February 4, 2010
This year, the federal government is conducting the 2010 Census. The census is a count of everyone residing in the United States. All U.S. residents must be counted, including both citizens and non- citizens.
The census is important for a number of reasons. It will determine state population counts and determine representation in the U.S. House of Representatives, as well as boundaries for state and local legislative and congressional districts. Census data also guides planning for new hospitals, roads, job training centers, schools and other pgorams essential to communities.
Your participation is particularly important in this year's census. Georgia is poised to pick up one or two congressional seats, expanding our representation in Congress.
You should receive your census questionnaire by mail in March. If you do not receive a questionnaire, you will be able to pick one up from several public sites. Households should complete and mail back questionnaires upon receipt. Households that do not respond may receive a replacement questionnaire in early April. Census takers will visit homes that do not return questionnaires to take a count in person.
The 2010 questionnaire consists of 10 short questions and takes about 10 minutes to complete. Households are asked to provide key demographic information, including: whether a housing unit is rented or owned; address of the residence; and the names, genders, ages and races of others living in the household. Federal law prohibits the sharing of information from the Census with any other organization or agency, so your information is secure.
I encourage everyone to participate in the 2010 Census. It is critically important and only takes a few minutes.
Georgia leaders must level with voters: there is no free lunch
December 3, 2009
In little over a month, my fellow legislators and I will be returning to Atlanta to begin a new session under the Gold Dome. This will be my eighth session of representing my hometown of Smyrna and South Cobb County, including two in the House of Representatives and six in the Senate.
The coming session appears similar to my first session in 2003. Georgia was just beginning to recover from a recession, and revenues had dropped for 18 straight months. We had nearly exhausted our reserve funds and were facing a $600 million budget shortfall.
How did my fellow legislators, along with Governor Perdue, confront this budget challenge in 2003? First, the new Governor picked the most conservative of the three projected revenue estimates for the coming year. Second, the Governor proposed a mixture of budget cuts and increases in tobacco and alcohol taxes.
It was a prudent, fiscally balanced approach that previous Governors had followed. The reasoning behind this approach was to make necessary cuts in non-essential services during a recession, while reducing the cuts on vital state services, such as education and healthcare, which are always in greater demand during economic hard times.
Unfortunately for Governor Perdue, his own party would not support him in the House. The then-Democratic majority passed the proposed mixture of cuts and a 25-cent cigarette tax increase without most of the Republican Caucus. This lack of support was due to Republican members’ desire to stay “ideologically pure” instead of joining us in governing the state’s fiscal affairs.
The Republican-controlled Senate followed suit by rejecting Governor Perdue’s budget compromise with the House, cutting $400 million out of K-12, Technical and Higher education funding. In the end, education cuts were restored to the 2004 budget.
Unfortunately, this was a sign of things to come. Since gaining control of the legislature in the 2004 election, this need by my Republican colleagues to base public policy totally on ideological purity, appeasing the 20 percent of the electorate that votes in a Republican primary, has repeated itself on many issues. From attempting to criminalize promising stem-cell research on chronic diseases at Georgia universities and in the private sector, to the $1.2 billion in state funding cuts to our local school systems, my friends across the aisle seem to be driven by the most ideological of their supporters instead of the common good for the state.
Anyone who has worked with me in the General Assembly knows that I’m a bi-partisan problem solver. But I can no longer remain silent while this partisan prison that my colleagues and friends across the aisle have constructed threatens the future prosperity of Georgia and its citizens. This partisan OCB (obsessive compulsive behavior) has served to create a looming structural budget deficit by the middle of the next decade, leaving the state unable to fund basic government services or invest in desperately needed infrastructure for job creation and viability in this 21st century global economy.
So, you ask, when is Georgia going to become a southeastern version of California? By 2015, according to projections as recent as 2008, if we continue the fiscally irresponsible belief my colleagues across the aisle repeat to themselves and anyone who will listen that we can continue to give special-interest tax breaks and tax cuts with no impact on revenues.
My father, a very successful businessman, gave me some advice on one essential truth about life: there is no free lunch. However, my colleagues have created a belief in some citizens that they should not have to pay any taxes, and somehow their city, schools, and state will still provide services. Unfortunately, due to a recession that has lasted 20 months, the bill on the supposed free lunch for Georgia and its citizens will come due three years earlier than projected – in fiscal year 2012.
