{"id":1101,"date":"2012-02-17T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2012-02-17T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/2012\/02\/letting-the-foxes-in-the-dnr-henhouse-katherine-helms-cummings.html"},"modified":"2012-02-17T08:00:00","modified_gmt":"2012-02-17T13:00:00","slug":"letting-the-foxes-in-the-dnr-henhouse-katherine-helms-cummings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/2012\/02\/letting-the-foxes-in-the-dnr-henhouse-katherine-helms-cummings.html","title":{"rendered":"Letting the foxes in the DNR henhouse —Katherine Helms Cummings"},"content":{"rendered":"

Guess who thinks letting regulated corporations contribute to the
\nnatural resources regulatory agency is a good idea?<\/p>\n

\nReceived yesterday on
\n
\nStop Georgia Power from stopping you from affording solar<\/a>. -jsq<\/p>\n

\nAnd if GA Power having control over the grid here isn’t bad enough,
\nnow the General Assembly is considering letting DNR ask for donations
\nfrom the corporations they issue permits to, and then enforce.<\/p>\n

\n-Katherine Helms Cummings\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

She linked to this post on her blog,
\n
\nHB 887 gives corporate foxes the key to the hen house<\/a>,<\/p>\n

\nI have a hard time believing that the DNR is going to hold a bake sale
\nto protect the rivers and streams of our state. Some House leaders,
\nincluding Judy Manning (R-Marietta) and Debbie Buckner (D-Junction City)
\nhave said they are uneasy with HB 887. Rightly so.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

OK, so who thinks it’s a good idea?<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\nHB 887 is sponsored by Chad Nimmer, R-Blackshear, Matt Ramsey, R-Peachtree
\nCity, Ellis Black, R-Valdosta, B.J. Pak, R-Lilburn, Robert Dickey, R-
\nMusella, and Richard Smith, R-Columbus.<\/p>\n

\nNow you know who to blame.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n


\n<\/a>
\nHm, one of those names seems, ah, local.<\/p>\n

\nHere’s
\nthe official summary of the bill<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\nA BILL to be entitled an Act to amend Code Section 12-2-4 of the Official
\nCode of Georgia Annotated, relating to the powers and duties of the
\nDepartment of Natural Resources, so as to authorize the Department
\nof Natural Resources to solicit and accept gifts, donations, and
\ncontributions; to repeal conflicting laws; and for other purposes.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

No, she wasn’t exaggerating.
\nAnd the summary is correct:<\/p>\n

\n

SECTION 1.<\/H3>
\nCode Section 12-2-4 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to the powers and
\n8 duties of the Department of Natural Resources, is amended by adding a new subsection (l)
\nto read as follows:<\/p>\n

\n“(l) The department shall have the power and authority to solicit and
\nreceive gifts, donations, or contributions from any person, firm, or
\ncorporation to be used in the furtherance of the purposes, objectives,
\npowers, duties, or responsibilities of the department under this title or
\nunder any other provision of state or federal law. For purposes of this
\nsubsection, ‘solicit’ means, but is not limited to, fund raising and other
\npromotional activities deemed appropriate by the department. Any funds
\nreceived pursuant to this subsection shall be retained by the department
\nand shall not be paid into the general fund of the state treasury. Any
\nfees collected pursuant to this subsection shall be retained pursuant
\nto the provisions of Code Section 45-12-92.1”\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

SECTION 2.<\/H3>
\nAll laws and parts of laws in conflict with this Act are repealed.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Apparently
\n
\nEllis Black<\/a> (and a bunch of other state legislators) thinks making
\nDNR self-funding, by soliciting donations from anyone including
\nthe companies it regulates, is a good idea.<\/p>\n

\nDoes that seem right to you?<\/p>\n

\n-jsq<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Guess who thinks letting regulated corporations contribute to the natural resources regulatory agency is a good idea? Received yesterday on Stop Georgia Power from stopping you from affording solar. -jsq And if GA Power having control over the grid here isn’t bad enough, now the General Assembly is considering letting DNR ask for donations from […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[97,16,70,477,8,2,21,22],"tags":[1081,1153,3052,3053,3054,8728,8701,753,8712,3055,220],"class_list":["post-1101","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-activism","category-environment","category-ethics","category-ga-dnr","category-georgia","category-government","category-planning","category-politics","tag-conflict-of-interest","tag-corruption","tag-department-of-natural-resources","tag-dnr","tag-donations","tag-ethics","tag-georgia","tag-legislature","tag-politics","tag-regulation","tag-regulatory-capture"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1101","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1101"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1101\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1101"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1101"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1101"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}