74. The next step in Georgia's water policy.

Time to Take the Next Step to Secure Georgia’s Water Future (LaGrange Daily News)

By Sen. Jeff Chapman, (R- Brunswick) and Rep. Dubose Porter, (D-Dublin), candidates for Governor of Georgia.

March 20, 2010

We offer our joint congratulations to Gov. Sonny Perdue for his successfully starting a new Culture of Conservation in Georgia with passage of the Water Stewardship Act.

This bill contains a number of important water conservation ideas that have been proposed by the Georgia Water Coalition since its founding, eight years ago. Despite support from us, and many other legislators, these ideas have been routinely rejected until the recent court decision by federal Judge Paul Magnuson limiting the volume of water that can be taken from Lake Lanier without new federal legislation. That decision forced Georgia to action that should have been state policy for years.

We are proud to thank the Georgia Water Coalition, a broad-based coalition of 175 statewide and local organizations, churches and businesses that has steadily worked for these much-needed measures. As candidates for governor and as working members of the Georgia General Assembly, we are glad to offer our bipartisan support to their important work for our state’s future.

We also have each co-sponsored legislation that is the critical next step in creating the Culture of Conservation, necessary for our future prosperity in Georgia. Following the governor’s excellent example, we have joined many other legislators to introduce identical bills in both the House (HB1301) and Senate (SB462). This legislation, the River Basin Protection Act, establishes a needed and reasonable system to strengthen existing regulations on the transfer of water from one river basin to another. This regulation is vital to the integrity of local and regional water supplies, to serve industry and development all across our great state, and to protect the water quality and the good fishing in our rivers.

We particularly wish to commend Rep. Tom McCall and Sen. Jim Butterworth, both from the Upper Savannah River basin, for their initiative in leading as sponsors of these bills. Each bill now has many additional co-sponsors, and we look forward to seeing the governor put his power behind these bills to get them passed so he can also sign them into law.

The passage of the Water Stewardship Act and the River Basin Protection Act send unmistakable messages to all people who live downstream, in Georgia as well as those in Alabama and Florida, that Georgia is dead serious about protecting and fairly sharing its abundant water resources. When this happens, Georgians will have truly accomplished a solid step forward this year for the conservation and the future of our state water resources.

State Sen. Jeff Chapman, R- Brunswick, and State Rep. Dubose Porter, D-Dublin, are candidates for governor of Georgia.

To read the online story, click here.

73. Get on the bus with DuBose.

Pictures from Dublin St. Patrick's Parade 2010.

72. DuBose supports the rally for higher education.

To view the video from the rally, click here.

71. UGA Chapel Debate

Correction: The Democrats will debate at 6 p.m. and the Republicans will debate at 8 p.m.

70. DuBose Porter: Firewall around education.

From the GAE Legislative Hotline 2010:

Day 25

HB 1397- Quality Basic Education Act—“Salary Protection Act”

Sponsored by Rep. DuBose Porter (D- Dublin) and others

This bill adds a new Code section to the existing Quality Basic Education Act. The new section provides the following:

- No state funds provided for salaries for school personnel shall be transferred by any local board of education for any other purposes; and

- In the event of a budget shortfall, SALARIES for SCHOOL SYSTEM PERSONNEL SHALL NOT BE SUBJECT TO PRORATION AND SCHOOL SYSTEM PERSONNEL SHALL NOT BE SUBJECT TO FURLOUGHS.

Several members of the Georgia Legislature understand the importance of our public school personnel. In one way or another, several members of the Georgia Legislature have demonstrated their willingness to work with our organization to protect the interests of Georgia’s children by taking care of Georgia educators.

This bill takes care of Georgia’s educators!

The intent of this legislation is to protect public school personnel from further cuts. The revenue numbers have not been good for over a year now, however, this bill prioritizes educators and the extra sacrifices that they make. From assisting a child who has forgotten their lunch/lunch money to providing paper and extra pens/pencils so Georgia’s children are prepared in class. We applaud Rep. Porter and others for working with GAE and offering to carry this legislation to help support public school educators across Georgia. Take the time to thank Rep. Porter for sponsoring such a strong advocacy bill for educators.

69. DuBose and Carol Porter on CNN.

A few photos from the trip to CNN.

DuBose and Carol with Mykal Kristopher-Frierson.

Carol and DuBose are interviewed by Don Lemon on "Weekend Primetime."

A behind-the-scenes look just before the show!

Carol and DuBose pose for a quick photo in front of the iconic CNN sign in Atlanta.

Watch the video below from CNN on Saturday, March 13, 2010

68. DuBose Porter: Revenue Department still not ready to give you your money.

Tom Crawford wrote an article explaining the problem with the cheaters who take your paid sales tax money and keep it for themselves instead of returning it to you (we used that article in blog #62). An excerpt follows:

CRAWFORD / Lawmakers should go where the money is http://www.charltoncountyherald.com/articles/2010/02/16/opinion/editorials/doc4b7abcc8cfbbe844297319.txtBy Tom Crawford

Georgia loses buckets of tax dollars every year because of retailers who charge the sales tax on their customers but keep the money rather than send it to the revenue department. This problem is well known to lawmakers and revenue officials, but they haven’t done much to deal with it.

A pilot program in Hall County uncovered the fact that nearly 1,000 businesses in that county do not have sales tax numbers, which means they are not reporting their sales tax collections to the state. There are several hundred businesses that do not have a business license from their local government.

