March 15, 2004

For more information contact:

Stanley S. Jones, Jr.

404-817-6133

March 15, 2004 

          Today marked the 32^nd Day of the Georgia Legislative Session and patience is in short supply.  Committee activity was extremely light due to the lengthy Rules Calendars.  The following report cover Floor News.

The biggest news was that the House took action on the FY 2005 Budget proposal, HB 1181.  The bill passed by a vote of 106 to 65.  There are large cuts in State spending; however, there were a few changes from the Governor's proposal.  One major change was the "finding" of the $90 million in unaccounted for funds in the Governor's proposed plan.  In the Education portion of the Budget, the House proposes a delay in implementing the Governor's proposed 2% raise for teachers and State employees.  This provides another savings of approximately $80 million.  House Members do not want any local governments to have to address these funding issues at their level with increases on property taxes.

Under the Department of Community Health portion of the Budget, the House proposed a change in eligibility for the Medicaid program.  Originally, Governor Perdue had taken eligibility to 185% of the Federal Poverty Level.  The House raised this to 200% of the Federal Poverty Level in an effort to cover more children and pregnant women.  The original cut would have been more than $17 million; this proposes the cut to be approximately $13 million.  Also, Governor Perdue had proposed that premiums be collected for persons participating in the Katie Beckett Waiver Program.  The squeaky wheel does get the grease: complaints from parents of these medically needy children caused the House to scrap this proposal.  House members found $16,000 for a healthy babies initiative, and another $600,000 for the Marcus Institute which provides aid to families of children with severe behavioral problems.  The House decreased the proposed increase for funding Medicaid benefits to fund the projected cost of incurred claims for prior years and the projected cash need for FY 2005 claims (Governor Perdue had recommended more than $376 million; the House came back with more than $286 million).

Other aspects in the House FY '05 budget include:

Department of Community Health (this is much different than what had been proposed by the Dept. of Community Health Subcommittee of House Appropriations)

• Restored $4.75 million to proposed $9.5 million cut to implement a fixed fee reimbursement methodology for Ambulatory Surgical services provided in an outpatient hospital setting (this would be a cut now of $12.2 million with federal monies)

• Restored approximately $1 million in grant money for the Morehouse and Mercer medical schools

• Under proposal to eliminate the incentive fee for dispensing generic drugs, the House scrapped that idea and stated that such should be continued and that the Department should increase generic utilization from 50.5% to 51.5% for a savings of $4,270,000

• Restored the proposed elimination of optional services in the Medicaid program to cover adult dental needs (this was a cut of approximately $5.7 million)

• Restored the proposed elimination of three positions in the Health Care Regulation and Licensing Certificate of Need Program (this was to be a savings of $180,900)

• Proposed implementation of a targeted case management program for frequent users of emergency room services through a PPO (this is proposed to save more than $1.8 million)

• Proposed using existing SOURCE sites to provide disease case management to members with the highest Medicaid costs (this was a new item not included in the Governor's proposal and is anticipated to be a savings of $985,946)

• Proposed increasing the State funding for PeachCare benefits to fund the projected cost of FY 2005 claims at the same rate as the Governor proposed ($29,516,402 in State funds)

• State Health Benefit Plan

  • Governor proposed to provide an optional, more restrictive drug benefit to members at a lower premium cost (savings of $67 million) – House agreed

  • Governor proposed to increase the maximum out-of-pocket amounts for pharmacy services – House said no but to increase the employer's contribution rate by 9.6% to partially offset the prior 20% increase in the premium rate increase for public school teachers and state employees

  • Governor proposed to increase the discount on average wholesale price for prescription drugs from 13% to 14% - House disagreed and said no

  • Governor proposed to conduct a contract review of the pharmacy benefits manager to validate contract pricing and plan design applications – House agreed

  • Governor proposed to increase employee contributions for premiums by 10% - House disagreed and said that it recommended an increase of 9.6% in the employer contribution rate to partially offset the prior 20% increase in the premium rate increase for public school teachers and state employees

  • Governor also proposed to utilize reserve funds in excess of one month – House agreed

          A number of Members expressed concern over the House plan. Some of this disagreement centered on the proposal to delay pay increases for teachers and other state employees.  Others thought the removal of some $11 million (SACWIS) which would have paid for a statewide database and tracking system for the Department of Family and Children Services was a wrong move. 

