2012 Legislative Newsletters
January 23, 2012 - University System to slow down on tuition and fee increases
January 16, 2012 - Governor presents budget proposal to begin 2012 session
2011 Legislative Newsletters
Final wrap-up of 2011 Georgia legislative session
April 18, 2011 - Tax proposal fails, budget passes as 2011 session concludes
April 4, 2011 - Session enters final days with tax proposal still pending
March 28, 2011 - Committee decides against sales tax on groceries
March 21, 2011 - Inter-basin transfer proposals remain stuck in committee
March 14, 2011 - Governor changes plan; full-day pre-kindergarten restored
March 7, 2011 - House approves immigration reform legislation
February 28, 2011 - Committee approves Governor’s HOPE Scholarship reductions
February 21, 2011 - College ban on illegal immigrants approved by committee
February 14, 2011 - House approves amended budget for remainder of FY 2011
February 7, 2011 - Buckner legislation would regulate inter-basin transfers
January 31, 2011 - House considering ‘Arizona-style’ immigration crackdown
January 24, 2011 - Legislative budget writers hear agencies’ funding requests
January 17, 2011 - New Governor calls for job cuts, end to teacher furloughs in budget proposal
January 10, 2011 - Budget and taxes stand out as top issues for 2011 legislative session
Read Rep. Buckner's letters to Congressmen Bishop and Westmoreland on water rersource issues: here.
Rep. Debbie Buckner receives Upper Chattahoochee Riverkeeper’s River Legislator Award.
Read more here.
Dear Neighbors,
It is a great honor to work for the people of Harris, Talbot and Muscogee counties in the Georgia House of Representatives. From the time I was first elected to the General Assembly in 2002, my goal has been to make sure the concerns of West Georgia are heard at the State Capitol. As I look forward to the 2011 Session, I pledge to continue working in support of our public schools, expand access to quality affordable health care for all Georgians and help create more employment opportunities in our district and throughout West Georgia.
We need stronger leadership, both in the Legislature and at the Governor’s Mansion. Recent legislative sessions have been stunning for the lack of vision and the lack of responsibility shown at the highest levels. Hundreds of millions of dollars have been pulled out of our education budget, threatening our children’s futures as well as our local property tax burden. The state budget was balanced only with federal stimulus funds, while the tax breaks and loopholes for special well-connected interests grow larger every year, even at a time when we took away tax relief from our oldest and most vulnerable neighbors. We cut our public health departments, child abuse protection, and crime labs. There was essentially no vision for the future, whether we talk about economic development, transportation, or our natural resources. Ethics reform was mere window dressing. This is not true leadership.
In short, our state government is squandering our future. Every year that we fail to address our problems is a year that we shift costs to the future, costing us more, yet eventually crippling our ability to fund the public sector we need.
Lack of leadership is raising your taxes. You just haven’t gotten the full bill yet.
We deserve better. It’s time for change.
Facing this downward spiral, I offer a different vision. You and I value schools that teach, roads that work, clean air and water, good jobs with good benefits, a business climate that fosters small businesses, transparent and honest government devoted to our hard-working families, and quality affordable reliable health care coverage that can never be taken away. Putting that vision onto the state’s agenda can be a daunting task, but it is one that I am committed to advance. I work hard, I take tough stands, and I voice the values we share - publically and often. Working for change that makes a difference to you, your family, and your community is the job that I do for you at the State Capitol.
I’ve worked on dozens and dozens of bills that matter for ordinary Georgia since I was first elected. Most recently, I have focused on health care (to ensure that patients continue to get care when insurance companies and medical providers bicker over payments), our water resources (to add protections regarding inter-basin transfers and to enhance conservation), taxes (to roll back special interest tax breaks and to ensure that corporations actually pay the sales taxes they owe), and Jekyll Island (to protect it as an affordable resort for hard-working families and to protect its fragile ecosystem).
To read my weekly reports from the 2010 Session, please click on “Newsletters” from the menu on the left. To read a summary of the Session and the bills that have passed, please click here. The read the latest on keeping the Columbus Crime Lab open, please click here.
I’m always ready to answer your questions or hear your thoughts on state issues. During the Session, you can reach me in my office at the Capitol in Atlanta by calling 404-656-6372. You can also email me at debbie.buckner@house.ga.gov. You can also send me an email by clicking on “Contact Me” on the menu to the left. Let me know what’s on your mind. I listen.
Your Voice at the Capitol,
Debbie Buckner
P.S. This is a watershed election year. Please be sure to vote in November as if your future depends on it. It does.
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Debbie G. Buckner (D- Columbus) represents House District 130. A native Georgian, she has lived in the Columbus area since 1957. She was first elected to the Georgia General Assembly in 2002. House District 130 consists of parts of Talbot and Harris counties, Fort Benning and the eastern part of Columbus-Muscogee County.
Rep. Buckner currently serves as Secretary of the Minority Caucus and on the Ethics, Natural Resources & Environment, Retirement, and State Institutions & Property Committees.
As a freshman legislator, she served as Secretary of the State Institutions & Properties Committee, a member of the Health & Human Services Committee, a member of the Natural Resources Committee and was the only freshman to serve on the Water Subcommittee. She is a former assistant to the Majority Whip.
She earned a BS Degree in Health Science from Columbus State University and did postgraduate work at Georgia Southwestern College, where she earned a teaching certificate.
Rep. Buckner is the Former Director of Community Benefit at Columbus Regional Healthcare System, previously the Director of Community Education for Doctors Hospital and the Senior Public Health Educator for the Columbus Health Department.
Rep. Buckner is involved in a variety of community service activities. She serves on the Boards of Twin Cedars Youth & Families Services, West Central Georgia Cancer Coalition, Three Rivers AHEC, Safe Kids of Columbus, Easter Seals, and Chattahoochee River Warden. She is Secretary of Historic Talbotton Foundation. She has volunteered with the American Lung Association of Georgia, Columbus-Fort Benning chapter of the American Cancer Society, the Girl Scouts, Columbus Hospice, and The Jekyll Island Foundation.
In 2004, she was inducted into the Gracious Ladies of Georgia, named Legislator of the Year by the Georgia Rural Health Association, presented the American Heart Association’s Outstanding Advocate Award, and received the American Cancer Society’s Outstanding Legislative Leadership Award for 2003 and 2004. In 2005 and 2006, she was recognized by the Georgia Alliance for Tobacco Prevention. In 2006, the Georgia Environmental Council honored her as the Legislator of the Year. In 2009, she was recognized by the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners at its national meeting with its State Award for Excellence. In 2008, The Initiative to Protect Jekyll Island State Park named her Georgia State Representative of the Year. In 2010, she was honored by the Upper Chattahoochee Riverkeeper as Legislator of the Year. She has been presented the Georgia Conservation Voters’ Environmental Leadership award each year from 2004 to the present.
Representative Buckner and her husband, Mike, live at Fielder's Mill in Talbot County, one of the few operational grist mills left in Georgia. They have three children, Josh, John and Olivia.
