Greetings from under the Gold Dome! This was a major day for the Senate as it took up two major bills HB 1187, the Governor’s Education Reform Act, and HB 1162, the Supplemental Budget Appropriations for 1999-2000 (more about that below). Some other news of interest:

SB 484 – Sen. Thompson introduced this bill to amend Title 19 concerning domestic relations. It would change the definitions and provisions relating to child abuse protocol committees. It would also provide that a child abuse protocol committee adopt a written child abuse protocol and file it with the Georgia State Child Fatality Review Panel. Further, the bill would allow for the establishment of local multi-disciplinary, multi-agency child fatality review teams (their membership and authority), and would provide for additional procedures in connection with investigations of deaths of children. This has been forwarded the Senate Committee on State and Local Governmental Operations (General).

SB 487 – Sen. Kemp and others introduced this bill which amends O.C.G.A. § 5-6-46 regarding supersedeas bonds, and the surety’s liability in order to provide for a limitation on the supersedeas bond for the punitive damages portion of a civil judgment and to also provide for the rescission of such limitation or waiver and provide for the waiving of the filing of a supersedeas bond as to an award for punitive damages. The bill also amends O.C.G.A. § 9-12-134 concerning the appeal or stay of foreign judgments and clarifies that a foreign judgment shall be stayed because an appeal is pending, or will be taken, or the time for filing an appeal has not expired. Further, this would allow that a foreign judgment shall be stayed until appeals are concluded or the time for taking an appeal has expired. This bill now moves to the Senate Judiciary Committee.

SB 492 – Sens. Golden and Madden are carrying this bill for the Commissioner of Insurance. This bill amends the Insurance Code at O.C.G.A. § 33-2-11(e) by stating that an insurer who is authorized to transact insurance in Georgia which changes its domicile from Georgia to another state on or after April 1, 1988, may (rather than shall) be examined by the Commissioner once a year for five years beginning on or after the occurrence of the change in domicile. This would not apply to an insurer which changes its domicile from Georgia to another state as long as it retains in Georgia its principal place of business and the complete records of its assets, transactions, and affairs. Further, the bill amends O.C.G.A. § 33-3-6, which changes requirements as to capital stock or surplus required. This states that on or after July 1, 2000, in order to qualify for an original certificate of authority to transact one or more classes of insurance, an insurer would be required to possess and maintain, at minimum, $1.5 million in capital stock or surplus. The bill also makes changes regarding the expiration of the certificate of authority at O.C.G.A. § 33-3-16. In this bill, the certificates of authority would expire at midnight on June 30 of the year following the date of issuance or renewal and an insurer desiring to renew would have to file on March 1, preceding the expiration, a copy of its annual statement as of December 31 of the preceding year in a form that is approved for use by the Commissioner of Insurance. If the insurer qualifies, then its certificate of authority shall be renewed annually unless a new certificate is issued or refused. The bill also changes the notice of modification and exemption from filing requirements for the establishment of health maintenance organizations at O.C.G.A. § 33-21-2. This states that any "domestic stock, mutual, or nonprofit corporation whose charter powers include the business of a health maintenance organization may apply to the Commissioner for and obtain a certificate of authority to establish and operate a health maintenance organization in compliance with this chapter. No person shall establish or operate a health maintenance organization in this state; sell, offer to sell, or solicit offers to purchase; or receive advance or periodic consideration in conjunction with a health maintenance organization without obtaining a certificate of authority under this chapter." This takes out the allowance for a foreign corporation to qualify.