Let me give you a quick scorecard of what we faced in funding the 2010 budget. The Governor and the Republican leadership faced a $3.1 billion shortfall in creating the FY 2010 budget in comparison to FY 2009.
The Governor and the General Assembly balanced the budget with over $2.2 billion in various reserve funds, Federal Stimulus dollars, and the elimination of the Homeowner Tax Relief Grant. These funds are non-recurring; therefore, they must be replaced over the next two years with another revenue source. This can only occur either from growth in current sources or adding new sources.
Otherwise, the only alternative is to cut as much as $2.2 billion on top of current cuts from the FY 2012 budget. We could start by updating our antiquated Department of Revenue, which, according to latest estimates, misses collecting nearly $1.6 billion a year in current taxes. We could also increase the cigarette tax to $1 a pack and raise between $300 million and $400 million a year, while also reducing teenage smoking.
My Republican colleagues have argued for years that we have a spending problem, but Georgia ranks in the bottom 10 states in per capita spending. They also argue that we can reduce the budget by eliminating waste and inefficiency, but Georgia has the highest performance management grade in the Southeast and is one of the top eight best-managed states in the country, according to Governing magazine.
What we have is a revenue problem. The Republican majority sees nothing wrong with giving away $1.5 billion in tax cuts and tax breaks to special interests, while at the same time slapping a $480 million tax increase (the largest in our state’s history) on everyday Georgians. The elimination of the Homeowner Tax Relief Grant is costing the average homeowner an extra $200 to $300 on an annual basis.
The special-interest tax breaks and tax cuts the Republicans are so fond of were created, for the most part, in the name of job creation. But there is no accountability on whether the purpose of those tax breaks is being fulfilled. Georgia’s unemployment rate is higher than ever. There are fewer jobs in our state now than there were at the beginning of this decade. And the Republican leaders at the Capitol call themselves “conservative”? No one in their right mind would run their private business or household budget in such a fiscally irresponsible manner.
We indeed have a revenue problem that can be solved only through fundamental tax reform, linking our budget needs to a 21st century tax system. We have to develop a fair and adequate tax structure that enables us to fund high-quality services and make long-term infrastructure investments in education, transportation and water resources if Georgia and its citizens are to prosper in the global economy.
Sen. Stoner to host Wellness & Benefits Fair on October 24
October 2, 2009
State Sen. Doug Stoner (D-Smyrna) will host a Wellness & Benefits Fair for residents of Senate District 6, their families and friends on Saturday, Oct. 24, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Destiny World Church, 7400 Factory Shoals Road in Austell.
The Georgia Department of Labor will be there to provide employment resource information, and Cobb Works will have its Mobile Career Unit on site, providing computers and job-searching tools. Representatives from Right from the Start will be on hand to assist with applications for Medicaid and PeachCare, and WellStar will provide free health screenings for those in attendance.
Make plans to attend on Oct. 24!
Energy and Water Efficient Products Sales Tax Holiday
October 1, 2009
Legislation adopted during the 2009 legislative session, House Bill 120, provides for an exemption from both state and local sales and use taxes for specific energy efficient products. These exemptions apply to sales occurring Oct.1-4. The exemptions are limited to products with a purchase price of $1,500 or less that have been designated as meeting requirements of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and U.S. Department of Energy "Energy Star" programs.
The energy efficient products eligible for the exemption are as follows: air conditioners, ceiling fans, fluorescent light bulbs, clothes washers, dishwashers, windows (including skylights), refrigerators, programmable thermostats, dehumidifiers and doors.
The water efficient products eligible for the exemption are as follows: bathroom sink faucets or aerators, high-efficiency toilets and flushing urinals.
The exemptions are intended for items purchased for non-commercial home or personal use. The exemptions do not apply to: products not specifically listed above; products with a purchase price over $1,500; products purchased for use in a trade or business; products that are rented or leased; or sales by or to a contractor or retail dealer performing a real property construction contract as a contractor.
If you need additional information, see the answers to frequently asked questions and Regulation 560-12-2-.112. You may also contact the Taxpayer Services Division at 404-417-6601 for assistance.
Georgians encouraged to take action in flu season
September 30, 2009
The Georgia Department of Community Health (DCH) encourages everyone to take action and be prepared to fight the seasonal flu and novel influenza A (H1N1) viruses this fall. September is National Preparedness month and an opportunity for individuals, families and businesses to learn how to slow the spread of the disease in their communities.
