The House had twelve bills on its calendar. Some of these included:

In a vote of 144 to zero, the House agreed to create the Georgia Technology Authority Overview Committee as proposed in HB 1445. This Legislative oversight will help monitor the operations of the Georgia Technology Authority. The oversight committee would be comprised of three members from both the House and Senate and would review operations, contracts, financing, organization, and structure of the Georgia Technology Authority as well as its legislative purpose at a time when the Authority’s request for proposals are issued.

Another bill, HB 1163 concerning septic tank maintenance and installation which proposes to amend Title 31, was passed by the House by a vote of 157 to 2. HB 1163 proposes to provide that any certified septic tank installer or "pumper" be allowed to purchase a single $10,000 surety bond or provide a cash bond which would then be filed with the judge of a probate court in the county of the principal place of business. This initial bond suffices for all counties. A copy of the bond would be required to be filed with the county or municipal health department, in the political subdivision where the work is being performed.

The House also passed HB 1352 clarifying the numbers of physicians’ assistants who can practice under a supervising physician. This bill was brought in part to address a court decision and the confusion in the current law on the numbers of physicians’ assistants assigned to one doctor in an ‘on-call’ arrangement.

On the Senate side, HB 498, Speaker Murphy’s bill concerning the delivery of mental health, mental retardation, and substance abuse services through the Community Service Boards and Regional Boards, passed by a Substitute version. Speaker Murphy was in the Senate Chambers as his bill was addressed. Also, the Senate passed HB 1066 relating to liability of technicians trained to install child safety restraint seats.

The Senate Insurance and Labor had three measures on its agenda today. SB 458 the bill, which would require health benefit policy coverage for off-label prescription drug use for insureds with life-threatening or chronic or disabling conditions or diseases eventually, was held in Committee for further work at the request of the Department of Community Health. This bill, sponsored by Sen. Nadine Thomas at the request of Genotech Pharmaceuticals in San Francisco, met some opposition from the Department of Community Health. Members of the Committee were concerned that the Department had concerns about the bill this late in the game. Apparently, the Department feels the bill could create conflicts with its current prior authorization procedures. Sen. Thomas pointed out that other states had passed similar pieces of legislation – Texas, Alabama, California, New Jersey, New Hampshire, Ohio and others. While the Department opposed the bill, the Georgia Pharmacy Association rose in support of the initiative.

The Senate Insurance and Labor Committee passed out SR 552 concerning the Study proposal on a wage rate restructure in an effort to look at equity. This passed by Substitute even though there were two dissenting votes.

Finally, the Committee heard SB 476, the Administration’s bill creating the "Consumer Health Insurance Protection Act" in Title 33. The bill was before the Committee in a Substitute form and was presented by Sen. Steve Thompson with the assistance of Renay Blumenthal and Cathey Steinberg. Sen. Thompson expressed that this was not an attempt to attack the insurance industry. The bill will address pre-certification of procedures and notices to be sent to employers as well as enrollees concerning cancellations of policies due to non-payment by employer of premiums or other terminations by employers. The bill also has language concerning continuation of coverage so that a pregnant women, for instance, may continue to see her OB/Gyn until after delivery when that physician is otherwise terminated from a panel from a health plan (this would not apply to physician terminations due to quality of care). Both the Medical Association of Georgia and the Georgia Hospital Association are in support of the bill. The Georgia Association of Health Plans is still addressing concerns with the Governor’s Office. One suggestion was made by Sen. Kemp concerning the requirement to notify parties concerning the non-renewals – currently the bill requires that such notice be mailed five days prior to the grace period for employer payment of overdue bills. His suggestion was to make that five "working" days. Sen. Thompson agreed to pass that information along to the Governor. The bill then passed without amendments in the Substitute form presented.

The House Human Relations and Aging Committee passed HB 1040, Rep. Alan Powell’s engrossed bill which will help the Burn Center Medical Practice at Doctors Hospital in Augusta collect monies on services provided by allowing the medical practice to file a hospital lien. It specifically amends Title 44 and defines a "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." Several questions were raised by Committee Members whether this was opening the door for other specialty medical providers to create liens. The Georgia Association of Trial Lawyers rose in opposition to the bill. It testified that hospital liens are currently the single largest impediment in settling cases (such as personal injury actions, etc.). The hospitals are basically made whole where the victim is in many instances rewarded only a portion of the settlement proceeds. The Association urged that the Committee consider the "full compensation rule". Rep. Powell argued that the Still Burn Center in Augusta at Doctors Hospital treats between two-thirds and three-fourths of the burn cases in Georgia as well as cases from other parts of the Southeast. Additionally, it treats patients regardless of the patients’ ability to pay. After much debate, the bill passed by a vote of 5 to 3. It now moves to House Rules.

The Human Relations and Aging Committee also had on its agenda a scope of practice bill pertaining to optometrists – that bill was held. Also, it did not bring up HB 738 relating to minority business enterprise development. Apparently more language is being drafted relating to the definition of "minority."

In the Health and Ecology Committee, there were a number of bills on its agenda. Prior to the meeting of the full Committee, the Healthcare Facilities Subcommittee met on HB 1413 relating to personal care homes and criminal background checks for its employees. An amendment was made which removed the finger printing requirement for the care giving employees but will still remain for the administrator of these facilities. Also, in an earlier meeting, HB 381 relating to transport of emergency admissions for the mentally ill, passed out of its Subcommittee without changes. HB 1400 was also reported out of Subcommittee. The full committee passed these measures in its meeting.