HR 1767: Herring, Robert McNeill (Neill); years of service at the Georgia General Assembly; commend

House Resolution 1767

By: Representatives Buckner of the 137th, Hugley of the 141st, Williams of the 168th, Holcomb of the 101st, Greene of the 154th, and others

A RESOLUTION

Recognizing and commending Robert McNeill (Neill) Herring for his years of service at the Georgia General Assembly; and for other purposes.

WHEREAS, Robert McNeill (Neill) Herring is a native Georgian who hails from Dalton, attended Emory at Oxford College, and graduated from Georgia State University; and

WHEREAS, Neill Herring was invited to be a page at the Georgia General Assembly during his teenage years, which sparked a lifelong passion for lobbying; and

WHEREAS, he has worked as a lobbyist at every session of the Georgia General Assembly since 1980, working tirelessly with both republicans and democrats for the last 47 years; and

WHEREAS, he has been a principal lobbyist for the Sierra Club since 1989 and has worked to represent a number of other Georgia public interest groups during his career, including Chattahoochee Riverkeeper and the Georgia Water Coalition; and

WHEREAS, his accomplishments have included the defeat of major road projects such as the Georgia Outer Perimeter and Northern Arc; and

WHEREAS, in 1994, Neill Herring worked with legislative leadership Larry Walker and Tom Murphy to pass HB 1443, which created the Office of State Administrative Hearings; and

WHEREAS, he has been a tireless advocate for clean water in Georgia, recognizing it as a public resource and working successfully to defeat efforts to undermine Georgia's riparian rights system in 2003 (HB 237) and 2013 (SB 213); and

WHEREAS, Neill Herring has pushed for and secured enhanced protections for Jekyll Island and other significant Georgia natural areas; and

WHEREAS, he has defeated a number of landfill and pipeline proposals over the decades that would have impacted private property rights and worked to protect landowners from improper use of eminent domain by passing the Landowners Bill of Rights in 2006; and

WHEREAS, he worked to secure legislation to improve funding for MARTA in 2015 and advocated for better transit investments in Georgia; and

WHEREAS, he worked relentlessly to pass a referendum to adopt a constitutional amendment to dedicate Georgia's Hazardous and Solid Waste Trust Funds so that the General Assembly did not divert those monies into the General Fund, and this effort was successful in 2020 and 2021; and

WHEREAS, one of his biggest legislative disappointments has been the failure to have "Tutti Frutti" by Little Richard designated as the official rock and roll song of Georgia.

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES that the members of this body recognize and commend Robert McNeill (Neill) Herring for his efficient, effective, unselfish, and dedicated public service to the State of Georgia as well as extend the most sincere best wishes for continued health and happiness. BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Clerk of the House of Representatives is authorized and directed to make an appropriate copy of this resolution available for distribution to Robert McNeill (Neill) Herring.