"Knowing where to find reliable and timely information is a key component to ensuring that you and your family are prepared," said DCH Commissioner and Acting Public Health Director Dr. Rhonda Medows. "Make contingency plans now for your home and work place needs in the event that you or your family members become ill."
Georgians should prepare this fall and winter for higher than normal absenteeism because more than one flu virus is circulating. Current data indicates that the severity of the novel H1N1 virus has not increased but since individuals are not immune to this new virus more will be affected.
"Prepare, plan and stay informed are the keys to emergency preparedness. Prepare for an increase in the number of individuals affected by the novel H1N1 virus in schools and across businesses; plan what to do if you, your loved ones or co-workers get sick and have to stay home; and stay connected with a trusted source for up-to-date information on seasonal flu and novel H1N1," said Dr. Patrick O'Neal, director of DCH's Division of Emergency Preparedness & Response (EPR).
DCH launched the Roll Up Your Sleeve campaign in August in conjunction with the 18 health districts to educate Georgians about the importance of individuals within high-risk categories obtaining a seasonal flu and/or novel H1N1 vaccination. The campaign addresses how everyone can prevent the spread of the flu viruses, and points out the steps to take if they have symptoms.
"We cannot stop an influenza pandemic, but we may limit spread of the disease through early detection and a well-planned response," added O'Neal. "If you are not feeling well, stay home; if necessary contact your medical provider. If you are a business owner identify critical roles and cross-train employees."
Click here for more information.
Delayed state tax refunds add insult to injury
July 1, 2009
By Sen. Doug Stoner and Sen. Tim Golden
According to Gov. Sonny Perdue’s official web site, his goal is to “put Georgia at the top of national rankings for the ‘Best-Managed State in America.’ The high standards for best-managed states parallel the Perdue principles for governing a New Georgia: effectiveness, efficiency, accountability for results, and a customer-focused culture of public service.”
A customer-focused culture of public service? With hundreds of thousands of Georgia taxpayers still awaiting payment of state income tax refunds from last year, the governor must be aware the state Department of Revenue is falling well short of that goal.
There are more than 400,000 Georgians who filed their state tax returns before the April 15 deadline who have yet to receive a refund of the amount they overpaid in state taxes in 2008. The state Department of Revenue admits that it will be as late as November before it works through its backlog and all the refunds are distributed.
Gov. Perdue’s “let them eat cake” response was disappointing to say the least. He says Georgia taxpayers have been “spoiled” by timely refunds in the past. The governor seems to forget that tax refunds are not welfare checks. This money belongs to the taxpayers, not the government.
The Perdue administration’s Commissioner of Revenue, Bart Graham, offers only one excuse: his office is understaffed because of budget cuts that were ordered by none other than Gov. Perdue. In the priorities of this administration, it seems, the needs of the taxpayer always come last.
This cavalier attitude toward the taxpayers has unfortunately become all too typical in the seven years the Republican Party has been in charge of state government in Georgia – exactly the opposite of the image the GOP wants you to have.
Since taking office, Gov. Perdue and his friends in the legislature have cut approximately $2 billion in state funding to local school systems. But they did not lower your state taxes accordingly; they spent the money on other programs and tax cuts for their donors and forced your local school board to make up the difference.
Guess who ultimately got the bill, year after year: You did.
During the 2009 session of the General Assembly, Gov. Perdue and Republican leadership refused to fund the Homeowner Tax Relief Grants the state provides to local governments in order to keep property taxes down for homeowners. The result of this action will be a $200-$300 property tax increase for the average Georgia homeowner this year.
The Republican leaders and their spokespeople will argue they have passed plenty of tax cuts – for businesses and other corporate interests. We have supported most of these as well, for the purpose of economic development and fighting against the tide of manufacturing job losses in our state over the past decade. But the interests of the average individual Georgia taxpayer have unfortunately not been a high priority item on this administration’s agenda.
One in 10 Georgians sits unemployed, and this is the highest the state’s jobless rate has been in more than 20 years. Every day, the economic recession is causing more and more of our fellow citizens to lose their livelihoods, their homes and their savings accounts.
