Amendment 1

[Jimmy Harris]

There seem to be a lot of questions concerning whether or not outdoor sports enthusiasts should vote for Amendment 1 (The Georgia Outdoor Stewardship Amendment) on November 6th. The short story, in my opinion, is YES! If you want to find out more details, here are some sources:

Georgia Trend Magazine

Georgia Outdoor News

Georgia Wildlife Federation

 

[Limitless]

Thanks for posting this! Good articles from reputable sources explaining why sports men and women should be voting for #1.

 

[GeorgiaBob]

The plan is to divert 80% of taxes collected by certain businesses into a special "Trust Fund" that will spend the money on "improvements" to local, state, and federal "public use" lands.

What is NOT covered in Amendment 1 (or the Georgia bill) is exactly what improvements will be considered, or where the state general fund will recoup the revenue lost to the trust fund. I have a lot of questions.

How much money with the "trust me fund" spend on Metro Atlanta paved walking and biking trails? How much state money will the "trust me fund" spend on beautifying federal lands in Georgia (something specifically allowed in the bill)? Is rebuilding dams on public/private land part of the "protections" as the language seems to imply? Who gets to decide what is an improvement, versus eyesore? Will some of the money go to picking up trash in Atlanta playgrounds? How much money will go to protecting hunting on public lands and how much will go instead to parking lots with walking trails?

I am concerned that dedicating a continuing fund to this vague proposal will simply result in ongoing urbanization, creating picnic parks and playgrounds instead of protecting and isolating what little is left of our limited resources.

 

[KingTiger]

The wording in that Amendment is vague & difficult to fully understand as GB pointed out.

I'll be voting NO on all the Amendments & Referendums.

 

[LEON MANLEY]

The wording in that Amendment is vague & difficult to fully understand as GB pointed out.

I'll be voting NO on all the Amendments & Referendums.

I totally agree.
The safe bet is NO for any amendment to the Constitution.

Amendments to our Constitution either take away your rights or freedom or give the government more control over the people.

The only reason for an amendment is so some sleezebag politician can grease their palms. It's never good for the people.

I wonder how many ignorant people will either not vote or vote yes?

 

[LEON MANLEY]

if the government thinks it's a good idea..........................it's usually not.

 

[Meriwether Mike]

The governor gets to appoint his cronies to the board? If we dedicate 80% of the tax to this what else will lose funds?

 

[Jimmy Harris]

Every major conservation group in Georgia is supporting Amendment 1. Please read this I received from Mike Worley, President of the Georgia Wildlife Federation who has been working on this for a couple of years:

· The Trustees that will be setting the priorities and policies for the use of these funds will be the Commissioner of DNR, the DOT Commissioner, Forestry Commission Director, Director of EPD, ex-officio members, Wildlife Resources Director, Coastal Resources Division Director, State Parks Director. Four Citizen members must come from the following categories; forestry, conservation, hunting, fishing, and local government. It seems stacked in favor of the outdoor/sporting community. The Department of Natural Resources Board has to approve and members of the General Assembly must approve the plan. These may well be the most scrutinized expenditures made within state government.

· Funding is based on sales tax from sporting goods stores, not the sale of hunting and fishing equipment. It begins to broaden the investment in public lands from hunting and anglers to all that enjoy outdoor recreation.

· Sure, there will be some money spent on trails and parks. The expenditures must be of regional significance and must come with matching funds from the local government. I’m a hunter and angler and I believe it is good for kids and families to have an opportunity to get outside. The reality is that hunters and anglers are minority in the state, we need to have the non-hunting public support this initiative as well as the sporting community.

· New money will help secure new public lands, and new public hunting lands will be a major component/recipient of the funding.

· The purpose of a Constitutional Amendment, in this case, is to restrict the ability of “politics” to appropriate the funding. The funding will be constitutionally required to be spent were WE as citizens say it must be spent.

 

[howboutthemdawgs]

Every major conservation group in Georgia is supporting Amendment 1. Please read this I received from Mike Worley, President of the Georgia Wildlife Federation who has been working on this for a couple of years:

· The Trustees that will be setting the priorities and policies for the use of these funds will be the Commissioner of DNR, the DOT Commissioner, Forestry Commission Director, Director of EPD, ex-officio members, Wildlife Resources Director, Coastal Resources Division Director, State Parks Director. Four Citizen members must come from the following categories; forestry, conservation, hunting, fishing, and local government. It seems stacked in favor of the outdoor/sporting community. The Department of Natural Resources Board has to approve and members of the General Assembly must approve the plan. These may well be the most scrutinized expenditures made within state government.

· Funding is based on sales tax from sporting goods stores, not the sale of hunting and fishing equipment. It begins to broaden the investment in public lands from hunting and anglers to all that enjoy outdoor recreation.

