Photo HottieTottie.com

UPDATE; 10:30 AM – Senator Dugan’s staffer says no one can read the new language of SB 2 until it is passed out at the Econ-D committee hearing today. 

Note to readers: SB 2 looks like a “I want to be governor and I am willing to prove it” offering from Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle to the Georgia Chamber of Commerce. The below translation of the bills’ language is taken from a version that has already been to a committee hearing. It wasn’t enough for the business lobby. They had objections. So, the bill has been modified and will see another hearing today in the Senate Economic Development Committee at 2:00 PM.

• Who is the sponsor of the bill? Senator Mike Dugan. AND Who is Chairman of the Economic Development Committee? Senator Mike Dugan.

Ga. state Senator Mike Dugan

The co-signers of the bill are a ‘Who’s Who’ of Chamber of Commerce Senators. This is prime example of legislation to be changed on the floor with an unrecorded vote.

SB 2 The FAST (One) Act     LC 28 8192        2017

Or as supporters in the Chamber of Commerce Georgia State Senate refer to it…the “Ya’ll Come… and Bring Money Act!” This is merely our start-up wording. We are going to shove it through commttiee, then change it to what we really want when it gets to the floor of the senate. With unrecorded votes that you will never know about!

“First Reader Summary
A BILL to be entitled an Act to amend Chapter 60 of Title 36, Chapter 1 of Title 43, and Title 50 of the O.C.G.A., relating to general provisions applicable to counties and municipal corporations, general provisions regarding professions and businesses, and state government, respectively, so as to enhance accountability and notice requirements for agency rule making so as to reduce regulatory burdens on businesses; to provide a short title; to provide for related matters; to repeal conflicting laws; and for other purposes.”

Caption
To amend Chapter 60 of Title 36, Chapter 1 of Title 43, and Title 50 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to general provisions applicable to counties and municipal corporations, general provisions regarding professions and businesses, and state government, respectively, so as to enhance accountability and notice requirements for agency rule making so as to reduce regulatory burdens on businesses; to facilitate the start of certain small businesses; to provide for schedules of fees and timelines for permits, licenses, and other regulatory requirements; to provide for reduced fees when such deadlines are not met; to provide for expedited processing of licenses and permits; to provide for certain provisional professional licenses; to provide for exceptions; to streamline the collection of personal information; to provide for notices and timing for certain regulatory inspections; to provide for the development of a building and infrastructure transparency score for each county and municipality by the Department of Community Affairs; to provide for further information regarding proposed rules; to provide for additional notice for rule making; to change the vote requirement for legislative objections to proposed rule making…”

Section 1

This Act shall be known and may be cited as the “The FAST Act – Fairness, Accountability, Simplification, and Transparency – Empowering Our Small Businesses to Succeed.” Just think of it as “THE FAST ONE ACT!”

Section 2
Chapter 60 of Title 36 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to general provisions applicable to counties and municipal corporations, is amended by adding a new Code section to read as follows:

Wanna’ open a business in Georgia? We are going to get you a business license ASAP, and with special rates. And if cities and counties take too long issuing, we will fine them! And we will accept the word of another agency that you are eligible for a business license. (Remember that E-Verify requirement from 2011 and HB 87? And that idea that you must verify you are here legally? Yeah, we don’t like them either).

Section 3

Ya’ll come! Work now, worry about professional license later! We’ll even allow other states to decide if you are qualified to work before we even process your license application! No worries!

If your business (that requires a professional license) is ever inspected for compliance, we will set up an appointment to give you time to comply with regulations before we get there! And, we won’t come during your busy time! And, we will let you help us make up the rules for regulation of your business – including waivers and variances!

Ya’ll come, no real enforcement worries on professional licensing here in Georgia!

Professional licensing: Georgia would depend on other states decisions on licensing to allow professional license applicants to begin work here. Establishes “provisional licenses” for people who have been licensed before and for people who have been licensed in other states so they can work before final processing of their Georgia license application. Provisional license valid for as long as it takes for Georgia to approve application… “During each encounter with a licensee, each professional licensing board shall provide information on how such licensee can participate in the rule-making processes of the board and how to request waivers or variances, if any are available.”