By failing to issue income tax refunds in a timely manner and passing the state’s budget problems on to local property owners, the state’s Republican leaders – who claim to be friends of the taxpayer – are not coming to the aid of their fellow Georgians. Instead, they are adding insult to injury.
Sen. Tim Golden (D-Valdosta) is chair of the Senate Democratic Caucus. Sen. Doug Stoner (D-Smyrna) is vice chair of the Senate State Institutions & Property Committee.
Transportation not a priority for Republican leaders
April 13, 2009
When our state’s legislative leaders decided to slap a utility rate increase on consumers to help Georgia Power with the future financing of a nuclear plant expansion, they rushed to get it done in a couple of weeks’ time.
But when it comes to helping those who fight Atlanta traffic to get to work every day and the communities across the state in need of better roads, a similar sense of legislative urgency was nowhere to be found. It appeared that Gov. Perdue, Lt. Gov. Cagle and Speaker Richardson either don’t know the importance of solving Georgia’s transportation problem or they don’t care.
It has now been more than two years since a Joint Senate-House Transportation Funding Study Committee was created to address why Georgia’s transportation system was failing to keep up with the needs of the state’s growing population. It was our job not only to determine the severity of the problem but also to recommend a legislative solution.
In the summer of 2007, the committee undertook this mission in a serious, bipartisan and bicameral manner. We discovered the state was facing a transportation funding shortfall of up to $8 billion to simply to keep up with our current needs over the next five years. Realistically, though, the shortfall was about $20 billion when taking the proposed and necessary improvements into account.
Certainly some innovative steps were going to be necessary. The Department of Transportation needed to be run more efficiently. Private funding incentives and toll roads were suggested as steps in the right direction. But the overriding recommendation was, and continues to be, a plan to generate considerably more revenue for transportation.
We entered the 2008 legislative session with such a plan: a special local option sales tax for transportation (T-SPLOST), to be voted on, collected and invested at the regional level. The proposal appeared to be sailing along during last year’s session toward placement on the 2008 general election ballot until the final night of the session. Because of infighting between Lt. Gov. Cagle and Speaker Richardson, the lieutenant governor failed to lead his Republican caucus, and the legislation was defeated.
The T-SPLOST plan was back on the Senate’s agenda at the beginning of this year’s session, and it passed overwhelmingly on Feb. 3. But the House of Representatives went in a different direction, insisting on a statewide sales tax increase to fund a predetermined list of highway projects, including the widening of a rural road that leads to the Reynolds Plantation golf resort, owned by a major Republican financial donor.
Senate and House conferees were never able to get close to negotiating a compromise, largely because the process got sidetracked by the insistence of the governor, lieutenant governor and speaker to pass separate legislation increasing their own power over transportation decisions. So for at least another year, Georgians will be no closer to a transportation solution, while Atlanta residents continue to sit in traffic, burning gasoline and productivity, for hours out of each day. And rural residents must endure another year of inadequate roads, further increasing the economic chasm between rural and metro regions of Georgia.
To make matters worse, the House failed to act on legislation I introduced and passed in the Senate that would have allowed MARTA to avoid drastic cutbacks in service without costing the state a dime. SB 120 simply would have relieved MARTA of the requirement to use 50 percent of its sales tax revenue on capital expenditures, authorizing the transit system to use more of the funds it has already collected to make up its operating deficit.
Incredibly, Gov. Perdue blamed MARTA for not bringing the severe need to pass SB 120 to his attention. Does the governor expect us to believe he was not aware of MARTA’s financial problems? Is he insulting our intelligence or that far out of touch? The situation was so dire that MARTA officials have said they might have to shut down one day a week. That’s the day we would see how much worse the legislature made Atlanta’s traffic situation this year
Thankfully, the Atlanta Regional Commission (ARC) stepped up to the plate and took an unprecedented step of authorizing a reallocation of their own stimulus dollars help MARTA meet their immediate needs. But the words of Tad Leithead, senior vice president of Cousins Properties, who serves on ARC, should serve as a warning to us in the legislature “MARTA affects 500,000 people in this [Atlanta] region every day. There are no road projects in our plan in which we could invest $25 million and impact so many people. We just hope the legislature understands that no one will be here to bail them out if they don’t fix MARTA’s funding situation next year.”
