Barrow Journal

Barrow County’s legislative delegation announced Tuesday night that it is withdrawing a bill to set up a Barrow County charter review commission.

That leaves the upcoming review of the county’s government structure in the hands of the Barrow County Board of Commissioners, which previously had voted to appoint its own citizens committee to review the charter.

But Rep. Terry England, Rep. Tommy Benton and Sen. Frank Ginn said in a prepared statement that they expect the county’s process to be “citizen driven” with “numerous, substantive public meetings for input before making any decisions” and for the decisions to be “free of the political inefficiencies that have plagued Barrow County for so long.” [Full Story »] 

Barrow County State Rep. Terry England is a co-sponsor of a plan which would give Georgia its own stimulus plan. [Full Story »] 

As the 2009 state legislative session approaches, Rep. Terry England foresees several issues being up for discussion including school issues, transportation, trauma care and taxes. [Full Story »] 

BY REP. TERRY ENGLAND The 2008 Legislative Session is now behind us and the pundits have already begun to analyze our accomplishments, critique our work, and pass judgment on many of the bills we adopted. So I wanted to take some time and tell you myself about the most important things we did and why we did them. We adopted a statewide water plan and we made it easier for communities to build new water reservoirs. We adopted several measures to bring greater accountability to the State Department of Transportation and created a new funding mechanism to help local communities with local road projects. We adopted several measures to give Georgians must needed tax relief, opened the door to reform education in Georgia and enacted tough new measures to protect our children from dangerous predators. And we also passed a few new ‘sunshine’ laws and two fiscally conservative budgets. [Full Story »] 

BY REP. TERRY ENGLAND
Tuesday of this week marked the 30th day of our 40 day legislative session. This is a crucial day because it is the day that a bill must have passed at least one body in order to have a chance of becoming law. This is always a busy day as we rush to get key legislation passed in time to be considered by the Senate before the session ends.

Before I get to the tax cut, I would like to comment on a piece of legislation that I have been criticized locally for sponsoring. HB 1281 deals with outdoor watering restrictions that are placed by local authorities, whether it is cities or counties. [Full Story »] 

Public Works Director Terry Darragh told the Barrow County Board of Commissioners at Tuesday night’s meeting that the county’s water situation has improved.

But at least one commissioner voiced opposition to state efforts led by local legislator Rep. Terry England that would override local government decisions on water restrictions.

Darragh said the Bear Creek Reservoir is now full and drought conditions have improved to Level 3. Limited outdoor watering and the filling and maintenance of pools will be allowed under the lesser restrictions. [Full Story »]