Section 4

Did you like section 3? You will love Section 4! Here we extend the same favors to you even if your business doesn’t come under the category of “professional license.” Any business with a business license is a good old boy!

Have a restaurant? Is room temperature chicken juice dripping into your salad set-up? No worries! You can hide it before we get there! We are going to notify you before we come for an inspection! And, we won’t come during your busy time! And, we will let you help us make up the rules for regulation of your business – including waivers and variances!

And, we will see to it that your business license is quickly issued in Conyers with information collected from Marietta Schools or another agency – like the City of Atlanta. Why take the time to do it ourselves? So what if Marietta Schools or Cobb Schools is not complying with the law on verification! So what if Atlanta hasn’t complied with business license laws since 2012?! No worries!

Section 5

Remember the Department of Community Affairs? Remember that time in 2012 that they shrugged off their violations of state law on monitoring compliance with that icky state law on insuring illegal aliens did not take our public benefits? Without any punishment? Well, we are going back to them for this one:

“A panel of experts” indeed!
The department shall establish a system for providing a Building and Infrastructure Transparency Score for each county and municipality in this state. Such score shall be based upon metrics which include, but are not limited to, licensing and permitting fees charged by the county or municipality; time required by the county or municipality to process applications for licenses and permits and other regulatory requirements for businesses and professions in the county or municipality; the manner by which dispute resolution over such licensing, permitting, and regulatory requirements is handled; the consolidation of forms and documents to avoid repetitive or duplicative requests for information; and other items which are determined to be relevant to the development of such scoring.

The department shall determine the metrics to be used in developing the Building and Infrastructure Transparency Score through a panel of experts assembled by the department and the weighting to be given each metric and shall determine a scoring methodology for such metrics which shall be assigned as excellent, average, needs improvement, or no response given.

Translation? We will rate the various cities and counties on how fast (and loose) they are in issuing business licenses by setting up a “panel of experts” that we choose! Ya’ll come! No worries! The public will never find out about any of this!

Section 6

Ya’ll come! We already have rules in place for businesses, but we want to change them And right now it takes a 2/3 majority in both the House and Senate if standing committees object. We want to change that to simple majority and to remove language from state law that would allow any future governor to override or veto a rule change that we have in mind. And, it would take the heat off any governor who may totally agree with our ideas on mo’ money! Ya’ll come!

We have a hand-picked, unelected Attorney General here and we mean to keep him. We want to add a sentence to the law that he can approve the legality of any proposed rule change to help you make mo’ money!

“In the event the resolution is adopted by two-thirds a majority of the votes of each branch of the General Assembly, the rule shall be void on the day after the adoption of the resolution by the second branch of the General Assembly. In the event the resolution is ratified by less than two-thirds a majority of the votes of either branch, the resolution shall be submitted to the Governor for his or her approval or veto. In the event of his or her veto, the rule shall remain in effect. In the event of his or her approval, the rule shall be void on the day after the date of his or her approval.”

SECTION 7.
All laws and parts of laws in conflict with this Act are repealed.

IERB

January 24, 2017

Attachment to Official Complaint

Cobb County School District
Mr. Chris Ragsdale, Superintendent
Violation of OCGA 50-36-1

Please regard this as my official complaint against Cobb County School District and Superintendent Chris Ragsdale and my request for investigation and enforcement action. I request this complaint be shared with the state Attorney General’s office.

It is my educated opinion that Superintendent Ragsdale is in violation of OCGA 50-36-1 due to the fact that CCSD is and has been conducting Adult Education classes in violation of state law put in place to insure tax dollars are not used to provide public benefits to ineligible recipients.

Under existing state law, Adult Education is a public benefit. Any administration of public benefits requires that affidavits attesting to eligibility (due to U.S. citizenship or lawful presence status for a non-citizens) be offered and collected by the agency administering the public benefits – and that secure and verifiable ID be collected from the applicant to verify that eligibility.

