Smalltowngal points out a call-to-action on the Oakhurst Message Board urging area residents to contact their local legislators about Georgia House Bill 274, which would lift the statewide ban on yard waste in landfills (with “linings”) under the premise that the additional garbage would increase methane captured as a renewable energy source.

The AJC actually wrote an extensive article on the bill back on March 12th…

If approved, the bill would end a state ban on yard trimmings in landfills that was imposed in 1996 with the stated goals of conserving landfill capacity and promoting recycling. Delaware this year became the 23rd state to impose such a ban.

The city of Atlanta and the federal Environmental Protection Agency are on the side of environmental lobbyists who are working to kill the bill. On the other side, the waste management companies have lobbyists, attorneys and what some would argue is a distinct advantage: They wrote the bill.

After nearly dying in committee, the AJC reports that after four hours of debate, the Georgia Senate has approved legislation 32-22 that would allow local jurisdictions to decide for themselves whether to allow the Sunday retail sale of alcohol.

The bill will now go to the House of Representatives “where passage is considered probable”, according to the AJC’s Jay Bookman.

As we’ve mentioned before, Gov. Nathan Deal has already stated publicly that he is willing to sign the measure.  So, if passed, Decatur and/or DeKalb residents will most likely soon be given the option to vote on whether to allow Sunday sales.

In terms of Decatur, I don’t think I’m going out on a limb thinking that such a measure would pass rather easily here.

Annexation isn’t just a topic of conversation around Decatur.  Though our city has long been toying with the idea of expanding its limits in order to increase its commercial base, there hasn’t yet been the almost necessary outcry by surrounding residents looking to trade their DeKalb-run services for Decatur to make it happen.

However, it’s a different story further north. The initial benefits of the newly-minted city of Dunwoody – which captured millions of dollars of DeKalb County property tax revenue after its late-2008 creation – has other northern residents weighing the benefits of more local city government services and functions.

Georgia State Rep. Mike Jacobs recently wrote on his blog he’s been hearing “increasing discontent with DeKalb County Government: rising tax bills, fewer services, inefficient government, and a lack of confidence that things are going to get better at the county.”  As a result, he’s introduced House Bill 428, which allows for “adjacent municipalities to annex neighborhoods in an “unincorporated peninsula” (an unincorporated area that is 75% or more surrounded by cities) after the adoption of a city council resolution and the passage of a referendum by the citizens in the unincorporated area.”  The bill also takes away the County’s unilateral veto power in preventing such annexations, according to Jacobs.

Whether this currently unincorporated peninsula would become part of Dunwoody or its own “City of Brookhaven” is far from being addressed, let alone decided, however these renewed talks about yet another northern annexation leads to a very serious question:  How much more annexation can DeKalb County take before its only option is even more massive layoffs and reductions in services and/or large tax increases?

In response to this new Brookhaven annexation push, the DeKalb Officers blog flatly stated recently “We believe if either of theses happen, annexation or the formation of another city, Dekalb County will collapse. The Northlake/Oak Grove/Emory area cannot sustain today’s spending and looting.”

If not totally collapse, what would a DeKalb with little northern property to call its own look like?  Will taxes rise to a point where the current lower tax-rate advantage is eliminated and everyone begins calling for annexation by the nearest city?  Or will the county be forced to scale down to a point where services are much more meager than they even are today?

From the AJC’s low-hanging fruit “ACK! MORE TAXES?” article this morning…

As gasoline prices climb rapidly past $3.30 a gallon, the Legislature is considering a change in the state’s gas taxes that could well push the price even higher.

The change, part of a sweeping proposal to overhaul the state’s taxation system, would address a huge problem in Georgia transportation funding: Much of the state’s gas tax does not rise with inflation. Under the bill introduced last week, that would change.

The complex proposal does have a possible upside for drivers’ pocketbooks, sort of. If the price of gas went really high, although the total revamped gas tax may still go up, it could go up less than if legislators make no change.

According to the article, currently the gas tax is 50% a flat 7.5 cents/gallon and 50% a “per-gallon charge that changes according to the price of gas”.  The proposed tax currently before the legislature would line up both portions of the tax with the annual cost of road construction.  As of 2011, that would equate to a 6 cent increase in the tax.

Arguments against include…

“I really don’t want to pay more than what I’m paying now,” especially considering the rising price of gas, said Marc Cain, 36, of Conyers. “It comes off as 5 cents but that adds up over everyday travel.”

Ahh…OK.  Well, then sir, can you choose which roads and/or bridges we’ll be shutting down or neglecting in the coming year?  Yeah.  But seriously, this sounds like a pretty decent proposal, if it operates as intended.  Tie the cost of roads to the tax annually.  If people want to push the tax down, they’ll be faced with the immediate result of less road maintenance.

Nothing’s ever as easy in politics as it first appears, but I’m having trouble finding reasons not to really like this idea (which usually means it doesn’t have a snowball’s chance of being passed).

It’s sorta inhumane how frequently this bill is brought back to life, and then sanctimoniously killed.  The AJC reports this morning that Senate Bill 10 may be dead after the Senate Rules Committee decided not to move it to the floor for a vote.  Why?

….Republicans held a caucus vote to see where senators stood on the issue, and the bill failed to gain support, so Senate leadership decided to not bring it forward for a vote.

“Having a caucus vote determining what bills come the floor and what bills do not actually to my knowledge has not been done in the past. So this is a little bit of a change in the procedure with the Senate, and the minority party is pretty much shut out of the process,” [Lt. Gov. Casey] Cagle said.

