HB 1022 – This is a bill proposing to amend Article 3 of Chapter 2 of Title 40 in order to provide for a special license plate tag on vehicles honoring the Boy Scouts of America. This measure was introduced by Reps. Borders, Shaw, Black, Boggs, and Coleman. This has now been forwarded to the House Committee on Motor Vehicles.

HB 1027 – Reps. Purcell, Greene and Floyd authored this proposal amending Chapter 2 of Title 20 in an effort to authorize the posting or reading of historical documents and writings, including the national motto of the United States, in public school buildings and classrooms and at any school event. This bill has now been sent to the House Committee on Education.

HB 1031 – Rep. Wiles' bill amending Chapter 11 of Title 31 concerning the delivery of emergency medical services has been referred to the House Committee on Public Safety.

HB 1040 – Rep. Powell and others introduced this amendment to Part 8 of Chapter 14 of Title 44 of the Code relating to hospitals and nursing homes in an effort to allow a traumatic burn care medical practice to have a lien on a cause of action accruing to an injured person for the costs of care and treatment arising out of the cause of action. This bill has been assigned to the House Committee on Human Relations and Aging.

HB 1049 – Rep. Childers and others have authored this bill amending Article 2 of Chapter 20 of Title 45 concerning public officers and employees of the State so as to allow them to receive a leave of absence, with pay, for serving as an organ or bone marrow donor. "Organ" is defined in this bill to mean: "a human organ, including an eye, that is capable of being transferred from the body of a person to the body of another person." For such organ donation, a person could receive 30 days paid leave of absence as long as there is proper notification (more fully described below). The bill allows the person who serves as a bone marrow donor for the purpose of transplantation to receive a leave of absence, with pay, for seven days and such leave shall not be charged against or deducted from any annual or sick leave and shall be included as service in computing any retirement or pension benefits. There is a caveat that the employee would not receive such leave with pay unless he or she furnishes to his or her supervisor or other proper authority a statement from a medical practitioner who is to perform such transplantation procedure or from a hospital administrator that the employee is serving as a bone marrow donor. If such donation does not occur, the provisions of this new Code section would not be applicable.

HB 1050 – Reps. Irvin, Snelling, Cash, Lunsford, and Wilkinson have introduced this bill amending O.C.G.A. § 45-10-26 concerning the yearly filing of disclosure statements concerning business transactions with the state by public officials and employees. Subsection (a) would now read: "Except as provided in subsection (b) of this Code section, any public official or employee, whether for himself or herself or on behalf of any business, or any business in which such public official or employee or any member of his or her family has a substantial interest who transacts business with the state or any agency or any political subdivision thereof shall disclose such transactions. Such disclosure shall be submitted prior to January 31 each year to the Secretary of State on such forms as he or she shall prescribe and shall include an itemized list of the previous year’s transactions with the dollar amount of each transaction reported and totaled. Such disclosure statements shall be public records."

HB 1060 – Reps. Barnes, Dodson and Wix have authored this measure to provide for the enactment of the "Transportation Safety Act of 2002." This grants additional powers to local governments and provides for the powers of law enforcement officers at airports and landing fields. There are also amendments to the carrying and possessing of firearms in order to broaden the applicability to transportation terminals as well as to provide for a prohibition of destructive and hoax devices and hazardous substances at public gatherings. Among the bill’s other provisions are criminal sanctions for the avoidance of or interference with security measures and devices.

SB 316 – Sen. Gingrey’s bill concerning the alternatives to eligibility for persons wishing to participate in the HOPE program which amends Part 7 of Article 7 of Chapter 3 of Title 20 has now been forwarded to the Senate Education Committee.

SB 336 – Sens. Marable and others have authored this amendment to Article 27 of Chapter 2 of Title 20 concerning prohibition against the possession of electronic communication devices by students in school. Specifically, the current law does not allow a local board of education the power to permit any pupil to carry a pocket pager or electronic device in school except for health or other unusual reasons approved by the board of education. This bill would limit such reasons to "including but not limited to safety of a student or students. Exceptions other than health or safety shall be listed in the written policies of a local board of education. A local board of education may also grant exceptions on a case-by-case basis."

SR 482 – Sens. Starr, Dean, Gillis, and Marable have offered this Resolution in an effort to urge Congress to repeal permanently the estate tax.

The House Insurance Subcommittee, chaired by Rep. Keith Heard, met today to hear from the Department of Insurance on rating issues relating to use by a property and casualty carrier of credit scoring in the underwriting process. Amy Atkinson, with the Department, provided details to the Subcommittee about the Department’s proposal for legislation on this subject. The Department currently has two regulations in place which deal with the issue, but after two hearings in October 2001, the Department has decided that legislation is needed. This legislation will deal with disclosure, appeals, reporting requirements, and it will apply to personal lines of insurance. The bill will have prohibitions pertaining to adverse underwriting, erroneous information given due to identity theft, adverse credit history due to family violence, etc. Ms. Atkinson explained that the current disclosures required under Title 33, Chapter 39 will still apply. As for appeals process, if a person is denied insurance based on credit scoring, then he or she may appeal such denial within 30 days of the denial.

