As this twelfth day of the 2009 session of the Georgia General Assembly wound to a close, it was hard not to get the impression that those who had run for state office on a platform of "local control" had undergone a serious change of heart.  Legislation that either hindered the ability of local governmental agencies to raise funds or that sought to hand down new, unfunded mandates to those local governments marched on in committees.

In the House Ways and Means Committee's afternoon meeting, Rep. Ed Lindsey (R-Atlanta) "hijacked" one of his own bills in order to introduce a new bill seeking to accomplish his much-sought-after "tax caps."  The new content of HB233, according to Representative Lindsey, would allow the General Assembly to "take immediate action on behalf of the taxpaying citizens of Georgia" by capping the annual growth in the assessed value of all property at 3% per year.  While observers wondered why, all of a sudden, this could be accomplished by a simple bill (rather than the constitutional amendment that Rep. Lindsey and his colleagues have pursued for several years now), Rep. Lindsey stated that his new legislation would:

• institute immediate caps on the assessed value of local property;
• allow local governmental agencies to "opt out" of the requirements of this legislation via a 2/3 affirmative vote of the local governing authority;
• make some attempt to deal with the thorny issue of the transfer of ownership of property, particularly as this applies to commercial properties;
• institute a "phase-in" to fair market value of just-sold property (rather than having any just-sold property be immediately valued at its "fair market price"); and,
• include a procedure for local boards of education to hold a referendum in an "expedited fashion" to propose raising the 20-mill cap on their abilities to raise local revenue.

The bill was assigned to the Ad Valorem Tax Subcommittee for debate and further discussion.

Across the way, in the Senate Finance Committee's meeting, Senate Majority Leader Chip Rogers (R-Woodstock) pushed through his bill (SB83) seeking to double the homestead exemption for homeowners in the state.  The proposed doubling of the exemption from $2,000 to $4,000 would cost local governments approximately $120 million in lost revenue (local revenue, not state!), with local school systems losing some $70 million of that total.  Pleas from organizations representing local governmental agencies fell on deaf ears, as the bill received the expected "do pass" from this Senate committee.

Finally, in a meeting of the subcommittee of the House Governmental Affairs Committee, the ever-present Representative Lindsey appeared to push his HB 122, a bill seeking to require virtually all county governments, all school boards, and most city governments to publish on a "searchable web site" information such as salaries, travel expenses paid to certain individuals, and monies paid to vendors with whom the aforementioned governmental agencies do business.  No matter how this is packaged (and, it is being packaged in the name of more "open government"), it is yet another unfunded mandate on local governments (i.e., mandatory web site upgrades, personnel time needed to enter data to comply with the requirements of the bill), a mandate being proposed by those very members of the General Assembly who tout themselves as "local control" advocates.

On a day like this, it is hard to maintain a focus on vouchers and other education-specific issues.  Day twelve served as a reminder that this could be a long, long session.