The full legislature went back to work on Monday, Jan. 23, with numerous proposals making their way through the committee process.
Last week, Gov. Deal announced the launch of a new skilled labor advancement initiative, “Go Build Georgia.” The program will address the skilled labor shortage in our state through public outreach designed to educate young people and the public at large about the wage, lifestyle and employment benefits in the skilled labor trades. The governor said “Go Build Georgia” will open new opportunities for our students and job seekers. Over the next year, 16,500 projected jobs will become available in the industries that rely on skilled labor.
To begin the process of the General Assembly’s constitutional mandate to pass a balanced budget each year, the House and Senate Appropriations Committees held a series of joint budget hearings Jan. 17-19. The meetings began with a briefing from Gov. Nathan Deal, who reviewed the highlights of his proposals for the annual budget for fiscal year 2013 as well as the midyear budget for the remainder of fiscal year 2012, which ends June 30.
Welcome to the New Year and the first of your weekly reports from the 2012 legislative session of the Georgia General Assembly, which began Monday, Jan. 9.
Legislative sessions, generally speaking, exist for the purpose of solving problems, but occasionally they actually create other problems for some citizens. These sessions also afford a chance for revisiting past issues and perfecting previous legislation.
Every 10 years, your General Assembly meets in a special called session to abide by the Constitutional requirement to reapportion voting districts due to increased or decreased population as determined by the most recent census and to ensure the principle of “one person, one vote” rule. As an addition, this process must strictly adhere to the Federal 1965 Voting Rights Act, which enforces the non-dilution of minority voters.
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