The Governor also gave his State-of-the-State address to the Joint Session this morning. Governor Barnes remarked that Georgia’s economic situation has suffered– especially since the events of September 11. He talked about concern for Georgians’ safety, finding good jobs, caring for the elderly, strengthening the values and traditions of Georgians, and building a better future.

He explained that the State’s "rainy day fund" is "about 5% of our annual revenue, which is not out of line with what a family would try to keep in a savings account." Such funds are for an economic cushion and helps the State maintain its bond rating. Georgia is limited by the amount it can spend on debt service to 10% of its previous year’s budget – he has held that to 6%.

He explained that Georgia’s economic situation is much better than other states – he pointed to Virginia which has a $1 billion dollar deficit and Florida’s delay of its planned tax cut. He proposes to "recommend that we conform Georgia’s income tax to the new federal income tax law, which will give an additional $63 million income tax cut to our state’s taxpayers this year – and over $400 million in the next 10 years." He is also proposing a sales tax of "shop Georgia" so that a sales tax holiday might boost the economy and provide for immediate relief – the period would be for two days the last Friday and Saturday of this March and another on the first Friday and Saturday in August (the exemption would be for items of clothing up to $100 each, school supplies up to $20 per item, and computer equipment up to $1,500 which is purchased for personal use).

Governor Barnes also mentioned the unemployment rates and benefits for persons who have lost their jobs. He is proposing an increase to benefits of $16 per week by 2003 which would bring the weekly benefit to $300 per week. He also stated that he wants "to make it so that if a woman has to leave her job because she is a victim of domestic violence, she is eligible for unemployment compensation."

He claimed that jobs and education "go together like catfish and hushpuppies." He plans to do more for education – including building more classrooms. Governor Barnes stated that the education reform efforts "are starting to bear fruit" - citing, for instance, that kindergarten classes will hold no more than 18 students per class by fall 2003.

He gave credit to teachers in his remarks but also noted that parents too have a major role in education – "Teachers are important, but parents also have a major role to play in education." This fall, he proposes to have a ‘local school council’ which will help set policies.

Yammacraw was reported as a success – it had set a goal of recruiting 10 companies to the State in telecommunications and ‘chip’ design and creating 2,000 new jobs within seven years. In "just three years, we’ve signed up more than 30 companies. They have already created 1,100 new jobs, and another 3,100 jobs are projected over the next few years."

OneGeorgia Authority and ICAPP were also reported as successes. He noted new industries which had come to the State – including Farmland/National Beef and Pirelli. He also noted the turnaround from the loss of jobs at Thomaston Mills and the efforts from OneGeorgia to make that possible.

In an effort to address security concerns, he mentioned the establishment of a "Homeland Security Command Center" which will coordinate Georgia’s efforts with the FBI and other federal authorities.

Again, PeachCare was one of his topics – reminding folks that parents deserved to know their children would be able to see a physician if they became sick. Enrollment for PeachCare is now at more than 200,000 children. The State, according to his remarks, is providing healthcare for more than 750,000 Georgians under the age 18.

A House Judiciary Subcommittee held a hearing on SB 214, a bill introduced in 2001 by Sens. Mike Polak and Robert Lamutt, in an effort to provide for limited protections for owners of databases against unauthorized commercialization. The bill would create in Title 10 of Chapter 1 of the Code the "Georgia Database Protection and Economic Development Act of 2002." It would appear that there were some groups which provided favorable support for the bill including the Association of Realtors, the Board of Regents, and Bell South. There is still some discussion on what the intent of the legislation really is. Kirby Thompson with Equifax offered an amendment concerning the information in the public domain. The bill does define "commercialization" to "mean to extract for use in commerce, or to use in commerce, all or a substantial part, measured either quantitatively or qualitatively, of the non-original elements of a database, in competition with the owner or otherwise having a material adverse effect on the owner’s ability to realize a return on its investment in the database." Likewise, the bill defines "database" to mean "a set of data, information, observations, facts, computations, instructions, or other such items that is entered or kept in one or more records." There are also definitions for "owner," "person," and "record." No person, other than the owner, can commercialize a database, except for exceptions outlined in the bill. The article shall not prohibit the following:

1) Any person acting with the consent of the owner of a database;

2) Independent creation of a database;

3) Extraction or use of the elements of a database for criticism, comment, news reporting or sports reporting unless the owner also reports news or sports and such extraction or use contributes to a pattern of competition with the owner;

4) Extraction or use of the elements of a database for academic purposes, such as teaching, academic or scientific research and scholarly writing;

5) Extraction or use of the elements of a database for law enforcement or intelligence activities authorized by any government or government entity; or

6) Extraction or use of the elements of a database to address, route, forward, transmit, connect, receive or store Internet communications.

