Today was Dental Hygienists’ Appreciation Day at the Capitol. The following will outline some events of the day as well as newly introduced legislation:

SB 397 – Sen. Egan’s bill to amend Chapter 2 of Title 14, in order to provide for the creation of one or more series of shares within a class of shares, etc., has been forwarded to the Senate’s Special Judiciary Committee.

SB 403 – Sens. Ray, Kemp, and Lee’s bill that proposes to amend Article 3 of Chapter 10 of Title 15 of the Code concerning civil proceedings within the jurisdiction of Magistrate Courts has now been referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee. This bill would allow for electronic filings of new actions, claims, answers, pleadings, and post-judgment interrogatories. The bill also provides for the electronic signature as well as verification of such pleadings. There are also provisions in the bill addressing the possibility of a challenge to authenticity and the placement of burden of proof.

SB 406 – This is another "education" bill, introduced by Sens. Lee, Hecht, Dean and others, that amends Part 3 of Article 6 of Chapter 2 of Title 20. The bill requires that all local school systems would have to operate and maintain a summer school program for students attending alternative schools or those students who have been subject to suspension or in-house suspension during the regular school year. In order for those suspended students to advance to the next grade level or graduation, they would be required to attend a summer school program – such attendance would be compulsory. This bill has been referred to the Senate’s Education Committee.

SB 407 – Sens. Hecht, Scott, Kemp, and others introduced this legislation that amends Chapter 5, 6, 8, 9, of Title 16, Chapters 3 and 8 of Title 17, Chapter 3 of Title 24, and Chapters 1 and 5 of Title 30 and would be known as the "Georgia Protection of Elder Persons and Disabled Adults Act of 2000." More specifically, the bill outlines certain crimes against the elderly such as sexual offenses, theft, and forgery and fraudulent practices as well as limitations on prosecution and trial. There are also increased penalties for other crimes committed against elderly persons and certain disabled adults. This legislation has now been referred to the Committee on Corrections, Correctional Institutions and Property.

SB 410 – Sens. Tate, Walker, Marable and others introduced this bill amending O.C.G.A. § 49-4A-12 concerning the designation of the Department of Juvenile Justice as a special school district. Further, the amendment would require by July 1, 2001 the Department of Juvenile Justice to formulate and implement a vocational education curriculum or program in accordance with standards approved by the Department of Education.

SR 509 – Sens. Madden, Price, Thomas and Gingrey have introduced this Resolution endorsing the CDC/MP Recommendations pertaining to the "judicious" use of antibiotics and which urges the adoption of certain practices and formularies. This Resolution has been forwarded to the Senate Health and Human Services Committee.

SR 511 – Sen. Brush and others have offered this Resolution which encourages the Congress and President to enact legislation recognizing the necessity of the United States government to maintain its commitment to the military retirees of America’s armed forces by providing lifetime healthcare for those age 65 and over. This would require the opening of the Federal Employees Health Benefit Program to eligible uniformed armed services beneficiaries. Specifically, this would be directly for those who have served honorably for at least 20 years in the service as well as their family members.

HB 1315 – This bill has been dropped by Reps. Irvin, Campbell, Graves, Snelling, and Stancil that will amend Chapter 4 of Title 50 of the Code pertaining to the provision of quarterly reports of various state departments to standing committees of the General Assembly. This bill has been sent to the House Committee on Appropriations.

HB 1328 – Parents with teenage drivers will probably be in favor of this legislation as it allows for an income tax credit for expenses of private driver education for minor dependent children. The bill would amend Article 2 of Chapter 7 of Title 48 of the Code. This has been forwarded to the House Ways and Means Committee.

