David's blog

Earlier this week, former Senator Hugh Gillis visited the Senate to be honored with a Resolution commending his service. I served with Senator Gillis before he retired at the end of last term. Of course, my two years overlapping with Sen. Gillis was a very short time. But during those two years, I can certainly say, there was not a more polite and patient person in the Senate. And sitting two rows behind him, I learned a lot watching the way he treated other people in the Chamber. I consider it a great privilege to have served with this giant of Georgia politics. I understand Sen. Gillis served in the Georgia General Assembly longer than any person has ever served in any state legislature. For perspective, consider that Hugh Gillis was in the legislature on the day Pearl Harbor was attacked. I have been told that until he retired after last term, no person other than someone from the Gillis family had ever held the seat in the Senate representing Soperton and the surrounding communiites. When I told Hugh that I would mention him in my "electronic newsletter" he said that would be great but that he "hoped I would not find it necessary to mention his age."

Yesterday marked the 12th day of the Session. The big issues are shaping up to be the budget (of course), class sizes, abortion, tort reform, public-private partnerships and transportation funding. But, there is always at least one "sleeper" issue out there that was not much discussed but gets a lot of attention in the last crucial weeks of the Session.

The tort reform experience in the Senate has thus far been disappointing. The Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee used his discretion to decline to entertain any amendments to his omnibus bill in the Committee. Of course, committees are where the most thorough review should occur. And, the Judiciary had a well-deserved reputation for producing bills that had been thoroughly debated and perfected. I cannot recall a single time in my first term when amendments were ruled out of order the way it was done in that committee meeting. A few members shrugged it off assuming we would simply have a more cumbersome, but nonetheless fair, opportunity to debate and amend the tort reform bill on the Senate floor. Sadly, that promise was false. Before floor debate began, a Motion to Engross the tort reform bill passed by a 29-26 vote. I was heartend that four Republicans were willing to stand up to their party leadership and join the Demcractic caucus in opposition to the engrossment. The Bill ultimately passed and now the House will pass its own version. Reports are that the version passed by the House will be far more throughful and easier to support for moderates like me who want to strike a balance between the need to protect doctors and health care providers and maintain access to counsel and the courts for victims of medical malpractice.

The public private partnership bill (SB 5) has also been getting a lot of attention. Make no mistake, public private partnerships can be great and should be promoted. But, the unbridled discretion given to any of the 159 counties, 180 school systems, more than 700 cities and numerous authorities is a recipe for disaster. Former Governor Barnes called this the worst piece of legislation he has ever seen. This bill has been called Dead on Arrival by many experienced legislators as a result of the public outcry regarding the provisions which make it easier to condemn property (the exercise of emminent domain) for public private partnerships. But, property rights objections are not the whole story. The provisions of the bill that promote secret negotiations and the ability of public private partnerships to skirt competitive bidding processes are every bit as objectionable. If nothing else, the experience of SB 5 is a good demonstration of the importance of the press and a two party state. A similar measure passed the Senate last term with little excitement. Fortunately, it was held in the then-Democratic House. The time it took to bring the bill back this year, gave the media and others and opportunity to take a close look. And, boy did they find a lot to worry about. I was heatened to learn that even the Republican authors of the bill now see problems. Rules Chairman Don Balfour pulled his name from the list of sponsors after hearing more about the potential unintended consequences of the bill.

The General Assembly has been in recess since last week to conduct budget hearings (Joint House and Senate) and to allow members and staff an opportunity to attend the Presidential Inaugural Ceremonies in D.C.

While not on the Senate Appropriations Committee, I have been attending some of the proceedings to better understand the budget pressure from the perspective of the agencies and service providers. The budget hearings have been brief but informative. Although the economy has bounced back and collections are up, health care and education spending will still not be at the levels needed. Of particular concern to me is the fact that the Governor has again called for a delay in mandatory classroom size reductions. With a frightening high school drop-out rate and a continuing student achievement gap, I would have hoped the Governor and Republican leadership would have put us back on track with regard to classroom size reductions. Senate Bills 33, 34 and 35 make up the Governor's education package. SB 35 would allow "system averaging" for K-3 and would completely defer classroom size reductions for grades 4-12. Averaging allows school systems to avoid classroom size reductions and permits inequities within the same system. This is particularly troubling in large systems such as Fulton, DeKalb and Gwinnett. The studies show that student achievement increases and teacher morale (and thus retention) is improved with smaller class sizes. Classroom size reduction must again become a priority for Georgia. I participated in a panel discussion last night at the Fernbank Elementary School PTA meeting. The parents and teacher in attendance seemed to agree that we should not delay the scheduled classroom size reductions put in place in 2000.

The budget hearings concluded this afternoon and many legislators (most of them Republicans) are heading to Washington. I will not be up there, but rather will be attending to business in our district. The General Assembly has traditionally taken a recess to allow people to go to D.C. for Presidential inaugurals. Regardless of political party affiliation, I think we all can agree this is a good idea. It is important for our state officials to have strong relationships in D.C. to help us get as much support from Washington as possible. Of particular interest over the next few years will be decisions about military base closings.

