Across Georgia

Plan would allow local tax if voters agree too

ATLANTA --- The Georgia Senate easily approved a plan Wednesday that would allow counties or regions to impose a penny sales tax to pay for roads and other transportation projects as long as local voters agree.

A key House panel approved a separate transportation tax plan hours later, setting the stage for a showdown or compromise.

The Senate's version, a constitutional amendment passed by a 51-4 vote, would allow each of Georgia's 159 counties to decide whether to levy the tax.

House leaders demand full funding of schools

ATLANTA --- Hours before the Senate passed its version of a $332.6 million midyear spending measure Thursday, House leaders held a news conference to demand that the General Assembly fully fund state aid to local schools for the first time since the 2002-03 budget year.

Senate budget-writers responded that they and Gov. Sonny Perdue are taking steps to do just that without including unnecessary funding for 16 suburban school districts in a program aimed at helping rural counties.

The districts that would lose out under Mr. Perdue's plan include Columbia County, which would get almost $1.2 million less than it would receive under the current equalization grants.

Grants would help create health clinics

ATLANTA --- A bill that would provide grants of up to $150,000 to communities to start and maintain health clinics was unanimously passed by the state Senate on Thursday.

Under Senate Bill 395 communities seeking to open a clinic serving uninsured patients can apply for planning grants of up to $30,000 a year, while existing clinics can obtain up to $200,000 over two years.

-- Edited from wire reports