It is hard to even begin to explain what took place. There was great excitement all day long. First it was Rural Health Day. The folks opposed to predatory lending practices staged a protest around the noon hour by encircling the Capitol with loud, honking vehicles and signs claiming their distaste for such lending practices. Later in the afternoon, as the House was hearing a presentation on the proposed Supplemental Budget, HB 1001, for FY 2002, the Capitol had to be evacuated due to fire alarms going off on the third Floor! Due to the recent threats, folks took the event seriously and evacuated in a quick orderly fashion. Many thought there was some irony as the Senate was in Session at the time debating the Governor’s bill on Bioterrorism provisions.

Both Chambers were busy and both worked after lunch.

The Senate passed out by a vote of 44 to zero SB 365, which Sen. Marable explained would require public buildings to have safety plans approved by GEMA.

Also, the Senate had a lengthy discussion concerning SB 385, Governor Barnes bill on bioterrorism efforts. Sen. Beatty tried to amend the bill by requiring that within 48 hours of the Governor declaring a state of emergency, the House and Senate would convene a special Session. This was defeated. The Senate did amend the Governor’s bill, explained by Sen. Steve Thompson, which would allow members of the General Assembly a provision to be ‘armed’ should such an attack take place. During the course of discussions, the bill, in substitute form and so lengthy in nature, required that it be placed on the desks for at least one hour before the full Senate could approve the bill. Thus, the Senate recessed for lunch and came back for further debate. After much discussion, it passed the substitute, as amended, by a vote of 48 to 2. It provides for clarification of powers for the Division of Public Health in the event of a bioterroristic attack.

The House moved to engross the Governor’s bill on creating a prestige license plate tag to benefit women who are medically indigent and have breast cancer, HB 1402.

Rep. Mickey Channell presented his bill on health insurance coverage for colorectal cancer screening. He introduced this bill as ‘access’ was an issue. This bill would create a new Code Section at O.C.G.A. § 33-24-56.3. Colorectal cancer is apparently the second leading cause of cancer deaths in Georgia. This bill, also a part of the Governor’s package, passed by Committee Substitute by a vote of 167 to 4 (with Reps. Franklin, Sanders, Joyce and Davis voting no). Rep. Jay Shaw took the Well in support of the bill claiming that this coverage had been very problematic for the State Health Benefit Plan but would be fixed in the Budget by providing for additional dollars. Rep. McKinney also urged the House to vote in favor of the bill as he is a recovering colon cancer patient. The bill provides for colorectal cancer screening, examinations, and laboratory tests in accordance with the most recently published guidelines and recommendations established by the American Cancer Society, in consultation with the American College of Gastroenterology, and the American College of Radiology and would allow physicians to determine based on the needs of the patients the frequencies for such screenings based upon those guidelines.

The House also passed out HB 1312, which Rep. Borders presented to the House as he has been working with the Governor on the bill. This proposes a ‘sales tax holiday.’ A fiscal note was prepared on the bill, which projected costs to the State and local governments in the amount of $11 million. There were Republicans who opposed the bill due to the limitations on time proposed for this holiday. Some believe that the bill should have a longer period of time as it currently is only for sales "occurring during a period commencing at 12:01 A.M. on March 29, 2002, and concluding at 12:00 Midnight on March 30, 2002, and to a period commencing at 12:01 A.M. on August 2, 2002, and concluding at 12:00 Midnight on August 3, 2002." Further, there are other restrictions such as the types of sales exempt from these taxes such as "articles of clothing and footwear with a sales price of $100.00 or less per article of clothing or pair of footwear, excluding accessories such as jewelry, handbags, umbrellas, items intended primarily for use as athletic or sporting gear, eyewear, watches, and watchbands." It would also provide for an exemption on the purchase of a personal computer up to $1,500. The bill came to the House Floor engrossed. After a great deal of discussion, including questions as to whether this would only worsen the State’s economic situation, the bill passed by a vote of 170 to 1. Rep. David Lucas of Macon was the lone dissenter. Speaker Murphy announced that there was a new Lone Ranger among them!

Finally, the lengthiest debate dealt with the Supplemental Budget proposal, HB 1001. Republicans took the Well in an effort to show their concern. Rep. Irvin claimed that the Supplemental Budget did not touch the ‘pork’ projects passed in 2001. Rep. Ehrhart was appalled that $1.8 million for ‘outside’ lawyers was being proposed in order to deal with Reapportionment issues. He claimed that these dollars were going for payments to "silk stocking sharks." In the end, the proposal passed by a vote of 129 to 42.

HB 1344 – Rep. Pinholster’s amendment to O.C.G.A. § 43-34-45.1 to eliminate the "sunset" for the "Georgia Volunteers in Medicine Health Care Act." This has been referred to the House Health and Ecology Committee.