SB 493 – This is another bill introduced by Sens. Golden and Madden for the Department of Insurance that would amend Chapter 56 of Title 33 concerning risk-based capital levels in order to make these provisions applicable to health organizations (health maintenance organizations, limited health service organizations, hospital, medical or dental indemnity or service corporations, or other managed care organizations). This bill purportedly follows most of the provisions of the National Association of Insurance Commissioner’s model legislation on "risk-based capital." At O.C.G.A. § 33-56-2, an amendment is inserted to expand this from just property and casualty insurance but also to health insurance. In order to determine a health organization’s risk-based capital, it would be done by formula which would take into account and adjust for the co-variance between: asset risk, credit risk, underwriting risk, and all other business risks and such other relevant risks as set forth in the risk-based instructions. Further, a health organization would have to provide projections of the health organization’s financial results in the current year as well as at least the two succeeding years, both in the absence of proposed corrective actions and giving effect to the proposed corrective actions, including projections of statutory operating income, net income, capital and surplus, and risk-based capital levels. The projections (new and renewal) could include separate projections for each major line of business and separately identify each significant income, expense, and benefit component. The bill also addresses the mandatory control levels and the fact that the Commissioner shall be entitled to take action if the mandatory control level is inaccurate or inappropriate. If the Commissioner takes action pursuant to an adjusted risk-based capital report, the insurer shall be entitled to protections in Chapter 2 of Title 33. There is an exemption provided in this Chapter for a health organization that has less than 1,000 covered lives and has less than $1 million in direct written premiums.

SR 611 – This is another piece of legislation concerning cellular telephones. This Resolution was introduced by Sens. James, Tate, Harbison and others that "encourages" motorists in Georgia to observe good judgment in the use of cellular mobile telephones while driving. This has been forwarded to the Senate Committee on Transportation.

SR 613 – Sens. Broun and Gillis have authored a Resolution creating the Senate Certificate of Need for Long-term Care Facilities Study Committee (this is a continuation of a Study Committee already in existence regarding this issue). This Study Committee would be comprised of five members of the Senate and would study the conditions, needs, issues, and problems of continuing care retirement communities (CCRCs), and recommend any action or legislation that might be appropriate. This Study Committee would be abolished on December 15, 2000.

HB 814 – Rep. Orrock’s bill, creating the Acupuncture Act of Georgia, has crossed over to the Senate and has been assigned to the Health and Human Services Committee. As the bill came out of the House by Committee Substitute with a Floor Amendment, it will amend Chapter 34 of Title 43 in order to provide for the licensing of persons to practice acupuncture and provide for the powers of the Composite State Board of Medical Examiners to oversee such licensing. The bill defines "acupuncture" as the form of "therapy developed from traditional and modern Oriental concepts for health care that employs Oriental medical techniques, treatment and adjunctive therapies for the promotion, maintenance, and restoration of health and the prevention of disease." It also defines the "practice of acupuncture" as the "insertion of disposable acupuncture needles and the application of moxibustion to specific areas of the human body based upon Oriental medical principles as a therapeutic modality. Adjunctive therapies within the scope of acupuncture may include manual, mechanical, herbal, thermal, electrical, and electromagnetic treatment and the recommendation of dietary guidelines and therapeutic exercise based on concepts of traditional Oriental medicine." It also defines "auricular (ear) detoxification therapy" as the "insertion of disposable acupuncture needles into the five auricular acupuncture points stipulated by the National Acupuncture Detoxification Association protocol for the sole purpose of treatment of chemical dependency." The applicant for licensing to practice acupuncture would have to be certified in acupuncture by a national certification agency accredited by the National Organization of Competency Assurance and approved by the Board, successfully complete a nationally recognized clean needle technique course approved by the Board, and obtain professional liability insurance in the amount of at least $100,000/$300,000. Before practicing on their own, if that person has less than one year of post-graduate clinical experience, then the person must engage in one year of active practice under the supervision of a licensed acupuncturist with a minimum of five years of active licensed clinical practice. The bill requires that the person that undergoes acupuncture must execute a consent to the procedure that is developed by the Board. Further, the bill provides that the Board shall appoint an acupuncture advisory committee of persons licensed to practice acupuncture as well as medicine. The bill also provides for titles: "licensed acupuncturist (L. Ac.),"acupuncturist," and "auricular detoxification specialist" or (ADS).

HB 1576 – This is the privacy legislation introduced by Reps. Stokes, Manning, Wix, Stuckey, Golick, and others that would amend Article 3 of Chapter 11 of Title 16. This would change provisions relating to the interception of wire, oral, and electronic communications and would require that a judge be the person to order such consent to the interception. This has been forwarded to the House Judiciary Committee.

HB 1579 – Rep. Brown introduced this amendment to O.C.G.A. § 18-4-22 concerning exemptions of certain pension or retirement funds from garnishments. This would provide that individual retirement accounts, individual retirement annuities, accounts established as part of a trust and certain pension or retirement funds’ benefits would be exempt from garnishment. This has been referred to the House Judiciary Committee.