Department of Human Resources

• Restored $16,000 as noted above for the Healthy Mothers/Healthy Babies Powerline contract

• Restored funding cut to regional tertiary care centers (Governor Perdue recommended a cut of $450,000)

• Restored some of the monies to the operational expenses cut to the Long-Term Care Ombudsman program (Governor Perdue recommended a cut of more than $66,000; House Members placed this cut at $23,281)

• Restored dollars proposed to be saved through the complete closure of the Craig Nursing Home at Central State Hospital in Milledgeville (Governor Perdue recommended this closure which would net a savings of $1,086,787)

• House Members disagreed with adding $1,161,154 to transition 20 consumers with developmental disabilities from hospitals to community services and zeroed out this addition

• Some of the new "additions" to this portion of the Budget include:

  • $250,000 for the DeKalb Community Service Board

  • $75,000 for the Calvary Refuge Center

  • $218,035 for funding for 10 Unlock the Waiting List developmental disability slots

  • $50,000 for the DeKalb Rape Crisis Center

  • $130,000 for additional funding for substance abuse programs

  • $25,000 for funding for the Georgia Coalition on Hunger

  • $25,000 for funding for Trinity House

  • Approximately $6 million to provide for the increases in the employer contribution to the State Health Benefit Plan for public school employees and state employees to match prior employee premium increases

Board of Regents

• Under "reductions" here are a couple of items changed:

  • House proposed that only $3,181,040 be cut for the reduction in funding for Public Service Institutes and elimination of funds for the Center for Trade and Technology Transfer (the House restored funds reflecting the required 7.5% reduction to the Small Business Development Center; Georgia Center for Communications/Georgia Center for Continuing Education, Institute of Higher Education and restoration of funding for the Center for Trade and Technology Transfer)

  • Rather than cutting $15 million to reduce funding for Special Funding Initiatives, the House added back monies for Enhancing Access/Liberty Center/$188,000; Water Policy Center/$560,0000; Georgia Southern IT program/$96,233; and the ICAPP programs/$1,777,296 for a cut of $12,878,471

• House Members proposed a couple of new items under "adjustments":

  • $6,580,000 to fund additional personal services to preclude further instructional reductions (research, $2,580,000; instruction, $4,000,000)

  • $2,000,000 to fund federal land grant match

          Another bill which got a lot of debate related to HOPE.  HB 1325 is the culmination of a Study done over the summer.  It proposes to implement a new grade point average (GPA) requirement for future HOPE.  Students taking college preparatory courses and achieving a GPA of at least 3.0 in their core classes would be eligible for HOPE.  Students taking a less challenging high school workload would be required to carry a 3.2 GPA.  This will take effect beginning in 2007.  Other significant changes include freezing fee payments from the HOPE scholarship at the current level.  It passed by a vote of 168 to 1.

Other bills on the House Floor:

·        HB 539  - This seeks to establish a non-forfeiture rate for individual deferred annuities.

·        HB560 (139-20)- This bill seeks to create a more timely mechanism by which the local tax commissioners could collect the sales tax on automobiles which are sold out of state.

·        HB 607 (160-1)- This bill is called a companion bill to HB 869.  This bill proposes to facilitate the creation of a single centralized collection and remittance agency for all specially designated court fees, costs, and surcharges.

·        HB 810 (160-1)- This is another bill, which in conjunction with HB 869, seeks to extend the sunset provision from 2008 to 2010 for the Superior Court Clerk's Cooperative Authority.

·        HB 869 (160-4) – This proposes changes to the membership of the Georgia Superior Court Clerks' Cooperative Authority.  It also provides that the Georgia Superior Court Clerks' Cooperative Authority shall act as the collecting and remitting agent for the centralized collection and remittance of certain court costs and fees and certain additional penalties and bonds in criminal cases.  Additionally, it proposes to prescribe additional court costs and fees and penalties and bond surcharges in certain criminal cases and proposes to provide for application fees for persons applying for indigent defense services. 