The Consumer’s Insurance Advocate, Cathey Steinberg, also spoke at this hearing. Consumers have been calling her office regarding credit scoring issue. She asked that the Committee look at the law to base insurance denials on driving records and not to apply such on credit scoring.

Also, Richard Collier with Choice Point, testified about his company’s interest in this proposed legislation. Choice Point, a division of Equifax, is a rating company currently under legislation which must have its product approved by the Department. Choice Point has met with the Department and has been working on credit scoring issues – which it believes is correct to be used as one factor in the underwriting process.

As no actual bill was before this Subcommittee, it was announced that prior to a bill being passed out of this Subcommittee, there will be an additional hearing held in an effort to hear more from the industry as well as other interested parties.

The Senate Judiciary Committee also met today. One bill of interest on the Committee’s agenda was HB 360, the Safe Place for Newborns Act. This bill was introduced in 2001 and had passed the House but had stalled once it reached the Senate. The legislation would allow mothers to leave their children at a hospital without fear of legal retribution, as long as the children were not abused, and they were less than one-week old. In the current draft, "medical facilities and their employees, agents, and staff members shall not be liable for civil damages or subject to criminal prosecution for failure to discharge the duties provided for in this chapter. The immunity provided in this chapter shall in no way be construed as providing immunity for any acts of negligent treatment of the child taken into custody." This bill was held in Committee today. It is rumored that the Senate did not want this bill on the floor for a lengthy debate on a Friday; there were also fears that amendments might be made to the Legislation.

The Department of Community Health Subcommittee, from House Appropriations Committee, met this afternoon to hear public testimony from persons about the Supplemental FY 2002 Budget. In all, twelve persons testified – much less in years past. Some highlights of the testimony include:

1) Holly Bates Snow, with the Georgia Hospital Association, which asked that the Subcommittee look at funding the Medicaid program so that it could reimburse hospitals based on a more recent Cost Report rather than the 1996 Cost Report with inflation factor added. Ms. Snow noted that many hospitals were operating in the "red" – in fact, the numbers have grown since last year when it was reported that 100 of the 178 facilities in the State were operating in the red. Now, there are 128 of 178 facilities operating in the red. She reminded the Subcommittee that hospitals were economic engines in their respective communities and sometimes the largest employers.

2) Representatives from Grady Hospital in Atlanta followed with more testimony about the monies needed by hospitals. Grady testified that it had experienced an additional cut as its Indigent Care Trust Fund dollars have been decreased - primarily due to more facilities participating in the Fund. This year, Grady had a reduction of $5 million yet it experienced a 13% increase in Medicaid patients it served.

3) Morehouse School of Medicine asked for $98,000 for residency training.

4) David Raynor, with the Medical Association of Georgia, rose in support of the Governor’s recommendation for $430 million for the Medicaid program.

5) Pharma and the Georgia Pharmacy Association testified about the various pharmaceutical portions of the Budget – testifying that prescription drug costs were mounting, but that was not solely due to price increases for the product but also because new products were coming on line and there was increased utilization. There were also discussions pertaining to the use of rebate programs - before a pharmaceutical company can participate in Medicaid, all of its drugs must participate in the rebate program. Rep. Channell applauded the new Pfizer initiative which provides a drug benefit for those on Medicare with incomes of 200% below the federal poverty level. Both entities appear to be working with the Department of Community Health on solutions to the escalating drug costs.

6) Curtis Rogers, with the Shepherd Center, asked that the Subcommittee reconsider the $500,000 pilot project for the disabled persons who wish to return to work but need help with personal assistance. Mr. Rogers explained that these persons would then pay back the State with a portion of their income for this personal assistance. The pilot project would have funded between nine and twelve slots.

7) Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies along with Families First and SEIU (a local union of State employees) testified about the need for the restoration of the dollars which would allow persons, employed by the State but unable to afford family insurance coverage under the State Health Benefit Plan, to apply for Medicaid (PeachCare is not available to State employees based on a federal requirement). From testimony, it is apparent that many State employees, which fall in this category, are afraid to come forward directly with their problems of obtaining child healthcare insurance coverage. Presently, the family options available on a monthly basis are $139 for an HMO and $147 for the PPO. The HMO product, however, is not offered statewide. Additionally, there is no sliding scale to make premiums more affordable.

8) Visiting Nurse Health System supplied support of the Governor’s recommendation for bringing hospice reimbursement rates in line with the Medicare rates. Hospice rates have not experienced an increase since 1997.

9) Non-emergency transportation again appeared on the list of "talked about" items. Ray Williams, with Logisticare, testified that his firm was not asking for the restoration of the funds which the Governor asked be eliminated. Instead, he thanked the Subcommittee for its work in past years as the system gets folks to the hospitals and other providers for the much-needed care. He asked that the Subcommittee remember this program when the economy is more robust.

Governor Barnes held a press conference today to announce more specific details on his homeland defense initiatives. In doing so, the Division of Public Health, within the Department of Human Resources, will be given "tools" necessary to deal with bioterroristic threats.