2016 Georgia General Assembly Convenes in Atlanta Today

State lawmakers convene in Atlanta today for the 2016 Georgia General Assembly.

Some of the major issues this session include issues of years past such as education funding and the budget.

State Representative Alan Powell of the 32nd District is one of the longest serving Representatives in Georgia.

Under Education, Powell says lawmakers this session will be looking at Goveror Nathan Deal’s call to overhaul the QBE funding system.

“One of the things in Governor Deal’s education reform is to continue as he’s done for the last two or three years is to restore these austerity cuts that were taken out in the previous administrations and hopefully get things moving on a better funding cuts,” Powell said. “That should take some of the burden off of local taxpayers.”

Deal is also calling for a new pay raise system for teachers in Georgia that’s based on merit rather than tenure.

However, Powell says while that sounds good on paper, teachers he’s spoken to have concerns.

“This was tried several years ago and one of the problems the general rank and file educators had was who would do the judging to determine who would get the merit-based pay?” Powell noted.

Another issue that has become a hot topic is the legalization of cannibis oil for medical use.

Georgia legalized the use of cannibis oil last session, but Powell said one problem is marijuana and cannibis oil for medical use is not legally manufactured in Georgia and federal law forbids cannibis in any form from being transported across state lines.

Powell says this session, lawmakers will look at how to set rules and laws to allow for the manufacture of cannibis oil in Georgia.

“Under legislation that was pre-filed last Wednesday is that there would be anywhere from two to six manufacturers,” Powell said. “They would be highly scrutinized of course. Law enforcement agencies have expressed their concerns. The legislation that we’ve put in is very specific with very tight security regulations for this.”

Another ongoing controversy that is likely to come up this session is whether to legalize casino gambling in Georgia.

Lawmakers are expected to decide this session whether to pass a resolution that would put the question on the ballot in November.

Powell says if the voters say yes to casino gambling, he doesn’t want to see revenue from casinos go to education.

“If the people of Georgia decide to authorize casino gambling or horse racing, the biggest need we have is in healthcare dollars,” Powell said. “For the 26 sessions that I have been on the appropriations committee and studied the budget, we have one issue every year that we cannot properly deal with because there’s never enough money is healthcare; whether it be Medicaid, public health departments, state health plans, any and all of these things are obligations that the state has to do.”

Powell noted the University System of Georgia already receives the revenue from the State lottery.