State Senator Tim Golden (D-Valdosta) named to Special Committee on Revenue Structure

State Sen. Tim Golden (D-Valdosta) has been appointed by Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle to the new Special Joint Committee on Georgia Revenue Structure. The committee was established, along with the Special Council on Tax Reform and Fairness for Georgians, through enactment of House Bill 1405, which was passed during the 2010 legislative session.

The 12-member joint committee will be responsible for considering legislation during the 2011 session of the General Assembly that would implement recommendations by the special council, which is charged with conducting a thorough study of the state's current revenue structure during 2010. Legislation approved by the special committee will go directly to the floor of the House of Representatives for a vote and, if approved by the House, then to the floor of the Senate for a vote.

The special council consists of 11 members, including four leading economists, Gov. Sonny Perdue, the chairs of the Georgia Chamber of Commerce and Georgia chapter of the National Federation of Independent Business and other citizens appointed by the lieutenant governor and speaker of the House.

Golden is a senior member of the Senate Finance Committee, which handles tax-related legislation. In addition, he is secretary of the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee, which is responsible for the state budget. He also serves on the Higher Education, Insurance & Labor and Government Oversight committees. Golden is chairman of the Senate Democratic Caucus and is co-chair of the Senate Study Committee on Manufacturing in Georgia.

Golden is running unopposed in the General Election, but has been endorsed by Medical Association of Georgia, Georgia Association of Educators, Georgia Hospital Association, 100% voting record with NFIB, National Federation of IndependentBusinesses (NFIB), National Rifle Association (NRA) & Former Governor and U.S. Senator Zell Miller.

Ticket Talk

The campaign season is now in full swing, despite the General Assenbly being in session. We have five stellar candidates running for governor. But none for Lt. Governor.

So what will the democratic ticket look like come July 20? Let's take a look.

Democratic Activist Amy Morton of Macon tosses out a name that haven't been mentioned as a potential candidate: Lisa Borders.

Borsers just came off a race for Mayor of Atlanta in which she came in third place to Mary Norwood & the eventual winner Kasim Reed.

Here's a look at Borders: Borders served as President of the Atlanta City Council, having been elected in a citywide special election on August 10, 2004. She was re-elected by an overwhelming margin in 2005’s normal citywide election cycle. Her duties included presiding over Council meetings, appointing committee chairs and participants for Council and maintaining relationships with the Executive branch of government.

Formerly, Lisa was CEO of the LMB Group, LLC, a consulting company advising clients on community reinvestment, external affairs, marketing and communications. The LMB Group brought the Atlanta Dream WNBA team to Atlanta in 2008. Lisa also served as a Senior Vice President of Marketing and External Affairs with Cousins Properties Incorporated, an Atlanta-based Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT).

Prior to joining Cousins, Lisa worked in the health care arena for over 15 years. She served as the Chief Administrator for Atlanta Women’s Specialists and also served as VP-Operations for Healthcap Atlanta (a Physician Practice Management Company acquired by FPA Medical Management).

She holds a Bachelor’s Degree from Duke University (Durham, NC) and a Masters of Science in Health Administration from the University of Colorado (Denver, CO). She has one son, Garry, who has graduated with honors from Georgia State University.

Now by looking at her background, she most certainly can make a run for Lt. Governor. But would she consider a run? That's the question. She certainly would not have a problem raising money to mount a run for Lt. Governor, probably not as much as cagle, but enough to really make a serious run & possibly defeat cagle.

I don't know much about her, but she's an interesting candidate that if she runs would strengthen the democratic ticket. The possibilty of the first female,African-American Lt. Governor of Georgia would grab headlines through out the state & would energize the democratic base. Borders is more of a moderate, therefore that would help her in a statewide contest.


Carl Camon is another person who's name has picked up steam among some democrats as a candidate for Lt. Governor. I've been telling people that Carl is a candidate that needs to be taken seriously. His experience at both the national & state level puts him at the level of the other democratic candidates for governor. Like carl said in the debate on tuesday night, you don't have to look a certain way or be from a big city & have millions at your back to run for governor. But let's look at him as a potential candidate for Lt. Governor:


Carl has served for two terms as a city councilman and five terms as the first African-American Mayor of Ray City. As mayor, he helped start the first Pre-K program in the State of Georgia operated by a municipality. He founded the Mayor’s Youth Leadership Institute of Ray City, and the Mayor and Council’s Education Initiative Scholarship.




