ROSSVILLE, Ga. -- The 2007 session of the Georgia General Assembly, which convenes Monday, Jan. 8, will mark state Rep. Martin Scott’s third year in office.

Scott, a Republican from Rossville, represents House District 2, which covers all of Dade County and about two-thirds of Walker County.

In Atlanta, Scott will be part of the GOP majority that sets the legislative agenda for the session. In his freshman term of 2005-06, Scott held a seat on three House committees: Banks and Banking, Industrial Relations, and Ways and Means, of which he was secretary.

Speaking by cell phone on his way to spend the New Year’s holiday with family in Florida, Rep. Scott discussed issues of the upcoming session, including illegal immigration, the conservative agenda and income taxes.

You recently took a trip to the U.S.-Mexico border with fellow lawmakers. What did you observe?

We saw firsthand how illegal border crossing is not just an issue of people coming for jobs. A lot of times these people are coming through and stealing and committing heinous crimes against U.S. citizens. It was sad to see how we allow invaders from another country to cross our border, often uninhibited, to trample on the property right and the constitutional right of citizens of this country who live along the border. Our president and our Congress are not fulfilling their constitutional duty to protect this land against invaders.

Last year you helped pass Senate Bill 529, the Security and Immigration Compliance Act. Is that the extent of what can be done at the state level?

No, there’s far more that we can do. Now, SB 529 is a great bill. State Sen. Chip Rogers, who authored it, was one of the people I traveled with on the trip. It’s the toughest law passed by any state on illegal immigration.

An issue I really want to see addressed this year is fraudulent identification. Mexicans who come to this country illegally can go to the Mexican Consulate in Atlanta and obtain what’s called a matriculate consular card, which is essentially nothing more than a false ID. There is no background check or other confirmation of the applicant being who they say they are. Illegals are using these to open bank accounts, obtain mortgages, apply for tax exemptions and to board airplanes, and yet even Blockbuster Video is smart enough to tell these people that they are not allowed to use these to rent videos. It’s to our shame that Blockbuster has a higher regard for its assets than the United States of America. In fact, the federal government is making it difficult to enforce the part of SB 529 that provides for punishment of employers of illegals. When they hire these workers, they are doing so on the backs of the U.S. taxpayer, and to the detriment of those employers who obey the law.

Your GOP colleague state Rep. Bill Stephens, who is a pharmacist, has filed legislation to prohibit managed-care companies which get public funds from pocketing any rebates it negotiates under Medicaid and PeachCare. How do you feel about such a move?

I’m not completely familiar with the bill, but I will say that if any health care vendor who is providing services by contract basis to the state of Georgia, and thereby to the taxpayers of Georgia, is receiving kickbacks that are undisclosed, that has to be stopped and they need to be punished for doing so. It sounds like Rep. Stephens has the bureaucrats on the run, and he needs to keep up the good work.

Retired state employees are due a projected $15 to $20 billion in pension and benefits over the next 30 years, and Gov. Sonny Perdue is considering cutbacks to their health-care benefits to help manage that huge liability in future state budgets. Can you blame the retirees for not being happy with that thinking?

I tend to think that this kind of talk is just pre-session jitters, possibly brought about by the media taking governor’s staff memos out of context. I’ve talked at length with Georgia Fraternal Order of Police president Carlton Stallings about the state retiree health-care plan, and I think he’s satisfied that this is a dead issue. I think it’s premature to judge what the exact method for curing this ill would be, but I do think when the state makes an obligation to its employees, it should keep that promise.

There are several past issues that will likely be re-visited in the 2007 General Assembly. How do you think the upcoming session will go?

The conservative agenda is a non-activist agenda, so when you see Gov. Perdue taking a position of having a “legislative-light” year, I think that’s to be expected. There are some reforms I believe need to be done such as having spending caps — the state budget should never grow faster than the economy is growing. I’d like to see a taxpayer bill of rights, and I’d like to see us lower the debt ceiling. We need to govern responsibly and avoid debt that can essentially be a tax increase for future generations.

I think with the conservative Republican leadership in Georgia now we can continue to expect to see bureaucracies and special interests that are trying to milk the taxpayer having a bit more dissatisfaction.

How do you feel about the stirrings to eliminate the state income tax?

I would vote to eliminate the income tax. I think it’s a horrible tax on the very productivity of your citizens, and that is counter-intuitive. Of course it would have to come together with a lot more fiscal responsibility than we’ve demonstrated in this state over the last few decades. We would certainly have to curtail any more budget growth and come up with more creative methods for providing necessary services. It’s not something that should be done precipitously, but we should set a course to get to a day when we can have a situation where there is no income tax.

Would you vote in favor of the proposed bill to support raising the state minimum wage?

No, minimum wage laws are foolhardy and go against any notion of smart economics. Less than three percent of the American population works for the current minimum wage, and those that advocate raising it usually call for these small little bumps which benefit mostly high school students. They punish small businesses and are disingenuous from the start. To advocate a minimum wage is hypocritical and absurd. If government has the arbitrary power to tell businesses what to pay, why not require $50 an hour? That’s a more livable wage than $7.25. Wages ought to be set by the market, which is basic economics.