Issues

Protecting our second amendment constitutional rights is important to Sen. Don Balfour.

Sen. Balfour has consistently been rated an “A” by the National Rifle Association for his support of the rights of Georgians to protect themselves. He has been honored with the continuing endorsement and support of the NRA and its membership.

Sen. Don Balfour was a leader in the effort to bring sensible tort reform to Georgia.

Too many Georgians, particularly those in rural areas, have suffered from lack of medical care. Part of the solution to making medical care more accessible to Georgians is reducing the cost for physicians to set up practice in our state and communities. Tort reform is a key part of the solution to reducing costs.

The rising cost of insurance, particularly in harder economic times, is a major impediment for businesses who might hiring employees. Georgia can, and must, work to lead the nation with commonsense solutions to reduce the overhead cost of running a business and creating jobs. After the passage of tort reform Georgia moved into the top 10 best economic climates.

Gwinnett County homeowners continue to reap the benefit of an innovative program I was privileged to pass in the Georgia Senate.

Along with former Senator, Superior Court Judge William “Billy” Ray, we produced a “tax freeze” option for Gwinnett County property tax payers. By filing their homestead exemptions, homeowners elect to place a hold on their value for the benefit of revaluation – ending secret, backdoor tax hikes.

Other Georgia counties and other states have looked to our efforts as a model of reform. In the end, countless amounts of tax dollars have stayed with those who call Gwinnett County their home.

Fewer discussions are as highly charged with emotion as the debate over illegal immigration. During my time in the Senate we have worked hard to take corrective measures and address this volatile situation.

While no legislative solution can possible cover every area of concern, Georgia now has more stringent regulations in place to help make our state less attractive to those coming to our country illegally.

I believe we must do our part in the General Assembly to keep tax dollars from reaching those companies that operate on the backs of illegal immigrants. I also promote the use of standardized employee certification to ensure local jobs meet the needs of local workers.

I will continue to weigh how well we are handling the influx of illegal immigrants and how we can better support our local authorities to deter this crime in the future.

I firmly believe that our national and local tax systems are antiquated and unwieldy, diminishing the quality of life for our families. Real reform and real change must happen from the top down to reverse these detrimental trends.

I authored a resolution urging Congress to adopt the Fair Tax plan long championed by U.S. Rep. John Linder.

The Fair Tax is simple to understand. We would do away with taxes for income, Social Security, estates, payroll and a host of other money-draining avenues in favor of a single national sales tax charged at the point of purchase. With the Fair Tax plan Americans would no longer be taxed on their income, but rather their consumption. This would help reduce the tax burden from producers as well.

The Fair Tax would help deflate bureaucracies, empowering people to have greater control of their income. Georgia’s families and businesses would greatly benefit from such a reversal of policy and procedure.

Now more than ever, we deserve a genuine reform of our revenue system and a move to allow us to keep more of our money right where it belongs – in our pockets.

I have never shied away from the awesome responsibility to standing up for those who are most in need of our defense – Georgia’s countless unborn. All life is precious, and I fully support pro-life measures in our state.

During my time in the Senate, I have proudly enjoyed the continuous approval of the Georgia Right to Life in its annual assessment of how well we undertake efforts to protect the unborn.

I was co-author of a groundbreaking bill to end the partial-birth abortion practice in Georgia- placing our state far ahead of others nationally in life-affirming legislation.

I helped pass legislation allowing prosecutors to seek charges of double-homicide in cases where a pregnant woman is murdered.

I have supported measures to require abortion doctors to show ultrasounds to their patients prior to performing any procedures. Women deserve this additional information.

I also helped draft legislation allowing pharmacists to forego selling so-called “abortion pills” if they have a religious or moral aversion to carrying such medications. Pharmacists should have the right to not sell these items if they do not wish to do so.

As recently as three years ago, Georgians faced the serious concern that their land might be lost to a misapplication of the eminent domain laws.

In short, the very real possibility existed that local authorities might trample on the most basic of rights – the right to own and maintain private property – for the sake of private business interests.

The concerns that I heard were so troubling that I could not allow the 2006 session to conclude without a real solution. We worked tirelessly to bring together all parties and produced a real legislative solution.

Georgia now has the some of the strongest eminent domain rules in the nation. Our residents no longer have to worry about losing their property in an unfair process.

I was particularly pleased to have the opportunity in leading Governor Sonny Perdue’s charge to increase the ethical standards for our state government.

In 2005, your General Assembly adopted one of the nation’s toughest sets of rules regulating lobbyists and governing disclosure and accountability of financial interests for state lawmakers.

Our commitment to overhauling our outdated ethics standards produced such a dramatic change that we received national notoriety. The Washington, D.C.-based Center for Public Integrity gave us a 20-point increase in its nationwide ranking of public disclosure practices, moving us from 26th-place to number six in the nation for stringent standards.

As your State Senator, I take seriously the expectation that our efforts will be done with the public’s interest at the forefront. It was my honor to take the leading role of championing this important ethics legislation and seeing it through to official adoption.

This was a challenging legislative matter that I was honored to accomplish for the people of Gwinnett County and surrounding communities.

With careful planning and coordinated assistance from other key lawmakers, we were able to create the new Georgia Gwinnett College inside the City of Lawrenceville.

Georgia Gwinnett College is the nation’s first public, four-year liberal arts institution to be founded in the new millennium, and is the first new college in Georgia in more than 100 years. The 200-acre campus is expecting its student population to reach 10,000 - 15,000 by the year 2012.

I am proud to see the real progress Georgia Gwinnett College has made in pursuing accreditation and in becoming an education powerhouse in our state. We now have a real resource to give our students and our workforce the training they need to keep Gwinnett and Georgia competitive in the changing global marketplace.

“Don Balfour is one of the community leaders in the State of Georgia who had the foresight many years ago to recognize the regional needs in higher education. His presence in the community and in the General Assembly has been significant in helping us move forward.”
– Dr. Daniel Kaufman, President of Georgia Gwinnett College