He was appointed by the Governor, in 2002, and served a four-year term on the County & Municipal Probation Advisory Council, where he also served as chairman. He has served as Chairman of the Mayor’s Motorcade for the Southern Region of Georgia, Chairman of the Environment & Natural Resources Policy Committee and as a member of the Budget Committee, and Executive Committee for Georgia Municipal Association (GMA), located in Atlanta, Georgia. He was also selected, and served as a member of GMA’s Training Board.


He has served a total of 10½ years in the U.S. Air Force and Air Force Reserves, where he received early promotion and was given positions of notable responsibility.

His website is http://camonforgovernor.com/p_economy.htm where you can find his comprehensive platform for the economy, water, transportation, education, as well as his initiatives for

Georgia’s Families
- Reduction Of Domestic Violence
- Stiffer Penalties For The Perpetrators Of Child Abuse & Neglect


Georgia’s Cities/Counties
- Support Local Government Friendly Legislation
- Support A Municipal Option Sales Tax – MOST (This is a 1% sales tax that your city collects. This option helps to
provide necessary revenue and should keep property taxes low. Everyone who visits your city and makes a purchase,
contributes specifically to your city.)

Small businesses
- Incentives for small businesses who hire new employees,
- Incentives for small businesses who incorporate "green technologies"

He is the only South Georgian in the race & would bring a balance to the democratic ticket & offer a new, fresh outlook to the woes that is ailing Georgia at this time. Camon is a outsider & that outsider image would probably appeal to Georgia's families who wants someone who really understands the tough times they are going through. No he doesn't have Cagle's millions, but given the anti-incumbent mood the state is in right now, he won't need much to mount a serious challenge to Cagle. His performance at the debate Tuesday night really open people's eyes towards him & left a very good impression on those who saw the debate. Keep an eye on Carl Camon in the near future.

I know Carl much better than I do Miss. Borders, so I have a better assessment of Carl that I do Lisa, but I'll take either one for Lt. Governor over Casey Cagle any day.

Michael Thurmond's name is still out there, but I say its 50/50 that he leaves to run for Lt. Governor. The best strategy for Thurmond is to run for re-election to the Labor Dept & then in 2014, run for the U.S. Senate against Saxby Chambliss or run for governor if democrats fail in its attempt to re-capture the governor's mansion.

Michael Meyer von Bremen makes sense because he's not holding any elected offiec. He hails from rural Southwest Georgia & he knows how the senate chamber operates, in addition he's a centrist democrat.

Tim Golden is another possibility, but could be a candidate for congress depending how the congressional districts are drawn after the 2010 census, especially for Rep. Sanford Bishop's 2nd congressional seat if he gets an appointment to a cabinet position in the Obama Adminustration like Secretary of Agriculture if the president wins another term or if Tom Vilsack grows tired of the USDA before Pres. Obama's 1st term is over.

I have my preference for who I would like to see on the democratic ticket, but will keep that to myself.

So many names, so many possibilities.

If I were compiling a list of possible candidates for Georgia's Lt. Governor, this how it would look

(1) Former State Senator Michael Meyer von Bremen (D-Albany)

Senator Michael S. Meyer von Bremen, a Democrat from Albany, was elected to the State Senate in 1998 to represent the 12th Senatorial District.

Born August 19, 1957, Senator Meyer von Bremen attended public schools in Albany and graduated from Mercer University in Macon in 1979 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science. He earned his law degree from Mercer in 1983.

He served as the chairman of the Senate Ethics Committee. He served as a member of the Senate Appropriations, Judiciary, Natural Resources, Public Safety, and Reapportionment Committees.

