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On Friday, a bill to legalize online sports betting was introduced in the Georgia House of Representatives.
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Under a bill sponsored by Rep. Ron Stephens, a longtime proponent of legalized gambling, at least six sports betting operators would be licensed by the Georgia Lottery Corp., paying application fees of $50,000 and annual licensing fees of $900,000.
The operators would pay a tax of 16% of their adjusted gross revenues. The money would go toward education, including the popular HOPE Scholarships program.
I’m in favor of this, as well as legalizing marijuana (which won’t happen anytime soon.) Tax them both heavily and fund education with the proceeds.
The more money that goes to funding HOPE the more higher achieving kids can go to college.
With the pandemic-induced economic slowdown and with numerous other states (including multiple other GOP-led states) having already legalized sports betting, the chances of sports betting passing with at least a simple majority in both chambers of the Georgia Legislature seems to be good.
Though, it is not clear if Governor Kemp would such a bill into with his reported past opposition to legalized gambling.
I agree that marijuana is not likely to be legalized anytime soon as long as the Georgia Legislature continues to be dominated by Republicans.
Though has been some talk of a reversal on the federal prohibition on marijuana possibly coming up for a vote in a Democratic-controlled U.S. Senate, which if successful, potentially could give more socially conservative GOP-led states (like Georgia) some political cover for some form of potential marijuana legalization down the road.
The potential legalization of marijuana in a state like Georgia potentially also could become a possibility if the Democrats were ever to take majority control of Georgia state government (the Governor’s office and both chambers of the Georgia Legislature) in the future. Though that type of scenario probably would be about at least a decade or so down the road.
Georgia Democrats being buoyed by and boosted to their first 3 major statewide victories in 14 years with the help of a record-obliterating amount of out-of-state money from national Democratic and progressive groups was one of the biggest news stories of the seemingly never-ending 2020 election cycle.
This GPB News article talks about how Georgia Republicans were able to maintain their sizable majorities in both chambers of the Georgia Legislature with a deluge of outside money of their own by way of Republican fundraising organizations like the RSLC (Republican State Leadership Committee) and the SGLF (State Government Leadership Foundation).
The money that Republican organizations like the RSLC and the SGLF spent on state legislative races in 2020 helped Georgia Republicans keep their sizable legislative majorities under the Gold Dome in advance of a critical redistricting effort in 2021 that will go a long way in helping the GOP attempt to maintain control of a majority of seats in both chambers of the Georgia Legislature for the next decade.
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The lead player in the effort to hold off the Democratic surge was the Republican State Leadership Committee, a tax-exempt political organization dedicated to electing Republicans to state offices and protecting GOP incumbents. The group, based in Washington, D.C., spent more than $2 million on state House and Senate races in Georgia in 2020...
... The Republicans’ ability to maintain control of state government, and thus of the redistricting process, was due in large part to an extensive campaign-finance infrastructure that includes state and national PACs, independent committees and so-called "dark money" organizations that are not required to disclose their donors.
interesting regarding marijuana. Republicans for freedom until it's something they don't like then it's big Gubmint. Hopefully more people will begin to vote libertarian and maybe put pressure on republicans. It can be medically effective and good for business.
interesting regarding marijuana. Republicans for freedom until it's something they don't like then it's big Gubmint. Hopefully more people will begin to vote libertarian and maybe put pressure on republicans. It can be medically effective and good for business.
I don't use any THC or CBD products myself, and also am in favor of businesses determining themselves if using is allowed or not (e.g. people driving trucks, flying planes, etc. should not be under the influence).
But at some point legalization, regulation and taxation makes sense.
ATLANTA (AP) — Some of Georgia House Speaker David Ralston's top lieutenants got new posts as the Republican announced new chairs for committees on Wednesday...
... Overall, 13 of 41 committees got new leaders. Many top leaders including Appropriations Committee Chairman Terry England, an Auburn Republican, are returning. About 60% of House committee chairs live outside metro Atlanta.
The changes to voting that are being proposed as a top legislative priority during the 2021 session of the Georgia General Assembly are not necessarily about combatting “fraud” as much as they are about helping to ensure that the Republican Party is able to pushback (or at the very least slow to a crawl) the rise of the Democratic voting bloc that fueled stunning Democratic victories in 3 very high-profile statewide races during the 2020 election cycle.
After losing the Presidential election for the first time in 28 years and after losing a statewide race for the first time in 14 years and being confronted with a rapidly growing and apparently very ascendant Georgia Democratic Party, the Georgia GOP is motivated to do whatever it may think it has to do legislatively to restore its statewide electoral majority and protect its remaining legislative majorities.
While they may no longer possess the legislative supermajority that they did back in the mid-2010’s, the GOP still enjoys large majorities in both chambers of the Georgia Legislature.
And not unlike the once ultra-dominant Georgia Democrats before them when they were threatened with the rise and ascendancy of the Georgia Republican Party out of the fast-growing Atlanta suburbs and exurbs back in the 1980’s and 1990’s, the recently once-dominant Georgia GOP of the early 2020’s is going to be highly motivated to use the political power of their remaining majority control of both chambers of the Georgia Legislature and all state government constitutional offices to attempt to hold on to majority control of Georgia state government for as long as it can while attempting to slowdown and impede the rise of an ascendant Georgia Democratic Party rising out of the expansive metro Atlanta suburbs.