In part, OCGA 50-36-1 :

(k) It shall be unlawful for any agency or political subdivision to provide or administer any public benefit in violation of this Code section. Agencies and political subdivisions subject to the requirements of this subsection shall provide an annual report to the Department of Audits and Accounts pursuant to Code Section 50-36-4 as proof of compliance with this subsection. Any agency or political subdivision failing to provide a report as required by this subsection shall not be entitled to any financial assistance, funds, or grants from the Department of Community Affairs.

I have sent a valid open records request to CCSD and spoken to the open records clerk there. Today, I received a response saying that the copies of the above-described documents are somehow exempt from Georgia’s Open Records act.

I want to take this opportunity to commend all concerned at CCSD for their resourcefulness in attempting to dodge the request and to conceal what I believe a lawful investigation will show: The requested documents do not exist, because CCSD is and has been in violation of state law on the administration of the Adult Education public benefit. To be clear, I am of the opinion that the response from CCSD is an effort to conceal that violation.

I attach the reply I received via email:

“Mr. King,
I am responding to your email submitted under the Georgia Open Records Act, O.C.G.A. § 50- 18-70 et. seq. Your request is included below.
The records being requested are not subject to disclosure under GORA, pursuant to O.C.G.A. 50-18-72(a)(1), because they are specifically required by federal law to be kept confidential.
Regards,
Kelly Moore
Open Records Clerk
Policy, Planning & Student Support
Cobb County School District
Phone 770-514-3870
Fax 678-594-7778
Kelly.Moore@cobbk12.org

It is my opinion that this refusal to honor my request is an attempt to mislead me into the belief that the required documents, if they exist, are exempt from public view. Other agencies have sent me redacted copies.

The contention from CCSD is that documents serving as proof of eligibility for public benefits required under state law are “specifically required by federal law to be kept confidential.” I note that CCSD does not cite this “federal law.”

I have been involved in the creation, passage and implementation of Public Benefits laws/OCGA 50-36-1 in Georgia since 2006. Including SB 529 (2006), HB 2 (2009), and HB 87 (2011).

Very respectfully submitted.

D.A. King
Marietta, Ga. 30066

Hall Co. Attachment to complaint                                                                                                       6 February 2017

Immigration Enforcement Review Board
Complaint against
Hall County Schools Superintendent , Will Schofield

Re; OCGA 50-36-1

Hall County Schools is administering Adult education classes with taxpayer funds and in public buildings. Adult education is a Public Benefit under state law. Mr. Will Schofield is Superintendent.

Mr. Schofield admits it Hall County Schools does not offer or collect the required affidavits or Secure and Verifiable ID.

Please see attached letter from Hall County Schools in response to my open records request. Also please see the attached page from the federal Title lll program which describes Title lll purpose and rules. I attach this because other agencies are claiming federal authority to conduct non-student adult education for ESOL under Title lll guidelines.

There is no such authorization and state public benefits law is being treated as optional.

Respectfully submitted,

D.A. King

Marietta, Ga. 30066

From: Michele NeSmith [mailto:MNeSmith@ACCG.org]
Sent: Monday, January 30, 2017 4:07 PM
To: Nealey, Donna
Cc: Edwards, Todd
Subject: List of Counties That Do Not Have An Occupation Tax Certificate Requirement

Donna,

Brad Vaughn passed along the request that Senator McKoon made regarding counties that do not require occupation tax certificates. Brad now works for the Court of Appeals. If you need any research requests from ACCG, you can reach out to me and I will be happy to comply.

In response to your question about which counties do not require occupation tax certificates, based on the 2016 GOMI (Government Management Indicators Survey) provided by DCA, there are 53. I attached a list for your convenience. A link to the report which provided this information (see pages 10-15)can be found here: http://www.dca.state.ga.us/development/research/programs/documents/2016CountyCatalogFinal.pdf. In the past, we have found some discrepancies in the lists provided in that some counties misunderstand the question. With that being said, as far as I know this survey is the best available source to determine which counties require this type of tax.

Please let me know if I can be of further assistance.