HB 1333 – Rep. Scott has introduced this bill amending Chapter 20 of Title 33, the "Health Care Plan Act," to prohibit provider sponsored health care corporations ("PSHCC"), their successor entities and parent companies from engaging in anti-competitive conduct. At O.C.G.A. § 33-20-35, a new section is added: (a) no PSHCC or successor entity and no parent entity owning a PSHCC shall enter into any contract, combination, or conspiracy in restraint of trade, engage in an attempt to monopolize or combine or conspire to monopolize or employ any anti-competitive conduct (boycotting, coercion, intimidation, etc.); (b) the Insurance Commissioner, at their initiative or upon receipt of a written allegation, shall conduct an investigation into any alleged illegal activities and if found, shall after a hearing as outlined in Chapter 2 of Title 30, revoke the PSHCC’s certificate of authority and shall cause the PSHCC (or its successor or parent) to forfeit the security deposit paid per O.C.G.A. § 33-3-8; and (c) any person adversely affected by the alleged violation by a PSHCC (or successor or its parent), may bring a legal action in a court of competent jurisdiction for general and exemplary damages or injunctive relief (or both) and upon prevailing, in addition to any damages or other relief shall recover from such PSHCC or successor or parent entity reasonable attorneys’ fees and expenses of the litigation. (A penalty imposed by the Commissioner shall create a "rebuttable presumption that a violation of subsection (a) of this Code section did occur.")

HB 1335 – Rep. Buckner and others have authored a bill amending Chapter 12 of Title 31 in order to provide for the Breast Cancer and Prostate Cancer Research Program Fund. This would be an amendment specifically to Chapter 12 of Title 31.

HB 1339 – Rep. Epps and others introduced this bill amending O.C.G.A. § 3-3-20 concerning the sale of alcoholic beverages on Sundays, election days, and Christmas Day. This would provide that any county or municipality, in which sales of alcoholic beverages were authorized, could allow sales of such beverages on election day. The bill does provide for exceptions – the local governing authority may, by ordinance, prohibit the sales of alcoholic beverages on election days. The ordinance would only apply within the territorial boundaries for which the election is held but such territorial boundaries shall not include property owned or operated by a county, municipality, or other political subdivision of Georgia for airport purposes, if no person resides on such publicly owned or operated property.

HB 1346 – This is the rewrite to HB 369, the venue bill, authored by Reps. Martin, Bordeaux, Allen, Stuckey, and Teper, to be known as the "Civil Litigation Improvement Act of 2000." It provides for a maximum amount of a supersedeas bond in civil cases by amending O.C.G.A. § 5-6-46, adding two new subsections at (e) and (f). In (e), if the appellee in a civil matter obtains a judgment, including punitive damages, and the appellant files a notice of appeal in order to obtain review by an appellate court, the supersedeas bond for the punitive damages portion of the judgment shall not exceed $50,000,000.00. In (f), if after notice and a hearing the court finds that the appellee has proven, by a preponderance of the evidence, that the party bringing the appeal, for whom the bond has been limited in subsection (e) as described, is purposefully dissipating or secreting its assets, or diverting assets outside the jurisdiction of the United States’ courts, then the limitation contained in (e) shall not apply. Further, the bill provides changes to venue for a business corporation by changing O.C.G.A. § 14-2-510. A suit may be brought against a domestic corporation and each foreign corporation, authorized to transact business in Georgia, in the county where the corporation is deemed to reside "subject to the limitation provided in subsection (d) of this Code Section (14-2-510), in actions for damages because of torts, wrong, or injury done, in the county where the cause of action originated." Forum non conveniens language is added to the bill in subsection (d): "to promote the fair and efficient administration of justice and for the convenience of the parties to any civil proceeding…with regard to venue, upon motion by a party, a trial court may transfer an action to another court of competent jurisdiction in the State of Georgia." This motion would have to be filed no later than 30 days after the filing date of the last answer in the action, and the burden of proof is on the moving party, by a preponderance of the evidence, that the transferee court would be the "superior forum in which to try the action." There are five criteria imposed on the trial court in order to transfer an action: 1) the action could have been filed in the transferee court as an initial matter; 2) at the time of filing the motion to transfer, the transferee court would have jurisdiction over all claims, cross-claims, counterclaims, and third-party claims in the pending action; 3) the cost and burden of obtaining access to witnesses and other proof would be reduced if the case were tried in the transferee court; 4) the county in which the case would be transferred has a substantial interest in the adjudication of the matter in controversy; and 5) the transfer of the action would not otherwise impose undue hardship on any of the parties based on any other factor relevant to the fair, efficient and convenient administration of justice.

