Welcome to a new week at the Georgia Capitol.

As is the practice, the Legislature was in recess the week after the first week of a session – the same week as the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday. It’s during that week that members of the House Appropriations Committee hear the funding requests from the heads of Georgia’s many state agencies. Agency heads make their pitches both for spending for the rest of this fiscal year and for the fiscal year that starts on July 1.  Members of the House Appropriations Committee can ask about whether previous funding has been effective and used resourcefully.

As usual, the Capitol was closed for the MLK holiday on Monday. But we also lost two days and a few hours in the morning of a third meeting day because of winter weather. So not much happened – even in the House Appropriations Committee meeting room.

Consequently, the committee that is charged with producing the first draft of the state’s $36 million spending plan will be making up for that lost time between floor sessions, already-scheduled committee meetings, and other legislative work.

Monday is packed with committee meetings, including for individual sub-committees of the full Appropriations Committee. Not much legislation will be discussed at those Monday committee meetings since we are so early in the process.

Still, Monday, in reality, will be the beginning of our legislative work. Stay tuned; we ramp up quickly.

Since there is little to report on legislative work, I am using this edition of the Draper Paper to remind you of two asks I made in last week’s newsletter.

A day at the Legislature is a wonderful opportunity for your youngsters to discover their love for our government and to understand how they can impact our world.

I am looking for students who are at least 12 years old to serve at pages for a day or part of a day.

Pages are on the front lines of the legislative process, and will have the opportunity to meet our state’s decision makers. It’s a lesson in lawmaking that is not as abstract as the civics lessons they get in their classrooms.

Please fill out the application here if you are interested, and send it to Natasha.Brown@house.ga.gov. Copy info@votesaira.com on your email.

I love working with our leaders of tomorrow.

I want to hear from you because your concerns are what guide me. One way is to allow me to come to your neighborhood association meetings. Reach out to my staff at info@votesaira.com with your times and dates and topics you want to discuss, and I’ll be there.

Thank you for the honor or representing you at the Capitol.

Yours in service,