Sponsored and passed ethics laws, tax cuts, and anti-crime legislation

(2) Augusta Mayor Deke Copenhaver (I)

Deke Copenhaver currently serves as Mayor of Augusta, Georgia. Mr. Copenhaver was born in Montreal, Canada and raised in Columbia County, Georgia. After attending the University of Georgia and earning a B.A. in Political Science from Augusta College, Deke worked for Nations Bank Securities in Atlanta for several years. After relocating to Beaufort, South Carolina in the mid-nineties, he went on to a career in real estate, serving as a principal in the firm of Huffines, Dukes, and Copenhaver LLC. After moving home to Augusta in 1998, Deke worked as a sales representative for Blanchard and Calhoun Real Estate. He accepted the position of Executive Director of the Central Savannah River Land Trust in July of 2001. During his tenure, Mr. Copenhaver directed the expenditure of over $1.1 million in greenspace purchases throughout Augusta-Richmond County while at the same time developing a program that is widely considered the finest of its kind in the State.

In 2007, Governor Sonny Perdue appointed Deke to the Georgia Department of Community Affairs Board. Deke also currently serves on the boards of the Georgia Municipal Association, Community Foundation for the Central Savannah River Area, the Augusta State University Foundation, the CSRA Regional Development Center, the Richmond-Burke County Job Training Authority and serves as vice-chair of the Augusta Regional Transit Study Committee. He is a past board member of the Augusta Symphony, Historic Augusta, Young at Art, Mainstreet Augusta, the Family Y of Metro Augusta, the Georgia Alliance of Land Trusts, the Georgia Conservancy, the Augusta Museum of History and the St. Joseph’s Hospital Foundation. Mr. Copenhaver served as chair of the Environmental Issues Committee, along with serving on the Editorial Committee, for Leadership Augusta’s Destination 2020 Initiative and is a 2004 graduate of Leadership Georgia. Deke currently serves on the Georgia Chamber of Commerce’s International Development Committee. Mr. Copenhaver is a member of the Kiwanis Club of Augusta and Reid Memorial Presbyterian Church, where he serves as a deacon.

In 2003, Deke was recognized by Georgia Trend Magazine as one of Georgia’s “Top Forty Under Forty”. He is the 2003 recipient of the Family Y of Metro Augusta’s “Linda H. Walter Leadership Award”. In 2004, Mr. Copenhaver was appointed to the Georgia Land Conservation Partnership Advisory Council by Governor Sonny Perdue, serving on the Partnering and Leveraging Committee. In 2005, the Council's work resulted in the setting aside of $100 million in state funding for statewide land conservation through the passage of the Georgia Land Conservation Act. In 2005, Deke served as Augusta’s co-chair for the Georgia Chamber of Commerce’s “Red Carpet Tour”, which promotes statewide economic development. In 2006 and 2008, he was named a Notable Georgian by Georgia Trend Magazine and in 2007 and 2009 was named as one of the 100 Most Influential Georgians by the same publication. Mr. Copenhaver was named Alumni of the Year by Augusta State University in 2008 and is the 2007 recipient of the “Brother Commissioner Lee Norris Beard Award” given by the Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity (Alpha Chi Lambda Chapter) at the annual Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Unity Breakfast. His hobbies include golf, hunting, running, writing and reading. He and his wife Malisa live in Augusta with their two dogs, Finn and Gracie Lynn.

(3) State Rep. Debbie Buckner (D-Junction City)

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, Harris, and the eastern part of Muscogee County.

Rep. Buckner is currently serving as a member of the 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.

Rep. Buckner is the Director of Community Benefit at Columbus Regional Healthcare System, having previously worked for Doctors Hospital and the Columbus Health Department as Senior Public Health Educator. She earned her BS in Health Science from Columbus State University and attended Georgia Southwestern College to do postgraduate work and earn a teaching certificate.

Rep. Buckner is a Board Member of Twin Cedars. Her community service includes volunteering for the American Lung Association of Georgia, Columbus-Ft. Benning chapter of the American Cancer Society, Concharty Council of Girl Scouts, West Central Georgia Cancer Coalition, Columbus Hospice, Three Rivers AHEC, The Jekyll Island Foundation, The Valley Collaborative for Suicide Prevention and Historic Talbotton Foundation.

