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CHAMBLISS COSPONSORS BILL TO ALLEVIATE POVERTY IN GEORGIA
February 22, 2007
WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga., today announced that he has cosponsored legislation that would assist economically distressed areas of Georgia and the Southeast. The bipartisan legislation, the Southeast Crescent Authority (SECA) Act, would authorize $40 million in funding over the next five years to spur economic development, establish priorities in development planning, support local development districts and encourage private investment in the region.
“Georgia is one of the fastest growing states in the country, but unfortunately, there are areas in great need of economic support,” said Chambliss, who is Georgia’s senior U.S. senator. “We must continue to invest in our communities so that we can create jobs, opportunity, and improve access to health care and education for future generations of Georgians. There are numerous counties across our state whose citizens stand to benefit if this proposed program could become a reality.”
The legislation, introduced by U.S. Senator Elizabeth Dole, R-NC., would establish a program similar to the Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC), which has helped alleviate chronic and severe economic distress in the Appalachian counties of the United States. The region impacted by the SECA Act encompasses millions of people in 429 counties across seven states: Georgia, North Carolina, Virginia, South Carolina, Alabama, Mississippi, and Florida. SECA would be organized and administered in a manner much like ARC. Each of the seven states’ governors would serve on a board of directors with a federal co-chairman appointed by the president. The governors would select one of their members to serve as the state co-chairman.
Georgia counties that would be eligible to benefit from the SECA Act include: Appling, Atkinson, Bacon, Baker, Baldwin, Ben Hill, Berrien, Bibb, Bleckley, Brantley, Brooks, Bryan, Bulloch, Burke, Butts, Calhoun, Camden, Candler, Charlton, Chatham, Clarke, Clay, Clayton, Clinch, Cobb, Coffee, Colquitt, Columbia, Cook, Coweta, Crawford, Crisp, Decatur, De Kalb, Dodge, Dooly, Dougherty, Early, Echols, Effingham, Emanuel, Evans, Fayette, Fulton, Glascock, Glynn, Grady, Greene, Hancock, Harris, Hart, Henry, Houston, Irwin, Jasper, Jeff Davis, Jefferson, Jenkins, Johnson, Jones, Lamar, Lee, Liberty, Lincoln, Long, Lowndes, McDuffie, McIntosh, Macon, Marion, Meriwether, Miller, Mitchell, Monroe, Montgomery, Morgan, Muscogee, Newton, Oconee, Oglethorpe, Peach, Pierce, Pike, Pulaski, Putnam, Quitman, Randolph, Richmond, Rockdale, Schley, Screven, Seminole, Spalding, Stewart, Sumter, Talbot, Taliaferro, Tattnall, Taylor, Telfair, Terrell, Thomas, Tift, Toombs, Treutlen, Troup, Turner, Twiggs, Upson, Walton, Ware, Warren, Washington, Wayne, Webster, Wheeler, Wilcox, Wilkes, Wilkinson, and Worth.
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