From all reports, the state’s business community is understandably livid. Transportation was their No. 1 issue throughout the 2009 legislative session. The supposedly “pro-business” Republican majority delivered all talk and no action for the second year in a row. Georgia’s business leaders are not buying the GOP’s half-hearted excuses that the sales tax referendum could not be voted on until 2010 anyway, so we still have next year’s session to pass the legislation.
The business leaders know that it will take a major effort for the referendum to succeed, and the rest of this year could have been devoted to raising the resources for such a campaign. Trying to raise those funds next year, in the middle of a governor’s race, U.S. Senate race and other statewide elections, will be much more difficult.
What will it take to get our legislative leaders to take the transportation problem seriously and respond as quickly as they do to, say, a rate increase request from Georgia Power? Maybe such leadership requires a new set of leaders.
Stoner calls for Senate hearing on MARTA financial crisis
March 19, 2009
In response to reports this week in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Senate Intermodal Rail & Transit Subcommittee Chairman Senator Doug Stoner (D-Smyrna) is calling for a subcommittee hearing on MARTA’s dire financial situation.
“Reports that MARTA is openly discussing shutting down entire rail lines and limiting service to make ends meet warrant immediate attention,” Stoner said. “MARTA’s economic impact in the metropolitan Atlanta region is huge. MARTA eases congestion around the downtown core and is a primary means of transportation to and from Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport.”
Senator Stoner has invited MARTA General Manager Dr. Beverly Scott to testify before his subcommittee Tuesday, March 24. Dr Scott will fully explain the impact of the financial crisis on MARTA’s ability to maintain current service levels. Over 500,000 daily commuters rely on MARTA to get to work and school.
Senators were warned that such consequences were possible, and worked to pass Senate Bill 120, introduced by Senator Stoner. The Senate overwhelmingly approved Senate Bill 120, which would remove the “50-50” restriction on the local sales taxes collected for MARTA thereby authorizing MARTA to use local sales tax revenues as it see fits to meet its obligation to metro Atlanta. Currently, Senate Bill 120 awaits action in the House Transportation Committee.
Senate GOP chooses politics over lifesaving science
By Sen. Doug Stoner and Sen. Tim Golden
(March 16, 2009)
More than 5 million Americans suffer from Alzheimer’s disease. Another 1.5 million are Parkinson’s disease patients. Hundreds of thousands more are living with the results of spinal cord injury or disease, with that number growing by 30 newly injured people each day.
But their problems, and those of their loved ones, are not the concern of the Republican members of the Georgia State Senate – not a single one. With haste rarely seen at the State Capitol, Senate Republicans rushed last week to introduce and put their stamp of approval on legislation designed to ensure that medical research that could lead to effective treatments or even a cure for Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, spinal injuries and many other diseases will not take place in the state of Georgia.
The legislation, SB 169, would outlaw embryonic stem cell research in our state. SB 169 passed the Senate in a strict party-line vote, despite testimony in opposition from the medical, scientific and academic communities.
Without a doubt, this legislation is a knee-jerk reaction to President Barack Obama’s lifting of the ban on federal funding for embryonic stem cell research a few days earlier. Also without a doubt, the proposal was aimed at appeasing a powerful special interest group whose support is considered vital to Republican electoral success.
The bill was opposed by the University System of Georgia and some of its leading researchers. While the research will thankfully go on in other states, this is the wrong message for Georgia to be sending to sufferers of these diseases and their families, who are holding out hope for effective treatments and potential cures.
Turning their backs on all Georgians who support the lifesaving possibilities offered by stem cell research, Senate Republicans sided with a vocal minority who curiously fail to consider curing deadly diseases as “pro-life.” Whether or not they will admit falling victim to political pressure in voting to criminalize stem cell research, they have unfortunately cast Georgia as a backward state on this important issue.
Charles Craig, president of Georgia Bio, a non-profit group that promotes Georgia’s life science industry, was quoted by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution as saying this legislation “tells the rest of the world that Georgia is anti-technology” – not exactly a sales tool for recruiting bio-medical companies to our state.
If SB 169 actually becomes law, one of the most tragic ironies is that Georgia is one of the states possessing the brainpower and the opportunity to be on the cutting edge of this research into the treatment and ultimate eradication of these deadly diseases.
Instead, by unanimously choosing partisan politics over lifesaving science, Senate Republicans have taken the first step toward making Georgia a joke in the science and medical communities as well as with bio-medical companies who might be considering locating their businesses in Georgia.