Over on Fresh Loaf, Thomas Wheatley offers this aside…

(Oh, and Christian conservatives shouldn’t get all the blame for this foul-up. Word is that some senators with ambitions for higher office refused to support the measure. While it the measure was popular in their own districts, they feared a “yes” vote would bite them in the behind when they eventually ran statewide.)

The HOST case is back!

A press release announces that the decade-long HOST (Homestead Option Sales Tax) dispute between Decatur (and other DeKalb cities) versus DeKalb County over millions of dollars in HOST money will heard by the Georgia Supreme Court for a third time next Tuesday, February 8th.  Here’s all the background on the case, courtesy of the release.  Also it’s good to know that by last estimate, Decatur was owed $10 million in back HOST/capital improvement money by DeKalb County.

CITY OF DECATUR ET AL. V. DEKALB COUNTY (S11A0354)

This appeal stems from a dispute between four cities in DeKalb County and the county government over the distribution and expenditure of tax revenues. This is the third time this case has come to the Georgia Supreme Court.

FACTS: In 1998, the cities of Decatur, Chamblee, Doraville and Stone Mountain, along with other DeKalb municipalities, entered into a 49-year intergovernmental agreement (IGA) with the county to provide for the distribution of millions of dollars in sales tax proceeds. The agreement required the county to share with the cities a portion of Homestead Option Sales and Use Tax (HOST) money. HOST is a countywide one-cent sales tax approved by voters in 1997 to help offset property taxes. Under the HOST statute, 80 percent of the revenues must be used for that purpose, with the remaining 20 percent to be used to fund capital improvements. Under the agreement, the cities could use the money as they pleased as long as they were used for “capital outlay projects” within county boundaries.

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The AJC reports unprecedented optimism surrounding legislation that would allow the Sunday sale of liquor in the state of Georgia…

The chances of success for legislation letting voters legalize Sunday alcohol sales at stores got a lot better Wednesday when it easily zipped through a Senate committee.

In a dramatic contrast to past years, no one spoke out against the bill when it came before the Senate State and Local Governmental Operations Committee on Wednesday, and it passed on a 6-1 vote about 40 minutes after the meeting began.

The bill, if passed by both houses and signed by the Governor, would let city and county commissions set Sunday sales elections.

When I first caught wind of a potential initiative to ban or tax plastic bags by Decatur’s Environmental Sustainability Board back in October, the post produced 87 comments of a heated back-and-forth about everything from the dangers of plastic bags to the dangers of banning plastic bags.

Well, now the Board is openly appealing to the Decatur population at-large to take a 5-question survey to get a better gauge of support for legislation that would either ban, tax or limit the use of plastic bags and Styrofoam by retailers.

Why plastic bags and Styrofoam?  Here’s the Board’s argument…

Estimates are that in the U.S. 60,000 plastic bags are used every 5 seconds. Less than 10% of these are recycled.

Polystyrene foam adds to the waste stream and presents a hazard for birds and other wildlife as it breaks up into indigestible pellets. The market now provides products that serve the same commercial purpose, are readily available and are less harmful for the environment.

How will/did you respond?

In case you missed it, a conversation surrounding a potential brewery in Decatur next year quickly turned to a conversation about the possible sale and legality of “growlers” in the State of Georgia.  Scott pointed out a recent post on Atlanta Beer Master that noted a potential loophole in the State’s law that make growlers legal if permitted by local governments.

After perusing the city’s code for a bit, I asked City Manager Peggy Merriss what I thought was a relatively easy question: are growlers currently illegal in the City of Decatur.   Of course, there’s nothing simple about liquor laws.

The short answer is maybe. We define package as a “bottle, can, keg, barrel or other original consumer container as labeled and provided by the manufacturer for single unit sale.” So to the extent the “growler” is not capped and closed before retail sale, then it would not be able to be sold in the City of Decatur.

However, we also have a provision that states, “No retailer shall purchase any alcoholic beverage from any person other than a wholesaler licensed under this chapter.”

So if a retailer for consumption off premises wanted to sell “growlers”, they might be able to do so as long as they purchase those through a wholesaler and not directly from a manufacturer and they are labeled as a unit for individual sale.

It is definitely something we would have to go over with the City Attorney should such a situation present itself.

This sounds like potentially good news and perhaps bad news.

Let’s recap FM Fats original comment that got this ball rolling:  “I was just thinking how nice it would be if Ale Yeah! could sell growlers of Twain’s beers and Wild Heaven beers. Whole Foods is now selling growlers. Maybe soon.”

Assuming the Whole Foods growlers referenced above are sold through a wholesaler, it sounds like these growlers may already be allowed for sale in Decatur, though the city commission would have to verify this with the city attorney   However, based on the City Manager’s explanation, selling Twain’s beer at Ale Yeah! would not be legal, unless it was sold to Ale Yeah! by a wholesaler.

But before we go asking the commission to do anything, I just want to confirm that there’s actual interest out there from both retailers and customers for wholesale growlers.

Because it’s a well-known and scientific fact that once you turn 18, you really master the art of simultaneous cell phone/auto use.  (Cue Liz Lemon-esque, over-the-top eye roll)

HB 23 prohibits the use of cell phones and similar electronic devices by class D driver’s license holders under the age of eighteen. Penalties for violation include a fine of not more than $100 and not less than $50 as well as 2 points on the offender’s driving record.

The Senate Public Safety Committee substitute to HB 23 makes violation of its provisions a flat $150 fine. It changes the point accumulation on the license to 1 point from 2. And, finally, it removes the automatic suspension of the license if the driver is involved in an accident.

• - Authored By: Rep. Matt Ramsey of the 72nd
• - House Committee: Motor Vehicles
• - A motion to agree represents final passage of this bill.