Georgia Tea Party lists it's 2011 Legislative Priorities

2011 GEORGIA TEA PARTY STATE LEGISLATIVE PRIORITIES
Approved by the Board 12/18/10
Budget and Government Reform
1. Zero-based Budgeting
GTP supports legislation to require a process to review each expenditure of state government
and define the core functions of state government.
2. Agency review and sunset process
GTP supports legislation to establish a process to review every agency in state government,
evaluate each agency’s effectiveness and productivity and eliminate agencies that have outlived
their usefulness.
3. Regulatory review process to evaluate state occupational and licensure bodies
GTP supports the enactment of a statute that will evaluate existing regulatory entities to
determine the need for change to their current regulations.
Asserting the Authority of State Government as Recognized in the Tenth Amendment
4. Health Insurance Freedom of Choice Legislation
GTP supports efforts to propose a state constitutional amendment to prohibit mandates from the
federal government that interfere with the rights of citizens to purchase the health insurance of
their choice or to choose no health insurance at all. The federal government has no
constitutional authority to force anyone to purchase health insurance, and this measure should
become part of the Georgia Constitution in order to protect the rights of citizens.
5. Energy Freedom Legislation
GTP supports legislation to block the implementation of climate change or cap-and-trade
legislation relating to greenhouse gas emissions.
6. Immigration Law Enforcement Legislation
GTP supports the enactment of legislation that will provide for the enforcement of federal
immigration laws in the state of Georgia. Due to the abdication of the federal government’s duty
to enforce its own laws, Georgia should enact a law similar to Arizona’s that will protect Georgia
citizens and preserve the taxpayers’ money from the costs associated with providing illegal
immigrants with government services.
Taxes
7. Tax Reform
GTP supports efforts to reform Georgia’s tax system by reducing or eliminating the personal
income tax and corporate income tax and shifting the tax burden to a consumption tax.
8. SPLOST Law Reform
GTP supports reform of the SPLOST process to allow more flexibility:
- To allow local governmental bodies to roll back property taxes with funds not spent
from a particular SPLOST
- To allow local governmental bodies to authorize a fraction of 1 percent for a SPLOST
GTP supports limiting SPLOST votes to November general elections in even-numbered years.Education
9. School Choice Legislation and Expanding Charter Schools
GTP supports efforts to improve education in Georgia through school choice, charter schools
and other innovative approaches that place parents in greater control of their children’s
education.
Health Care
10. Interstate Sales of Health Insurance
GTP supports the principle of free markets and supports the sale of health insurance across
state lines in order to increase competition, improve the quality of products offered and reduce
health insurance costs.
11. High-Risk Pool
GTP supports the implementation of a high-risk health insurance pool in order to provide a
market for those who have not been able to buy health insurance elsewhere.
Fair Elections
12. Voting Machines
GTP supports the replacement of the voting machines currently used in Georgia withwith voting
equipment that has an auditable paper trail.
http://www.thegeorgiateaparty.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/Georgia-Tea-Party-2011-State-Legislative-Priorities.pdf

 Most Tea Party members view the candidates they elected in November as agents of change from government business as usual, but non-members are a lot more skeptical.

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone poll finds that only 34% of all Likely U.S. Voters think Tea Party candidates elected in November will remain true to their beliefs. A plurality (46%) says they will become just like other politicians. Twenty percent (20%) aren’t sure. (To see survey question wording, click here.)

But among those who identify themselves as members of the Tea Party, 77% say the candidates they elected will remain true to their beliefs, and just 13% disagree.

But, among those with no ties to the Tea Party Movement, 61% believe Tea Party candidates elected last month will become just like other politicians. Twenty-one percent (21%) of this group think those candidates will stick to their beliefs, and 18% are undecided.

This level of skepticism is perhaps not surprising given that most voters are largely pessimistic about what the new Congress will accomplish in areas like immigration, taxes and government spending in the next two years.

(Want a free daily e-mail update? If it's in the news, it's in our polls).  Rasmussen Reports updates are also available on Twitter or Facebook.  

The survey of 1,000 Likely U.S. Voters was conducted on December 15-16, 2010 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC. See methodology.

Will Tea Party activists be satisfied with how the politicians in Washington perform over the next two years? How confident are unaffiliated voters that the newly elected Tea Party members of Congress won’t sell out? 

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/general_politics/december_2010/most_tea_party_members_think_those_they_elected_won_t_sell_out_others_aren_t_so_sure