GOP Sen. Harbin, Rep. Ramsey answer voters’ questions; Reps. Yates, Stover no-shows at town hall on tax increases
The Fayette County Republican headquarters in Fayetteville was intended to be the Feb. 27 setting for a town hall meeting featuring all of the Republican members of Fayette County’s legislative delegation.
In the end, half the GOP delegation were no-shows: Rep. John Yates of Griffin, who represents the Brooks area of southern Fayette, and Rep. David Stover of Newnan, who represents a slice of west Fayette and Peachtree City.
It was Rep. Matt Ramsey of Peachtree City and Sen. Marty Harbin of Tyrone who showed up and offered their take on a number of bills and fielded questions from the audience.
Ramsey was afforded the lion’s share of the time for the meeting since Harbin had a scheduling conflict that had him arrive later in the meeting.
“This week is of critical importance,” Ramsey at the beginning of his comments, noting that House passed the state budget on a 171-2 vote and sent it to the Senate.
The issue that took the majority of the time at the meeting centered on House Bill 170 (Transportation) that, at press time, continues to be altered by legislators.
Reiterating on several occasions that HB 170 has undergone several changes and with the belief that a number of other changes are inevitable, Ramsey said the goal of the bill’s author was to make sure that every penny paid at the pump would be used for transportation infrastructure.
“It’s very complicated to figure out where the dollars are going,” Ramsey said of the bill and it’s moving parts. “The bill has changed five times and it will probably change more. Controversial bills get changed a lot.”
As it stood on Feb. 27, HB 170 included a 29.2-cent per gallon excise tax and gave local jurisdictions the ability to add up to 3 cents per gallon onto the cost of gas, said Ramsey.
The current tax rate also includes a federal tax of 18.4 cents per gallon, according to Americans for Tax Reform (ATR), an organization that opposes the HB 170. With all charges combined, the current tax amounts to 45.4 cents per gallon while HB 170, as proposed, could increase the price to 50.6 cents per gallon compared to the current 45.4 cents per gallon charge.
“There is still no consensus on the transportation bill based on feedback,” said Ramsey. “It’s going to continue to change. The odds of the current bill passing are probably not great.”
Ramsey fielded a number of audience questions. Among those was one that asked where he stood philosophically on the issue that, if the transportation bill passes in anything near its current form, would amount to a tax increase.
Ramsey in response said he believes in spending 100 percent of taxes at the pump on transportation infrastructure.
Looking at $180 million in the general fund on things not related to to transportation, “That’s why I’ll be interested to see where it goes in the next couple of weeks,” Ramsey said.
Another issue put to legislators asked where the state stands with tax credits for post-production activities associated with the movie industry. Incentives for that area of production is one that is not currently included for the film and television industry that continues to grow in Fayette County and across the state.
Ramsey said a post-production tax credit is something he thinks will occur in the next year or two.
“We want to be the hub of the industry, whatever it takes,” Ramsey said. “I think it will mean exciting things here in Fayette County.”
On a different topic, Harbin and Ramsey were asked where the money used to help seize aliens came from.
“The dollars come from taxpayers. Matt’s bill three years ago caused a lot of them to leave the state,” said Harbin. ”We do everything we can to make Georgia a place they don’t want to be.”
On the bill that would allow medicinal marijuana for eight “very painful” medical conditions, including seizure disorders in young children, Ramsey said it also passed the House with only two dissenting votes.
Ramsey commented on some of the state’s young residents who have seizure disorders that required their families to move to Colorado for treatment and are now down to one or two seizures per week from a high of more than 250 per week.
“We ought to be ashamed of ourselves,” Ramsey said of the attempt last year to pass a bill that would provide a treatment methodology but became a matter of “back and forth” politics. “It was a shameful display by us. I hope that doesn’t happen again this year.”
The current bill contains language that would allow a future look at best practices on issues such as the production of oil from the marijuana plant, Ramsey said.