Yesterday was a short day in the Chamber (a few Resolutions and first readers) followed by the traditional luncheon sponsored by the President Pro Tem of the Senate at the Capitol City Club. I sat with newly-elected Senators J.B. Powell, John Wiles and Curt Thompson along with veteran Michael Meyer Von Bremen, some representatives of the Coca-Cola Company, and the Chief of Staff of the President Pro Tem of the Senate. I used the opportunity to walk around the room and firm up a few commitments for co-sponsorship of Bills I intend to introduce later this month. The 3rd graders from Winonna Park Elementary School in Decatur were touring the Capitol and I was able to visit with them for a few minutes.

This evening, the Governor made his State of the State address in the House Chamber. There was a break in tradition with the Speaker of the House rather than the Lt. Governor presiding over the State of the State. Much was made of this in the media, but I do not think the Lt. Governor was bothered very much. I saw him earlier in the evening and he seemed more concerned with making sure he had a strong response which he would deliver live directly after the Governor's address. I obtained a bootleg copy of the Governor's speech before I left the Capitol and thus was able to skip the speech in the House Chamber and make it home in time to discharge my duties as my nine-year-old son's assistant basketball coach at Glenn Memorial. (I had someone tape the speech for me.)

Today, Wednesday, January 13, 2004, was a recess day. I spent the day at my law office attending to some client matters and starting to read through the Governor's proposed state budget which he released last night after his speech. My office staff spent the day getting us unpacked and organized as well as attending to some constituent matters. My schedule is starting to get very heavy with speaking angagements and community meetings.

Today was the second Legislative Day of the Session. The day began at 7:30 am at the World Congress Center for the "Eggs and Issues" Breakfast put on by the Georgia Chamber of Commerce. The Governor spoke for about 45 minutes to a group of 1500 or more people. The Lt. Gov., President Pro Tem of the Senate and Speaker of the House also spoke. I left after the Governor's talk to get back to the Capitol for our caucus meeting.

The Governor's presentation was billed as an announcement of his big policy initiatives for the Session. The only big news was the fact that he intends to include funding for 500 new case workers for DFACs. This is good news. No details were provided but hopefully this will pass and result in meaningful improvments to our broken child welfare services delivery system. This probably should have been done two years ago and likely will be paid mostly with federal matching funds. The state needs to do a better job leveraging state taxpayer money. Georgia simply does not do a good enough job taking advantage of federal matching programs.

After a short day in the Chamber, we had our first meeting of the Health and Human Services Committee. The tremendous budget pressure created by Medicaid costs is shaping up to be the big issue for this Committee. The Governor has already taken the administrative steps necessary to move Georgia to an HMO style plan. Doctors, hospitals and patient advocates have serious concerns about such a restructuring because it could very well increase costs and result in limitations on coverage. Tennessee's "TennCare" program is often cited as an HMO style program that is failing.

Late this afternoon, the Georgia Supreme Court hosted a reception for legislators in their chambers. I had the opportunity to speak with four of the Justices in this relatively informal setting. Georgia is very lucky to have an outstanding independent-minded Supreme Court. All of the Justices with whom I spoke were very interested in making sure the indigent defense program enacted last term is fully funded and supported in the future.

At the end of the day, I formally announced my Essay Contest for high school seniors who reside in Senate District 42. Details about the contest are at www.davidadelman.com.

This is the first entry of my 2005 Senate blog. I have never been accused of being the most techologically proficient person, so it comes as some surprise I would keep a weblog this Session. Many of my constituents have said this would be a good way to communicate about the Senate on a regular basis and I certainly see no reason not to give it a shot. I will continue my regular email communications to my listserve and encourage people to sign up at www.davidadelman.com if you want to receive email updates about the Session. Also, I welcome any feedback by email at vote@davidadelman.com.

Today marked the first day of the 2005 Session of the Georgia General Assembly.

This morning, the Senate Chamber was filled with the newly-elected Senators and their families who were there to enjoy the swearing in ceremony. My wife, three children and my brother and sister-in-law were on the floor with me. The ceremonial part of the day also gave me a chance to visit with some people whom I had not seen since we adjourned last year and to meet some of the new members.

After the swearing in, we adopted new Rules of the Senate. The new Rules are quite different from those which governed the Senate last term. For the most part the changes allow the Republicans to strengthen their grip on Senate business by controlling debate. Of some concern is the Rule allowing a Bill or Resolution to be engrossed after it has been through the Committees but before any floor debate. Use of that Rule will greatly impede the ability of Senators to improve a bill by amending it as part of the floor debate.

At about 6 p.m. this evening we received our committee assignments. I will serve as a member of the Senate Rules Committee (one of only three Democrats on Rules) as well as Judiciary, Special Judiciary (where I will be the Vice-Chairman) and Health and Human Services. These are good committee assignments and put me in a strong position to represent my district.