To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven. Ecclesiastes 3:1

Ten years ago this past October, I began blogging at Peach Pundit. I’ve seen it grow from a small little place for a few people to discuss Georgia politics to a broadly read, well respected political website. Over the years, I’ve enjoyed (mostly) discussions on every topic imaginable. and had the pleasure of meeting many of you in the “real world.” For that and so much more, I am grateful.

However, there is a season for everything and my season at Peach Pundit must come to an end. So you don’t get the wrong idea, this departure is completely my idea. I told Charlie and the other Editors of my decision over a month ago and at Charlie’s request, I took some time to think it over. I’ve thought it over and still feel it’s time for me to stop blogging. At this point in my life, I need to focus my time and energy on other things.

So I leave my Editorial position at Peach Pundit but will remain a part of the larger Peach Pundit community. I want to thank Erick Erickson for inviting me to write for PP all those years ago. Thank you also to Charlie Harper, Mike Hassinger, Stefan Turkheimer, Jon Richards, Jason Pye, Jessica Szilagyi, Nathan Smith, Lawton Sack, Obi’s Sister, Clayton Wager, George Chidi, Chris Farris, Jeff Emanuel, Grayson Daughters, Chris Huttman, and so many others who helped me along the way and helped grow Peach Pundit. Finally, I want to thank all of you, the readers, without whom none of this would have been possible. I will see you all in the comment section.

Last week I attended something called the State Internet Policy Conference. The Conference, hosted by Apple, Facebook, Google, and Yahoo, featured tours of Facebook’s and Google’s headquarters and panel discussions on a host of topics. It was an informative conference and I was glad I was able to attend.

I thought I’d pass on a few things I learned.

1) Overall, California is not very business friendly, but the talent pool tech companies draw from is enormous. California’s personal and corporate income taxes are among the highest in the nation. So why do these companies stay there? The Left Coast still has several things in it’s favor, most notably local talent. The sheer volume of programmers in the area is enormous. Also, California’s laws on non-compete agreements greatly favor employees and independent contractors. This encourages job hopping and even striking out on your own should you come up with a good idea.

2) Policymakers better get used to turmoil because disruptive technologies aren’t going to end any time soon. If you thought Uber and AirBnB were the end of the turmoil caused by new technologies, think again. Autonomous vehicles are coming – fast. Drones to deliver small packages to your home or business are not far behind. There are plenty of other cool gadets being developed in labs across the Valley. Some of these will turn someone’s world upside down. Legislators will be faced with clashes between current law and technologies seeking to uproot the established order for the foreseeable future.

3) Tech companies spend a lot of money regularly upgrading equipment. Old models of taxation don’t fit these companies well. Here in Georgia, we give tax breaks for certain types of manufacturing and farming equipment. Tech companies regularly spend millions on computer equipment but receive no tax breaks on these purchases. Additionally, manufacturers and certain agriculture entities do not pay state sales tax on the electricity they consume. Data centers are not exempt from the tax on power, which costs them a lot of money and make Georgia less attractive when a tech company is looking to expand. It might be time to revisit how we tax tech companies. A few changes could enhance our state’s attractiveness to the tech industry.

Georgia is seen as an attractive place for tech companies. Google Fiber is moving into metro Atlanta, most of the major tech players have a presence here and are looking to grow, there are a number of data centers here, and we have a thriving gaming industry. One Google manager said to me (not knowing I was a Georgia Tech alum), “whatever you can do to keep Georgia Tech a top engineering school, do it.” Midtown’s Technology Square is a hotbed of high-tech activity. We’ve got a lot going for us here in Georgia and as long as we’re willing to adjust our policies to meet changing technological times, our tech sector should continue to grow and provide good paying jobs for our citizens.

By now you’ve probably seen this report by 11Alive on a recent meeting of ALEC, the American Legislative Exchange Council, down in Savannah. You also might have seen this article claiming the meeting was a “bill writing meeting.” These report made it look as if something evil and nefarious went on there. I wasn’t there but I have been to other ALEC meetings in the past and know what happens.

A couple of years ago I wrote about the political Left’s hatred (there’s no other word for it) of ALEC. It’s sad to see 11Alive and the AJC pick up the “ALEC is evil” narrative. As I’ve written before, conferences like the ones ALEC puts on are valuable, especially to part-time Legislators. They help us keep up with advances in technology, learn about how other states are solving problems, how we might help us solve similar problems in our state, hear from experts in various fields, and network with legislators from across the country.

The political Left finds value in this too as evidenced by the fact they have started several organizations to do EXACTLY what ALEC does – exchange ideas and craft model legislation. I’ve written about that as well, and also learned of the Left’s newest attempt to compete with ALEC. You know what, I applaud these efforts. Sharing, debating ideas, learning from industry experts and other legislators are good things. What bothers me is the the twisting of what ALEC is and does and the lack of scrutiny of left-leaning groups doing the exact same things as ALEC.

If ALEC is bad, so are left-leaning legislative policy conferences, but I haven’t see any stories about Georgia Legislators attending left-leaning policy conferences. That fact alone should make people pause before believing all the terrible allegations about ALEC.

Erick Erickson spoke with Bill Meierling of ALEC last Thursday and cast doubt on several items in the 11Alive story. Most notably, why didn’t the 11Alive reporter simply comply with ALEC’s media availability policy? I realize that’s not as dramatic as attempting to barge into a room, but it would have been a more accurate report. Listen for yourself:

One other point I’d like to raise. There are dozens and dozens of legislative policy conferences every year in America. They can either be funded with private funds or public funds. Georgia doesn’t, but many states help fund some of these organizations with tax dollars. I oppose public funding of these types of conferences. In my opinion, tax dollars should be used for the public good, not to enhance my education – especially in tight budget times. Thus, I support private and corporate funding of legislative policy conferences. ALEC receives no taxpayer funds to my knowledge, which opponents claim is one of the things that makes them bad. I wholeheartedly disagree with that notion. Furthermore, the fact that ALEC offers scholarship funds for people to attend is common practice at legislative policy conferences. I hate to break it to you but not all legislators are rich folks with extra money laying around to attend policy conferences. Scholarships play an important role in making sure more legislators attend these meetings.

Of course, I could be wrong. Perhaps the government should fully fund all legislative policy conferences to avoid the influence of evil corporations. Or only rich people should be allowed to be Legislators. Or better yet, conservatives shouldn’t be allowed to meet together to discuss policy.

That’s my opinion. I welcome yours.