ATLANTA— House Speaker David Ralston (R-Blue Ridge) today announced the appointment of state Representative Don Parsons (R-Marietta) to the Southern Legislative Conference (SLC) Fiscal Affairs & Government Operations (FA&GO) Committee and the SLC Energy and Environment Committee. As the presiding officer of the Georgia House of Representatives, Speaker Ralston is charged with selecting members to represent Georgia within SLC.
“The SLC is an organization that I am proud and honored to be a part of,” said Rep. Parsons. “I look forward to the important work that we will address in these committees.
The Fiscal Affairs & Government Operations Committee is one of six SLC standing committees. According to SLC, the committee focuses on fiscal issues that impact state budgets and finances. In the current era of depleted budgets and dwindling revenues, members of the FA&GO Committee learn from experiences of their Southern state counterparts to devise strategies in their own states. The Committee’s membership includes many of the finance and appropriations chairs from across the South along with other prominent fiscal players, both legislators and legislative staff, in the different state legislatures. The Committee has most recently studied the impact of the federal budget on state finances; revenue forecasting in the 15-member states; health care reform; state fiscal trends; performance-based budgeting; e-commerce and taxation; the future of Medicare; implications of Social Security Trust Fund reforms; and the impact of large bank mergers in Southern states. In an effort to educate the committee on the relationship between the South and the Federal Reserve Bank, the Committee has featured presentations on national and regional economic trends from the presidents of the Federal Reserve Banks of Atlanta, Dallas and St. Louis.
The Energy and Environment Committee another one of the SLC’s Standing Committees. According to SLC, the Committee has studied clean water programs and water permitting; alternative energy; the federal Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP); state compliance with federal clean air and water standards; the future for nuclear power; the role of merchant power plants; the ramifications of deregulation on Southern states; growth and sprawl; and surveyed recent legislative and state public utility activity.
Founded in 1947, the Southern Legislative Conference is the largest of four regional legislative groups operating under the Council of State Governments. The 15 SLC member states are Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia and West Virginia. By working together within the SLC and participating on its committees, Southern state legislative leaders are able to speak in a distinctive, unified voice to address the issues that affect their states and the greater region.
For more information about SLC and its Fiscal Affairs & Government Operations Committee, please click here,, and for more information about SLC and its Energy and Environment Committee, please click here.
Representative Don Parsons represents the citizens of District 44, which includes portions of Cobb County. He was elected into the House of Representatives in 1994, and is currently the Chairman of the Energy, Utilities, & Telecommunications Committee. He also serves on the Appropriations, Health & Human Services, and Ways & Means committee.
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