Wednesday, Feb. 3, will be the 11th day of the 2010 session of the Georgia General Assembly.

Please contact me with your views on any issue that needs to be addressed or whenever I can be of service.

The Georgia House of Representatives opened the 2010 legislative session of the Georgia General Assembly on Jan. 11 by electing Rep. David Ralston (R-Blue Ridge) as Speaker of the House.

A series of House rule changes proposed by Speaker David Ralston earned unanimous approval Jan. 28. HR 1168 eliminates the infamous "hawk" system, which gave certain Republican legislators the power to vote on any committee and change the outcome of legislation at the whim of the previous Speaker. The new rules also reduce the power of the Rules Committee to rewrite legislation and eliminate the previous ban on news media access to the House floor.

State of the State: Governor Perdue's final "State of the State" address to a joint session of the House and Senate on Jan. 13 was long on historical quotations, nostalgia and sentimentality but, unfortunately, completely devoid of any plans for dealing with some of Georgia's biggest problems. I am disappointed the governor chose not to address the state's record-high unemployment, a lack of adequate funding for transportation, teacher furloughs or any of the issues currently plaguing the state. In the Democratic response, Georgia Labor Commissioner Michael Thurmond urged Republican lawmakers to join with Democrats to develop a comprehensive economic recovery plan that would provide jobs for unemployed Georgians.

Transportation Funding: For the past two years, the House and Senate have failed to agree on legislation that would provide a sufficient funding source for badly needed transportation upgrades across the state. The lieutenant governor and House leaders said during the first week of the session they have abandoned plans for a constitutional amendment for a statewide sales tax for transportation, which the House passed last year. The Senate's proposed solution is a regional sales tax plan under which counties could band together to fund transportation improvements, if the voters in those counties approved the tax by referendum. The governor, meanwhile, set aside $300 million in bond funds in the fiscal year 2011 budget to pay for major transportation projects. He also said he wants to see a series of regional sales taxes for road projects but would delay the vote on these plans until 2012.

Water Issues: The governor reported "a renewed spirit of cooperation" among Georgia, Florida and Alabama in the three states' ongoing water rights dispute. There has been a greater sense of urgency for Georgia since a federal judge's ruling last July restricting metro Atlanta's rights to use Lake Lanier as its main source of drinking water. Gov. Perdue said he is willing to call a special legislative session later in the year if an agreement cannot be reached during the regular session.

HB 936 was assigned to the House Education Committee for its consideration.

A series of Appropriations Committee hearings Jan. 19-21 began the legislative process for amending the state budget for the remainder of fiscal year 2010, which ends June 30, and the budget for fiscal year 2011, which begins July 1.

Gov. Sonny Perdue released his budget recommendations, which propose reducing the current year's budget from $18.6 billion to $17.4 billion to reflect severe declines in state revenue collections. With state services already cut to the bone, these new reductions average 8 percent among state agencies, including another $299 million slashed from public school funding (bringing the total school cuts for this year to $710 million) and three additional furlough days for educators and other state employees.

More education cuts will have a devastating effect on many school systems that are "teetering on the edge" financially, according to State School Superintendent Kathy Cox. She warned that some systems are already in the red, leaving local school boards with no choice but to expand class sizes up to 40 students or increase local property taxes, or both.

In the budget hearings, the State Revenue Commissioner acknowledged that 5 to 10 percent of current sales tax collected from consumers is never paid to the state. This amounts to as much as half a billion dollars in lost revenue.

Several bills proposed last year to address this issue are still in committee and have not even received a hearing. One of these bills was HB 356, which would allow the collection of sales tax by local governments. I am a co-sponsor of this bill.

Evaluating Tax Cuts: On Jan. 25, a House of Representatives subcommittee moved forward with legislation that would evaluate those tax breaks' impact on the budget and their success in achieving their intended goals. SB 206, which was approved by the Senate last year, would require the state Office of Planning and Budget to review the tax cuts, credits and exemptions to help determine whether they should remain in effect or be repealed. Many of the tax breaks were adopted in the name of job creation, but no studies have been published or made available to lawmakers as to their effectiveness in serving that purpose. SB 206 now goes to the full House Appropriations Committee for its consideration.

I serve on the House Judiciary Non-Civil Committee, which is considering legislation that would expand the list of places where Georgians with gun permits could carry their weapons, including most public buildings, churches. public gatherings and college campuses.

Daniel Kaufman, president of Georgia Gwinnett College here in House District 104, appeared before the committee to explain his opposition to the provision of HB 615 that lifts the firearms ban on college campuses.

"Personal disputes that today are marked by verbal arguments, or at worse a fist-fight, could well become tragically violent in a matter of seconds. If it ain't broke, don't fix it," Dr. Kaufman said. The committee also heard opposition from the student body president at Georgia tech, who warned that allowing guns on campus could pose a risk to vulnerable students struggling with new relationships and overwhelming new atmospheres.

The committee will hold more hearings on HB 615 before voting on the legislation.

Click here to review 2009- 2010 legislation sponsored or co-sponsored by Rep. Lee Thompson.