March 6, 2001

For more information contact:

Stanley S. Jones, Jr.

404-817-6133

           The cross-over date is TOMORROW (Wednesday)!  Yes, day thirty-three is around the bend.  This is the last day that a bill from the House may cross to the Senate, or vice versa, for it to pass this Session.  The House and Senate both had lengthy calendars and thus worked late into the day in an effort to get as many measures heard as was possible.  Committee activity was fairly light as both chambers were in session so long. 

Floor Activity 

          The House took up its re-write to the State’s Uniform Commercial Code in Article 9 of Title 11.  After discussing the bill, the House passed it out by Judiciary Committee Substitute by a vote of 166 to 4.  The House also took up a sales tax bill, HB 290, which proposes to exempt certain sales to churches by exempting pipe organs or steeple bells.  HB 290 also passed out by a vote of 169 to 1 and was immediately transmitted to the Senate.  

          The House also dealt with some health-related measures.  Rep. Sally Harrell’s bill, HB 525, pertains to notification by an insurance company to the insured of the woman’s maternity benefits.  This would require that the insurance company notify the expectant mother within 30 days of the date that the insurer learns that the woman is pregnant about the benefits under her policy.  Originally, as the bill came to the Floor, it would have also allowed women to require their physician to attend to the birth unless that woman, with the agreement of the insurer, allowed the physician to be exempted from such.  Thus, an on-call physician could not deliver another physician’s patient's baby.  That language was stricken. 

          Also, the House passed out Rep. Childer’s bill pertaining to anatomical gifts, HB 615, by a vote of 164 to zero.  The bill adds a new Code section at O.C.G.A. § 44-5-144.1: 

“(a) If any person authorized to become a donee of gifts of bodies or parts thereof under Code Section 44-5-144, is not a nonprofit corporation exempt from taxation under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 or is such a nonprofit corporation but is a subsidiary of a business corporation which is not so exempt from taxation, any written communication by that person to the donor or family thereof soliciting or concerning a donation under this article shall clearly state in bold capital letters at the top of the communication the following:
'WE ARE A FOR PROFIT COMPANY OR A SUBSIDIARY OF A FOR PROFIT COMPANY.'
(b) A violation of this Code section shall invalidate any gift made to the violating donee.” 

          The House also passed out HB 673 which deals with fire protection in nursing homes.  HB 673 would require that every nursing home have a smoke detector in each patient’s room.  The bill passed the House Floor by Committee Substitute by a vote of 134 to zero. 

          The engrossed bill, HB 784, relating to regulating physicians’ office-based surgical procedures, also passed out of the House by a vote of 156 to zero.  This was a re-write to HB 632 and was also introduced by Rep. Larry Walker.  The physician and his office would be required to be credentialed – it specifically states: 

“any physician who provides surgical services in an office based surgical setting and any physician who provides, or supervises the provision of, anesthesia services in an office based surgical setting to be credentialed once every three years to provide or supervise the provision of such services.  A physician may apply to any credentialing entity approved by the board for the credentialing necessary to meet the requirements of this Code section.  In the alternative, a physician shall be deemed sufficiently credentialed to provide in an office based surgical setting those surgical procedures for which said physician has specific, unlimited privileges as a member of the active medical staff in a hospital located within 50 miles of the physician's primary office.  Any physician who provides surgical services in an office based surgical setting and any physician who provides, or supervises the provision of, anesthesia services in an office based surgical setting shall provide the board written proof of such physician's credentialing and shall notify the board of any changes in such credentialing.”

          There were concerns raised by members about the numbers of ‘engrossed’ bills during this Session.  If a bill is engrossed in the House, no changes may be made to the bill in Committee or on the Floor (once the bill reaches the Senate, it would have to be engrossed again in order for no changes or modifications to occur).  Speaker Murphy had the numbers researched and found 33 bills engrossed – fifteen of such had been engrossed by the Republicans and eighteen by the Democrats – this out of more than 800 pieces of legislation.  

          Late in the day, the House voted out the Governor’s modifications to the 2000 Education Reform bill, HB 656.  Rep. Charlie Smith, one of the Governor’s Floor Leaders, presented the bill.  One of the things that the bill does is that it establishes an early intervention program so that children will not fall behind in their school grade levels. 

          The Senate also had a lengthy calendar which it did not complete.  It did however pass several measures.  One of the bills which caused the most discussion was the predatory lending bill, SB 70, authored by Sen. Vincent Fort.  The bill proposes to prohibit abuse high cost home loan practices.  The bill came to the Senate Floor by Substitute from the Senate Banking and Finance Committee.  SB 70 passed by a vote of 52 to zero. 

          The Senate also took up two healthcare bills.  SB 98, authored by Sen. Steve Thompson, which would require that health benefit plans cover the costs of surveillance tests for women at high risk of ovarian cancer, sailed out of the Senate by a vote of 53 to zero.  Sen. Phil Gingrey, an obstetrician and gynecologist from Cobb County, amended the bill on the Floor by limiting these tests further to those women who are 35 and older. 

          Also, the Georgia Hospital Association-sponsored bill, SB 238, passed out of the Senate by a vote of 51 to zero.  This would address peer review issues and the confidentiality of shared information between hospitals and a governmental agency (in this instance the Office of Regulatory Services) when addressing a medical error or patient safety problem. 

          One of the bills which caused a stir, after it was passed, was SB 205 concerning the disclosure of public records and when certain information maintained by the State would be exempt from such.  This bill, pushed by the Governor and addressed by Sen. Steve Thompson, passed out of the Senate.  The bill amends current law at O.C.G.A. § 50-18-72 and when such would not be required under Article 4 of Chapter 18 of Title 50.  It would widen current law which prohibits a person’s social security number and insurance or medical records to be disclosed, by also prohibiting the person’s mother’s birth name, credit card information, debit card information, bank account information, and financial data or information from disclosure (as well as the person’s day and month of birth) unless the request for this information made to the State is from the individual (or his or her representative), a prosecutor or publicly employed law enforcement officer seeking those records, news media organization for use in gathering news and reporting that information, public employee of the State (or its subdivisions or United States government) for which the information is for legislative or administrative purposes, or the information has been authorized by a court order after good cause has been shown.