But the Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and spinal injury patients, their families and others like them hoping for a cure from stem cell research aren’t laughing.
Sen. Doug Stoner (D-Smyrna) represents the 6th District. Sen. Tim Golden is Chairman of the Senate Democratic Caucus, and represents the 8th District in the State Senate.
Passing the buck to local governments is not ‘tax relief’
By Sen. Doug Stoner & Sen. Tim Golden
(February 26, 2009)
It seems that hardly a day goes by during the current legislative session without a majority of either the Senate or the House of Representatives passing legislation that claims to help Georgia taxpayers but in reality merely passes the buck to the local level of government.
Artificial, one-size-fits-all proposals like these provide great political theater but little or no actual tax relief. While our property tax system needs some reform, after much thought and deliberation, we have come to the conclusion that HB 233 is another unfunded mandate that simply forces local governments to either raise millage rates, and/or reduce vital services and lay off employees, including the law enforcement and public safety officers who protect us every day. This restriction on local control would especially hurt our already underfunded public schools.
In the state legislature, we are presently dealing with a $3 billion budget deficit of our own. Yet the majority seems to think we have all the answers and the time to micromanage the finances of 159 county governments, more than 500 city governments and 180 local school systems.
We do need to deal with rising property taxes in a responsible way. State government has actually been a big part of the problem – especially when it comes to shifting the burden to the local level. By handcuffing local governments through drastic funding cuts and unfunded mandates, the state has practically guaranteed that property taxes will go up, and go up they have.
In the past six years, this administration and legislative leadership has reduced Quality Basic Education (QBE) funding to our local schools by nearly $1.6 billion. Class sizes and local property taxes have both increased as a result. In his proposals for the fiscal year 2009 supplemental budget and the 2010 annual budget, the governor is recommending QBE cuts totaling another $400 million. The governor calls these “austerity” cuts, as if our local boards of education have been wasting state public school dollars all these years. But there is nothing austere about merely shifting the responsibility of educating our children from one level of government to another.
Meanwhile, the governor has already signed into law legislation that will protect the Homeowner Tax Relief Grants – for the current fiscal year only. Starting next year, these grants, which have provided true and appropriate tax relief since 1999, will in all likelihood be gone. Again, homeowners will have to pay the bill for this state action, to the tune of $200-$300 per year on the average.
HB 233 does nothing to address these shifts of the tax burden from the state to the local level. Therefore, it offers little to no actual tax relief. Freezing assessments may be good politics, but in the current economy it is not likely that property values would be rising that much anyway.
One of the most important, but less mentioned, drawbacks of HB 233 is its potential to create an unfair disadvantage for new Georgia businesses. Because commercial property reassessments would be frozen for existing businesses, the loss in revenue would have to be made up by new businesses that come into our state, purchase and improve property.
This type of inequity has had such a chilling effect on new business in South Carolina, where reassessments are capped, the economic development community in that state is asking lawmakers to revisit the issue. There is legitimate concern that if HB 233 becomes law, new businesses would think twice before coming to Georgia and creating jobs because of the immediate tax disadvantage they would face.
There is certainly nothing wrong with property assessment freezes or caps per se, but these are the kinds of decisions that should be made at the local level, through local legislation. What is good for Fulton County might not work in Echols County, and vice versa. To think otherwise does a disservice to all property owners.
It is also unclear whether HB 233 is actually constitutional. Some have argued that we would need to change the Georgia Constitution to impose this freeze on the local level. Maybe we need to slow down on the number of mandates (and the number of tax bills that are for show) we pass on to local government and actually take some time to work with the county commissioners, city council members and school board members to enact true property tax relief, rather than simply passing the buck.
HB 233 offers no guarantee of tax relief because it does not address millage rates. In seeking to end the so-called back-door tax increases identified with the reassessment process, we need to consider how certain proposed “solutions” would cause higher taxes to go through the front door.
Sen. Doug Stoner (D-Smyrna) represents the 6th District and Vice Chairman of the Senate State Institutions & Property Committee.
Sen. Tim Golden (D-Valdosta) represents the 8th District and is Chairman of the Senate Democratic Caucus.
District 6
P.O. Box 1781
Smyrna, GA 30081
Phone: 770.436.0699
Fax: 770.436.0699
Email: doug.stoner@senate.ga.gov
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