen
tee ballots before Election
Day and tighten reporting
requirements for voting
results.
They are among a leg
islative package backed by
Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan,
who presides over the
Senate. He has called for
tightening absentee voter
ID requirements but op
posed efforts by some Re
publican leaders to restrict
who in Georgia can vote
by mail.
Walker’s bill is among
the more controversial
absentee-voting changes
Republican lawmakers
are seeking after the 2020
election cycle caused dis
trust in Georgia’s election
system for supporters of
former President Donald
Trump, who lost the gen
eral election in Georgia
to President Joe Biden by
11,779 votes.
“It is an attempt to
provide an easily verified
way to confirm that the
person requesting the bal
lot is indeed who they say
they are and that live bal
lots are only issued to legal
voters,” Walker said Thurs
day.
“There is nothing in
here that makes it harder
to vote or [that] obstructs
voting by absentee.”
The bill would require
registered Georgia voters
to provide their date of
birth and driver’s license
number, or the number on
their personal ID cards if
they do not have a driver’s
license, in order to request
an absentee ballot.
Without a driver’s li
cense or personal ID card,
voters would have to sub
mit photocopies of a dif
ferent form of valid ID
such as a passport or utility
bill to their local elections
board or registrar.
The bill would also
make permanent an online
portal to request absentee
ballots that Georgia Secre
tary of State Brad Raffens-
perger’s office set up for
last year’s elections, which
drew millions of mail-in
ballot requests amid the
COVID-19 pandemic.
The stricter absen
tee ID rules in Walker’s
bill would do away with
the state’s current system
of verifying signatures
on mail-in ballot request
forms and envelopes, elim
inating a focal point for
attacks by Trump and his
allies who alleged absentee
voter fraud and called for
deeper audits of the 2020
election results.
Raffensperger, whose
office repeatedly rejected
Trump’s fraud claims, has
backed increasing the ab
sentee ID requirements
during this legislative ses
sion, as have other top
state Republicans includ
ing Gov. Brian Kemp, Dun
can, House Speaker David
Ralston, R-Blue Ridge, and
the Georgia Senate Repub
lican Caucus.
Democrats, mean
while, are opposing Walk
er’s measure and others on
absentee voting that they
view as attempts at voter
suppression meant to curb
Democratic momentum
after the party seized the
presidency and both of
Georgia’s U.S. Senate seats
in the 2020 elections.
Several Democrats on
the Republican-controlled
committee argued Thurs
day the bill could disen
franchise voters who do
not have driver’s licenses,
and possibly raise the
chances for identity theft
with more people sending
out sensitive personal in
formation and documents
in the mail.
“I think you’re trying
to cure a problem in your
mind,” said Sen. Ed Har-
bison, D-Columbus, the
Senate’s longest-serving
member. “But the truth is,
it opens the privacy door.”
Walker dismissed
those concerns, acknowl
edging some voters are
“going to have to make an
effort” to verify their iden
tities without a driver’s li
cense, but that the benefits
of tightening absentee vot
er ID verification would
outweigh the privacy risks.
“I’m not saying iden
tity theft can’t happen,”
Walker said. “I think the
value of this is way higher
than any potential risk of it
happening.”
Other Republicans on
the committee pointed out
Georgians already have
to show their ID’s to vote
in person, as well as for
many other activities such
as boarding an airplane or
interacting with police of
ficers during traffic stops.
“We are a nation of
laws,” said Senate Major
ity Whip Steve Gooch, R-
Dahlonega. “We’re used to
having identification cards
on us.
“I just can’t under
stand anybody opposing
requiring some kind of
identification to present to
an elections office to prove
who you say you are.”
Senate Minority Lead
er Gloria Butler, D-Stone
Mountain, countered that
sending personal informa
tion in the mail is different
from flashing an ID to a
police officer or clerk at a
liquor store — and should
face tighter protections
against identity theft.
“There’s a huge differ
ence in mailing something
in, filing it away and keep
ing it, than it is me just
having it and showing it
and the person looking at
it and leaving,” Butler said.
“So I think we need to stop
confusing that [since] it’s
not a correct statement.”
The bill passed by a
7-4 vote and now heads to
the Senate floor.
A separate measure to
end no-excuse absentee
voting in Georgia is ex
pected to come up for con
sideration in the commit
tee early next week after
clearing a subcommittee
on Wednesday.
That bill, sponsored
by state Sen. Jeff Mullis, R-
Chickamauga, would only
allow registered Georgia
voters who are age 75 and
older, physically disabled,
out-of-state or facing other
limited circumstances to
vote by mail.
State law since 2005
has let any Georgian regis
tered to vote who wants to
cast an absentee ballot do
so without having to pro
vide a reason for seeking
the mail-in route.
The committee on
Thursday also passed a bill
by Senate President Pro
Tempore Butch Miller,
R-Gainesville, that would
create a new state elec
tions supervisor tasked
with training local election
workers and punishing
low-performing county of
ficials. It passed by a party-
line vote.
Also passing along par
ty lines were two bills by
state Sen. Bill Cowsert, R-
Athens, that would short
en the time limit for local
registrars to enter voting
data into the state’s voter-
history system and boost
reporting requirements for
the state’s election-results
website, including the
number of absentee and
provisional ballots issued,
cast and rejected.
A bill brought by Sen.
Jen Jordan, D-Atlanta, was
the only measure to pass
unanimously on Thursday.
It would let counties begin
processing absentee bal
lots on the Monday before
Election Day, helping ease
pressure on local elections
officials to count mail-in
ballots.
Other Republican-
sponsored bills still await
ing consideration are
measures to ban absentee-
ballot drop boxes, end au
tomatic voter registration
for Georgians who receive
new or renewed driver’s
licenses, prohibit anyone
except state and local elec
tions officials and candi
dates from sending voters
applications for mail-in
ballots, and allow poll
watchers to monitor vote
tabulations more closely.
MARCH 16, 2021 [development
"WE ARE BUILDING
Georgia Senate committee
passes standard time-only bill