Governor Deal Signs Bill Enhancing Beautification, Outdoor Advertising Projects in Georgia

(BUSINESS WIRE)--Governor Nathan Deal yesterday (May 12) announced he has signed House Bill 179, legislation that finally creates a common sense approach balancing the need for our community businesses to effectively promote themselves, while establishing stronger stewardship provisions than are in current law. In addition to the bill signing, the Outdoor Advertising Association of Georgia (OAAG) is also proud to announce that member companies are donating hundreds of vinyl signs to be used as tarps to cover storm-damaged homes as well as space on billboards to inform residents of Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and American Red Cross contact information.

“I am proud that we are doing our part to help our neighbors who were severely impacted by these devastating storms.”

Under the new law, vegetation removal will now be allowed in a smaller area in front of billboards allowing motorists to fully view advertising messages and bring new business to Georgia companies. The bill requires outdoor advertising companies to pay the highest mitigation fees in the country and fund the replacement and replanting of all vegetation that is removed.

“The previous law was very ineffective, leaving signs close to the ground obstructed from view behind trees and either abandoned or raised to skyscraper levels for visibility,” said Ray Moyers, President of the Outdoor Advertising Association of Georgia (OAAG). “This compromise bill will lead to lower signs, more beautification projects and, most importantly, economic growth as Georgia small businesses reach new customers through advertising.”

In addition, the bill requires signs to be lowered to at least 75 feet as a condition for receiving relief from obstructions. It also ensures the industry fully funds the Georgia Department of Transportation’s administrative costs, relieving the burden from our state’s taxpayers.

For the first time in state law, House Bill 179 creates new provisions for the removal of abandoned, cluttered, and dilapidated signs at no cost to the taxpayer. And, the legislation emphasizes local control allowing local governments to determine billboard regulations in their community.

“Georgia’s network of outdoor advertising can be an incredible resource to help us market our community businesses, grow new jobs, and maintain our existing workforce, but only if the messages were visible to the traveling public,” said Rep. Jon Burns, sponsor of HB 179. “We worked hard over the past few months and fashioned a reasonable bill that achieves many of the goals sought after by both sides of this debate. I want to publicly thank Governor Deal for recognizing the benefits of the bill and signing it into law.”

Since the bill passed during this year’s legislative session, the outdoor advertising industry has continued to contribute heavily to Georgia’s economy and civic concerns. When tornados struck Georgia in late April, billboard companies immediately mobilized and donated over 500 vinyl signs that can be used as tarps to cover storm-damaged homes until repairs can be made.

The industry has also donated space on 75 electronic message boards in Georgia, including the hardest-hit storm areas of Rome, Griffin and Clayton. The messages inform residents on how to contact FEMA for storm-related assistance. There will also be two traditional (non-electronic) billboards in Trenton and Ringgold with FEMA contact information. The Outdoor Advertising Association of Georgia is paying for the production of the vinyl signs and Fairway Outdoor Advertising of Chattanooga is donating the space for those two signs. Clear Channel is also featuring messages for the American Red Cross on more than 20 digital signs in the Metro Atlanta area.

“Our industry is made up of community-minded citizens that respond quickly when Georgians are in need,” Moyers added. “I am proud that we are doing our part to help our neighbors who were severely impacted by these devastating storms.”

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Governor Signs Bills Increasing Ability of Georgia's Military and Overseas Voters to Cast Ballots

Governor Sonny Perdue singed (June 2) into law two bills, House Bill 665 and House Bill 1073, which increases the opportunity for Georgia’s military members and other overseas voters to participate in state elections.

Governor Perdue and Secretary Kemp were joined by HQ Command Coordinator Otis Womack, Maj. Helen Duggan, Sfc. Michael Cornelius, Sgt. Irvin Balfour, Sr., Spc. Roger Hillegas and Capt. Nicholas Williams from Fort McPherson; State Representatives Mark Hamilton, John Meadows, and Bob Bryant; State Senators Jim Butterworth and John Douglas.

“As I’ve had the privilege to visit with some of our troops stationed overseas, they always remind me that it’s the little things about home they miss the most. The things that we sometimes, frankly, take for granted,” Governor Perdue said. “It’s so important to protect one of the most unique and cherished privileges of our great democracy.  It is a right that was won and is supported daily by our men and women in uniform.”

Secretary Kemp added, “One ballot cast by a member of our military that is not counted due to slow mail service or a missed deadline is one too many. These bills increase Georgia’s commitment to our men and women in uniform, who fight to protect our Constitution and our freedoms, by providing them additional opportunities to vote and fully participate in our elections.”

House Bill 665 establishes a pilot voting project that allows overseas and military voters to cast their ballots and have them received by local election officials in time to be counted. One method is to establish kiosks where voters cast their ballot, and the ballot is transmitted to the Secretary of State’s office or the voter’s county via a secure online network. Currently, Georgia’s overseas and military voters may only submit their absentee ballots by mail.