HB 1583 – Reps. Kaye, Buck, Royal, Skipper, Parham, and others introduced this tax bill which would amend O.C.G.A. § 48-8-3 and provide for an exemption from state sales and use tax on the sale of "blood measuring devices," other monitoring equipment, or insulin delivery systems (those systems that are used by diabetics). This bill has been sent to the House Committee on Ways and Means.

HB 1586 – Rep. Powell and Rep. Walker introduced this amendment to the Insurance Code which specifically amends O.C.G.A. § 33-24-3 by striking and adding a new (e) in order to change provisions relating to insurable interests. This would allow a rebuttable presumption that no insurable interest existed at the time a contract of personal insurance became effective if the original owner of the policy was not the named insured and such owner sold, pledged, assigned, or otherwise transferred any interest in such policy within five years of the issuance of the policy.

HB 1592 – This is another electronic grocery bill. Rep. Reichert authored this bill to create the "Internet Retail Grocer Electronic Commerce Act of 2000." This would amend Article 2 of Chapter 3 of Title 3 concerning prohibited acts relative to the regulation of alcoholic beverages in order to provide for the delivery to consumers of malt beverages and wine by licensed retail grocers engaged in electronic commerce over the Internet.

HB 1595 – This is Rep. Stuckey’s repeal of the "Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction Act," and the enactment of the "Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction Enforcement Act." This strikes Article 3 of Chapter 9 of Title 19 and inserts a new Chapter in its place. It provides, among other things, how the state shall treat Indian tribes and foreign countries in child custody proceedings and enforcement of child custody determinations, which persons would be bound by child custody determinations under this Act, communication between a court of Georgia and a court of another state and for related records and procedures, etc.

SB 398 – This is the Governor’s Bill that would create the OneGeorgia Authority and would amend Title 50 of the Code which has now made its way to the House. This legislation would create the composition and duties of the Authority. The bill has now been referred to the House Appropriations Committee.

SB 403 – Sen. Ray and others introduced this bill to amend Article 3 of Chapter 10 of Title 15 concerning civil matters filed in magistrate courts. This would allow for the filing of actions, claims, answers, pleadings, post-judgment interrogatories, and other documents by electronic means. This bill, now in the House, has been assigned to Rep. Martin’s Judiciary Committee.

SB 436 – This is another piece of legislation which has crossed over to the House. Sens. Johnson and Egan authored this bill to amend O.C.G.A. § 1-3-3 and § 9-10-12 regarding defining the term of "statutory overnight delivery" in order to allow for notices by certified or registered mail to be sent by overnight delivery through the postal service or a commercial delivery service. This bill would further amend all other references to such delivery of notices in laws, statutes, Code sections, ordinances, rules, and regulations. This bill has been referred to the House Judiciary Committee.

SR 480 – Sens. Hill, Jackson, and Marable offered this Resolution to list goals and outcome measures for state policy on childhood care and education. Further, it would urge the state’s agencies to comply with such goals and outcome measures. This Resolution has now crossed over into the House and has been assigned to the Children and Youth Committee.

After more than seven hours of debate on the Governor’s Education Bill, the bill, HB 1187, as presented by the Governor’s Senate Floor Leader Steve Thompson, was passed by a vote of 34 yeas to 21 nays. There were twenty-seven amendments offered during the debate on this bill which would enact the "A Plus Education Reform Act of 2000." Two of the amendments were withdrawn and one was ruled not germane; the remainder of the amendments were lost. There were amendments on allowing students to transfer from one public school to another of their choice; granting scholarships to students in order to go to an accredited school of their choice if their public school was a poor performing school; providing for early HOPE scholarships for students; age of enrollment in public schools; inserting back in the bill the Fair Dismissal Act (this was basically to allow tenure for teachers); requirements for curriculum (including allowing the Bible to be taught as literature elective), etc. Some of the debate was heated at times – the Republicans were all taking the Well. State Superintendent of Schools, Linda Schrenko, sat in the Gallery watching as the Republicans took the Well on the Governor’s bill. Governor Barnes was also referred to by Sen. Balfour as the SOB – "Supreme Omnipotent Being." Sen. Balfour was quite passionate in his oration concerning allowing parents to make the decision of when to place their children in school based upon their maturity level and readiness as he felt it was wrong for the Governor to mandate when children should be required to attend school (at age five). Sen. Tommie Williams also spoke at length on why it was critical to teach the Bible to children as a form of literature – citing to other classes that are being taught (classes on pop music, Swahili language, etc.).

