Chief Justice of State Supreme Court makes pitch to lawmakers for most expensive state building in history.
Week three of the 2016 Georgia General Assembly is complete. The amended year 2016 budget passed the House and was transmitted to the State Senate. The Fiscal year 2017 budget debate will be next on the appropriations committee’s schedule.
On Wednesday of last week, we heard the State of the Judiciary address from Chief Justice Hugh Thompson of the Georgia Supreme Court. The chief justice’s comments were centered on a theme of making Georgia Courts “21st Century Courts”. He highlighted the new Judicial Council Standing Committee on Technology which was created to lead the judicial branch on technology initiatives. He shared the goal of seeing Georgia Courts transition from paper documents to electronic filings in order to improve efficiency in the system. The chief justice lauded recent criminal justice reforms and pointed out the fact that our state’s prisons are populated at the lowest level in the past 10 years. He stated that these reforms saved the state taxpayers more than $51 million in 2015.
As with many speeches we hear at the capitol, there was a catch. The chief justice mentioned that the old facilities where the appeals court and supreme court are housed are in need of replacement, with court security being a very plausible justification. The catch was the $100 million price tag. This price would make the proposed new courts building the most expensive state building in history. We will see how that debate goes. Not mentioned in the speech, but without question related, is a proposal to expand the Georgia Supreme Court from seven members to nine members, with each member costing the taxpayers over $1.5 million per year. Many wonder if the proposal for the new $100 million building and the proposal for the two new supreme court judges are somehow connected.
Every column this year I have asked to hear from folks on the legislative proposal to bring casino gambling to Georgia. This week I heard six new opinions and I want to thank all of those who have taken the time to send me a response over the past few weeks. To date, the tally is 12 against and 7 for bringing casino gambling to Georgia. I want to know what you think about this important issue. If you want to share your opinion on this issue or any others, please contact me. I can be reached at 404-656-0325 or [email protected].
Rep. Dan Gasaway (R-Homer) represents the 28th GA House District. His district includes Stephens and Banks Counties and the southern end of Habersham.