Michele

Michele NeSmith, Esq.
ACCG
Research and Policy Development Director
191 Peachtree Street, Suite 700
Atlanta, Georgia 30303
404-522-5022 (P)
404-589-7879(F)
mnesmith@accg.org<mailto:mnesmith@accg.org>

From: Becky Taylor [mailto:btaylor@gmanet.com]

Sent: Tuesday, January 31, 2017 2:25 PM
To: Nealey, Donna
Cc: Lamar Norton; Pam Helton
Subject: Counties and municipalities that DO NOT require business licenses/Occupational Tax Certificates

Good afternoon Donna,

Yesterday Lamar Norton forwarded your email requesting information about cities that do not require business licenses/ occupation tax certificates. The list of cities that report they do not issue business licenses/ occupation tax certificates is below. This information is based on city responses to the DCA Report of Local Government Finances, DCA Government Operation and Management Report, a quick survey of cities that didn’t respond to either GOMI or RLGF. A caveat is we don’t have confirmation from Alto, Braswell, Enigma, Rest Haven, Screven, Taylorsville, or Vidette but we’re including them because we don’t think they provide this service. If we obtain additional information, we will be happy to pass it along. In the meantime, thank you for your inquiry and please let me know if you have any questions. Also, please note that ACCG is preparing a list of counties for you.

Thanks,
Becky

1 Alto
2 Bellville City
3 Braswell
4 Cohutta Town
5 Daisy City
6 Denton City
7 DeSoto
8 Enigma
9 Nunez City
10 Pulaski
11 Rest Haven
12 Roopville Town
13 Screven
14 Sharon City
15 Taylorsville
16 Tunnel Hill City
17 Vernonburg Town
18 Vidette
19 Woolsey

Begin forwarded message:
From: “Nealey, Donna” >
Date: January 30, 2017 at 2:57:27 PM EST
To: Bradford Vaughan >, “Lamar Norton (lnorton@gmanet.com)” >
Subject: Counties and municipalities that DO NOT require business licenses/Occupational Tax Certificates
Please see the request below from Senator Josh McKoon:

SB 2 – need list from ACCG and GMA of all counties and municipalities that DO NOT require
business licenses/Occupational Tax Certificates

Thank you.
Donna Nealey – Senate Legislative Assistant

Wow…

I am hearing astonishing rumors of capitulation on the ongoing state senate secret government from multiple Republicans who are apparently being fed the ridiculous concept that unrecorded votes anywhere in the state Capitol is somehow acceptable.

Make no mistake. Anyone and everyone presenting themselves as expert ‘grassroots activists’ who may be telling people that knowing exactly how your legislators vote is not important should be recognized for what they are: Establishment sell-outs who are passing on the absurd talking points put out by career politicians who regard We the People as ignorant, gullible adversaries.

–>The points I have heard bandied about are exactly the same points coming from the corrupt leaders of the senate who will do and say anything to keep their unrecorded vote rule in place. Let me make this clear. The Republican sell-outs peddling this betrayal are to the left of the AJC !

One nonsense talking point: “It’s only a floor amendment that has the unrecorded vote, so no big deal…” Floor amendments are changes to legislation after the public committee process.

Here is the scam: Let’s say the Chamber of Commerce orders up a bill that does “X” – but “X” is too radical to get through committee. The public may catch on. So the bill is written to go almost to “X”, passed out of committee and then when it gets to the floor changes ( floor amendments ) are made to get it to “X.” Only the senators can read these amendments. You cannot read them until it is all over,  if you even find out there was a change in language.

The default method of voting on floor amendments is an unrecorded hand vote that lasts only seconds. Senators sometimes hold their hand to their side so that gallery viewers cannot see them. Some senators will scurry under the gallery overhang to hide their vote. I have seen it many times. IF he is very quick, any senator can ask (make a motion) for a recorded vote. Then four other senators must very quickly raise their hands to clearly signal support. IF there are a total of five hands up and IF the President of the Senate gives an accurate count, then the votes on the amendment go on the board and into the permanent record. MOST FLOOR AMENDMENTS ARE DECIDED ON UNRECORDED VOTES because most senators would much rather stay in the cool crowd with the Chamber of Commerce and the other senators than risk alienation by doing the right thing.

