Essential Question: How does the governments in Savannah and the Georgia Government meet the people’s needs?

The State of the State address The “State of the State” address is a speech given by the Governor every year Similar to the State of the Union It announces the “state” or condition that Georgia is in and it outlines the legislative priorities that the Governor has for the coming years Sets the goals for the General Assembly What was the State of the State address about this year?

State of the State ?s: Review from Constitution scavenger hunt: how long is the Georgia legislative session? Look at the words that Deal used the most in his speech (hint: look at the wordle), identify SIX SIGNIFICANT words were used most and SIX SIGNIFICANT words that were used the least. Why do you think Deal chose to focus his speech on these terms? Why did he leave the others out? Deal proposes items like deepening the Savannah Harbor. How will that specific proposal affect people in Savannah? What is Governor Deal’s MAIN goals for the coming legislative session? What obstacles will Deal face in accomplishing these goals?

Re-cap: What services do our local governments provide? Local Government State Government Safe drinking water Parks and recreation Pet vaccination laws City fire/police Traffic rules Traffic safety laws Car insurance Driver’s licenses Marriage licenses Highway maintenance Health care system

That’s services…what about laws? In the United States (and in GA) we have a representative democracy Meaning? But, we do have SOME situations where the people participate in DIRECT DEMOCRACY Direct democracy = people vote on policy ideas directly (public policy made by the people) We have 3 ways in which people can participate in direct democracy: initiative, referendum, and recall

Initiative: voters write a new law and gather signatures to support the policy (the idea for the law originates with the voters themselves) If enough people show support for an initiative, it will then be approved by the voters (and be enacted) or it will follow the legislative process through the General Assembly GEORGIA DOES NOT USE THIS METHOD OF DIRECT DEMOCRACY (24 states do though ) Referendum: a proposal for a law that gets approved by voters directly Referendums can begin with initiatives (but not in GA) or they can be proposed by the legislature

Types of Referendums: Mandatory referendum: a policy that MUST get approved by the voters in order for it to be put in action (this happens with Constitutional Amendments) Popular referendum: citizens gather enough support (via petition) to demand that a proposal be considered by the voters Optional referendum: the legislature can go to the voters for approval but they do not have to In Georgia, we only have a mandatory referendum Example: in 2005, voters in Georgia had a Constitutional Amendment about marriage on the ballot

Direct Democracy around the states Insert NPR questions