Ginn’s bill vetoed by Gov. Deal

The first-year legislator said he plans to meet soon with Deal to find out what problems Deal had with legislation that passed both the House and the Senate overwhelmingly.

“Senate Bill 86 attempts to address concerns of smaller cities and counties regarding the expense of developing and maintaining plans in order to obtain certification for ‘Qualified Local Government’ status,” Deal said in a written explanation of his action. “While I am sympathetic to the desires of cities and counties to more easily attain such status, the Department of Community Affairs through the promulgation of its own internal rules and regulations, is already attempting to meet their needs. Accordingly, I do not believe this bill is necessary and therefore, I veto SB 86.”

“I don’t know exactly what his thought process was, but I look forward to having some discussion on it,” Ginn said.

The legislation would have repealed the definition of a “qualified local government” and made comprehensive plans optional as opposed to mandatory.

The Senate approved the final version by a 47-0 margin, and the House approved it 159-7.

Ginn gave “two important reasons” why he thinks SB 86 should be made into law.

“Planning needs to fit the community’s size,” he said, referring to the frequent complaint of state and county officials that low-growth rural communities had to meet the same planning standards as high-growth urban jurisdictions, “and the DRI portion of the bill, we elect local officials to do what’s right for their communities. I don’t think it’s right to second-guess what they do.”

The development of regional impact process requires governments to submit data on proposed major developments to their local regional development commissions, which d then declare whether the projects are “in the best interest” of the state. Ginn notes that the regional commissions’ findings are recommendations only, with no enforceability. SB 86 would have eliminated the DRI process.

Ginn said he got input from the Georgia Municipal Association, the Association County Commissioners of Georgia and the Department of Community Affairs to address concerns those groups had.”

“If I had known the governor had issues with the bill, I would have tried to work them out,” he added.

Ginn said he’s talked briefly with Deal’s chief of staff but that the governor was on his way out of town when Ginn learned of the veto.

“I’m sure we’ll be getting together over the next week or two,” he said.