Put a different way: They are much more fearful of the business donors than they are of you because they think you will believe anything they tell you.

Examples?

*The 2015 “Transportation Tax that was a nearly $1 billion a year increase could not have seen final passage without the unrecorded vote on a floor amendment. It fit the example above exactly. I watched from the gallery.

*In 2011, the internationally publicized illegal immigration bill, HB 87 passed the House with language requiring private employers to use E-Verify. Big Business was apoplectic. When HB 87 went to the senate floor, amendments were offered and passed that took out the E-Verify language – and were done on unrecorded votes. I watched from the gallery sitting with my friends Kay Godwin and Judy Craft. When we were spotted, panic broke out in the senate and the under-the-gallery move was on. The House put the E-Verify language back in later and it passed the senate the second time only because they knew we were on to the game.

* Reverse: A floor amendment was offered in 2015 to stop giving illegal aliens a drivers license in Georgia. It was defeated with an unrecorded vote while I watched. This, despite the fact that six senators told me later they raised their hands in favor of a machine counted vote. The entire event was over in about seven seconds. IF the GOP senators knew you would see a record of their vote, it would have passed!

Some more of the dishonest talking points being pushed:

“Recorded votes take too long…” The machine counted votes take one minute. The game is to hold all the “controversial” bills until the last few hours of the last few days and then funnel all of them through very quickly while amending them on the floor with unrecorded votes while you are home watching “the news.”

“You can watch the videos of the senate sessions to see how you senator voted.” Really? You need to be a detective with time on your hands to find out how your senator voted? This is what Republican activists are pushing? How many times have you watched the narrowly focused videos of any senate session in your life? It is impossible to see the entire floor even while you are in the gallery, much less from the limited view of the video camera. ( Click here to see a sample video – Georgia senate kills McKoon amendment to stop giving drivers licenses to illegal aliens and kills his request for a recorded vote.)

“Changing the unrecorded vote rule would enable the Democrats to get a recorded vote whenever they want…” Don’t look now, but there are already eighteen Dems in the senate. It only takes five to get the recorded vote. They can get a recorded vote anytime they want right now. Why do you suppose they don’t do it on every floor amendment now? BECAUSE THEY WORK FOR THE SAME PEOPLE THE REPUBLICANS DO – and it isn’t We the People!

A long time ago, I was told to give up on striving for good government because it is like banging your head against the wall and many lazy and unaware people indeed get the government they deserve. We’ll see. Thank God for Senator Josh McKoon.

D.A. King

• UPDATED with final response 16 February 2017 (they do not have the documents they are supposed to have).

6 February 2017

Director of Communications Stephanie Hartley

Bibb County School District

484 Mulberry Street Macon, GA 31201

(478) 765-8711

Stephanie.Hartley@bcsdk12.net

OPEN RECORDS REQUEST

Re; Compliance with OCGA 50-36-1

Ms. Hartley,

Please regard this letter as my official request for public records under Georgia’s open records law.

According to information included in this news story from the Macon Telegraph, Bibb County Schools is administering Adult Education classes. Adult education is a public benefit under state law and is reserved for eligible recipients. The administration requirements for agencies that administer these public benefits are clear under OCGA 50-36-1.

I am familiar with the 1982 Plyler v Doe SCOTUS decision that mandates K-12 education regardless of immigration status and with the purpose of Title lll grants and their use for enrolled students and permitted project guidelines. I am also familiar with regulations that require compliance with state and local law in administration of these grants.

For the time period 1 July 2014 to 31 December 2016, Please send me copies of the following documents, which are required to be collected from applicants for public benefits. I understand that some of the information contained in these documents may be redacted.

1) Standardized, notarized affidavit from applicants for adult students for ESOL classes.

2 ) Secure and Verifiable ID offered to verify eligibility for Public Benefits.

3 ) Any documents that illustrate the original start date of the Bibb Schools Adult education classes described in the above mentioned news report.

4 ) Any document that will illustrate the total number of adults served in this program to 31 December 2016.