HR 933 – Rep. Orrock has introduced a Resolution to create the House Social Anxiety Disorder Study Committee, as anxiety disorders affect approximately 7.9% of Americans on an annual basis with a lifetime prevalence of 13.3%. This leads to an increased risk of developing depression as well as a more likely risk of developing panic attacks. This Committee would be composed of three members of the House of Representatives, appointed by the Speaker, and the Committee would hold meetings and hearings in order to develop any findings, recommendations and suggestions for proposed legislation. A report would be made on or before December 31, 2000.

HR 935 – This Resolution, introduced by Reps. Harbin, Murphy, Buck, Davis, Birdsong and others mirrors SR 511 regarding healthcare to armed service retirees, as described above.

SB 338 – Sens. Kemp, Hecht, Land and others’ bill has now crossed over to the House. The bill would amend Chapter 10 of Title 15 of the Code pertaining to the magistrate courts and provisions of service of citations for the trial of ordinance violations and deposit account fraud. The measure has now been forwarded to the House Special Judiciary Committee.

SB 348 – Sens. Lee and Kemp introduced this bill, which has now crossed over to the House, amending Article 1 of Chapter 4 of Title 7 to change the provisions for criminal penalties associated with the application of excessive interest and to ensure that such penalties do not apply to pawnbrokers. This bill has been forwarded to the House Judiciary Committee.

SB 334, the bill authored by Sen. Madden and others amending the "Essential Rural Health Care Provider Access Act" in order to eliminate the exemption for health maintenance organizations, was passed by the Senate by a vote of 50 yeas to 0 nays.

The Senate, after lively debate, tabled SB 342, the bill authored by Sen. Brush relating to motorcycle headgear and eye-protective devices. A person failing to comply with the requirements of this Code section (the wearing of helmets and eye-protective gear) shall not be guilty of any criminal act and shall not be guilty of violating any ordinance. Further, if someone were caught, per the bill, he or she would not be guilty of a "moving violation," the person would merely be fined $15.00: "A person failing to comply with the requirements of this Code section, upon conviction of such offense, may be fined not more than $15.00; but, the provisions of Chapter 11 of Title 17 and any other provision of law to the contrary notwithstanding, the costs of such prosecution shall not be taxed nor shall any additional penalty, fee, or surcharge to a fine for such offense be assessed against a person for conviction thereof. The court imposing such fine shall forward a record of the disposition of the case to the Department of Public Safety." This will come up again on Monday, February 7.

Also, the Senate voted out HB 1161, a bill brought by House Leadership to provide for supplemental appropriations for FY 1999-2000 health insurance coverage for those under the State Health Benefit Plan and Board of Regents Health Plan, by a vote of 53 yeas to 0 nays. The passage of HB 1161 was critical so that money could be put toward each of the ‘ailing’ plans that were currently experiencing budget deficits.

HB 260, a bill to help rural Georgia as well as medical school students authored by Rep. Channell and others, was on the Senate’s calendar but was not reached. This bill provides for medical scholarships and repayment terms of such scholarships: the loans or scholarships to be granted shall be based upon the condition that the full amount of the loans or scholarships shall be repaid to Georgia in services rendered by the applicant by practicing his or her profession in a State Medical Education Board approved rural county in Georgia of 35,000 population or less according to the United States decennial census of 1990 (or any future census) or at any hospital or facility operated by or under the jurisdiction of the Department of Human Resources, Department of Corrections or the Department of Juvenile Justice. For each year of practicing his or her profession in such State Medical Education Board approved location, the applicant would receive credit for the amount of the scholarship received during any one year in medical school, with the interest due on such amount.

The Senate Veterans and Consumer Affairs Committee has offered a Substitute to SR 172 that would declare March 7, 2000 as the "Governor’s Council on Developmental Disabilities Day." Originally, this Council was established in 1971 in response to the federal Developmental Disabilities Services and Facilities Construction Amendments of 1970. The Council is a 23-member Board appointed by the Governor to work in collaboration with consumers, the consumers’ families, advocacy organizations, and policymakers in an effort to enhance the quality of life for those suffering from developmental disabilities.