POOR PEOPLE’S DAY — A coalition of groups sponsored a day at
the legislature for the poor to meet with their representatives. Above,
right, Ellie Outlaw meets with Rep. Mable Thomas of Fulton County,
one of the sponsors of a bill to exempt food from sales tax. The arch
diocese of Atlanta and the diocese of Savannah are among the sup
porters of a luncheon at Central Presbyterian Church for legislators
and their needy constituents. (Photo by Linda Schaefer)
PAGE 8 — The Georgia Bulletin, February 12, 1987
Legislation—
(Continued from page 1 >
she should get copies of, checks to see what committees are
meeting, and tries to buttonhole legislators to talk about
particular bills.
“Lobbyists" interested in issues of social justice can be
found at their station by the elevator next to Room 305.
“Claiming” this territory with the lobbyist for the Christian
Council are representatives of Continuum, Christians
Against Hunger, the League of Women Voters and several
other organizations. The affluent lobbyists representing
manufacturers, industry associations and trade groups can
be found around the corner near the Senate chamber
There's a lot of color, noise, and milling around, especial
ly when the chambers break for lunch and afternoon
schedules of committee meetings and hearings. Corridors
surrounding the staircase under the golden dome are
thronged with people; small huddles of lawmakers being
briefed by staffers or lobbyists, sightseers. Girl Scouts, and
women choristers in long black skirts and white blouses be
ing given a VIP tour after a noontime performance in the
downstairs rotunda. People in wheelchairs wait quietly for
a word with their lawmakers and an older couple watch the
parade from a bench. The smell of fast food, lunch fare for
security personnel, is tantalizing.
As the representative of the Christian Council. Sister
Tomlin moves swiftly through this lively environment. She
has a heavy load of issues to keep current with: welfare,
child day care, mental illness, infant mortality and teen
pregnancy, low-income housing, energy assistance,
homelessness are some of her concerns.
“I’m following and giving information on 40 House bills
out of 400 and 25 Senate bills out of 226," Sister Tomlin said.
She testified at a subcommittee hearing on appropriations
— an open hearing for advocates of the poor and the elderly.
She attends numerous committee hearings.
“I think there are individual legislators who are compas
sionate, who are listening," she said. “I’m not sure there
are enough of them to change the direction.”
There is more openness so far in this year's session, more
attention being paid to Sunshine Law requirements. Last
year meeting notices were not posted in prominent places,
were posted too late for many interested in the subject to at
tend, and meetings were held in “closets,” rooms too small
to accommodate the people who wanted to attend.
Materials on bills were not available. This year more open
ness is evident. Sister Tomlin finds.
But in her areas of interest, "All issues that need to be ad
dressed are not being addressed" One concerns a pro
gram, PEACH (Positive Employment and Community
Help) which she called one of the better employ-ability ef
forts. PEACH provides day care, transportation and job
training for women who are receiving Aid to Families with
Dependent Children (AFDC). It is presently in operation in
two counties, Muscogee and Clayton.
For fiscal year 1988, the Department of Human
Resources recommended the program be extended to 32
counties at a cost of $9.4 million. Gov. Joe Frank Harris, in
his budget, asked it be initiated in just three more counties,
Cobb, Dougherty and Spalding, at a cost of $495,000.
Another area of special focus is the AFDC Unemployed
Parent Act passed by the legislature during the 1984 session
but never funded by the legislature. In its budget
sent to the governor this year the State Department of
Human Resources had requested $11 million to fund this
"intact family” program.
Gov. Harris did not include
it in his budget at all.
Sister Tomlin doesn't see
much chance of this being
funded during the 1987 ses
sion, but said advocates
“will keep pushing it for
next year." The amount,
she said, "is minimal and
it’s hard to understand why
it’s not included." Efforts to
have it included for FY 1989
will begin in April when
DHR begins budget hear
ings, preparatory to sub
mitting its recommenda
tions to the governor and
the Office of Planning and
Budget by October.
She sees more hope of FY
1988 funding for another
item being tacked onto
House Bill 226, the massive
appropriations measure.
This would allot money to
staff a personal care home
for five chronically mental
ly ill individuals and apart
ments for 12 other people
with the same handicap.
The Christian Council
Housing Corporation last
year received federal funds
in the amount of $576,000
from the U.S. Department
of Housing and Urban
Development (HUD), to build such a facility.
Yet the Harris budget omitted any request for funds to
staff this complex. Because of its direct relation to the issue
of the homeless, a major issue this session. Sister Tomlin is
hopeful that funding will be provided.
“There has to be compassion behind funding," she
believes, while admitting that some welfare issues pro
moted by the Christian Council and other advocacy groups
are not politically popular with some legislators who argue
for “pulling yourself up by the bootstraps as I did.” This
doesn’t address the problem. Sister Tomlin said, that most
of the people on welfare are children.
“The state doesn't put one cent into energy assistance,"
she said. Funding for this program comes from the
federal Low Income Heating and Energy Assistance Pro
gram (LIHEAP); from the Petroleum Violations Funds;
HEAT, the program of Atlanta Gaslight Co., and SHARE,
the Georgia Power program, and from private con
tributors. But all of these programs, she added, meet only
one-third of the need in Georgia where there are 450,000 peo
ple eligible for heating assistance because their incomes
are below poverty level.
“There is a good coalition of people working on these
issues, but the general public needs to be plugged in across
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the state,” she said, especially because of the constant tug-
of-war in the legislature between rural Georgia and Atlanta
for appropriations. Another problem activists for the disad
vantaged face is that decreased funding has spurred com
petition among advocacy groups for “a slice of the pie.”
“One favor the Reagan administration has done for us (in
reducing funding for human services) is to make us realize
that we can’t rely on government completely. We need to
work together, churches, private individuals, non-profit
organizations, a collaboration of the new American ex
perience the bishops asked for in the pastoral on the
economy.”
Sister Tomlin recently attended an implementation con
ference on the pastoral held by the United States Catholic
Conference in Washington and will be discussing the topic
in the weeks ahead at several parishes, Holy Cross and St.
Jude's in Atlanta. St. Joseph’s in Athens and Holy Family in
Marietta.
“I would like to be helpful with regard to the
pastoral....There is a real need to look at our citizenship
more responsibly. That does not necessarily mean through
partisan politics. We need to have moral vision behind the
decisions we make in the political sphere.”
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(Continued from page 1)
The more basic intent of
the bill, however, is to
acknowledge that the deci
sion by a minor to have an
abortion is a serious deci
sion with possible medical
consequences and that the
parent should be involved in
the decision as in any other
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“doesn’t need to know” a
matter of such conse
quence, when parents bear
all the responsibility for the
teen’s welfare and support
and health before and after
a hidden abortion.
The bill introduced in the
Senate is SB 229 and has
been introduced by
Senators Tom Allgood, Roy
Barnes and Joe Kennedy.
Representative Tommy
Smith of Alma will be in
charge of moving the bill
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through the House of
Representatives. Rep.
Smith was the author and
prime mover of a bill re
quiring parental notifica
tion for the past two years.
Last year a similar bill was
poised for passage when the
Senate abruptly adjourned
for the session preventing
final action on the measure.
The Pro-Life Office has
encouraged support for the
bill through letters and
phone calls to represen
tatives and senators.
Anyone able to become in
volved in lobbying efforts
during February is asked to
contact the Pro-Life Office
at 888-7821 or 888-7822.
Banquets/Meetings
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