[February 05, 2023] | When I look back on this past week, my thoughts were best defined as ... Busy. Since legislators are putting bills in for consideration by the committees, my email has lit up. I spent a lot of time over the weekend answering email.
Just a quick refresher on how the process works. Any Representative can have the legislative council create a bill for them about anything. The lawyers in our legislative council group are very talented in getting not only the work done, but creating the law that the member wants created. Sometimes bills are done for political reasons back home, or because the member really believes in that issue, or they're trying to solve a problem in the community or state wide.
House Members will create about 2000 bills a year for the committees to consider. Only about 200 of them, maybe a few more will be voted on the House floor. Many will die in the committee because the chairman believes they're a bad idea, or the committee will vote it down, or the Rules Committee will stop its progress. Some members don't even ask for a vote on their bill. So, some of the emails I answer are about bills that may never make it.
I had about six committee meetings this week, and had the pleasure of honoring KIA, the Auto Manufacturer, at a number of events one day. This company has made quite a large investment in Georgia and is in the process of building a new plant in Bryan County in southeast Ga. This week we saw constituents from the Probate Judges in Georgia, The University of Georgia's College of Agriculture, and the (CASA) Court Appointed Special Advocates to name a few. I always try to make time to spend a bit of time with as many as I can each day.
The Biggest work we did was on the Supplemental spending Budget. This is the budget to adjust the 2022-2023 budget we passed last, that took effect in July. Things happen in that half-year, and we go back and look at that big budget and see where we can save money or where money needs to be spent. The Governor can also increase the amount of money that we get to work with, in the budget. There are many meetings about this. The budget is divided into about seven parts, with seven different committee chairmen overseeing the spending year-round. We take testimony from all the different parts of programs who get money from our taxes. The committees work to keep the budget balanced and meet the needs of Georgia. The best part is when we vote it out of the appropriations committees, it starts at 7 am in the morning. I will use this space next week to let you know what we proposed, sending it on to the Senate.
I personally have been working on an electric vehicle bill that will make sure when electricity is sold as a fuel, Georgia will get the right amount of tax on it to maintain our roads and bridges.
Thank you for the opportunity to be your voice in the Capitol. Easiest way to contact me is by email right now: rick.jasperse@house.ga.gov. You can also call the Capitol to reach me at 404-656-7153. Please leave a message, so I can call you back if I am not there.