By George Wilson | The General Assembly for 2016 has ended. What has it accomplished to betterment of the lives of individual Georgians? From my viewpoint: too much what they have done is to continue to cave in to special interests. As a result, I vacillate between two distinct notions about the effectiveness of the General Assembly in Georgia and how to improve their overall performance.
On one hand, they seem to spend too much time and energy on the three concepts that drive the ideology behind the state GOP…guns, ovaries, and prayer and of course cutting taxes. They failed to address the problems of transportation in the metro area, especially light rail, and expanding Medicaid as the Affordable Health Care Act envisioned and paid for by the Federal Government.
Also, how about an ethics reform package that would bring us up from the bottom in the nation in corruption? Perhaps the solution is a larger salary that would attract higher quality candidates to run for office and not represent the industries that they are employed with. Perhaps, allowing for a period longer than 40 days working on, investigating and contemplating the issues of the day would be one solution.
On the other hand, some people prefer just to have them meet every two years and then get them out of town before they do too much damage. To be sure, this has some merit, if the obstacles of increased power to the Governor and the bureaucracy can be overcome.
Also, the questions about the need to appropriate emergency funds, answer issues brought up by the judicial system and local governments on a timely basis need to be resolved. Lastly, we really do need some serious discussions about some changes in this institution. Because Georgia continues to move backward in many areas—health care, infrastructure, education and ethics reform.
(From the editor: Dear George: your ill-conceived idea of allowing the Legislature to meet more often than 40 days runs up against GwinnettForum’s Continuing Objective of wanting the legislators to meet less. Meeting once every two years is our goal. Aren’t we all for less government? What better way than to keep the doors of the Capitol open for legislation only once every two years. –eeb)
Follow Us