In 2004, she was inducted into the gracious ladies of Georgia, was named Legislator of the Year by the Georgia Rural Health Association, was 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 2008, The Initiative to Protect Jekyll Island State Park named her Georgia State Representative of the Year, and the Georgia Conservation Voters honored her with an Environmental Leadership Award.

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.

(4) Former State Senator & Mayor of Milledgeville Floyd L. Griffin Jr (D)

Floyd Griffin, retired U.S. Army colonel, former Georgia state senator and former mayor of Milledgeville, Georgia, was born May 24, 1944, in Milledgeville. Griffin holds an A.S. in funeral service from Grupton Jones College, a B.S. in building construction from Tuskegee Institute and a master's degree in contract procurement and management from the Florida Institute of Technology. He is also a graduate of the Army Command and General Staff College and the National War College.

Griffin's twenty-three-year career in the military began in 1967 when he served as a helicopter pilot and flight instructor in Vietnam. He also served a tour of duty in Germany, where he was a logistics officer, battalion chief, and director of engineering and housing. From 1984 to 1986, Griffin commanded an engineering battalion at Fort Stewart, Georgia, and from 1986 to 1990 he was assigned to the Pentagon. Retiring from the military as a colonel in 1990, Griffin taught military science at Wake Forest University and Winston-Salem State University, where he also was the offensive backfield coach for a football team that enjoyed two undefeated seasons and won back-to-back championships.

In 1994, running as a Democrat, Griffin was elected state senator from the 25th District of Georgia and was reelected in 1996. He sacrificed his Senate seat in 1998 to run for lieutenant governor but lost. Griffin tried again for his old Senate seat in 2000, and was narrowly defeated by the incumbent in the primary election. Not discouraged, Griffin ran for mayor of Milledgeville, his hometown, and won in 2001. An accomplished businessman, Griffin is vice president of Slater Funeral Home in Milledgeville, a Griffin family-owned business.

He was elected in 2006 to Board of Directors for the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children

(5) State Senator Tim Golden (D-Valdosta)

Golden serves as Secretary of the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee, which is responsible for the annual state budget, and as a senior member of the influential Senate Finance Committee, which is charged with writing the state’s tax laws. Golden also serves on the Insurance & Labor, Higher Education and Government Oversight Committees. He is co-chairman of the special Study Committee on the Future of Manufacturing and is chairman of the Senate Democratic Caucus.

During the past three years, for his work promoting health care issues, he received both the Georgia Hospital Association Legislative Leadership Award, and the Georgia Academy of Family Physicians “Champion of Family Medicine” Award. In recognition of his work on children health care issues, the Georgia Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatricians named him their “Legislator of the Year” in 2007.

Known as a strong advocate for Georgia business, Golden was honored with a 2008 Legislative Achievement Award by the Georgia Retail Association. He was recognized by the Georgia State Chamber of Commerce as “Legislator of the Year” for 2007, and the group called it a “Lifetime Achievement” award for his long time advocacy of business interests in the General Assembly. That same year, the Georgia Industry Association made Golden their “Champion of Industry” for his efforts to promote manufacturing issues in Georgia.

Key supporter of the Hope Scholarship Program since its inception. HOPE has helped over 25,000 deserving students in the 8th Senatorial District attend tech schools or universities since 1993 totaling over $63 million in assistance.

Authored and passed "Rural Georgia Physicians Shortage Act" - 1995

Passed Self-Employed Health Care Tax Cut legislation in 1998 saving self-employed individuals $8 million in state taxes.

(6) My Wildcard Candidate & favorite Ray City Mayor Carl Camon (D)

He has served for two terms as a city councilman and is currently serving his fifth term as the first African-American Mayor of Ray City. As mayor, he helped start the first Pre-K program in the State of Georgia operated by a municipality. He founded the Mayor’s Youth Leadership Institute of Ray City, and the Mayor and Council’s Education Initiative Scholarship. He was appointed by Governor Roy Barnes in 2002 to serve a four-year term on the County & Municipal Probation Advisory Council, where he also served as chairman. He has served as Chairman of the Mayor’s Motorcade for the Southern Region of Georgia, Chairman of the Environment & Natural Resources Policy Committee and as a member of the Budget Committee, and Executive Committee for Georgia Municipal Association (GMA), located in Atlanta, Georgia. He was also selected to serve as a member of GMA’s Training Board.

