Below will highlight some of the day’s events:

HB 1219 – Rep. Smith’s bill dealing with Medicare supplemental insurance so as to provide that insurers who offer Medicare supplemental insurance policies in Georgia shall make available certain policies to persons under the age of 65 who, as a result of a disability, qualify for Medicare. This bill has now been referred to the House Insurance Committee.

HB 1221 – Introduced by Rep. Paul Jennings, this is a bill relating to taxation which proposes to mend the amount of interest paid by the State when it has erroneously or illegally assessed and collected taxes from a taxpayer. Currently, the law provides for 1% to be paid on those monies; this would move it to 9%. This would also hold true for any taxes owed the state or any local taxing jurisdiction. This bill was engrossed and has now been assigned to the House Ways and Means Committee.

SB 396 – Sen. Gingrey’s bill concerning government records which shall not be disclosed if such would compromise security of government facilities against terroristic or other attack has now been referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee.

SR 596 – Sen. Hooks and others offered this Resolution honoring Hospital Day at the Capitol. This will be observed on February 18, 2002.

SR 600 – Sen. Haines has proposed an amendment to the State’s Constitution in an effort to provide that the Supreme Court shall have jurisdiction over questions of law from any state appellate or federal court.

The Human Development Subcommittee of House Appropriations met again today to discuss the various recommendations for the FY 2002 Supplemental Budget. No final list has yet been prepared.

This afternoon, the House Appropriations Subcommittee, under the guidance of Rep. Mickey Channell, met to hash out final recommendations for the portions of the FY 2002 Budget for the Department of Community Health and Georgia Cancer Coalition. Prior to actually voting on the recommendations, Rep. Channell questioned Commissioner Gary Redding concerning the Upper Payment Limit monies anticipated by the Department. These monies will come from additional federal monies paid. Commissioner Redding explained that there was an additional $30 million which the Budget did not actually recognize and thus would be a credit to the Department. These monies would go towards paying for Medicaid benefits. Rep. Channell explained that he had worked with Rep. Terry Coleman, Chairman of House Appropriations, as well as other members of Leadership, on the recommendation proposals which he submitted to his Subcommittee. The Subcommittee agreed with all of the proposals for restorations of these monies:

1) Remove the Generic and Preferred Brand dispensing fee incentive in Medicaid and PeachCare for Kids (this would be a reduction of $1,476,000)

2) Eliminate funding for FY 2002 enhancement for the Medicaid program expansion for children in families with incomes up to 150% of the federal poverty level (this would have been a reduction of $2,126,097)

3) Eliminate funding for start-up grants for community and migrant health centers (this would have been a reduction of $250,000)

The following were new additions:

1) Provide funds for administrative support for the Georgia Rural Health Association in the amount of $25,000

2) Provide funds for the Grants to Rural Hospitals for equipment and infrastructure as outlined in SB 195 in the amount of $10 million

3) Provide funds for assessment and planning for a community health center in Wheeler County (must be affiliated with a critical access or rural hospital in order to be funded) in the amount of $100,000

4) Language only: Provide funds for coverage for colorectal cancer screening as provided in HB 1100 (Rep. Channell estimated that this would be $350,000)

Under the Georgia Cancer Coalition Budget, the following changes were made (from Tobacco Settlement Funds):

1) Removal of the contract funding for the Unite Georgia smoking prevention and cessation media campaign in the amount of $5,750,000 (this would be a ‘zero’ recommendation)

2) Those monies listed above from the Unite Georgia recommendation would then be placed in the funding for the Cancer State Aid treatment program to provide medical benefits to uninsured persons with certain types of cancer

All of these items were approved by the Subcommittee and the only one which received any real discussion was the removal of the money for the Unite Georgia item. Rep. Nan Orrock, long a champion for the smoking prevention and cessation campaign, stated that Georgia was not doing enough now and this would only lessen what the State is doing. Rep. Channell explained that there were already more than $20 million in funds going to the prevention and cessation program and that there needed to be more dollars for treatment. Monies on the "quit line," for instance, would stay in place as well as some other dollars.

The Senate Judiciary Committee also met today and passed out SB 393 regarding appellate court practice and specifically direct appeals by providing additional judgments or orders to be appealed (such as judgments or orders in criminal cases denying pleas of double jeopardy or pleas in bar upon the theory that an acquittal has already been effected under the provisions of Code Sections 17-7-170 and 17-7-171; all orders granting motions to cancel a notice of lis pendens; all orders denying non-parties engaged in news gathering the privilege pursuant to Code Section 24-9-30; etc.). This was a bill which Sen. Michael Meyer von Bremen had introduced.

The House Insurance Committee passed out HB 1078 with no amendments. This bill proposes an amendment to Chapter 26 of Title 33, relating to industrial life insurance, in order to allow policyholders who are 65 years of age and older to have the option to provide for an additional contact person who would be notified by the insurer prior to the lapse, termination, or cancellation of any industrial life insurance policy in the same manner as the policyholder.

Late this afternoon, the Health Professions Subcommittee of the House Health and Ecology Committee met to take up HB 828, a bill authored by Rep. Bobby Parham, concerning licensure of the practice of "orthotics, prosthetics, and pedorthics." After a good deal of testimony, the Subcommittee decided to hold the bill and have another hearing on it. The bill, introduced in the 2001 Session and requiring a ‘sunrise/sunset’ as it creates a new licensure board, had some concern expressed about it by the Secretary of State’s office for a couple of reasons, including the need for the board to be self-sustaining. It is believed that if the new Board were to be self-sustaining, persons would have to pay a licensure of $2,000 to $3,000 per person. The reason the bill was introduced was to address persons who are not qualified in these practice areas. It presumably would not affect those persons who are otherwise licensed in another profession.

On February 4, 2002, the House passed out by Floor Substitute, the bill allowing a summons in a civil action to be served by private detectives, HB 1065. This bill provides that "a private detective, who is licensed or registered by the Georgia Board of Private Detective and Security Agencies, and who has been appointed as a permanent process server in any court of record in this state is authorized to serve process for every court of record in this state." This will amend O.C.G.A. § 9-11-4 (c).

Actual language in HB 1090, which was passed out of the House Judiciary Committee, concerning serving notice of a claim against the State (see O.C.G.A. § 50-21-26) strikes the following language in the current law: "In addition, a copy shall be delivered personally to or mailed by first-class mail to the state government entity, the act or omissions of which are asserted as the basis of the claim. Each state government entity may designate an office or officer within that state government entity to whom a notice of claim is to be delivered or mailed." Further, it adds that the "Department of Administrative Services shall mail by first class mail a copy of the notice of a claim to the state government entity, the act or omissions of which are asserted as the basis of the claim. Each state government entity may designate an office or officer within that state government entity to whom a notice of claim is to be mailed."

Speaker Murphy’s bill, HB 498, which proposes to revamp the State’s current system for delivery of mental health, mental retardation and substance abuse services through the Community Service Boards and Regional Service Boards, created by HB 100, will be heard on Wednesday in the Senate Health and Human Services Committee. It is believed that a new substitute of this legislation has been proposed by the Department of Human Resources.