Newspaper Page Text
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 27, 2021
BARROW NEWS-JOURNAL
PAGE 5A
State roundup
Half of all Georgians now fully vaccinated against COVID, officials say
By Tim Darnell
Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA - State health of
ficials said Monday, Oct. 25,
that 50% of all Georgians, or
5,154,793 residents, are now fully
vaccinated against COVID-19.
The Atlanta-based Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention
considers individuals have been
fully vaccinated two weeks after
their second dose of a two-dose
series (Moderna or Pfizer) and
two weeks after a single-dose vac
cine (Johnson & Johnson).
More than 56% of Georgians
have received at least one dose of
COVID vaccine, according to the
state Department of Public Health.
“Having 50% of Georgians ful
ly vaccinated is a positive step
toward ending the COVID-19
pandemic in the state” Commis
sioner of Public Health Dr. Kath
leen Toomey said.
“However, COVID-19 contin
ues to spread in Georgia, partic
ularly in areas of low vaccination
rates, causing severe illness and
death — deaths that are prevent
able.”
As of last week, all three
COVID vaccines — Pfizer, J&J
and Moderna — have been given
Emergency Use Authorization for
booster doses for some individu
als. Third doses and booster doses
of COVID-19 vaccine have been
administered to nearly 120,000
Georgians.
Democrats release their own
congressional map ahead of
special session next month
Republicans in charge of
legislative redistricting, not
necessarily in driver’s seat
By Dave Williams
Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA - In 2011, major
ity Republicans in the General
Assembly drew such heavily
partisan legislative maps that
the GOP captured a “superma
jority” — 38 of 56 seats — in
the state Senate the following
year.
In the Georgia House of
Representatives, Republicans
fell just one seat short of that
two-thirds majority in 2012,
winning 119 of 180 seats.
But the Georgia Democratic
Party of 2021 is stronger than
it was a decade ago. In the last
two election cycles, Democrat
Stacey Abrams lost an open
gubernatorial race to Repub
lican Brian Kemp by just 1.4
percentage points, while Dem
ocrats flipped two GOP-held
congressional seats in Atlanta's
northern suburbs.
Democrat Joe Biden carried
Georgia by 11,779 votes last
November on his way to turn
ing Republican President Don
ald Trump out of office. And
two months later. Democrats
Jon Ossoff and Raphael War-
nock defeated Republican in
cumbents to win Georgia’s two
U.S. Senate seats.
Republicans will still be in
charge of drawing new maps
based on the 2020 Census re
sults during a special legisla
tive session starting Nov. 3.
But Georgia political observers
aren’t looking for a repeat of
201 l's GOP successes.
“This is not 2011,” said Brian
Robinson, a top aide to former
Gov. Nathan Deal and a Re
publican political commenta
tor. “Republicans can't go in
trying to run the table. They
have to pick what they’re will
ing to give up to shore up other
areas.”
The reason behind the Dem
ocratic gains in Georgia lies in
demographic changes.
The Peach State's Black pop
ulation has grown by 15.8%
during the last decade. The
state’s Hispanic population is
up by 31.6%, and Asian Amer
icans in Georgia have soared
by 54.8%. All three minority
groups tend to vote for Demo
crats.
Advocates for minority
groups called on legislative Re
publicans to incorporate those
demographic changes into the
new maps during public hear
ings held across the state over
the summer.
“If the lines are drawn fair
ly, they will accurately reflect
racial diversity,” said Glory
Kilanko, founder and CEO of
Women Watch Afrika Inc., an
Atlanta-based social justice
nonprofit. “If our communities
are divided up, we’ll be inade
quately represented.”
Another trend that could play
in Democrats' favor in the up
coming redistricting process is
a loss of population during the
last decade in rural south Geor
gia. where voters tend to favor
Republicans. By law, redrawn
legislative districts cannot vary
in population by more than
10%.
