2010 Legislative Session Update: Week Six

Senator Don Balfour’s

2010 Legislative Session Weekly Update

Week 6

Dear Neighbor:

With only 20 more days left of session, we are officially half way done. This week the Georgia Assembly continued their efforts to help better the state of Georgia. Below are some of the issues that were discussed.

Creation of New Economic Development

On Tuesday, the Georgia State Senate voted in favor of creating an economic development council of state lawmakers to evaluate all state-funded activities that support Georgia’s economic development strategy. The council will be comprised of Senate and House legislators and will be charged with reviewing current goals, tax exemptions and credits, as well as the Department of Economic Development’s activities and expenditures and other entities.  The council will also analyze legislative proposals relating to economic development, as well as researching legislation and policies from other states.

Currently, economic development initiatives are scattered throughout the budget and across agencies.  A sound economic development strategy will generate new opportunities and make Georgia an attractive business destination.  Additionally, an ongoing review of state rules, regulations and red tape will further position the state as a prime location for growing businesses.

State Wide Alert System for Law Enforcement

A Senate bill was introduced as a state-wide alert system to speed the apprehension of violent criminals who kill or seriously injure local, state, or federal law enforcement officers. Similar to the Amber Alert Law, a Blue Alert Law would activate the Georgia Department of Transportation message boards and other state messaging systems to notify the public when a police officer has been killed or seriously injured and the perpetrator is at large.

Legislative Recess

After Thursday, the General Assembly will adjourn until March 8, while budget writers try to reconcile the governor’s budget. This is NOT a vacation. Instead we will be working every day to ensure a balance of the budget. The constitution requires it and the people expect it. We will be taking extraordinary steps that have never been taken to get the budget done right.

“We are at the edge of an abyss right now, and just like the families that are managing their budget, we must manage ours,” explains Senator Balfour. “In 2006 we were working with revenue of over $17 billion, likewise, in 2007 we were working with revenue of over $18 billion. Today we are forced to reexamine the budget that has declined -10.8% from 2007. The state of Georgia has experienced great shortfalls in revenues; therefore, we have to take a significant amount of time to balance the budget accordingly.”

Town Hall Meetings

Senator Balfour will join Senator Unterman in hosting town hall meetings for Gwinnett County. The purpose of these meetings will be to provide legislative updates and to discuss the issues that the citizens of Gwinnett County find most important. The first meeting will be Thursday, February 25^th 2010 at 7PM at the Buford City Hall in the commission chamber. The second meeting will be held Thursday, March 11^th 2010 at 7PM at Lawrenceville City Hall in the council chamber. Please plan to join us at one, or both, of these town hall meetings.

I appreciate your support throughout the 2010 legislation session. It is an honor to serve you.

Please contact me with questions or concerns.

Best Regards,

Don

This entry was posted on Monday, February 22nd, 2010 at 7:55 am and is filed under News & Events. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.