HB 1073 strengthens Georgia’s compliance with the federal Military and Overseas Voters Empowerment Act – or MOVE Act.

Among the features in this bill:

• Absentee ballots must be sent to overseas voters 45 days prior to a general primary or general election,

• Increased access to absentee ballots for an entire election cycle, and

• Allows absentee ballots to be emailed to military and overseas voters.

Brian Kemp was sworn in as Secretary of State in January 2010. Among the office’s wide-ranging responsibilities, the Secretary of State is charged with conducting efficient and secure elections, the registration of corporations, and the regulation of securities and professional license holders. The office also oversees the Georgia Archives and the Capitol Museum.
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Georgia Governor Signs Important Lawsuit Transparency Legislation: Georgia First in Nation to Tackle Implied Rights to Sue

/PRNewswire/ -- The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) today lauded the Georgia legislature and Gov. Sonny Perdue as he signed S.B. 138 into law, requiring transparency in the legislative creation of new rights for private individuals to sue. ALEC is the nation's largest nonpartisan individual membership association of state legislators, and its model legislation, the Transparency in Lawsuits Protection Act, was the basis for the new Peach State law.

"Often goaded by plaintiffs' lawyers," explained ALEC Civil Justice Task Force Director Amy Kjose, "courts sometimes infer from vague legislative or regulatory language new rights to bring private lawsuits. These so-called 'implied causes of action' can bog down court dockets with frivolous litigation and otherwise work to undermine economic growth and job creation."

The Transparency in Lawsuits Protection Act asks legislators to answer directly the primary question judiciaries consider in the creation of an implied cause of action: Did the legislators intend to create a new right to sue?

"In order to avoid confusion and uncertainty," Kjose continued, "S.B. 138 requires the legislature to qualify legislative intent from the get-go. Consumers, businesses, and their lawyers deserve to know when and where they can statutorily sue or be sued. The enactment of S.B. 138 ends the costly game of trial and error within Georgia's legal system."

S.B. 138 passed with very strong majorities in both the Georgia Senate and the House of Representatives.

Victor Schwartz, a renowned tort law scholar and Private Sector Co-Chair of ALEC's Civil Justice Task Force, offered praise for all involved, saying that, "Bill sponsor Sen. Wiles, House advocate Rep. Ehrhart and Gov. Perdue are to be congratulated for making Georgia the first state to require its legislators, if they intend to create a new way to sue, to say so plainly and directly. Other states should follow suit in ending implied causes of action, or as I like to call them, hidden trial lawyer earmarks."

The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) is the nation's largest nonpartisan, individual membership organization of state legislators.

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Baby Doe Rules Examined at Georgia State Law Review Symposium

When should medical treatment be provided for a seriously ill infant? What if aggressive treatment causes enduring pain? And what happens if doctors and parents disagree about whether treatment should be given?

These are just a few questions that have been debated in medicine for more than 25 years, ever since the Reagan administration issued the “Baby Doe Rules” in response to the case of a Bloomington, Ind., infant with a reparable birth defect who was allowed to die without surgery.

The Baby Doe Rules, which will be the focus of the 2009 Georgia State University Law Review Symposium Friday (Feb. 13), conditions the grant of federal funds for any state’s child protective services program on the assurance that it can respond to reports of medical neglect. Those reports may include the withholding of medical treatment from disabled infants with life-threatening conditions.

“The early controversial cases involved infants who had relatively straight forward medical needs,” said Charity Scott, director of the Center for Law, Health and Society in Georgia State’s College of Law. “By contrast, the hard cases today often involve extremely premature infants – at the cusp of viability, at 22 or 23 weeks gestational age when born – who have multiple medical needs. Other hard cases today involve infants who have genetic abnormalities that can cause severe physical and mental impairments. Doctors and parents struggle with whether or how a child’s uncertain prognosis for the future should impact their decisions about treatment."

Advances in medical technology over the past 25 years have played a significant role in improving the health outcomes of infants who may have died because no treatment was available a generation ago, Scott said.

"Should aggressive treatment be given, and for how long? Some difficult questions affecting that decision include: What’s the likelihood that an infant’s treatment will be successful? Will it cause suffering? How long can the infant live with treatment? What will the infant’s quality of life be in the future? Whether the anticipated future quality of life of an infant should be taken into account in deciding whether to treat the child remains a controversial issue. And who should be the final decision-maker in conflicted cases is a perennial dilemma," Scott said.

From bioethicists to lawyers and doctors, more than a dozen experts from across the United States will lead discussions on the evolution of the Baby Doe Rules and the current status of decisions involving premature and other medically at-risk infants at the symposium themed, “The 25th Anniversary of the Baby Doe Rules Perspectives from the fields of Law, Health Care, Ethics, and Disability Policy.” Among the distinguished experts are Burke Balch, director of the Robert Powell Center for Medical Ethics; Dr. Mark Mercurio, director of the Yale Pediatric Ethics Program and an attending neonatologist at the Yale-New Have Children’s Hospital; and Mary Crossley, dean of the University of Pittsburgh School of Law.

