State leaders discuss legislation

Published 11:30 am Tuesday, January 13, 2015

State Rep. Rusty Kidd and state Sen. Burt Jones addressed legislative issues with local residents last week on the eve of the Georgia General Assembly session. 

Kidd and Jones took audience questions at Thursday’s Milledgeville Area Tea Party Patriots meeting. 

“What we have coming up in the legislative agenda is three big items … education, health care and transportation,” Jones told the audience of about 40 people.

He said one of the main goals for state officials is to foster growth for the state’s College and Career Academies, including the Baldwin County program. 

“One important thing we’re going to take up in the senate is to expand our College and Career Academies. What we’ve realized is our economy is expanding and the need for a skilled workforce is increasing,” Jones said. 

He spoke about how important it is for representatives to continue to give Georgia’s students an option besides college to look to after high school. 

“Companies are telling us that they are really excited about the College and Career Academies we’ve created and it lets them know we’re serious about trying to educate our youth and create a skilled work force.” 

In relation to industry and business, Kidd said one of the biggest issues in the state is funding for rural hospitals. 

“No industry wants to come to a location that doesn’t have a hospital for its workers. In looking at the budget, we want to make sure we have the right funding for our hospitals in order for them to continue to run properly,” he said. 

He also added that representatives will look at ways to attract more industry to rural Georgia.

Kidd also brought up unification and the Milledgeville-Baldwin County charter referendum, which he is expected to introduce this legislative session. 

“Obviously a local issue that has gotten a lot of press is unification. There will be legislation brought on unification for the city of Milledgeville and Baldwin County this legislative session. Regardless of what some people say who are not educated on the subject matter, all the legislation will do is pass something to allow all the registered voters in the city and county to vote on how they want their local government to be run,” Kidd said. 

Kidd reminded everyone that the charter is a document that will act as a guideline if voters choose to have one unified government rather than two separate government entities. 

“Every citizen has the right to vote on how they want their government run.”