Friday, January 11, 2002
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Friday, January 11, 2002 |
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Hecht aims at 9/11 pranksters, gas prices By DAVE
HAMRICK
In the aftermath of Sept. 11, there's no shortage of people who think it's funny to phone in a bomb threat to a mall, a large retail store or a school. "I'm trying to find a way to write some stronger laws to stop that," said state Sen. Greg Hecht. The Jonesboro Democrat, who represents north Fayette, said he will be focusing on deterring such pranksters when the Georgia General Assembly starts its 2002 session Monday. "One thing that might help is to put in some restitution provisions," said Hecht. "For instance, if you call a mall with a bomb threat and it's closed down for the day, obviously that restitution order would be huge," he said. Of course, petty pranksters probably wouldn't be able to pay the money, but the order would be an encumbrance on their lives for years, he said. "I think it would be a strong deterrent," he said. Hecht is running for Congress this year in the new 13th District, which includes parts of South Fulton. For now, he continues to represent the 34th District in the state Senate, which also includes part of South Fulton. He said he also will focus on natural gas prices this legislative session. He chaired an interim study committee looking for ways to get gas prices down, and said numerous suggestions came from a series of public hearings this fall. High on that list, he said, is the idea of re-regulating the deregulated gas industry. The problem, though, is that "You're taking away a market from a business. We're looking at what you can constitutionally do and not do." If re-regulation results in some of the gas marketers being put out of business, the state might have to pay some compensation, he said. Other ways
to increase competition are being considered, said Hecht, along with setting
up "providers of last resort" to prevent anyone's gas from being
shut off during cold winter months. "It's an extraordinarily complicated issue," he said. "When they were discussing deregulation, it took them four years to come up with what they thought was the right legislation." He has some ideas on education as well, Hecht said, "but those are not fully drafted yet."
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