Not all sports teams have befitting nicknames. Within our own fine state of Georgia college athletics, you will find Bulldogs, Eagles and Yellow Jackets. While fans of those higher learning institutions seem quite betrothed to them, those canines, birds of prey, and winged insects are names that honestly could have been chosen by colleges in Kansas, South Dakota and Idaho. Although each one now has its own nostalgia, they weren’t named the Red Clay Kickers, Gnat Swarm, and Peach Fuzz.
Feb. 5 marked Legislative Day 13, putting us more than a quarter of the way through the General Assembly’s 40-day legislative session. This week debates continued on the House floor, committees considered dozens of bills and the House Appropriations committee delved further into the budget. The House of Representatives is expected to vote on the amended budget next week, which will set state spending levels through the end of June.
People who can fix and build things with ease are a mystery to me. My granddaddy, Papa Hudgins, built his own house, his own outhouse, his own chicken house, his own car house, his own smokehouse and his own barn, and all six were still standing decades later. I didn’t inherit any of Papa’s good genes (although I do have a pair of his overalls). It took me three days to build a rabbit hutch. Trying to do it myself has been frustrating at times:
Our community is in desperate need of an economic jolt. An injection into our veins of the fuel that propels a 747, if you please. That is what this county seeks. Unfortunately, not all, at least through their generations and generations of actions or lack of actions, agree that Sylvania, Hiltonia, Newington, Oliver, Rocky Ford and Screven County as a whole require such a meteoric boost.
On Thursday, Jan. 28, the House adjourned after our eighth legislative day of the 2010 session. This week consisted of short days of legislative action followed by committee hearings reviewing legislative initiatives. Bills currently are being drafted and introduced by legislators and the committee process is beginning to take full swing as we debate introduced legislation before it is presented on the House floor for votes. The budget process is continuing. We meet as members of the Appropriations Committee to discuss the specifics of how state revenues can best be utilized.
We are not going to sugar-coat it -- the economy stinks. Government officials at the national level say the recession shows signs of releasing its evil clutches on the American public. But, we all know that will not happen soon enough to help ease the intense pressure on those trying to make ends meet. The slow recovery of our nation will not reduce the suffering of those stricken with cancer. And the edging toward a better tomorrow cannot diminish the physical and emotion pain of the earthquake victims in Haiti.
Governor Perdue released his amended budget proposal for 2010 and for Fiscal Year 2011 on Friday of our first week in session. The Fiscal Year 2010 Amended Budget figure released was reduced to $17.4 billion. This includes between an 8 and 9 percent cut on most state agencies. Three additional furlough days for all state employees has been requested by the Governor in the amended recommendations. An option for individual school boards across the state is the choice to offset the furloughs by either using surpluses or cutting the budget in other areas.
I am not big on the whole concept of mass e-mail forwarding. My thoughts on that mode of communication is there’s one person who has no job, no kids and no reason to leave the basement who starts every “snowball” forwarding.
On Monday, January 11, 2010 we began the second session of the 150th General Assembly. As our first order of business, the House quickly began the process of electing a new Speaker of the House and Speaker Pro Tempore, the two highest ranking positions in the Georgia House of Representatives. After hearing the candidates, the House of Representatives elected David Ralston as House Speaker and Jan Jones as the new House Speaker Pro Tem.
Like you, my family spent the now weeks-ago holidays doing, well, “holiday things.” No matter if you morph into a modified jolly ole elf or you instead bury yourself underneath countless bed covers for the holidays, each of you have your own set of holiday things. Some of those things are kind of nice, while others equal the pain a person has from drinking broken glass.
