Continued Political Divisiveness One of the Biggest Challenges for Georgia, Rep Powell Says

State Representative Alan Powell says Georgia is the best shape financially of any other state in the country.

Speaking last week at the Hart County Chamber’s Coffee and Conversations breakfast on the successes and challenges the state is facing, Powell said Georgia’s track record of fiscal responsibility kept the state economically viable, even during the pandemic.

“We have a constitutional mandate that says the State can’t borrow more money than it we make because we’re not the federal government, and that’s the good news,” he said. “Your state is in such good shape even during the pandemic. Two years when we cut the state budget in anticipation of a loss of revenue we still came up. So, instead of a $2.7 billion surplus in our shortfall reserve fund, this year we’re up to $3.2 billion which puts Georgia at the absolute top of the scale compared to all other states.”

Powell said that means Georgia is more attractive for industry and business.

Add to that the State’s triple-A bond rating he said is the result of hard work on the part of lawmakers and the state government.

As for challenges, Powell pointed to the continued divisiveness between the two main political parties not only in Georgia but across the country as probably the biggest hurdle this state and the country must overcome moving forward.

He said up until the election reform bill, every county had their own rules and regulations for running elections and that needed to be changed.

“What we did was codify the law. We realized that because of certain counties in this state we could not depend on rule and reg to suffice; that the rules that apply to Franklin, Hart, and Madison counties need to be the same that apply to Fulton, DeKalb, Cobb and places like that. Whether it be the auditing process, whether it be citizen participation if they suspect fraud or they see something, whether it be the drop boxes. But this thing became so complicated because of the politics of the day. We had to be very careful of what we said because everything that we said about the election laws changing was being videoed and on tape to be used in a federal lawsuit against the State of Georgia,” Powell explained.

Powell said one challenge moving forward is the continued growth of the metro areas that is whittling away the political weight rural Georgia has always had.