“[Republicans] are going to
have to move some seats out of
South Georgia to North Geor
gia.” said Charles Bullock, a
political science professor at
the University of Georgia. “It
may take some creative cartog
raphy.”
Georgia Republicans do have
some advantages they didn't
enjoy during the 2011 redis
tricting. The U.S. Supreme
Court in a 2013 ruling did
away with the “preclearance”
provision of the federal Vot
ing Rights Act, which required
states with a history of racial
discrimination to submit their
congressional and legislative
maps to the Justice Depart
ment.
“This is a potential obstacle
that's been removed,” said Ker-
win Swint, a political science
professor at Kennesaw State
University.
But state Sen. Elena Par
ent, D-Atlanta, said parties
that might object to maps the
Republicans draw still have
recourse to the courts despite
the loss of the preclearance re
quirement.
“The provisions of Section 2
of the Voting Rights Act are in
place,” she said. “There are le
gal protections for historically
disenfranchised communities.”
Bullock said a further mo
tive for Republicans not to take
advantage of the lack of pre
clearance is that drawing dis
tricts designed to elect Black
legislators helps Republicans
politically by allowing them
to “pack” surrounding districts
with white voters likely to sup
port GOP candidates.
“The idea that without pre
clearance. these Black districts
are going to be carved up and
split up is not going to happen,”
he said.
Another advantage legis
lative mapmakers will have
is that next month's special
session won’t take place un
til after the Nov. 2 municipal
elections across Georgia. Un
der the law, incumbent state
lawmakers who don’t like how
their district has been drawn
can’t move elsewhere to run
within a year of the next elec
tion.
The ability to “freeze” law
makers in their districts will
allow Republicans to sabotage
Democrats by drawing two or
more Democratic incumbents
into the same district and forc
ing them to run against each
other.
But Swint said the loss of
population in heavily Republi
can rural counties means GOP
incumbents could also end up
inside the same districts in
order to make the population
numbers work.
“It can be a real challenge to
do that to Democrats and not
Republicans as well,” he said.
Bullock predicted the demo
graphic trends going against
the Republicans are going to
be too much to overcome de
spite GOP leaders' control
over redistricting.
“My guess is the Democrats
won't get what they like, but
they're probably going to get
more seats than they have
now,” he said. “Republicans
are going to have to figure out
how to strategically cut their
potential losses.”
But Robinson said Repub
licans should be able to do
better than mitigate an inevita
ble loss of seats. He said the
key to GOP success will lie in
drawing maps that pack Dem
ocrats - who tend to live closer
together - while spreading out
Republicans who already live
in less dense communities.
“If Democrats win districts
by 80%, and Republicans win
by 50% to 60%, that's how
you do it,” he said.
Edward Lindsey, a former
Georgia House majority whip,
said he doesn’t believe redis
tricting will result in any dra
matic shifts in the makeup of
the General Assembly.
“Republicans should expect
to lose three to five [House]
seats south of Interstate 20,”
he said. “[But] Republicans
have a chance to regain three
to five seats in suburban Atlan
ta by focusing on Republican
principles.”
By Tim Darnell
Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA - The Georgia
House and Senate Democratic cau
cuses on Oct. 21 released their own
proposed congressional map ahead
of the special legislative session
starting Nov. 3.
The Democrats’ map follows a
congressional map the Republi
can-controlled state Senate put out
back in September. With the GOP
holding majorities in both the state
House and Senate, the Democratic
map isn’t likely to get serious con
sideration.
“Georgia has changed signifi
cantly over the last decade, and our
proposed congressional map re
flects that growth,” said U.S. Rep.
Sanford Bishop, D-Columbus.
“Georgia voters should choose
their representatives, not the other
way around, and this map guaran
tees that.”
Democrats said their map pro
vides a fair opportunity for voters
of color in Georgia to elect repre
sentatives of their choice, as mi
norities make up a majority of the
residents in six of the 14 districts
(Districts 2. 4, 5, 7. 10, and 13).
