Below will highlight some of the day’s events. In short, the Committee activity was extremely light but the Floor activity provoked long days on both sides of the hall.

The Senate addressed some ethics issues by taking up Sen. Mike Polak’s bill, SB 285, which institutes the Financial Disclosure Reform Act of 2002 and establishes a time period for State Ethics Commission advisory opinions. There was bi-partisan support for the bill – Sens. Tom Price, Eric Johnson and Michael Meyer von Bremen, were all supportive of the bill. The Senate adopted the Floor Substitute 37-0 (rather than the Committee Substitute). The bill, due to its length, was committed to the Rules Committee pursuant to Senate Rule 143. The bill is on the Tuesday calendar.

The Senate passed SB 451, Sen. Carol Jackson’s amendments to the State’s laws governing hospital liens. As the Bill reached the Senate Floor, there were a number of discussions ongoing concerning possible amendments. Some of these included clarification language for the ‘perfection’ of such a lien as well as clarification on the contents and timing of the lien’s notice requirements. Sen. Jackson’s goals are to require a hospital, prior to filing of any lien, to serve a notice on any interested party no later than 30 days from discharge. Such lien would then not be filed any sooner than 15 days after the notice to the interested parties. These changes to the current law are an attempt by Sen. Jackson to serve notice that hospitals should not blanket file liens. Additional amendments discussed included some language to require hospitals, which receive local city and county funds, to undergo audits for these funds. Other amendments were from the Trial Lawyers who proposed to make a patient whole prior to any monies being paid for the services rendered by a hospital. Sen. Jackson was successful in holding off all of these amendments. No Senators took the Well to discuss the Bill. The Senate adopted the Senate’s Judiciary Committee amendment and passed the bill by a vote of 47 to zero. The bill now moves to the House.

Other bills of interest on the Senate today included SB 355 which excludes any autopsy photographs from the State’s open records laws, there was also an amendment on the Senate Floor to require that the Governor’s Office, the Lt. Governor’s Office as well the General Assembly be required to fall under the Open Records Act. Sen. Eric Johnson was behind the Amendment and Sen. Gingrey rose in support of same. (Initially, the bill was placed on the Table as there was discontent with the bill’s provisions and the amendments to permit lobbying enough votes to pass the amendment.) As the length of this amendment was longer than the original bill, the bill was held under Senate Rule 143. It will now be on the Calendar for Tuesday, March 26, 2002. Another bill on the Floor was SB 546 which requires that all State agencies report any reports to the General Assembly in an electronic format (such as diskette). As SB 546 came to the Senate Floor, it only pertained to those records which fell under Title 31 (health related matters). The original bill requires that any department or agency which is to produce a report to the General Assembly do so in an electronic format. The amendment broadens the application of this bill and requires that all agencies must report in this fashion.

Sen. Nadine Thomas’ Resolution, which proposes to create the Health Care Work Force Shortage Study Committee, was adopted by Committee Substitute and passed by a vote of 48 to zero. This is somewhat different from HB 652, which Sen. Thomas had some concerns about and passed earlier.

On the House side of the hall, it had a number of bills up for discussion. HB 716, the Medical Association of Georgia’s bill which proposes to create the Fair Insurance Business Practices Act, passed without additional amendments. Language in HB 716 has been massaged by the Medical Association and the Georgia Association of Health Plans. It is anticipated that similar language may be incorporated in the Governor’s bill, SB 476 which also addresses various issues relating to the pre-certification of procedures.

Here are a few highlights from HB 1002, the FY 2003 Budget proposal:

The Governor’s Revenue Estimate for FY 2003 is $14,534,000,000 and the Revised Estimate is $14,454,000,000. The prior year’s surplus is $696,358,156. Tobacco Settlement Funds are to be $173,002,372.

Judicial Branch:

Court of Appeals:

- Governor had recommended $556,875 to fund a pay package for staff attorneys providing a 10% increase in salary $503,188 and a 5% pay package for administrative assistants $53,687. The House reduced this addition to $252,000 (only agreeing to a 5% increase for staff attorneys).

Superior Courts:

The House took action on a number of the Governor’s proposals – some of which include:

• Governor’s proposal to fund one new judgeship of $207,842 and 40 law clerks in the amount of $1,666,500 to total $1,874,342 was zeroed out by the House.
• The Governor’s recommendation of $325,000 for funds to develop a technological infrastructure and pilot project to enhance access to the courts by jurors, prosecutors, defendants and others was also eliminated by the House.
• The Governor’s proposal of $3,463,099 for an additional 66 staff based on the American Prosecutor’s Research Institute Study was also eliminated.
• The $2,717,579 proposed to fund a salary structure adjustment for assistant district attorneys was also eliminated by the House.
• The Governor’s addition of $1,848,270 for an automation technology manager and three technicians and the funds for various automation needs for the district attorneys’ offices was also eliminated.

