ATLANTA WITHHELD FED HIV PREVENTION FUNDING (CITY DROPS TO #61)

ATLANTA WITHHELD FEDERAL HIV PREVENTION FUNDING:

STATE OF GEORGIA TAKES OVER ATL HEALTH DEPT.

ATLANTA DROPS TO NO. 61 ON "BEST PLACES TO LIVE".

Sources: AJC, CDC, WABE, WSB-TV,  Youtube

**** Fulton County health department to be run by the state

The top leadership of Fulton County’s health department will be absorbed into the state’s department by next summer, following the passage of a bill that removes the option for counties to have their own boards of health.

The bill, HB 885, is intended to increase cooperation between Fulton and the state following a series of health-related missteps. Two years ago, there was a tuberculosis outbreak in the county, and last year, the county revealed it had not been spending all the grant money it had received to combat HIV. Fulton’s HIV rate is among the worst in the country.

The bill passed the Senate Thursday by a 35-15 vote. Sen. Renee Unterman, R-Buford, said the point was to move the county department closer to the state. A handful of high-ranking workers will become state employees, though the rest will remain with the county.

Later, the updated version was approved by the House, 161-0.

The bill goes to the governor’s desk to be signed.

In objecting to the bill, Sen. Vincent Fort, D-Atlanta, said the change was “another in a long line of anti-Fulton County legislation.”

He said the problems Fulton was having were related to personnel issues, and that the department’s leadership had changed. Kathleen E. Toomey, a former country director for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, started with the department this month.

“This kind of structural change is not needed,” Fort said. “I don’t know what the ulterior is, but I think this is the wrong way to go.”

NC Legislative Black Caucus Doesn't Support Business Community...I Told You, Irrelevant Organization

Minding Legislators' Business



The Free Enterprise Foundation's recent rankings of what legislators are most supportive of business included a few notable elements:

GOP INC. - Republicans, who nationally are seen as more sympathetic to business, fared much better in the rankings than Democrats. Republicans accounted for 18 of the 21 senators rated as "consistent" business supporters. Of the 57 House members in the "consistent" supporter category, 48 were Republicans.

BLACK LIST - Members of the Legislative Black Caucus did poorly in the rankings and, with one exception, 27 or the 28 black senators and House members were placed in the lowest ranked category, "occasional" supporter of business. Rep. Pearl Burris-Floyd, a Gaston County Republican, was in the middle ranking of "frequent" supporter.

NEXT OF YAD-KIN - Former Rep. Chuck Neely, a Raleigh Republican, was a paid lobbyist for Alcoa during the legislative session. He was paid to work against legislation creating the Yadkin River Trust, which would have given the state control over the hydroelectric dams that Alcoa built on the river. Neely is also a Free Enterprise Foundation board member involved in the rankings, and the House and Senate votes on the Yadkin River legislation ended up as one of the measures for the rankings.

"The North Carolina Free Enterprise Foundation is an impartial, nonpartisan organization," said director John Rustin. "The process and methodology used to produce the 2009 Business Ratings was established by a broad-based committee made up of individuals representing a wide variety of industries, interests and geographical areas of the state."



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Sources: McClatchy Newspapers, Under The Dome, NC Free Enterprise Foundation, Google Maps