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As most of you now know, the 2021 Georgia General Assembly session ended three weeks ago. This is a recap of some of the more significant items we accomplished, and we had much success.
Editorial Page Editor Adam Van Brimmer blogs on local topics of interest most weekday mornings in the “Savannah’s Town Square” Facebook group. The following is an excerpt from one of those posts. Join the group at Facebook.com by searching "Savannah's Town Square." Stephens, whose health issues sidelined him for the better part of three legislative sessions, made the announcement on the floor of the Georgia House on the next-to-last day of the 2021 session. The voters of District 165, which covers Savannah's eastside and a sliver of downtown, will elect a new representative in a speci...
For most Savannahians looking to get to Atlanta, there are really only two options: drive or fly. The drive is long and prone to Atlanta traffic. The flight is quick, but expensive. But both Amtrak and Georgia legislators are considering a third option that hasn't been available since 1971: a train. Earlier this month, Amtrak released a proposed map of new and expanded service if it can land the $80 billion President Joe Biden proposed for the rail service as part of his American Jobs Plan, a massive $2 trillion plan to rebuild the nation's aging infrastructure. On that map are quite a few ...
Bryan County News Guest column: Session eventful By State Rep. Ron Stephens. The 2021 Legislative Session of the Georgia General Assembly adjourned Sine Die March 31. It was an eventful session which included meaningful legislation sent to the Governor for his signature or his veto. Next week, I will address the highlights but this week I focus on the bills that passed in the final two days of the session. Two bills regarding the use of hotel/motel taxation on organized vacation rentals by owners included House Bill 317, legislation I introduced. We passed legislation for the ...
Some Georgia Republicans who promoted Fulton County’s mobile voting buses last year voted to restrict them after the party lost the state’s presidential and Senate races. The Election Integrity Act of 2021, Georgia’s sweeping election reform law, has widely been described as a “voter suppression” effort, largely prompted by baseless allegations of election fraud spread by former President Trump and his allies. President Joe Biden and other Democrats have compared the law to those of the Jim Crow era, and numerous voting rights groups have already sued to strike down key measures the...