ATLANTA --- Georgia's legislative session will come crashing to an end today, and just about every major policy item Republican leaders promised to deliver remains up in the air.
The House and Senate are gridlocked over competing tax breaks. Vast changes to the education system hang in the balance. Plans to increase the sales tax to pay for transportation improvements and create a new fee to shore up Georgia's trauma network are in limbo.
About the only major issue both chambers had already agreed on by Thursday was a statewide water plan to chart out the drought-stricken state's resources and needs.
Efforts to pass more ambitious plans to expand existing reservoirs and build new ones have sputtered.
Lawmakers are still struggling over Georgia's $21.2 billion budget, meaning most legislators might not see the final version of the spending plan until the session's final hours.
Still, some Republicans are optimistic they can achieve most of their goals. One full working day remains, after all, and Georgia lawmakers have been known to buckle down with a midnight deadline looming.
"We're getting close to another typical crescendo to the session," Senate Pro Tem Eric Johnson deadpanned.
The political stalemate threatens the four items GOP leaders championed as a shared agenda for the session when they barnstormed across Georgia in January: education, transportation, health care and a response to the drought.
House and Senate leaders added tax cuts to their agenda, with House Speaker Glenn Richardson pushing his plan to erase the car tag tax and Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle pitching a separate idea to scale back the income tax by 10 percent.
Dismal new revenue numbers were released Thursday, bolstering critics who say the state can't afford either tax cut.
Georgia is running behind budget projections and will likely have to dip into reserves to pay its bills for the fiscal year that ends June 30.
Still, GOP legislative leaders are plunging ahead with a deal on tax cuts, which they hope will help them with voters as they seek re-election in November.
"At this point, taxes is the deal that breaks everything loose," Mr. Johnson said. "Taxes is the key to all of it."
PENDING BILLS
ALCOHOL:
Despite Gov. Sonny Perdue's strong objections, a House committee revived a measure allowing local residents to vote to allow convenience stores to sell alcohol on Sundays. It was attached to a separate bill that would allow a new Gwinnett County baseball stadium to sell beer on Sunday.
DROUGHT:
Two measures inspired by the drought are still pending. A House measure to speed up construction and expansion of reservoirs by streamlining the complex permitting process still awaits a Senate vote. And a Senate plan to allow state money to build and expand lakes also is unresolved.
EDUCATION:
Lawmakers haven't agreed on a pair of Senate plans that would make it easier for charter schools to open and give vouchers to pupils who attend failing schools.
Comments
We can all rest securely in the knowledge that Sonny went to China during the session and has ensured that our supply of cheap trinkets will continue uninterrupted. I assume that this trip will be listed as "Foreign Policy" experience on his resume when he announces his run for U.S. Senate. Another wasted session from our nanny Governor.
The less the legislature does, the better.
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