HB 1350 – Rep. Channell’s bill amending Title 31 in an effort to authorize the Department of Community Health to award grants, as funds become available, to rural hospitals for public health purposes. This has been also sent to the House Health and Ecology Committee.

HB 1352 – Rep. Childers’ bill amending Chapter 34 of Title 43, the current law on supervision of physicians’ assistants, has also now been referred to the House Health and Ecology Committee.

HB 1361 – the Governor’s bill on predatory lending has now been forwarded to the House Banks and Banking Committee. This proposes to enact the "Georgia Fair Lending Act" and would prohibit abusive home loan practices and associated practices with high-cost home loans. It also enumerates certain consumer protections for high-cost home loans. This would be created in Title 7 of the Code.

HB 1400 – Rep. Skipper and Rep. Childers bill concerning the transportation of the mentally ill, mentally retarded, and alcoholic or drug dependent persons who are patients or clients in a facility, has been referred to the House Health and Ecology Committee.

HB 1402 – The Governor’s "prestige" license plate tag for supporting breast cancer related programs for the medically indigent has been referred to the House Motor Vehicles Committee (this is the same bill as HB 1148). HB 1402 was engrossed to eliminate changes being made and limit other prestige plates from being created.

HB 1407 – Another faith-based initiative is the Governor’s version. Rep. Charlie Smith has offered an amendment to Chapter 1 of Title 50 of the Code so as to provide that State government, in the course of participation in federal programs, under certain conditions, administer and provide services through contracts with charitable, religious, or private organizations. This bill has been sent to the House State Planning and Community Affairs Committee for review.

HB 1408 – And you thought there were not nine lives….Rep. Tommy Smith and others have introduced an amendment to Chapter 30 of Title 43 in an effort to change the provisions relating to the scope of practice for optometrists. This bill has been referred to the House Human Relations and Aging Committee.

HB 1413 – Rep. Larry Walker and Rep. Buddy Childers have proposed this amendment to Article 11 of Chapter 7 of Title 31 so as to provide for criminal record checks for personal care homes’ employment applicants and to amend Chapter 2 of Title 49 as well as O.C.G.A. § 31-7-250 and 31-7-264. The bill defines "conviction" as the finding or verdict of guilty or a plea of guilty regardless of whether an appeal of the conviction has been sought. A "crime" is considered an aggravated assault, aggravated battery, rape, theft by taking, theft by deception, armed robbery, murder, forgery, etc. Such records check application means: "two sets of classifiable fingerprints, a records search fee to be established by the department by rule and regulation, payable in such form as the department may direct to cover the cost of a fingerprint records check under this article, and an affidavit by the applicant disclosing the nature and date of any arrest, charge, or conviction of the applicant for the violation of any law, except for motor vehicle parking violations, whether or not the violation occurred in this state, and such additional information as the department may require."

HB 1424 – Rep. Karla Drenner and others have offered an amendment to Title 45 to enact the "Georgia Public Service Employees’ Occupational Safety and Health Act." This is an effort to ensure that all public employees be provided with safe and healthful work environments free from recognized hazards. The State would be required to formulate a plan for the development and enforcement of occupational safety and health standards with respect to public employers and public employees in accordance with Section 18(c) of the federal Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, 29 U.S.C. Section, et seq. The Department of Labor would be the entity responsible for administering and enforcing this plan. An employer may apply to the Commissioner of Labor for a temporary order granting a variance from the standard or any provision of the promulgated rules.

HB 1427 – Rep. Harbin along with others have offered this bill to amend Code Section 50-18-72 concerning public records disclosure so as to exempt the name and identity of victims of sexual assault (rape, child molestation, enticing a child for indecent purposes, aggravated sodomy, etc.) from disclosure under the Open Records Act.

HB 1428 – This appears to be another bill designed to intensify the safety of our State’s water supply. This was introduced by Rep. Clint Smith and others so as to require finger printing and criminal record checks of persons employed in operating, maintaining, or repairing of water treatment plants or water supply systems owned or operated by local governments. This would be inserted as an amendment to Article 6 of Chapter 5 of Title 12.

HR 1083 – Rep. Harrell’s Resolution proposing the creation of the House Study Committee on Prescription Drug Addiction has been referred to the House Rules Committee.

HR 1118 – Rep. Graves and others have offered this Resolution to urge the United States Congress to adopt legislation requiring the Medicare program to cover the cost of all oral anti-cancer drugs.

HR 1125 – Reps. Sinkfield, Smyre, and Dean proposed this Resolution commending the Juvenile Justice System and propose to declare that February 28, 2002 be Juvenile Justice Day in Georgia.

