152-22

UPDATE: You can see how your State Representative voted here.

HB 326, the HOPE bill, passed the House of Representatives today 152-22.

You can read coverage from the AJC here.

Rep. Stacey Evans, D-Smyrna, argued against the bill, saying it hurts a program that gives all students opportunity. Evans, a former HOPE recipient, argued for a sliding scale, using income to determine if students could get more than the 90 percent of  their tuition.

Prior to the full House meeting, Republicans in the Rules Committee blocked Democrats’ attempts to amend the bill to limit HOPE to families with incomes of $100,000 and under.

“HOPE is a wonderful advertisement for college for our students,” Evans said. “We deserve to keep that dream alive for them.”

Minority Leader Stacey Abrams, D-Atlanta, stood in support of the bill, telling the chamber that Gov. Nathan Deal made several concessions to make the proposal truly bipartisan.

“There must be shared sacrifice,” she said. “HOPE does not belong to rich or poor. It belongs to all of us.”


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10 responses to “152-22”

  1. sndeak Avatar
    sndeak

    Contrary to most posters here, I think Abrams did the right thing. The GOP was gonna ram through even more reductions to HOPE.

    If you start means testing the education of our kids, where do you stop? We have means tested the VA to the point of ridiculousness concerning our vets, let’s not do it here too.

    “There must be shared sacrifice,” she said. “HOPE does not belong to rich or poor. It belongs to all of us.”

  2. Dustin@GAPolitico Avatar

    I am very disappointed in Stacey’s vote. Some on the GAPolitico team thinks she should step down.

    That said, I think she needs to learn a lesson from this. I hope this rising up of Democrats will explain to her that this type of behavior will not stand.

  3. Chris Avatar
    Chris

    I’m concerned by some of her own comments – like telling Galloway that she doesn’t have the Gingrich type bombthrower in her personality.

    If you want to be the Evan Bayh of the Georgia House that’s fine, but you’ll notice that Evan Bayh wasn’t the leader. If you want to be leader, you’ve got to have a little Gingrich in you — unless you never want to have “majority” in front of your title.

  4. griftdrift Avatar
    griftdrift

    My comment meant record for calling for someones head.

  5. D.B. Avatar
    D.B.

    Dang it, Abrams. Record sell-out time. Time to hand over the leadership reigns to someone who will stand up for our basic tenants, including education.

  6. griftdrift Avatar
    griftdrift

    That didn’t take long. Might be a record. Even for Democrats.

  7. JMPrince Avatar
    JMPrince

    We had an open house about this in Rome @ Highlands College last night for the 11thCD. Universally the thought from most there was that this was a very difficult & highly complex undertaking that deserved some time and more serious study. Both Rick Crawford & Barbara Massey Reece agreed that there were plenty of details to be worked out and lots of working parts no one was paying much attention to right now. The local school superintendent said the logistics alone on the pre-k cuts would be a nightmare. But not much thought going into all this. As per usual under the gold bubble.

    We’ll be living with the consequences and likely cleaning up the deleterious unintended effects for years. All in the name of speed to try & disarm any opposition, before anyone can much think of what it all might mean. We’d be giving more thought to almost any consumer purchase. Or even pizza toppings as someone else noted last night. Really silly & counterproductive. Very Ga. GOP.
    JMP

  8. Juliana Avatar
    Juliana

    @Jake and GA Politico, with all due respect-we can’t start eating our young quite this soon.

    I’m hugely disappointed but honestly kicking folks to the curb isn’t a solution that serves anyone long term.

    Just who do you think even wants the gig? Seriously-no seriously.

  9. Jake Avatar
    Jake

    Abrams should step down.

    http://gapolitico.com/?p=17614

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