The Senate also passed out HB 1162, the Supplemental Appropriations Bill for FY 1999-2000, by a vote of 36 yeas to 18 nays. A Conference Committee will begin hashing out the differences in the Budget recommendations from the House and the Senate over the weekend.

Most of the Committees that had meetings scheduled for the afternoon were cancelled due to both the House and the Senate having lengthy calendars.

One of the House Appropriations’ Subcommittees did meet. Rep. Mickey Channell’s Subcommittee on the Department of Community Health met to discuss the 2001 Budget. The Subcommittee agreed to allow for increases from $25 to $50 per visit on "non-emergency" emergency room visits. This increase would be annualized, but no actual totals were given on this cost. The Subcommittee also agreed to make increases for hospital-based nursing home rates (for those facilities in non-MSAs) which would be $199,240 in State funds and $430,012 with federal funds. There was also money included in the "preventive residents’ program" that is currently in place at Morehouse and Emory medical schools (there are three resident physicians at each). The total for this was $60,000 ($50,000 of this would be for training and $10,000 would be for expenses). The Subcommittee also agreed to include $250,000 for pediatric asthma programs (this is the Zap Asthma program). It also agreed to increase the Medicaid outpatient rate for critical access hospitals (those critical access hospitals that are "eligible"), but no amount of money was discussed. There was also a redirect of money out of SOURCE Project of $1,007,250. The money for the above mentioned additions came from Item D in the DCH Budget which allowed for additional money for inflationary drug costs (currently the amount in the Budget document for drug inflation costs is at $7.6 million, and this redirect would bring the amount to approximately $6.9 million). The Subcommittee also passed two actions; both of these were made by Rep. Robin Williams. The first was that the Subcommittee would work on the physician reimbursement increases with Commissioner Toal for the Supplemental Budget for 2001. The second was that the Subcommittee would get DCH to meet over the summer on trying to find a way to get the children in low income families, currently covered by State Merit, to be covered by the PeachCare for Kids Program (apparently there are about 47,000 children in the State Merit program who would be eligible).

In the Health and Ecology Committee meeting on February 23, 2000, the Committee changed the definition of "public employee" in the "needle stick" bill, HB 1448, authored by Rep. Nan Orrock. This bill would provide for standards, similar to those used by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration ("OSHA"), for all public health employees to follow in preventing bloodborne pathogens from being spread. Specifically, it defines, as changed in Committee, "public employee" to mean "an employee of a county board of health established in accordance with Chapter 3 of Title 31 or an employee of the state or an agency or authority of the state employed in a public health care facility or other facility providing health care related services, currently not subject to the jurisdiction of the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration."

SB 465, the Governor’s bill amending the Code at 28-3-24.1 in order to establish the GeorgiaNet Division of the Georgia Technology Authority, etc., has been reported out by Committee Substitute on February 23, 2000 from the Senate Defense, Science, and Technology Committee. This bill would also establish the Georgia Technology Authority as the successor in interest to the GeorgiaNet Authority. This bill now proceeds to Senate Rules.

Sens. James, Fort, Thomas and others would like for you to keep their Resolution, SR 617, in mind as you motor across the "Alpharetta Autobahn," move through Spaghetti Junction, crisscross the downtown connector, etc. Mark your calendars so as to remember March 8, 2000. The Senate has adopted this Resolution to recognize the day as "Safe Drivers’ Awareness Day" in Georgia – wear your seatbelts, observe child safety seat precautions, observe the speed limit, respect the rights of pedestrians, observe laws relating to driving under the influence of alcohol and drugs, concentrate on driving safely, and exercise good judgment.

SB 492 and SB 493, the two Department of Insurance bills (see above), may come up for a hearing early next week before the Senate Insurance and Labor Committee.