Department of Education:

• The Governor had proposed a $2.1 million reduction for the principal supplements from $3,000 to $2,000. The House restored these dollars.
• The Governor had proposed a reduction of $3,323,824 to increase funds for a RESA coordinator contract and reduce other various contracts. The House restored the foreign language and Achievers Int. so as to lessen the cut to only $1,056,314.
• The House took action on some of its own reductions:
• $1,038,030 for the elimination of funding for the Field Service Directors.
• $5,316,575 for a reduction of the funding for the America’s Choice Program.
• The House also added some money:
• $2,212,825 for the replacement of Social Studies and History text books every five years rather than seven.
• $100,000 for the additional funding to correct an error for the Bibb County FTEs.
• $200,000 for the transfer of the Charter School contract from the Office of Governor.

Department of Community Health:

• The Governor’s reduction of $250,000 for funding for start-up grants for community and migrant health centers was eliminated by the House. The House also included language that these must be affiliated with critical access or rural hospitals.
• The Governor had proposed $2,916,720 reduction in order to remove the generic and preferred brand dispensing fee incentive in Medicaid and PeachCare. The House Subcommittee had actually placed this at $3,872,580; the House Appropriation Committee agreed to pay $.50 dispensing fee on generic drugs only so that the reduction would be $1,568,782.
• The Governor had proposed a $474,625 reduction for the Georgia Board for Physician Workforce expenditures for SREB payments. The House restored these dollars.
• Under enhancements, there was a change made:
• The House changed the language from the Governor’s proposal on inpatient hospital providers. The Governor had proposed an $18,069,150 increase for reimbursement rates for inpatient hospital providers using 90% of adjusted calendar year 2000 cost data plus one year of DRI inflation of 3.2%. The House amended this (not changing the total funds) to increase reimbursement rates for hospital providers using 100% adjusted calendar year 2000 cost data plus one year of DRI inflation of 3.2%. [Similar language amendments were also made for inpatient hospital providers in the PeachCare program – both the Governor and House agreed to an amount of $277,286 for an increase to these PeachCare providers.]
• The House made some additions:
• $72,877 for resistance and sensitivity testing in lab services in Medicaid for patients diagnosed with HIV.
• $125,000 for funding increase for the area health education center contract in rural health (Blue Ridge in North Georgia).
• $950,000 for the adjustment to medical education funding for Mercer School of Medicine.
• It also added language to conduct a feasibility study to expand Medicaid for children in families with incomes up to 150% of the federal poverty level.

Human Resources:

Here are a few from its Budget:

• Governor had proposed a $200,000 for the elimination of the funding for the Jomandi Theater contract. The House restored the dollars.
• Governor had proposed a $150,000 reduction in contract funding for the Intergenerational Resource Center. The House also restored these dollars.
• The Governor had proposed a $96,000 reduction for contract funding for the training of caregivers of persons with dementia. These dollars were also restored by the House.
• The Governor had proposed a $2,537,000 reduction by eliminating the FY 2002 enhancement funding for Babies Born Healthy. The House added back $537,000 so the reduction would be an even $2 million.
• The Governor had also proposed a reduction of $86,000 to eliminate the contract funding for Scoliosis screening by Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta. The House restored these dollars.
• The House agreed with the Governor’s proposed reduction for the Visiting Nurses Services contract in the amount of $222,806.
• The Governor proposed a number of miscellaneous contracts in Public Health be cut in the amount of $178,838. The House lessened this cut by adding dollars back for Fulton-DeKalb Hospital Authority: AIDS, emergency Health, Sickle Cell, Vision, Hearing, etc. The new reduction amount will only be $52,118.
• The Governor had also proposed a reduction of $224,000 to eliminate the contract for provision of services to the homeless. The House restored the dollars.
• The Governor had proposed a $200,000 elimination of the telemedicine contract to assist doctors in rural areas. The House restored this cut.
• The Governor had proposed a $10,000 reduction in the contract funding for the Georgia Council for the Hearing Impaired. The House disagreed and restored the dollars.
• The Governor had also proposed a $154,845 reduction to discontinue the 3 respite beds at Gracewood. The House disagreed with this and restored the dollars.
• The House made some enhancements not in accordance with the Governor’s list:
• $200,000 for funds to relocate the Long County DEFACS Office.
• $100,000 for supplemental funds for the AIDS Drug Assistance Program.
• $50,000 for the provision of quality pre-school, after-school and summer school child care programs for children ages 6 weeks to 13 years through the Metro YWCA.
• $500,000 for the funds for a 30-bed substance abuse treatment center in Macon.

The Senate began its Subcommittee final recommendations on the 2003 Budget. Late this afternoon, Sen. Nadine Thomas, along with her Subcommittee on Human Development, worked on the Subcommittee’s final Recommendations for the "big" Budget. The final Recommendations are expected to go to the Green Door Committee on Thursday of this week. Some of the most important issues relate to a cut which is proposed for Governor’s Recommendation (which the House agreed with) on the funding for "Code Blue: A Workforce in Crisis." Governor Barnes had recommended $587,000 for this initiative; Sen. Thomas has proposed to cut this by $200,000 in order to fund other initiatives. Representatives from the Department of Community Health, where this Budget item is placed, were on hand to answer questions from the Subcommittee.

The Senate Insurance and Labor Committee met briefly around noon and passed HB 1128, the motor vehicle insurance liability bill dealing with sovereign immunity.

The House Insurance Subcommittee on SB 324 passed this measure along to the House Insurance Committee. SB 324 will allow former military personnel, who previously declined health insurance coverage from the State Health Benefit Plan, to be covered by the State’s plan.