Issue Position: Economic Justice

Issue Position

Support small businesses: implement state-level Community Reinvestment Act, which would ensure state government monitoring of commercial lending authorities, bank-by-bank, to ensure compliance with good, non-discriminatory lending practices. Reform existing public and public-private financial pools and creating new financial pools to facilitate access to equity for small businesses (existing pools include Opportunity Zone/Employer's Jobs Tax Credit laws, and state implementation of federal State Small Business Credit Initiative that funds lenders, while new pools could include state-level SBA lending programs, to supplement the extremely competitive federal program). Remove barriers to entry for new entrepreneurs often "crowded out" by anti-competitive practices, through: waivers of licensing fees for new entrepreneurs, tax-preferred savings accounts, and student debt relief for entrepreneurs.

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Reform state taxation: a variety of opportunities exist for state tax law reform that would not only increase revenue and achieve appropriate distribution, but also incentivize certain positive human goods and behaviors, including: creating state Earned Income Tax Credit, tax credit for childcare expenses by working parents, credits for adult-level professional education, credits for entrepreneurs and professionals in public service/works industries, and credits for charitable giving, beyond existing credits for giving to hospitals and giving for "school choice."

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Stop financial abuse by homeowners associations and landlords: regulate fees by home management companies and landlords to ensure they cannot charge more than the fee for repairs

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Broaden access to healthcare & economic assistance -- including language access: increase appropriations for Small Business Development Centers -- including funds to ensure language access. Create General Assistance program to provide safety net for very poor individuals who do not qualify for other public assistance (i.e., no minor children, no disability, not elderly). Georgia, unlike other states, does not have such a program. Safety nets should recognize the autonomy and complex needs of individual recipients, such as conditional cash transfers that are not conditioned on employment, but instead focus on school attendance and healthcare provision, while providing social networks structure to enable them to function in their own communities.

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Address inequality through financing: establish public Children's Savings Account program, or publicly funded savings/investments accounts for every child, for future educational (or homeownership) use in adulthood

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