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The Issues

COST OF LIVING & PROPERTY TAXES
Laurens County families recently absorbed a nearly thirty-one percent property tax increase over the rollback rate. This sudden rate hike followed the depletion of more than four million dollars in county reserve funding over three years. Local budgets are buckling under rising inflation and soaring public-safety burdens. For example, local property taxpayers are forced to cover county inmate medical costs that recently jumped to nearly one million dollars. Working families and seniors are already stretched thin by these rising living costs. We can do better by planning ahead instead of reacting to financial emergencies.

JOE'S SOLUTION: I have a plan to protect your household budget and bring true accountability to our local tax system. First, I will introduce a state-level homestead circuit breaker to cap property tax assessments relative to your household income. This ensures that our families are not taxed out of their homes due to sudden property valuation spikes. Second, I will fight to reallocate state funds to cover state-mandated rural jail medical costs. This action will directly remove a crippling financial burden from our rural county budgets. Third, I will establish early-warning statutory triggers requiring mandatory public hearings if local operating reserves drop significantly. Finally, I will mandate strict state reporting to guarantee that any new local sales tax delivers a true dollar-for-dollar property tax offset. Together, these practical steps will shield local taxpayers from sudden rate hikes and restore fiscal stability.
JOBS & ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
The state has committed hundreds of millions of dollars to the coastal I-16 network to accommodate industrial expansion. However, District 155 is geographically separated from the epicenter of this massive coastal investment. Laurens County secured a major win with the Hwashin facility, but the public lacks an annual report proving how many of those jobs are currently filled. We also lack public data proving what these jobs actually pay and how many local residents were hired. Furthermore, Johnson County faces a twenty-four percent poverty rate and lacks a comparable state-funded site-readiness award to attract employers. When taxpayer money and public incentives help bring in a company, the public deserves to see whether the deal actually worked. We can do better by building an accountable economic strategy that ensures local families benefit from new growth.

JOE'S SOLUTION: I have a plan to prepare industrial land in both Laurens and Johnson counties with necessary water, sewer, and broadband infrastructure. I will push for a specific Johnson County economic plan backed by state site-preparation funding. We will recruit the next layer of auto-parts suppliers and manufacturers who need access to I-16 but do not need to be on the coast. I will work with Oconee Fall Line Technical College to connect job training directly to real local openings with a known wage. My plan supports paid apprenticeship programs so residents can learn a skilled trade while earning a paycheck. We will also treat housing and utilities as vital job issues so workers can afford to raise families here. Finally, I will sponsor a public scorecard for all subsidized projects to reveal actual wages, filled jobs, and whether local residents were hired.
HEALTHCARE ACCESS & FUNDING
Sustaining local healthcare is incredibly difficult for our rural communities. In Johnson County, nearly one-in-five residents under sixty-five currently lack health insurance. Georgia is administering a new, federally funded GREAT Health initiative worth over two hundred million dollars. Unfortunately, working families have no clear way to see how much of that money is actually reaching our local clinics. The state budget also provides roughly thirty-four million dollars annually to build a rural physician pipeline through the Mercer University School of Medicine. Taxpayers fund these programs to train rural doctors, but we rarely find out where they actually go. When an institution receives major state appropriations, the public deserves complete transparency and clear disclosure safeguards.

JOE'S SOLUTION: We can do better by building an accountable healthcare system that directs funding to the communities that need it most. I have a plan to ensure our healthcare tax dollars work directly for our families. First, I will relentlessly advocate for Laurens and Johnson county providers to secure our fair share of state and federal rural health grants. Second, I will demand a public, district-level scorecard showing exactly where state-funded rural-health grants are being spent. This scorecard will explicitly track how many state-subsidized doctors are actually opening practices right here in our district. Third, I will push for a strict transparency standard for any legislator whose employer receives major state appropriations. These leaders should be required to publicly disclose their compensation arrangements and release their recusal practices.
AGRICULTURE, DISASTER RECOVERY & RURAL INFRASTRUCTURE
Hurricane Helene delivered a catastrophic blow to our local economy and physical infrastructure. Preliminary estimates show the storm caused at least five and a half billion dollars in statewide agriculture and forestry losses. In Johnson County alone, our farmers suffered severely damaged cotton fields, ruined soybeans, and destroyed grain facilities. Our local counties also faced immediate and massive cleanup costs for removing debris and clearing roads. The initial state response in November offered a hundred million dollars that mostly focused on loans. Comprehensive legislative relief was not signed into law until March. When facing billions in destruction, our agricultural producers need a fast recovery bridge rather than just more debt and paperwork.

