Georgia Chemistry Council Update 3/12/2010

The slow pace of issue introduction, issue discussion and issue adoption continues.  The legislature is laser focused on budget related issues and not much else.  The budget situation is so critical there is hardly any oxygen left for other matters.  As you will read below, the revenue numbers are still going south.  With the constant dribble of bad news, the legislature has slowed down the session.  Instead of working every day, the legislature plans to work three days a week for awhile.  Since the constitution limits the session to forty working days, they have to take days off in order to extend the session.  The only constitutional requirement of the legislature is to past an balanced budget each year.  In order to pass a balanced budget, they have to keep cutting expenses to match the revenue, which is causing the session extension.

Thanks to everyone that participated in a congressional district director meetings last week.  We had meetings with the district directors of Congressmen Barrow, Bishop, Scott and Marshall to discuss the proposed regulation of GHG by EPA.  It appears we have the support of everyone except Rep. Scott.  ACC is leading an aggressive campaign national wide.  For more information, go to www.impactchemistry.com.

Bleak February 2010 Revenue Numbers

On Monday, Governor Perdue released February’s revenue numbers. The state brought in about 9.9% less in revenues than it did in February of 2009. Sales tax collections were down 12 %, individual income tax collections were down 12% and corporate income taxes were off by 25.7% compared to last year’s figures.  In response to these numbers, the Governor announced further cuts on Thursday. $350 million in stimulus funds originally budgeted for next year’s fiscal year, which begins July 1, will now be

used to fill holes in this year’s budget, according to Perdue’s plan. Next year’s budget will see an additional $443 million in cuts to reflect new estimates in state revenues. The Governor also said that the University System of Georgia will see additional cuts in FY 2011, but not to the extent feared after last week’s much reported $300 million cut proposal.  Plans to increase state revenues are beginning to surface, including a measure to reinstitute the sales tax on food, increases in tobacco taxes, additional or increased fees for state services, and pari-mutuel betting on horse racing. Some of the increased or additional fees being discussed might would pertain to the industrial sector, but nothing has been formally proposed at this time.

Inter-basin Transfer Debate

Although the Governor’s water bill passed the House and Senate easily this week, water issues will continue to be important topics for debate under the Gold Dome. Disagreements on interbasin transfers (IBTs) will dominate discussion now that major water conservation legislation has passed both chambers. Representative Tom McCall, Chairman of the Agriculture & Consumer Affairs Committee, introduced HB 1301 on Tuesday. The bill, signed by more than 80 House members, creates a couple dozen criteria which must be met by local governments before EPD approves an IBT.  The bill would also require water conservation measures be met before an IBT approval.  Senator Jim Butterworth has sponsored identical legislation in the Senate, SB 462, which is also signed by a large number of Senators. Both of these bills have been placed in their respective Natural Resources committees and will be heard in the coming weeks.

Reservoir Expansion

Senators Chip Pearson introduced SB 380 which allows the Georgia Environmental Facilities Authority (GEFA) to administer loans to

local governments to expand existing reservoirs.  This is an important measure for helping the state plan for future water resources.  The bill was adopted by the Senate Natural Resources Committee this week.

VRP amendments
We are lock and loaded with our minor changes for the Voluntary Remediation Program.   Hopefully, the Resource Management Subcommittee will have a hearing on GCC changes to the program next week.  The changes will hopefully accomplish two things:  1.) allow GA EPD to keep the application fees and associated reimbursements to run the program and 2.) make the sure GA EPD understands that the VRP is for investigation and remediation, which will fix an major issue GCC has with the present application process.  We expect our changes will become a substitute bill for SB 78, which was one of the VRP bills from last session that we did not need.

Water Conservation Rambles On
Both the House and Senate adopted their respective versions of the Governor’s water bill— Georgia Water Stewardship Act of 2010 (HB 1094 and SB 370)—with only minor amendments.  Now the bills are identical so one of the measures should become law soon.  We have reviewed the bills and do not believe the measures will have much impact on industrial users.  If you want to review the bills that were adopted by the two committees, click the bill numbers above.

Mar 12, 2010 - Augusta Chronicle

Feds watching Augusta's air this summer

Rob Pavey reports that Augusta's air quality this summer will determine if the city can comply with stricter pollution standards to be added to the U.S. Clean Air Act.