The bill, in its current form, also addresses some concerns raised by libraries. In O.C.G.A. § 10-1-909 it states: "No person providing library services or otherwise providing services for the communication, storage, retrieval, viewing or copying of databases by others shall be liable under this article solely because another person employs such person’s services or facilities to extract or use the elements of a database."

There will be an additional followup hearing on this bill.

The House Human Relations and Aging Committee also had a lengthy meeting. The Committee had a controversial item on its agenda, HR 131, which proposes an amendment to the State’s Constitution. The Resolution has been proposed by Rep. Clint Smith, a Republican from North Georgia. Rep. Smith explained that he had talked with Governor Barnes about this idea and the Governor’s Office is also working on another proposal, similar in nature. The Resolution in its proposed form would state:

"Paragraph VII would now be proposed to read as follows: Separation of church and state. No money shall ever be taken from the public treasury, directly or indirectly, in aid of any church, sect, cult, or religious denomination or of any sectarian institution. However, the use of money from the public treasury for social service programs for poor and needy people, when those programs involve the participation of religious organizations, religious denominations, and individual houses of worship which receive such funds for the purpose of carrying out those programs in nonsectarian ways, shall not be prohibited by this Paragraph or any other provision of this Constitution."

The Resolution moved out of the Committee by a vote of 6 to 2. This Resolution was placed on the Committee’s agenda in the morning and was heard around 3:00 p.m. Proponents appear to be a group known as "We Care America," Georgia Homes and Services for Children, and various churches. A number of various nonprofit entities expressed their opposition to the measure including the ACLU, Anti-Defamation League, American Jewish Committee, Jewish Federation of Greater Atlanta, Georgia Center for Nonprofits, and others. There are a number of concerns about this proposal including the lack of accountability for such dollars given by the State to these faith-based entities. There was also discussion concerning the State’s law on this subject being more restrictive than the federal Constitution. The concern by some groups is that entities which could get these funds could somehow prosthelitize and perhaps discriminate in their employment practices (by only employing persons who have certain beliefs). This Resolution now moves to the House Rules Committee for a decision on whether it will be sent to the Floor for a vote.

The Committee also heard HB 1040, a bill by Rep. Alan Powell, concerning the hospital lien law. Rep. Powell presented the bill but there was no vote taken as the Committee Chair, Rep. Roger Byrd, had made a commitment to others that they could testify and due to conflicts with depositions, those persons were not available. Rep. Powell appeared to be concerned about the timing of this legislation and wished for the Committee to move it forward. This will allow a traumatic burn unit medical practice to file a lien – the bill basically addresses the burn unit at Doctor’s Hospital in Augusta. The bill defines "traumatic burn care medical practice" as the "care, treatment, or services rendered by a medical practice with respect to a patient whose burn care, treatment, or services resulted in charges in excess of $50,000.00, arising out of a single accident or occurrence." Further, the bill provides that
"any person, firm, hospital authority, or corporation operating a hospital or nursing home or providing traumatic burn care medical practice in this state shall have a lien for the reasonable charges for hospital, nursing home, or traumatic burn care medical practice care and treatment of an injured person, which lien shall be upon any and all causes of action accruing to the person to whom the care was furnished or to the legal representative of such person on account of injuries giving rise to the causes of action and which necessitated the hospital, nursing home, or provider of traumatic burn care medical practice care, subject, however, to any attorney’s lien. This subsection shall not be construed to interfere with the exemption from this part provided by Code Section 44-14-474."