HR 1136 – Rep. Purcell has offered this Resolution declaring February 28, 2002 as the Governor’s Council on Developmental Disabilities Day at the Capitol.

HR 1137 – Rep. Amerson has proposed an amendment to the State’s Constitution, at Article VII, Section I by striking Paragraph II and inserting in its place a new Paragraph II, so as to eliminate the annual levy of State ad valorem taxes on tangible property.

SB 442 – Sen. Hill’s amendment to Title 31 in order to authorize the Department of Community Health to award grants, as funds become available, to rural hospitals for public health purposes. This measure has been referred to the Senate Health and Human Services Committee.

SB 444 – Sen. James and others have introduced this amendment to Article 1 of Chapter 24 of Title 33 so as to require health benefit policies issued in Georgia that each shall offer insurance coverage for estrogen implants. This bill has been forwarded to the Senate Insurance and Labor Committee.

SB 458 – Sen. Nadine Thomas’ bill concerning the requirement of health benefit policies to cover off-label prescription drug use for insureds with life-threatening or chronic or disabling conditions or diseases, which would amend Article 1 of Chapter 24 of Title 33, has now been referred to the Senate Insurance and Labor Committee.

SB 462 – Sen. Meyer von Bremen’s bill amending Chapter 2 of Title 41 regarding abatement of nuisances in an effort to clarify procedures for imposition and collection of nuisance abatement liens and collection of tax liens, has been referred to the Senate Finance and Public Utilities Committee.

SB 466 – Sen. Fort and others dropped this amendment to Chapter 3 of Title 48 in order to repeal certain provisions regarding the selling and transferring of tax executions in lot blocks.

SR 647 - Sen. Ragan has offered this Resolution recognizing Rural Health Day.

SR 668 – Sen. Polak and others have proposed the creation of an Investment Capital Study Committee so as to "ensure that the next wave of economic growth does not pass by Georgia in search of more friendly environments."

A Subcommittee of the House Public Safety Committee conducted a meeting, which took up HB 1031, by Rep. John Wiles, which proposes to amend O.C.G.A. § 31-11-3.1 to authorize a county or municipality to designate one or more ambulance providers to deliver emergency medical services within its jurisdiction and to inform the local coordinating entity and the board or its designee of its decision and to provide that the decision of the county or municipality shall be final. Rep. Wiles has introduced this bill as there apparently are not enough providers in his area, and he has actually filed a lawsuit concerning the Council’s present powers relating to the selection of such providers. There are regional councils established, much like the health districts in the State, which oversee selection of these ambulance service providers. The Department of Human Resources testified at the hearing that it had some concerns about the bill. The bill was passed out to the full Committee. Rep. Mike Boggs, chair of the Subcommittee, stated that the bill might not be in final form and may need further consideration and asked that the Department of Human Resources get with him for further discussions on the legislation.

A House Insurance Subcommittee meeting, chaired by Rep. Carolyn Hugley, met to discuss the Medicare supplement insurance bill, HB 1219 authored by Rep. Clint Smith. At the end of the hearing, it was decided that the bill should be held in the Subcommittee and that the author should perhaps file a House Resolution in an effort to create a Study Committee on the issue. There were several who testified about the bill including the Consumer’s Insurance Advocate and the Medical Association of Georgia. Rep. Smith introduced the bill in an effort to help persons suffering from disabilities who are under age 65 get a supplement to the Medicare coverage at an affordable rate. There have been consumers who claim that they cannot purchase such insurance coverage. Many of these persons are still employed full time but many believe it would be better for them to quit work and go on Medicaid. It would appear that there are concerns over conversion and assignment of such insurance. There are some carriers who do offer such Medicare Supplement policies. However, there is also concern about funding another option - the uninsured pool, which could cause some State budget concerns.

The Georgia Chamber of Commerce will be continuing to look at issues relating to "eminent" domain – there are two bills pending in the House: HB 1273 (which the Chamber will probably support); and HB 1319 which is more narrowly drawn relating to electric lines.

Monday will be Hospital Day at the Capitol. The General Assembly will stand in recess on Friday, February 15, 2002. It will reconvene on Monday afternoon.

The House Rules Committee will meet on Monday at 11:00 o’clock a.m.

A couple of hearings have been scheduled for next Tuesday on relatively controversial bills – both of the hearings are currently scheduled for 3:00 o’clock p.m.:

HB 1089 – Rep. Squires bill pertaining to the hospital exclusionary contracting issue.

SB 375 – Sen. Golden’s bill relating to the provision of healthcare insurance by an employer without the insurance mandates.

The Governor’s bill on adding additional board members to the Department of Human Resources Board, SB 394, has now crossed over to the House and has been assigned to the House Rules Committee.