Week Ending January 17, 2020

On Monday, January 13, 2020 both the Georgia House and Senate returned to the State Capitol in Atlanta to begin the first full week (legislative days 1 – 4) of the 2020 session.  The 2020 session is the second year of this biennial; Georgia’s General Assembly operates each term on a two-year basis called the biennial.

As is typically the case, the first week of the 2020 session was comprised primarily of the annual official session opening procedures. A few of House committees met generally to set rules and procedures for how the committees will function.

Governor Kemp Delivers 2020 State of the State Address

Following years old tradition, Governor Brian Kemp delivered his second annual State of the State address to a joint session of the General Assembly on Thursday, January 16,2020.  I highly recommend you watch the Governor’s address by clicking on this link:  Watch Governor Kemp’s State of the State.

Gov. Kemp reminded us of the great successes that we have experienced in Georgia recently, including reaching the lowest unemployment rate in the state’s history at 3.3 percent, creating 64,000 new private sector jobs and being named the number one state to do business for the seventh straight year. Despite these successes, we have much work to do to make our state even stronger.

It was my honor to attend the 18th Annual 2020 Martin Luther King Community Breakfast for Glynn, McIntosh, Liberty, Camden and Bryan counties on Friday, January 17, hosted by the Coastal Georgia Area Community Action Authority at the College Place United Methodist Church.

Dr. King's life ended when he was only 39 years old and in those few short years, his life, his message and his leadership left a lifetime impact on our country. I have often wondered what the totality of Dr. King's life could have been if still alive today; on January 15, 2020 Dr. King would have been 91 years old.

If you believe Georgia House Speaker David Ralston should immediately resign, please contact your Georgia State Representative today. Politely tell your State Representative you think David Ralston should resign and urge your Representative to immediately contact Gov Kemp's office @ 404-656-1776. Tell the Governor you will stand with him and Republican House members in demanding Speaker David Ralston to resign.

To find and reach your State Representative,  Please take action today... CLICK HERE!

With kind regards, 

Rep. Jeff Jones, HD167

PS... Legislators are not above the law, justice delayed is justice denied! Will you stand with the victims and demand David Ralston resign?

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Thursday, April 18, 2019

Contact: Jeff Jones
(404)656-0177
j[email protected]

House Members Call for Speaker Ralston to Resign as Speaker of the Georgia House of Representatives

ATLANTA – State Representative Jeff Jones (R-Brunswick, D167), along with a number of other House Members, announced his continued support for Rep. David Ralston (R-Blue Ridge, D7) to immediately resign his position as the Speaker of the Georgia House of Representatives.

In February, 2019, news outlets reported that in a 2-year period, Speaker Ralston had filed 57 requests for continuance on 21 cases. Of the 93 days that Ralston told the courts he was unavailable, 76 (81%) were outside of the legislative session. “It was because of the initial reports of Speaker Ralston’s abuse of the legislative leave law that I decided to sign on to House Resolution 328 calling on Speaker Ralston to resign his position as Speaker of the House of Representatives”, explained Rep. Jones. “I knew in my heart that this was just the tip of the iceberg which has since been proven to be true.”

“Since the Atlanta Journal Constitution first broke the story about Ralston’s abuse of Georgia’s legislative leave law a few months ago,” said Jones, “additional research has turned up an astonishing number of abuses of legislative leave in criminal and civil cases Ralston handles.”

Week 8, Ending March 8, 2019

Thursday, February 28 this past week was that important annual legislative date we call “crossover day” in the Georgia General Assembly.  Any bills not passed by either the House or Senate have no chance of being signed into law by Governor Kemp.  Sometime that’s a good thing, except of course unless its legislation I am working on.  That is said only partially tongue-in-cheek.