·        HB 935(161-1)- This is Rep. Sally Harrell's bill proposing to create a thirteen-member advisory committee on prescription drugs for senior citizens.

·        HB 1215 (156-1)- This measure proposes to bring judgments in land use zoning cases under the state's normal appeals process.

·        HB1451 (149-17)- Rep. Bordeaux offered this bill which would establish an incentive for engaged couples to participate in pre-marital counseling by offering reduced marriage license fees for couples who have undergone at least 4 hours of pre-marital counseling.  Rather than paying a $50 dollar license fee, couples having engaged in counseling would only pay $10 for a marriage license.

·        HB 1520 (146-13)- This proposes to install more stringent property owner notifications and protections into state law governing property tax delinquency sales.

·        HB 1714 (141-22)- This bill would establish guidelines and procedures governing the implementation, division, and allocation of Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax revenues.  It also is a compromise position on dealing with county and municipal interests in this area.

·        HB 1720 (161-0)- This endeavor proposes an increase to the licensing fee structure for local ambulance service providers with the additional money to be used to draw down more federal matching dollars, through the Medicaid program, to reimburse providers for the services to Medicaid patients.

On the Senate side:

·        SB 495 (37-15) – This measure establishes a preemption from local government establishing minimum wages and employee benefits.

·        SB 560 (51-0) - This bill amends law governing dispossessory proceedings when it involves property leases of military personnel.  This will apply to leases where the service member, while in military service, executes the lease and thereafter receives military orders for a permanent change of station or receives military orders for deployment with a military unit for a period of not less than 90 days.

·        SB 263 (51-0) – This bill amends vital records' laws which are kept by the Dept. of Human Resources.   Among its provisions, it establishes when a new birth certificate must be issued in adoption and legitimacy or paternity determinations.

·        SB 517 (52-0) – This is the Governor's proposal on Ethics.  A number of amendments were added including the "no cup of coffee rule" which basically means that lobbyists cannot purchase any meal or cup of coffee for a legislator.  It also proposes that no elected official may solicit or receive contributions from a "registered agent" for an entity (i.e. a lobbyist).  Lobbyists were also impacted in these amendments; there was an amendment added to require "A good faith estimate of the total amount of all income from each person on whose behalf a lobbyist is registered, including any payments to the lobbyist by any other person for lobbying activities on behalf of the person on whose behalf a lobbyist is registered during the reporting period, other than income for matters that are unrelated to lobbying activities."  Another amendment is that it allows the State Ethics Commission to investigate upon a written complaint any false, dishonest, or misleading statements made by public officers of this state in the course of his or her official duties and service as an officer of a governmental entity.

·        SB 471 (33-23) – After hearing HOPE issues and concerns, this legislation was offered to address HOPE scholarships' changes concerning eligibility and the adoption of a reporting system.  Among its provisions is that each school system and private school will be required to electronically transmit to the Georgia Student Finance Commission transcripts of courses and course grades for each graduating senior which reflect the complete high school academic record of the student, including scores on any State tests required for graduation, the grading scales used by the school system or private school for the time periods referenced by the transcripts, and any other pertinent information as determined by the Georgia Student Finance Commission.  Each grade reported by a school system or private school to the commission for the purpose of calculating the grade point average for HOPE scholarship eligibility shall be the actual grade earned by the student, with no weighting or addition of points by the local school system or private school.  Floor amendments were added including changes to eligibility of part-time students, Board of Regents Legislative Committee, etc. 

·        SR 678 – This Constitutional Amendment amends how the Georgia lottery proceeds may be used.  Specifically, it proposes to remove capital outlay projects from inclusion in the educational purposes and programs for which lottery proceeds may be used.  This Amendment would be added in Article I, Section II, Paragraph VIII of the Constitution.

          Both the House and Senate have set aggressive schedules for the 33^rd Day, the last day which bills may be passed by each Chamber.  It is likely that Wednesday will be a very long day.

If you have any questions regarding this Report, please contact Stanley S. Jones, Jr., Jeffrey C. Baxter, or Helen Sloat.

Back to main page