JOE'S SOLUTION: We can do better by creating a system that rapidly supports our rural communities during a crisis. I have a plan to build a rapid-response disaster framework that protects our local agriculture and county balance sheets. First, I will introduce statutory triggers that automatically unlock constitutionally valid state relief the moment a disaster hits. This will provide reimbursable grants and cost-share funds so our farmers do not have to rely solely on debt to survive. Second, I will create an emergency infrastructure fund designed to reimburse rural counties for debris removal within thirty days. This rapid repayment will prevent local governments from draining cash reserves or raising property taxes to cover unexpected cleanup costs. Finally, I will mandate a real-time public ledger for all state disaster spending to ensure our rural districts get their fair share of relief.
EDUCATION CRISIS & DUBLIN CITY SCHOOLS
A recent state special examination exposed a severe financial crisis within Dublin City Schools. This collapse was driven by weak expenditure controls, significant overstaffing, and the misuse of temporary funds. The district faced multi-million-dollar cash shortages and required emergency state advances just to make payroll. Ultimately, this financial instability led to the state suspending all seven eligible elected board members. At the same time, the state approved a new local charter school after our local board previously denied the petition. Currently, the public record lacks a comprehensive fiscal-impact analysis showing how this new school will affect the surrounding districts. When new charter schools are approved in a distressed district, taxpayers deserve absolute transparency about real estate and professional ties. We can do better by catching financial ruin early and demanding clear accountability before emergencies happen.

JOES' SOLUTION: I have a plan to establish aggressive, early-warning fiscal guardrails for our local school systems. First, I will pass proactive fiscal triggers that force early state audits if a district's reserves drop unexpectedly over two consecutive quarters. This action will fix the math and prevent multi-year fiscal neglect before a school board has to be suspended. Second, I will mandate a strict, independent fiscal-impact analysis before any state-authorized charter school is legally permitted to open. This analysis will prove exactly how the new school will impact host district funding and transportation. Finally, I will introduce basic transparency laws requiring state legislators to publicly disclose any communications or real estate brokerage affiliations tied to new charter schools.
LAND USE & DATA CENTERS
A recent grant application identified the former Mohawk property near East Dublin as a possible future data-center site. While no data-center project or developer is currently approved, this discovery exposed a serious gap in our local preparedness. Laurens County currently lacks countywide zoning in its unincorporated areas. We do not have a specific regulatory framework to handle the noise, water use, and infrastructure impact of a sudden data-center development. Georgia has not enacted a comprehensive statewide data-center framework to cover local land-use, water, and transparency issues. State utility rules also do not protect our local water, roads, or county tax dollars. Families deserve clear rules before any future project affects our community resources. We can do better by establishing strong protections before a developer ever arrives at our door.

JOE'S SOLUTION: I have a plan to ensure our communities have the explicit tools needed to protect our land and water. First, I will require any large data-center developer to publicly disclose their actual water use, power demand, and noise studies. This disclosure must happen before they receive a single local permit or tax break. Second, I will push for state legislation authorizing our counties to adopt targeted data-center regulations even without comprehensive countywide zoning. Third, I will mandate that developers pay for the local infrastructure costs their projects create. Finally, I will require a fully funded cleanup and decommissioning plan so taxpayers are never left footing the bill.

Learn More: Georgia State References

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