Another bill before the Human Relations and Aging Committee was HB 711 by Rep. Jim Stokes concerning providing Georgia residents over age 62 with a Georgia Care Card in order to purchase pharmaceuticals at the Medicaid price at those pharmacies which take Medicaid patients. Rep. Stokes introduced this as an effort to allow the State to use its purchasing power to lower the cost of drugs for seniors. He noted that this was an idea which President Bush had also proposed but such action had been challenged. Rep. Stokes further explained that sometimes one has to threaten legislation in order to have parties come up with creative solutions to problems. He urged the Committee to vote out his bill. There were a number of questions concerning its impact on pharmacies and hospitals. Some Committee members questioned the realized potential of such savings to the elderly. Pfizer also made a presentation about its Pfizer Share Card – which covers all drugs manufactured by the company and provides such drugs at no cost to seniors over 65 and under 200% of the federal poverty level. Pharma asked that the Committee study the bill further. The Georgia Hospital Association opposed the bill as it would only lessen the amount of dollars its hospitals already get and by adding costs to its pharmacies to bear. The Georgia Pharmacy Association also opposed the bill as it shifted the burden of cost to the pharmacies. This bill also carries over to the next Committee meeting.

The Senate Health and Human Services Committee also held a meeting. It passed out two bills and held a hearing on a third one. SB 394, one of the Governor’s bills which proposes to expand the Department of Human Resources Board from 15 to 17 persons in order to take into account the increased numbers of Congressional districts, passed out without any amendments. A person would serve from each of the 13 Congressional districts. The bill retains the current law’s requirement that some of the Board members must be healthcare providers.

SB 364 also sailed out of Committee. This changes the Brain and Spinal Injury Trust Fund Authority to a "Commission." The bill passed with a Committee amendment.

HB 498 was the bill most were concerned about. This bill proposes to change the delivery of mental health, mental retardation, and substance abuse services in the community as created in HB 100. Rep. Carl Von Epps, Commissioner Jim Martin, and others from the Department of Human Resources ("DHR") were on hand to explain the new Substitute’s language.

The new Substitute preserves the fundamental qualities of the original law. The Regional Boards will now serve as "planning boards" and no longer have contractual abilities. There still be consumer involvement and consumer choice. Some of the provisions include the name change of the Division of Mental Health/Mental Retardation/Substance Abuse to the Division of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities within DHR. DHR would be the entity responsible for ensuring that the appropriate use of funds would be made to provide quality services to the consumers; DHR would also be responsible for protecting consumers from abuse or maltreatment. A good portion of the bill would go into effect in July 2002 while the part of the bill dealing with Community Service Boards would not go into effect until July 2003.

These community service boards’ ("CSBs") powers will be changed including that CSBs can acquire and dispose of real and personal property; can have and alter a seal; can borrow money within limits and incur debt, liabilities, and obligations for a business purpose; can carry forward without lapse fund balances to establish operating, capital, debt reserve accounts from revenues and grants from all sources except those prohibited by law; and can allow them to establish and/or operate facilities for the provision of disability services which may include the construction, improvement, and repair of such facilities.

CSBs would not be authorized to tax, issue general obligation bonds or revenue bonds or certificates – and it would prohibit the CSBs from financially obligating the State, any county, or municipal corporation. A CSB also could not operate a facility for profit but it could set fees to produce revenues to administer, operate, and provide for disability services, costs of acquiring and maintaining its facilities, and to create enough reserves sufficient to meet its obligations. CSBs would have to keep accounting records and submit to an annual, independent audit. A CSB also cannot create, form, or become a member of a non-profit corporation, limited liability company or other profit or non-profit entity unless it converts to a private non-profit corporation.

A CSB may "convert to a component part of a hospital authority in those counties served by the CSB." Such component part may "retain use of assets, equipment and resources already purchased with state and federal funds for so long as the component part serves a public purpose as defined by the Department." Should the component part fail to serve a public purpose, then the assets, equipment, and resources would be returned to the Department or transferred to any agency that DHR designated.

The House Health and Ecology Committee also met this afternoon. It passed out HB 1185, one of the annual updates to the pharmaceutical list of drugs in the Code, by placing tighter restrictions on opioid drugs. The Committee also had HB 1186, a bill by Rep. Parham concerning the regulation of controlled substances. HB 1186 was placed in a Subcommittee for further study. Also, Pfizer made a presentation on its ‘share card’ program.