South Cobb Lawmakers say Recent Legislative Session a Mixed Bag

Education – and its lack of funding – was the major issue that left some south Cobb lawmakers disappointed in the legislative session that ended last week.

“I’d give us a ‘D’ on the issue of education, mainly because there were a number of House bills that, for whatever reason, didn’t get addressed on the Senate side,” said state Rep. Alisha Morgan, D-Austell. “It’s disappointing, because a lot needs to happen when it comes to education reform.”

Morgan was the primary sponsor of House Bill 257, which would have made teacher performance, rather than tenure, a primary factor when considering layoffs or personnel reduction.

“The quality-blind system currently used by many Georgia school districts when deciding to let teachers go is simply unacceptable,” Morgan said. “This bill would have treated teachers like the professionals by protecting the most effective teachers from being arbitrarily laid off because of an arcane policy.

“It helps children in our state by keeping our most effective educators teaching in their classrooms, regardless of their number of years of service.”

Morgan said her bill got caught up in “a political process,” and it was eventually withdrawn.

However, Morgan is pleased the Republican-backed tax overhaul, House Bill 388, was never reported out of committee, as is state Rep. David Wilkerson, D-Austell.

“Being an accountant, I was glad to be able to dig into the bill,” Wilkerson said. “We were able to stop a major tax increase on working class families here in south Cobb. This is an issue that I’m sure will come up again, but hopefully there will be a different set of proposals.”

Both Wilkerson and Morgan voted for Senate Bill 10 to allow local governments to hold votes on whether to allow alcohol to be sold in stores on Sundays.  “It brings us into the 21^st century,” Morgan said.

The two also voted against House Bill 87, which is designed to beef up immigration enforcement in Georgia by requiring businesses with at least 10 employees to use a federal work-eligibility verification system.

If signed by Gov. Nathan Deal, HB87 would also allow local and state police to check immigration status when people are detained for other legal infractions. The bill would also increase the penalty for using fake identification to get a job to 15 years in prison and up to $250,000 in fines.

“My biggest objection to the bill is the cost,” Wilkerson said. “Arizona is going through a significant amount of litigation and until that’s resolved, I’m not sure why we’d want to enter that fray until some of these cases are determined. Truth be told, it’s a federal issue, and I wouldn’t be surprised if people and major sporting events stopped coming to Georgia because we don’t have a welcoming environment.”