And how did that work out for Tom Murphy and those Democrats? Republicans would be better off going to independent redistricting to save themselves long-term rather than going for short-term gains.
And how did that work out for Tom Murphy and those Democrats?
While they have been out of power since 2002 (almost 2 decades now), Georgia Democrats were actually able to hold off Georgia Republicans for a very long time.
Democrats’ hold on virtually absolute power over Georgia state government was first threatened when Republican Howard “Bo” Callaway won the most votes (a plurality of votes) in a three-way race over staunch segregationist Democrat Lester Maddox and former Georgia Governor Ellis Arnall in the 1966 Gubernatorial election.
But since no candidate won a majority of votes, the rules of the time dictated that the election would be decided by the overwhelmingly Democrat-dominated Georgia Legislature, which voted for Lester Maddox.
After the GOP came close to winning that 1966 Governor’s Race, Georgia Democrats were able to fend off Republicans and keep them out of the Governor’s office and keep them from winning a majority in the state legislature for another 36 years.
Georgia Democrats used all kinds of political antics and dirty tricks to attempt to keep Republicans from ascending to a majority, including often sending Democratic voters to vote for Republican primary candidates who would be most disadvantaged in general elections.
Georgia Democrats also often relentlessly and ruthlessly employed the use of gerrymandering when drawing legislative districts, eliminating Republican legislators by just simply drawing their districts out of existence when possible and desired (which was often).
In later years, when more Republicans had started to be elected to the Georgia Legislature, but when Democrats still had very sizable legislative majorities, the Democratic majority often would even go so far as to draw new legislative districts so that 2 existing Republican legislators in separate districts would have to run against each other in a primary for hopes of keeping the seat under Republican control.
Former Speaker Tom Murphy, who most notably employed an intensely disciplined structured and focused approach during the 3 decades (30 years) that he led the Georgia House of Representatives, played a major (if not leading) role in helping Democrats not only continue to control but dominate politics at the state level in Georgia.
Even as the Republican Party grew in size and power in Georgia, particularly after the election of Ronald Reagan as President in 1980, Georgia Democrats held supermajority control in at least or both chambers of the Georgia Legislature until the Newt Gingrich-led GOP wave election of 1994, and held on to the Governor’s office until 2002 before losing the majority in the state Senate and falling into the minority in 2004.
With the state’s rapidly changing demographics that have Georgia being in the verge of becoming a ‘majority-minority’ state within the next few years, and with Democrats now pouring so much money (mind-blowing, record-obliterating amounts of money) into major elections in the state, Georgia Republicans are not likely to fend-off Georgia Democrats for nearly as long as Georgia Democrats were able to fend-off an eventual Republican takeover back during the last three-and-a-half decades of the 20th Century.
But with Republicans still currently enjoying trifecta control of Georgia state government (including control of the Governor’s office and control both chambers of the Georgia Legislature by large margins) and with the GOP having control of the redistricting process and being able to draw themselves legislative majorities for the next decade, I do think that Georgia Republicans potentially (if not likely) can hold on to control of one or both chambers of the Georgia Legislature for as long as about the next decade.
Though, I do think that the real potential is there for the GOP to possibly lose control of the Georgia Governor’s office as soon as next year.
Although, it should be strongly cautioned that we seem to be in a very unpredictable and very fluid political environment where seemingly anything might could happen, including the possible formation of a third major political party out of the GOP base, and a possible all-out political war for control of that voting base.
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Originally Posted by GABESTA535
Republicans would be better off going to independent redistricting to save themselves long-term rather than going for short-term gains.
Establishing an independent commission to handle redistricting very likely would be a good move for Georgia Republicans long-term.
But Georgia Republicans are not going to agree to let an independent commission handle redistricting now because that would mean that the GOP very likely would have to give up a big chunk of their legislative majorities sooner in order to potentially maybe prevent a probable future Democratic majority from drawing legislative supermajorities down the line (probably sometime around 2040 on the current demographic trajectory).
In any case, that would mean that they would have to give up a big chunk of their legislative majorities and the corresponding political advantage that they currently hold in order to potentially maybe be able to prevent the Democrats (who in the not-too-terribly distant future may be likely to control sizable legislative majorities if the current demographic trajectory continues) from drawing themselves legislative supermajorities, which the GOP potentially may not be able to stop anyway, even with an independent commission drawing the lines in a state in Georgia that reportedly has the potential to have demographics similar to that of a state like California after 2030.
Republicans aren’t going to agree to give up their large legislative majorities when they have the potential to hold on to legislative majorities for at least the next decade under the current system where the majority party controls the redistricting process.
And Democrats likely would not agree to have an independent commission control the redistricting of legislative boundaries because Democrats are looking forward to the time when Georgia’s rapidly changing and diversifying demographics potentially (and even possibly, if not likely) may propel the party into a strong majority position where they potentially will be able to draw themselves 70-80 percent supermajorities in both chambers of the Georgia Legislature and in Georgia’s Congressional delegation.
Governor Brian Kemp presented at $27 billion dollar budget to lawmakers who will now get a chance to make minor changes. Host Lisa Rayam talks with WABE politics reporters Emma Hurt and Emil Moffatt as well as education reporter Martha Dalton and health reporter Sam Whitehead about what made it into the spending plan and what was left out.
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