At the conclusion of the symposium, which is being held in partnership with the Emory University Center for Ethics and the student-led Law Review, participants will better appreciate the roles of parents, health care providers and the government in treatment decisions for extremely ill newborns; learn ways of resolving conflicts over the care of very sick newborns, including mediation and communications skills; and understand how principles from different perspectives, influence and interact in decision making regarding treatment. The Georgia State University Law Review will publish a symposium volume on the topic in spring 2009.

“The Baby Doe Rules raise really difficult legal, medical, ethical, and policy issues,” Scott said. “The symposium is honored to host the nation's leading experts in all of these fields. It is an extraordinary opportunity in our community to come together to engage in multidisciplinary reflection and thoughtful debate about these controversial issues in the care of seriously ill infants.”

For more information, visit the symposium Web site: www.babydoesymposium.org.

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Appalachian Circuit District Attorney Raids Major Dogfighting Operation

The Appalachian Circuit District Attorney's office, acting on intelligence provided by The Humane Society of the United States and Norred & Associates, today (July 17, 2008) raided "Mountain Swamp Kennels," an alleged dogfighting operation in Blue Ridge, Ga. Albert Glenn White, the apparent owner of the operation, was arrested and charged with approximately 22 counts of felony dogfighting. Authorities found three dogfighting pits on the property and seized 22 dogs along with suspected dogfighting paraphernalia. Several dogs had scars consistent with dogfighting.

White is reportedly an influential figure in the underground dogfighting circuit and is the breeder of several pit bull bloodlines that are cherished by dogfighters.

"Today's raid on Mountain Swap Kennels was a textbook dogfighting case," said Laura Bevan, director of The HSUS' Southeast regional office. "District Attorney Joe Hendricks' investigators acted quickly against this suspected dogfighting operation. The raid shows that once law enforcement is given the necessary tools, they are ready and able to bring animal fighters to justice."

Dr. Melinda Merck, forensic veterinarian and leader of American Society for the Protection of Cruelty to Animals' CSI Unit, assisted with the raid and evaluated the seized dogs for evidence of animal fighting. The Zell Miller Mountain Parkway Drug Task Force and the Georgia Department of Natural Resources also took part in the raid.

Information regarding Mountain Swamp Kennels was first provided to The HSUS via its tip line, 877-TIP-HSUS. The HSUS animal fighting tip line was established by Atlanta-based corporate security and investigations firm Norred & Associates in the wake of the Michael Vick case so that Georgia residents can easily report illegal animal fighting to authorities.

The HSUS offers up to $5,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of anyone involved in animal fighting. The HSUS' animal fighting reward program has been made possible thanks to a grant by the Holland M. Ware Charitable Foundation, which is also based in Atlanta.

"Georgia's newly strengthened dogfighting law has made it possible to crack down on one of the nation's leading dogfighting figures," said Appalachian Circuit District Attorney Joe Hendricks. "I commend my office's lead investigator in this case, Kenny Crook, The Humane Society of the United States, the ASPCA, The Zell Miller Mountain Parkway Drug Task Force, the Georgia Department of Natural Resources and the Georgia State Patrol for their hard work in making this raid happen."

It is a felony to own, possess, train, transport or sell a dog for the purpose of dogfighting in Georgia. Those involved in illegal dogfighting, as White is alleged, can receive one to five years in prison, a minimum fine of $5,000 or both. On May 16, Gov. Sonny Purdue signed legislation strengthening the state's dogfighting law.

New Federal Law Mandates Child Resistant Portable Gasoline Containers

Children and gasoline don't mix. With the passage of the Children's Gasoline Burn Prevention Act, an additional layer of fire safety and burn protection has been added for families across the country.

President George W. Bush signed the Act into law which requires portable gasoline containers manufactured for sale in the U.S. on or after January 17, 2009 to conform to child resistance safety requirements.

Gasoline containers will join containers with other flammable liquids, such as turpentine, charcoal lighter fluid, and torch fuel that are required to have child resistant closures. CPSC has jurisdiction over child resistant product packaging.

"Families who purchase gasoline cans with child resistant gas caps and who keep all flammable liquids out of the sight and reach of children are improving the safety of their homes," said CPSC Acting Chairman Nancy Nord.

CPSC recommends these safety tips for consumers.

Buy a gasoline container that is child resistant.

Place a gasoline container in a well ventilated, cool area.

Never store gasoline or other fuel inside the house, in the basement, or near a fuel-burning appliance, open flames, pilot lights, stoves, heaters, electric mowers, or any other sources of ignition.

Never smoke near gasoline.

Never carry gasoline in the trunk of the car. Escaping vapors can easily ignite.

Keep gasoline, kerosene and other fuels out of the reach of children. Never permit children to play with matches or fuel.