House Minority Leader DuBose Porter (D-Dublin) and his Democratic colleagues have been trying in vain for more than a year to pass legislation that would crack down on these renegade businesses who are cheating the state of sales tax proceeds.


Now another reporter, Jay Jones of the Rockdale Citizen, has published another story that shows the the reality that Georgia's elected Republican leadership and Georgia's Republican appointed Revenue Commissioner Bart Graham are refusing to give you back your money:

Excerpts follow from:

Porter says collect taxes in a new way (Rockdale Citizen)
CONYERS — Democratic candidate for Georgia governor DuBose Porter said his proposal to collect sales taxes from “cheaters” could reap millions for the strapped state budget and questioned why current state leaders have failed to act on it rather than offer new cuts.
Reporter: Jay Jones
Email Address: jay.jones@rockdalecitizen.com

State Rep. DuBose Porter, D-Dublin, speaks to the Bar Association of Rockdale County on Friday. The 28-year legislator is running for governor in the Democratic primary.

CONYERS — Democratic candidate for Georgia governor DuBose Porter said his proposal to collect sales taxes from “cheaters” could reap millions for the strapped state budget and questioned why current state leaders have failed to act on it rather than offer new cuts...
“I say before we start cutting education and raising taxes, let’s get what we should get from the cheaters,” Porter said. “This would be a GPS system telling you who’s cheating.”
As the state minority leader in the Georgia House, Porter, D-Dublin, got a pilot project done in Hall and Lowndes counties last year that showed that a quarter of all business license-holders had not paid sales taxes. The proposal is now in the General Assembly as House Bill 1137.
Porter added the state’s Department of Revenue had been against the proposal. “Either they are incompetent, hiding something or protecting somebody. I don’t know,” he said.
 Porter said the proposal could also help counties in finding businesses that have a sales tax certificate but not a business license.
In an editorial to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Department of Revenue Commissioner Bart Graham discounted Porter’s amount of $1 billion lost from cheaters. Also, Graham countered that part of Porter’s proposal that would allow counties to privatize tax collections would expose a businesses’ tax records.
Porter said during Friday’s luncheon that the Department of Revenue under its current system is unable to account for sales tax collections that exceed what was designated for the counties in local sales tax revenue receipts. Now, any unaccounted sales tax received is put into the state’s treasury. Porter said that while the state gets its 4 percent of sales tax, the counties with their 1 percent sales taxes are the ones that suffer from the loss of unaccounted tax revenue...

To read the whole story click here:

http://www.rockdalecitizen.com/newtonhome/headlines/86734157.html

_______________________

DuBose Porter, Governor 2010

Getting your money back for you.

67. DuBose and Carol Porter on Fox and Friends

66. Cuts to education short sighted.

As a past Chairman of Education and past Chairman of Higher Education DuBose Porter knows that to take education where it needs to be it will take the power and the will of the governor’s office. It is also possible to do the opposite with education with the power and will of the Governor's office and that is what Georgia is now experiencing. Perdue’s recommended cuts to education will continue to decrease the earning power of Georgia’s future citizens. United States jobs of the future will only go to those well educated enough to take them. Many of those jobs will be created by those whose minds where enriched and nurtured in academic settings provided in colleges and universities. Cutting education will result in lost wages and earning power for our state's citizens for decades to come. It is extremely short sighted to cut Georgia’s future income potential by such draconian measures.

A list of proposed cuts from the article Colleges outline massive cuts to help balance state budget By Aaron Gould Sheinin The Atlanta Journal-Constitution 5:42 p.m. Monday, March 1, 2010:

University of Georgia
Cut: $58.9 million
Positions eliminated: 1,418
Other: Reduce incoming freshman body by about a third; eliminate 4-H; reduce support for Veterinarian Medical Teaching Hospital by 66 percent
Georgia Institute of Technology
Cut: $38.07 million
Positions eliminated: 452
Other: Decrease admissions by 20 percent; eliminate 150-200 research positions; increase student-faculty ratio to 24-1
Georgia State University
Cut: $34.12 million
Positions eliminated: 622
Other: Reduce freshmen and transfers by 1,000; close Brookhaven campus; eliminate 396 course sections; close Fiscal Research Center and Capitol Hill Child Enrichment Center; eliminate Georgia Health Policy Center
Medical College of Georgia
Cut: $25.57 million
Positions eliminated: 63
Other: Accept 155 fewer students
Kennesaw State University
Cut: $14.12 million
Positions eliminated: 224
Other: Reduce freshmen and transfers by 10 percent; eliminate Center for Excellence in Teaching and select degree programs in education, business, humanities and social studies
Clayton State University
Cut: $4.19 million
Positions eliminated: 24
Other: Reduce 168 course sections
Georgia Gwinnett College
Cut: $2.66 million
Positions eliminated: 32
Other: Cap enrollment at 3,000, affecting 2,000 students; delay nursing program
Atlanta Metropolitan College
Cut: $1.37 million
Positions eliminated: 5
Other: Eliminate 38 course offerings; eliminate local match for transportation project
Georgia Perimeter College
Cut $9.92 million
Positions eliminated: 50
Other: Eliminate programs affecting 4,748 students

(Other colleges are to receive cuts but are not included in the list.)


To read the entire article http://www.ajc.com/news/georgia-politics-elections/colleges-outline-massive-cuts-339971.html


To join college students protesting the cuts

http://www.petitiononline.com/georgia1/petition.html