Please contact me with any questions.

Respectfully submitted,

D.A. King

Marietta, Ga. 30066

__

Update: First reply:

10:32 AM 6 Feb

Good morning,

Your Open Records Request is being shared here with our Chief Legal Counsel, Mr. Randy Howard. He will provide you with an update in response to your request. His email, should you have further questions or concerns, is randy.howard@bcsdk12.net.

Thank you,
Stephanie

STEPHANIE HARTLEY
Director of Communications
Bibb County School District
www.bcsdk12.net
O: 478-765-8620
C: 478-952-1753
@bibbschools

Photo: Shutterstock

Industry, Universities Hide Workforce of 100,000 Extra Foreign White-Collar H-1B Employees

Neil Munro

January 5, 2016

“Industry executives and university advocates have successfully duped nearly every reporter, editor and anchor nationwide about the scale and purpose of the H-1B professional outsourcing program.

The journalists–and Americans—have been kept in the dark while universities and many allied name-brand companies have quietly imported an extra workforce of at least 100,000 lower-wage foreign professionals in place of higher-wage American graduates, above the supposed annual cap of 85,000 new H-1Bs.

Less than one-sixth of these extra 100,000 outsourced hires are the so-called “high-tech” computer experts that dominate media coverage of the contentious H-1B private-sector outsourcing debate.

Instead, the universities’ off-the-books H-1B hires include 21,754 professors, lecturers and instructors, 20,566 doctors, clinicians and therapists, 25,175 researchers, post-docs and biologists, plus 30,000 financial planners, p.r. experts, writers, editors, sports coaches, designers, accountants, economists, statisticians, lawyers, architects, computer experts and much else.

See here for an NPR story on H-1B outsourced jobs sought by young American female scientists.

These white-collar guest-workers are not immigrants — they are foreign professionals hired at low wages for six years to take outsourced, white-collar jobs in the United States. Many hope to stay in the United States, but most guest-workers return home after six years. The universities have zero legal obligation to recruit Americans for the jobs given to the foreign professionals. There’s good evidence that the H-1B graduates cut payroll costs, and there’s little or no evidence that they create additional jobs or file additional patents…”   HERE

UGA H1B

OPINION

Marietta Daily Journal

February 1, 2017

Dear Editor:

I read with great interest state Sen. Josh McKoon’s recent letter in the MDJ about his resolution to dump the rule that allows the Georgia senate to hold unrecorded hand votes. As a matter of fact, along with several friends, I went to the Capitol in Atlanta and watched the committee hearing that decided if Sen. McKoon’s bill would get a vote in the full Senate. The senate rules committee, dominated by Republicans, killed the legislation.

Sen. McKoon wrote here that “it is my experienced opinion that changing this outdated Senate rule will protect the reputation of all Senate members and aid in the public’s ability to understand the legislative process.”

Trust me, that is not a popular view in the establishment. Sen. McKoon is a brave man.

The room where the committee hearing took place was packed. Standing room only, but I wish more voters could have seen what took place. The senior Republicans on the committee acted as if Sen. McKoon had lost his mind in suggesting that all votes be recorded so that all citizens could see them anytime.

After a brief discussion on how bad an idea it was, and with the Republican Senate Majority Leader Bill Cowsert asserting that the Senate was transparent enough already, Sen. Cowsert made a motion to kill the bill, which is exactly what happened.

The short version is that a resolution to stop unrecorded hand votes on important amendments in the state senate was killed in a senate committee — with a very quick, unrecorded voice vote.

I am so angry. It should be noted that Sen. McKoon’s Resolution, SR 24, only had one cosponsor supporter, a senator from Carrolton. There were no Cobb senators who cosigned to help Sen. McKoon. I watched as Sen. Judson Hill remained silent and texted on the iPad in his lap for the entire 30-minute hearing.

I dare the candidates to replace Sen. Judson Hill or the Cobb Republican party to ignore this as the primary debates begin, I will never forget what I saw under the Gold Dome on Monday.

Susan E. Stanton

Conservative Leadership Coalition

Kennesaw   HERE (paywall)