· Sure, there will be some money spent on trails and parks. The expenditures must be of regional significance and must come with matching funds from the local government. I’m a hunter and angler and I believe it is good for kids and families to have an opportunity to get outside. The reality is that hunters and anglers are minority in the state, we need to have the non-hunting public support this initiative as well as the sporting community.

· New money will help secure new public lands, and new public hunting lands will be a major component/recipient of the funding.

· The purpose of a Constitutional Amendment, in this case, is to restrict the ability of “politics” to appropriate the funding. The funding will be constitutionally required to be spent were WE as citizens say it must be spent.

Cause most conservative groups are lead by someone with something to gain...

 

[NE GA Pappy]

The wording in that Amendment is vague & difficult to fully understand as GB pointed out.

I'll be voting NO on all the Amendments & Referendums.

I am voting NO on all the amendments. We don't need any of them. Period

And the law says up to 80%. They could decide to put none there. If it were a mandatory amount, with specific guidelines on where and how it would be spent.... maybe. Like it is, NO WAY

 

[JackSprat]

Before you run out and start voting for this amendment because "it's for the children" I encourage you to review the history of other dedicated funds extracted from the citizens for equally good causes:

Dead Battery fee

Old Tire fee

Specialty tags

Joshua's fund -enhanced fines on some traffic fines to fund Ga. Driver's Ed.

In each case the fund generated millions of dollars, and then the fund was used by the legislature for pet projects due to "budget shortfalls."

The original wildlife specialty tags were an special rip-off because virturally none of the money went to DNR

The used tire fee of a minimum of $5.00 per old tire was supposed to be dedicated to cleaning up illegal tire dumps. Virtually all that money has been spent on slush fund projects. the amount spent on removing illegal tire dumps is laughably small.

What I telling you is facts, you can verify for yourself with a few minutes internet work.

So if you think our lying legislators will treat this money any different than the slush funds they have created. well God Bless you.

 

[Papa Bear]

While it maybe with good intentions I feel the "Trust Fund" would be something that others could somehow get too and we the sportsmen of Ga. would be let empty handed again. During the Obama economy years I watched as the first cuts were to our DNR and Campgrounds around the lake. Just don't trust any of them when it comes to money.

 

[BassMan31]

There's a reason the wording is vague. Usually, this indicates some attempt to hide the truth.

I would much prefer the ourdoorsman get together and decide to collectively fund conservation projects rather than rely on some missguided bureaucratic process to hold their hand.

Vote NO on the Amendment and meet together, away from the gubernment, and decide how our own conservation dollars should be spent.

 

[Meriwether Mike]

The governor is granted too much power in this amendment. As an example; because Governor Deal wanted to allow hunting over corn in the Northern Zone he bypassed the DNR and had the zone changed to suit his desires. No one knows what a governor will do in the future or whether they will be pro or anti hunting. I do not trust politicians!

 

[JackSprat]

Keep in mind the deal Gov. Purdue did with state funds to bail out his buddies who got hammered when they bought Oakey Woods WMA.

The state could have bought the whole tract for less than what if paid for half the tract later, but the Gov. killed that deal because the "state couldn't afford it." When his buddies were going down the toilet, suddenly the state could afford to buy half the tract. Essentially, letting his buddies have half the tract for free.

Lots of wiggle room for where this money is supposed to go.

 

[mallardsx2]

I have spent days reading about all of these amendments.

I know three things for sure:

1. I am over taxed.
2. I dont want to give money without knowing exactly where it is going.
3. The wasting of funding and the reckless funding/spending of these little "Slush fund accounts" is ridiculous. Not just in Georgia but nationwide...

Quite frankly, I dont trust any politicians word. I will be voting NO today to all of the Amendments. They are just too vague and dont line out clearly where or how much money is going where.

Its all smoke and mirrors in Politics.

 

[JackSprat]

Another potential disaster if Abrams is elected. Urban hiking trails, inner city parks, WMA converted to biking centers.

Go back and review the history of interstates highway in Georgia - it's not the road, it's who owned the roadway, and the intersections before the road was built.

Plenty of history about why I-85 deviates from it's north-south route to go by Lavonia and on it to Atlanta.

 

[pjciii]

Looks like there are alot of ignorant people in Georgia. Or maybe they are the ones that can read and comprehend. Can't decide which.
Patrick

 

[fish hawk]

 

[Philhutch80]

Looks like there are alot of ignorant people in Georgia. Or maybe they are the ones that can read and comprehend. Can't decide which.
Patrick

Ignorance is a choice and it’s on full display. I’m glad to see this passed and everyone who educated themselves on the matter clearly could explain why. With the latest info from what we have seen about how bad we are treating the planet the only way forward is through more regulation. The idea that less is more always proves to be wrong. I’ll be interested to see how I’m challenged on this.