Northeast Cobb's Legislative Focus: 'Jobs, Jobs, Jobs'

State Sen. Judson Hill represents District 32, which covers Northeast Cobb and Sandy Springs in Fulton County. He was first elected to the Senate in 2004 and was reelected in 2010.  As he begins this term he answered questions from Patch about the 2011 legislative session. Answers were edited for clarity and length. Hill and his wife, Shelly, have lived in East Cobb for more than 20 years.  They have three children.

Q. What are your constituents telling you are their most important and immediate issues, and how will you address them in this legislative session?

A. Jobs are the No. 1 issue.  Jobs, jobs, jobs. Doing whatever we can to create an environment so that businesses can grow without increasing taxes or fees. So much of what we do is going to be influenced by that. If we don't get our arms around it, the rest is going to be a challenge.

Q. What can you to get your arms around it?

A. There are a number of things we can do. Don't increase taxes and fees. Lessen the impact of Obamacare. It's a job killer.

I wrote a paper last year and analyzed the Georgia Constitution and seven core functions of government.  We need to be focusing on the seven core functions and what the constitution and the people say are important. Privatize everything else. People want small government.

Q. Does the Cobb County delegation have any set goals for the session?

A. We have not addressed formal goals as a team.  We meet on a regular basis with county leadership, school boards, etc., and formulate a plan. A lot of times it centers around money as you might guess.

Through the six years I've been serving, as individuals and collectively, we have done a good job of reflecting the desires on the citizenship. At the end of the day I serve the people of my district above any municipality or program.

Q. The state budget will be cut again this session. Where will the cuts come from?

A. That's the big question. We'll begin our budget meetings [this] week. If there were any easy cuts you'd be reading about them already. 

With all the federal money that came into the state last year, some people thought that was just kicking the can down the road. I think that's a good analogy. Now we are looking at the can with no easy answers.

I don’t think we can cut agency budgets with a one-size-fits-all mentality. Maybe we can cut a program with 100 percent savings. We've got to prioritize according to what the constitution says.

Q. Do you have an example of something that could be completely cut?

A. Why is government in the business of running golf courses? We should sell them or privatize them.

Q. Can you cut spending for education even more?

A. I don't know the answer to that question. Education needs to be looked at just like every other department. We should look at the bureaucracy rather than cutting teachers.  We need to focus on the students.

Roughly 60 percent of county budgets come from state taxes, and 40 percent comes from property taxes. That's the job of the county school board. We elect them to make those tough decisions. In Cobb they still can raise property taxes if that's what they think they should be doing.

Q. What would you suggest the Cobb school district do to tighten the budget even more than it has? Do you favor  increasing class size even more? Closing down some schools? Or raising local property taxes for schools to offset the state cuts?

A. At the end of the day I didn't run to be a school board member.  They should
look for those solutions. I'm not going to be sitting on the sidelines and say, go do this or cut that. I want the school board to continue to do that. It's not my role to dictate what schools should be open and closed.

Q. You have been on the front lines of the state's opposition to federal health care overhaul. What's the next step in the legislature? Where do you think the legislature will end up on health care at the end of this session?

A. The law of the state of Georgia, which I wrote and we passed last year, is that individuals can not be forced to participate or sign up for health care. They have the freedom to choose or not to purchase. 

The federal government can not fine or punish you for not participating. It's unconstitutional to require people to buy a product or service. We should enforce the law we passed last year.

We need to continue to push for conservative health care measures.

Health care and health care financing is complex. It's important, and the learning curve is fairly substantial. That does not make passing legislation easy. It's easy for an opponent of conservative healthcare to throw up a red flag and kill legislation.

Philosophically, many people think government is the solution. I don't. I think
individuals are the solution.

Q. You have pre-filed a bill to toughen Georgia's immigration laws. Can you summarize what you’d like to accomplish with this legislation?

A. The bill I filed is Senate Bill 460. If we're going to be building roads and buildings with state taxpayer money, they should be built by people who are here lawfully. We should require municipalities to verify that and provide documentation. Basically it's a jobs bill. 

Q. What can the legislature to stimulate job growth in the state?

A. We need to pass the jobs bill from last year. There is a lot that the legislature can do and should be doing. Reduce taxes and empower people to spend money the way they see fit. Reduce the size of government.

Q. You lost your seat this year as chairman of the Reapportionment and  Redistricting Committee because of your opposition to fee and tax increases in the 2010 legislative session. Looking back on that, where do you think the Senate leadership is going this year on possible tax increases?

A. We have not heard. I would hope and pray that they don't push for that.
I and many others don't think we have done enough analysis to see if [tax increases] should exist against the backdrop of the Georgia Constitution. I also think we should require a super majority in the Senate to pass a tax or fee increase.

More information: www.judsonhill.com