He was instrumental in acquiring a total of nearly three million dollars in grant funds for the Ray City Pre-K, the Ray City Fire Department, the Ray City Water & Sewer Department, and for downtown development during his tenure as mayor. He declared war against drugs in his community and was awarded a grant for $30,000.00 for surveillance equipment, to help in the fight against drug dealers and drug activity. He was selected as one of Georgia Trend Magazine’s “40 Under 40” Rising Stars in Georgia.

He has an earned Master’s Degree in Special Education, and an Education Specialist Degree in Educational Leadership, both from Valdosta State University. He is employed, as a collaborative educator. He has been listed in Who’s Who Among America’s Teachers four times, and was selected as “Teacher of the Month”, and was nominated as “Teacher of the Year”. He has also championed state legislation that protects teachers in the performance of their duties.

Served as Chairman of The State of Georgia’s County & Municipal Probation Advisory Council

Served As Statewide Chairman of Georgia Municipal Association’s Environment & Natural Resources Committee, and Served on Board of Directors, Budget Committee, and Executive Committee

Served Two Terms As the Regional Chairman of the Mayor’s Christmas Motorcade Which Benefits Patients at State Mental Hospitals

Served on Board of Directors for the Southeast Georgia Regional Development Center

Honorary 347th Group Commander for Moody Air Force Base

Traveled to the Pentagon in Support of Moody Air Force Base

Selected as Civic Leader Tour Member and Traveled on Military Aircraft to the Air Force Academy in Colorado & Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada in support of Moody Air Force Base

And was named to Georgia Trend's 40 under 40 in 2002 when he became the first black mayor of Ray City in 1998.

State Senator Tim Golden (D-Valdosta) Slams Perdue & Majority Party in the General Assembly

Valdosta Daily Times reporting: State Sen. Tim Golden (D-Valdosta) said Monday that local officials are correct in placing the blame for higher property tax bills on the Gov. Sonny Perdue administration and the majority of the Georgia General Assembly because of their action during the 2009 session to eliminate the Homeowner Tax Relief Grant (HTRG) program.

Responding to a news release from the City of Valdosta, which forewarns homeowners of an increase in their property taxes this year, Golden said the decision to end HTRG funding to city and county governments will result in the largest property tax increase in Georgia history, causing a $200-$300 property tax increase for the average Georgia homeowner.

“While Gov. Perdue had originally proposed eliminating HTRG funding retroactive to last year, the majority leadership in the legislature instead passed House Bill 143, which kept the grants in place only for fiscal year 2009,” Golden explained. “The funding would have remained for future years only if state revenues grew by necessary percentages, and the bill’s authors knew beyond any doubt that would not happen this year. So, the HTRG is gone, and the property tax bills for homeowners are going to be considerably higher.”

Golden noted the Senate passed HB 143 by a vote of 29-24, the minimum number of votes needed to send the measure to the governor for his signature.

“I voted against the bill,” Golden said. “Ending the HTRG is, unfortunately, a continuation of this administration’s long-standing policy of shifting the tax burden to the local property owner through continued cuts in funding to local school systems and unfunded mandates on local governments. This tax increase comes at a time when many Georgia families have had to deal with job losses and are struggling to pay their mortgage and other household bills.”

Golden said he was in favor of a legislative proposal that could have prevented elimination of the HTRG program. HB 356 would have given local governments the power to recoup sales tax revenues that have gone uncollected. A similar program in Alabama was successful in collecting more than $1 billion, which would be more than enough to fund the $420 million needed for the homeowner tax relief grants. The majority leadership in the legislature, however, kept both proposals buried in committee.

Poor priorities, partisan politics ruled Legislature says Golden.

From Tim Golden in the Atlanta Journal Constitution::

Since the Republican Party assumed majority control of state government six years ago, Georgia has been sliding backward in almost every area that the governor and Legislature can influence

Our public schools have suffered from $2 billion worth of cuts in state Quality Basic Education funding, causing higher taxes on local property owners to make up the difference.