“The proposal also fairly rep
resents the partisan makeup of
Georgia's evenly divided elector
ate, with seven districts that lean
Democratic and seven districts
that lean Republican,” the Georgia
Democratic Party said in a news
release. “Additionally, with sev
en districts centered within metro
Atlanta, this proposal rightly ac
knowledges that more than half
of all Georgians live in metro At
lanta, which has driven more than
two-thirds of Georgia's population
growth over the last decade.”
“As we crafted this proposed
map, we wanted to ensure that
it takes into account population
trends within Georgia, reflects the
will of Georgia voters at the bal
lot box, and allows voters of color
an equal opportunity to elect their
candidates of choice,” said Senate
Minority Leader Gloria Butler,
D-Stone Mountain.
The congressional map being
proposed by the state Senate would
increase the size of districts in rural
south Georgia to reflect losses in
population during the last decade.
The plan also targets Rep. Lucy
McBath, D-Marietta, by shifting
portions of the 6th Congressional
District she represents into heavily
Republican areas.
The Republican map was over
seen by Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan and
state Sen. John Kennedy, R-Ma-
con, who chairs the Senate Re
districting and Reapportionment
Committee.
“This map not only meets prin
ciples of redistricting, but we are
proud to present a map that re
gardless of political party, Geor
gians can be proud of,” Duncan
said when the map was released.
“Ensuring that any maps we pro
duce are fair, compact, and keep
communities of interest together
will continue to be of upmost im
portance.”
The General Assembly currently
has an online portal in which peo
ple can comment on the proposed
Senate map.
Rising transportation tax revenues show
Georgians back to driving, traveling
By Dave Williams
Capitol Beat News Service
With the number of new cases of
COVID-19 in Georgia steadily declin
ing, more and more Georgians are driv
ing and traveling.
That encouraging trend is showing up
in monthly tax collections reported by
the state Department of Transportation.
The DOT collected $174 million in
motor fuels tax revenue last month, state
Commissioner of Transportation Russell
McMurry told members of the State
Transportation Board Oct 21. That rep
resents a 9.1% increase over September
of last year.
During the first quarter of the current
fiscal year, the agency collected $558.4
million in motor fuel taxes, a 9.4% in
crease over July. August and September
2020. Revenues from the state tax on
gasoline and other motor fuels plummet
ed when the coronavirus pandemic first
struck Georgia in March of last year but
were starting to recover by August 2020.
Today, tax colections are not only up
over last year at this time but ate even ex
ceeding pre-pandemic levels, McMur
ry said last week In fact the last three
months saw an increase in motor fuel
revenue of $39.4 million over July, Au
gust and September 2019, wel before
the pandemic.
“People are out and about” McMurry
said. “These are positive signs.”
The numbers on the state’s hotel-mo
tel tax are even more dramatic, evidence
that people cooped up during the pan
demic have resumed taking trips.
The DOT sawanincreaseof37.5%in
hotel tax revenue last month compared
to September of last year and a whop
ping 50.3% rise in tax colections during
the July, August and September quarter
over those same months during the last
fiscal year.
City of Statham, Georgia
Schedule of Project Expenditures with
Special Pupose Local Option Sales Tax Revenue
For the Fiscal Year ended June 30, 2021
Original
Estimated
Cost
Prior
Years
EXPENDITURES
Current
Year
Total
%of
Estimated
Completion
Proiect-2006 SPLOST
Road, Street, Curb, Sidewalk Improvements
$ 600,000
$ 414,486
$ 45,725.00
$
460,211
77%
Proiect-2012 SPLOST
Water & Sewer System Improvements
$ 1,405,980
$ 1,268,854
$ 324,845.00
$
1,593,699
113%
Proiect-2018 SPLOST
Water & Sewer System Improvements
$ 1,709,382
$ 0.00
$ 0.00
$
0.00
0%
SPLOST TOTALS
$ 2,005,980
$ 1,683,340
$ 370,570
$
2,053,910