State Representative Kevin Tanner kicks off weekly meetings

DAWSONVILLE, Ga. – State Representative Kevin Tanner (R-Dawsonville) kicked off a series of weekly meetings with constituents at a Saturday morning breakfast in the Gordon Pirkle Room at the Georgia Racing Hall of Fame.

A crowd of about 60-70 people listened as Tanner discussed the issues that legislators will tackle during the 2019 session of the Georgia General Assembly and answered questions.

Tanner is now entering his fourth term in state government where he serves on a number of committees, including the powerful appropriations committee and transportation committee which he chairs.

Budget hearings will begin this week and Tanner said the proposed budget presented by Gov. Brian Kemp for the next fiscal year is $27 billion with a reserve fund of about $2.5 billion. Although the General Assembly will not be in session this week, the governor is scheduled to address a joint session of the House and Senate Appropriations Committees to discuss his priorities for the coming year. Under the Georgia Constitution, the governor proposes the budget then it is up to the General Assembly to decide what the final budget looks like.

As far as upcoming legislation, Tanner, who also serves on the state education committee, plans to continue working to identify low performing schools and provide opportunities for improvement. He said HB 338 which was passed a couple of years ago to help struggling schools has been a big success.

Tanner said the committee had identified additional schools that need help and said, “We’re going to be presenting some legislation on that and those principals and superintendents will come and testify in support of that.”

Transit services in rural Georgia like the Dial-A-Ride program are delivered by three separate agencies –Health, Department of Community Affairs and Georgia Department of Transportation – depending on who is being transported.

“What we’re looking at doing without spending additional dollars is to streamline that process so instead of having that under three agencies, put it under one agency,” Tanner said. “We’re going to get some pushback on that from bureaucracy because nobody wants to lose their power, or their domain.

“We want to be able to offer opportunities around the state to utilize existing dollars that are being spent in a better way, to move people job opportunities, education opportunities and healthcare opportunities and there is a way we can do that.”

Tanner also said he will be introducing legislation to create a mental health commission that will be made up of two house members, two senate members and 15 experts in the mental health area.

“We’ve got to do better as a state, and as a country, quite frankly,” he said.

Next week’s meeting will take place at the Wagon Wheel restaurant in Dahlonega.

 

 

 

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