Manufacturing jobs have been lost by the hundreds of thousands.

Rural health care is on life support because of drastic cuts in Medicaid reimbursement.

Our transportation system’s failure to keep up with a growing population has gone unaddressed.

Seeking to recruit bio-medicine and related technology businesses and retaining academic leaders in the field of science is becoming more difficult.

And fiscally irresponsible policies during better economic times have left Georgia especially vulnerable to the recession, causing an unprecedented $3 billion budget deficit.

But as poorly as the legislative majority has performed since 2003, the 2009 session would have to be considered the worst in recent history. And that’s saying something.

Consider that from the first day of the session back in January, finding a solution for the transportation funding crisis was the state’s No. 1 priority. In metro Atlanta, drivers sit for hours in traffic, causing untold losses in productivity. In rural Georgia, we are at least 10 years behind the curve in making the road improvements needed for economic development.

The Senate voted Feb. 3 on a transportation funding plan, one of the first actions we took this session, calling for a one-cent sales tax to be voted on, collected and invested on a regional basis. The House of Representatives, meanwhile, insisted on a statewide sales tax to finance a predetermined list of transportation projects in selected areas.

But the two houses were unable to work out a compromise plan, primarily because the governor, lieutenant governor and House speaker were preoccupied with pushing through separate legislation to give them tighter control over transportation revenues and road-building decisions. For the second year in a row, helping Georgians get from point A to point B more efficiently was doomed by misplaced priorities at the top of the executive and legislative branches of government.

Regarding the new budget passed for fiscal year 2010, there is no question this was a difficult year because of the revenue shortfall, and cuts were inevitable. But the failure to beat back the governor’s insistence to eliminate homeowner tax relief grants will cost the average Georgia homeowner $200 to $300 on our next local property tax bill.

Partisan politics also reared its ugly head in the budget process when the Republican majority decided to withhold needed funding from districts represented by Senate Democrats because we had the audacity to offer a budget amendment that would have kept the Georgia War Veterans Nursing Home in operation by reducing spending on a new luxury resort on Jekyll Island.

The lowlights of the 2009 session don’t stop there. The Republican majority couldn’t go without passing a few more unfunded mandates on counties and cities, while still prohibiting them from making their own decisions on Sunday alcohol sales. Thankfully, the House stopped a Senate bill outlawing potentially lifesaving embryonic stem cell research, but this is a battle we now have to fight year after year.

Georgians don’t expect much of the Legislature when we go to Atlanta each year. They do want us pass a budget that meets basic needs such as education and health care while respecting taxpayers. They want us to focus on the major problems, like transportation funding and unemployment. They want us to put public policy over partisan politics.

After the 2009 session, I wouldn’t blame them if they start expecting less and less.

> Sen. Tim Golden (D-Valdosta) is chairman of the Senate Democratic Caucus.

By the way Golden has mentioned as a possible candidate for Lt. Governor or Governor.

State Senator Tim Golden: Bill aids politicians, not taxpayers.

VALDOSTA — A House bill claiming to provide tax relief to property owners in Georgia does more to help politicians than it does for taxpayers, said State Senator Tim Golden (D-Valdosta) another possible candidate fof governor in 2010.

HB 233 is nothing but political cover for those legislators who voted Feb. 18 for HB 143, Golden said.

Golden was opposed to HB 143 because it virtually eliminates the Homeowner Tax Relief Grants started under former Gov. Roy Barnes by tying future grants to 3 percent economic growth, plus inflation, a standard that, he said, will be tough, if not impossible, to meet in the foreseeable future. Legislators who voted for the bill introduced and passed HB 233 so they could tell voters at election time that they took action to provide tax relief, Golden said.

“Freezing assessments may be good politics, but, in the current economy, it is not likely that property values would be rising that much anyway,” Golden said.

tion to provide tax relief, Golden said.

Asked why the legislature chose January of 2011 as the specific expiration date for the bill freezing the reassessment value of property in Georgia, Golden said the only reason he could think of is that Gov. Sonny Perdue will be leaving office and a new governor elected.