A Crisis in House Leadership

Because of the stand I and others have taken publicly regarding a serious crisis in our State General Assembly leadership at the highest levels, important legislation I have been working on in behalf of the citizens of Georgia is “politically” stuck, and will not move in 2019. I could easily spend this entire newsletter discussing this issue, so much more information that the public has yet to hear, but instead please indulge me while I share one particularly inspiring, but typical, comment I received from a District 167 supporter, and then I will move on to other important state matters:

“Thanks, Jeff. And thank you for standing up for all of us in your efforts to assure that our state leaders are worthy of honor. I stand with you.”  - Mark N. Glynn County, GA

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Week 7, Ending March 1, 2019

We ended the seventh week, also the 25^th day, of the 40-day 2019 legislative session on Friday, March 1, 2019, after a five-day session; the month of February just flew by for me. Next Thursday, March 7 is “cross-over day”, that critical annual deadline when legislation must have passed out of at least one body (House or Senate) to continue to be in play for signing onto law in 2019.

Southwest Georgia Disaster Relief Continues

On Monday, the House passed another bill to support and provide disaster relief to farmers in South Georgia impacted by Hurricane Michael. Hurricane Michael had a catastrophic impact, what I would characterize as “generational damage”, on the citizens and the economy of southwest Georgia; agriculture was particularly devastated. Commercial pecan groves and commercial pine tree stands will take 10, 15 years and longer to return to their marketable maturity. As another common sense measure, House Bill 105 would provide a Georgia income tax exemption for income received as payments from a disaster relief or assistance program if those payments are connected to Hurricane Michael and administered by the United States Department of Agriculture. Those affected by Hurricane Michael would not be taxed on this federal aid over the next three years under this bill to ensure citizens are given the relief and time to rebuild Georgia's agriculture industry.

District 167 Constituents of Glynn, McIntosh and Long Counties and Citizens and Residents of the State of Georgia.

As most of you know, I am working hard every day to represent the citizens of House District 167 and the State of Georgia by following sound and honorable practices. You are to whom I report and to whom I am held accountable in my legislative activities.

Today, February 22, 2019 ended day twenty of the 2019 session, and I am pleased to report that I am making significant progress on the legislation listed on my published 2019-20 legislative agenda. My progress includes filing the very important Georgia Mariculture Development Act of 2019 (HB450).   I have hearings scheduled for two coal ash bills (HB93 & HB94) this coming Monday and Tuesday, February 25^th and 26^th, and a tentatively scheduled hearing on Oyster Mariculture next week as well. Plus progress on changing the drivers licenses issued too non-citizens in our state.

There are many activities going on in addition to working on my legislation.

Today, Friday, February 22, 2019, I signed on to a resolution asking House Speaker David Ralston to voluntarily step down from his position as Speaker of the House of Representatives of the Georgia General Assembly.  This was not a decision taken lightly.

My dedication and commitment to work and honorably serve the citizens of District 167 and the State of Georgia is unwavering.  Despite my having signed the resolution, I am fully expectant that Speaker Ralston will separate the politics of the office he holds as Speaker of the House of Representatives from fulfilling the same solemn oath both Speaker Ralston and I made on opening day of the 2019 session. The oath of service I made is to you.

In your service, I remain,

Sincerely,

Jeff Jones

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Related>> More Georgia lawmakers call for Ralston to resign as House speaker - AJC 2/22

Families accuse state Speaker of the House of intentionally delaying court cases - WSB-TV2 2/13

Week 5, Ending February 15, 2019

My colleagues and I returned to the Gold Dome in Atlanta on Monday, February 11 for the fifth week of the 2019 legislative session. We are now over one-fourth of the way through this 40-day legislative session, but we still have a great deal of work ahead of us.  I still have a number of bills that I am still perfecting.

Week 4, Ending February 8, 2019

Tuesday, February 4, marked the start of a very busy fourth week of the 2019 legislative session. The pace of the session is picking up, and this week brought about notable progress as we convened in the House Chamber for four legislative days and voted on the first bills and resolutions of the session. This week, the House passed several pieces of legislation on the House floor, including important measures like the Amended Fiscal Year 2019 budget and an adjournment resolution that sets the legislative calendar for the remainder of the session.