2017 Georgia General Assembly Discussions

[Airforceguy]

A bill is being proposed to deal with blight...

State Lawmakers have proposed a bill that would help the city and other municipalities across the state improve blighted properties.

This was the number one issue that the mayor and city council members put on their legislative agenda this year.

They make these lists every year, but remember their list is competing with counties across the state. This is an issue that other counties are also dealing with.

Rep. Ron Stephens is one of five sponsors of the bill which would revise part of the Landowner's Rights and Private Property Protection Act that was passed back in 2006. The current law mandates municipalities to hold onto properties for 20 years after acquiring the property through eminent domain.

City officials say that's why there are thousands of dilapidated and abandoned homes in Savannah, because the city is not able to resale or improve those properties for 20 years. This new bill that's been proposed would reduce that time frame to only five years.

"Most communities have this same problem,” said Alderman Julian Miller, District 4. “They are trying to grapple with how do we fix this. And we had a monkey wrench thrown at us years ago and this removes the monkey wrench."

Georgia H.B. 434 aims to reduce blight - WTOC-TV: Savannah, Beaufort, SC, News, Weather & Sports

[Airforceguy]

Round 4 in the "Religious Liberty" fight...Hopefully this crap goes nowhere.

Sen. Marty Harbin, R-Tyrone, on Tuesday filed Senate Bill 233, which stops far short of the wide-ranging “religious liberty” bill that Deal vetoed in 2016. Harbin’s bill says that the language in the federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act would also apply in Georgia.

Supporters say Harbin’s bill is needed because the Supreme Court ruled in 1997 that the federal law, passed under a Democratic-controlled Congress and signed by a Democratic president, only restricts the federal government’s ability to intrude on an individual’s religious freedom. Dozens of states have since passed their own versions to cover actions by state governments.

But Chris Riley, Deal’s chief of staff, is unmoved.

“Everything that needs to be said on this issue was said in the veto statement last March,” Riley said.

Harbin did not respond to requests for comment.

In his 2016 veto message, Deal said, “Our actions on HB 757 are not just about protecting the faith-based community or providing a business friendly climate for job growth in Georgia. This is about the character of our state and the character of its people.”

Deal faced tremendous pressure last year from the business community and gay rights organizations that said the bill would lead to discrimination, as well as from fellow Republicans and religious conservatives who said their rights and way of life were under siege from secularists who demanded they leave their faith at home.

In one short sentence, Harbin’s bill says Georgia should apply in similar fashion the federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act. The federal statutes requires the government to prove a “compelling governmental interest” before it interferes with a person’s exercise of religion.

'Religious liberty' debate returns as bill filed in Ga Senate