Gonzo Lawmakers - Day 33

A daily recap of the Georgia Public Broadcasting show "Lawmakers". The show airs weekdays at 7:00pm with a replay at 5:30am the following weekday.

Day 33

* We're in fast forward mode with our first virtually live Gonzo.

* Budget passed! YEEHAW! 18.6 billion. 2.6 billion trimmed. Education gets the lion share and they saved the school nurses. The stimulating also prevented medicaid cuts. Bad news is The Guv says next year we're going to have a shortfall again.

* Democrats don't like the budget and Dubose Porter (D-Running For Guv) claims that the cuts are just passed to the locals resulting in huge property tax increases. Speaker Richardson takes the well and calls it "hogwash". Praise all that's holy, I think we're close to getting the old Speaker back! He also says the economy may require a special session.

* Funding for the Music and Sports Halls of Fame didn't make the cut.

* Casey time!

* He repeats that medicaid will be underfunded in this budget. He also brings up the specter of a special session. We've still got a $2 billion hole in the budget and who knows what the hell the revenue figures for March will be. They are just full of sunshine and rainbows today.

* Super speeder passed a House Committee. Valerie's at Hogwarts and I must say she's lit better. It doesn't look quite as gloomy on the balcony. Usual shot of the Connector - blurred this time for effect. There's the b-roll of Grady and I swear I know one of those doctors.

* Student Health And Physical Fitness Act. Which some how susses out to S.H.A.P.E. Do they have a special clerk whose job is to generate acronyms? This requires schools to do with physical assessments. This little monstrosity comes from Sen. Don Thomas (R - Yes I'm A Republican But I've Never Seen A Bill That Interferes With Your Life That I Don't Like). He gets opposition from members of his own party who say perhaps this ain't the role of government. No kidding. The idiotic thing passed anyway. Even though we don't know how the hell we're going to pay for it. So about those Sunday liquor sales...

* Oh goody. They had time to haze some freshman. Ho ho. Oh my good lord! The first one is being hazed about a bill regarding the trapping of beavers and I swear I'm not making this up, the first question is "What is beaver activity?" The poor fellow blushed furiously and yielded the well. I swear they must have access to better drugs than a pharmacist.

* Sen. Robert Brown wants to make changes to SB 31. Ummmmm, isn't that horse out of the barn? Oh, he's introducing a bill to make Georgia Power put a line item on your electric bill stating how much is going to the Nuke plants. Clever. Of course it's after crossover so the horse was out of the barn and Georgia Power says they were going to do this anyway, so really the horse is already over the horizon.

* Tiana's back in studio! Let's hope things go a little smoother tonight. She's talking about the bill to shield domestic abuse victims address in the voter registration file. Looks like the only hiccup is the length of the shield - 4 years. It passed the committee and Tiana did just fine.

* Heh. We move on to a different bill but the opening shot of the committee is the same as the last one. I don't blame them. They're all starting to look alike to me too.

* There's Mike Jacobs! It's a boring technical bill but I like to say Mike Jacobs as much as I can because any Young Democrat using the Google will be drawn to me like moths to a flame!

* David Poythress visited the Capitol. You know, he's being called Gen. David Poythress a lot more these days. I'm not trying to be disrespectful, but back when he was Labor Commissioner he was a General and I don't remember it being used once. Ain't it funny how things change when someone declares themself a candidate.

* Oh lord. Sen. Don Thomas again. Talking about his pickup truck seatbelt law - again. I wonder if people use his daily testimonial for their daily constitutional.

* The House failed to pass a resolution making President Obama an honorary member of the Legislative Black Caucus. This is surprisingly more controversial and weirdly more technical than you might imagine. Rep. Austin Scott (R-I'm Running For Governor Even Though Nobody Knows) objected yesterday and objected again today. There's a couple of members of the Caucus standing near him and I swear they look ready to lay an ass whuppin'. I generally like Rep. Scott but this is just plain stupid.

* Tommie Williams will finally be interviewed tomorrow.

* I wish I could do this "virtually live" all the time. But now we must move on to "This Old House". That's a wrap.