[Note: this Report will have information from March 16, as well as March 17, 2000.]

It is coming to an end… Both the House and Senate worked late, but the Senate won the prize for the longest day. In what appeared to be the makings of an "all-nighter," the Senate finally bedded its calendar around midnight. Legislators and lobbyists alike were looking a little worn by evening’s end. Also, there were remnants of "dinner" left all around – empty soda cans and pizza boxes were scattered about on the third floor of the Capitol. The Senate, however, had to leave several bills without debating them on the Floor. Those bills will roll back to the Senate Rules Committee.

Below is a recap of events:

HB 1757 – Rep. Teague and others introduced this bill amending Chapter 6A of Title 34 concerning the "Georgia Equal Employment for Persons with Disabilities Code" in order to change the definition to include persons with certain blood disorders as persons with disabilities. This bill was referred to the Committee on Industrial Relations.

HB 1760 – Rep. Teper and Rep. Reichert have authored this bill amending Chapter 1 of Title 51 of the Code concerning torts. This would provide an extension of certain immunity to resident physicians (those physicians that are participating in a residency training program approved by the American Medical Association and operated in Georgia by a hospital authority or a designated teaching hospital) and hospital authorities, medical facilities, and academic institutions that are employing or utilizing such physicians. There is also a waiver of immunity provision as well as a provision of the conditions in order to claim such immunity (in order to claim, the hospital authority or teaching hospital would have to be "covered by liability insurance protection, self-insurance protection, the protection of a contingency reserve fund, or contractual indemnification backed by such protection, in an amount not less than $1 million per occurrence and $3 million in the aggregate, for occurrences in any one calendar year for medical care and treatment provided by such resident physicians").

HB 1761 – Reps. Hudson, West, and Parham have introduced this bill amending O.C.G.A. § 43-34-103 concerning the approval of physician’s assistants and their supervision. The law remains the same that no physician shall supervise more than two physician’s assistants at any one time. The bill adds a new subsection (e.2) concerning duties and actions of a physician’s assistant. It will allow a physician’s assistant to "request, receive, and sign for professional samples and may distribute professional samples to patients, pursuant to authority delegated by the supervising physician of that physician’s assistant." Also, the "delegation of such authority shall be contained in the job description required by this Code section." The "professional samples" include drugs or medical devices for use in patient care.

SR 755 – Sen. Burton introduced this Resolution to observe July, 2000 as Disability Awareness Month. Sen. Burton is the father of a daughter with a disability, and he has been very active in supporting those with disabilities. This Resolution was read and adopted by the Senate.

The Senate took up HB 1352, a bill amending Chapter 1 of Title 43, "Georgia Volunteers in Health Care Specialties Act." This bill expands the current law allowing retired physicians to obtain special licenses to practice. This now allows retired chiropractors, nurses and podiatrists to obtain such special licensure, and thus, volunteer their time in their respective practice areas. This bill passed the Senate by a vote 53 to zero. An attempt was made by Sen. Nadine Thomas to amend the bill’s provisions relating to nursing; Sen. Tom Price had grave concerns, as the amendments, which eventually were withdrawn, would have opened up the issue of the ‘nurses' right to prescribe’ – an issue that he thought the Senate would not like to entertain at this late date in the Session.

In a late evening maneuver, HB 1365, adding a new Chapter 10A in Title 19 to create the "Safe Place for Newborns Act of 2000," was tabled by the Senate. Sen. Rene’ Kemp explained the bill from the Senate’s Well as a way in which to prevent deaths to newborns by allowing mothers to take their unwanted babies to a hospital without fear of doing so – this measure is not intended to encourage child abandonment. The bill would allow the mothers immunity from prosecution if the newborns were left at a medical facility and those babies were no more than one week old and had no signs of physical abuse or neglect. The amendment which Sen. Kemp had on the Floor would have addressed the issue of who pays for hospital treatment for the newborns dropped off at these facilities. In the amendment, the Department of Human Resources would be liable for such expenses when they take custody of the infants. Sens. Casey Cagle, Phil Gingrey, Clay Land, and Don Thomas raised concerns about the bill (on issues regarding responsibility, adoption procedures, expenses, etc.). Sens. Land and Burton even offered amendments. After much debate, Sen. Don Balfour moved that the bill be tabled and the motion carried. Thus, this bill is essentially dead unless taken off the table or somehow attached to another bill.

The Senate also passed out HB 1448, the "needlestick" bill, introduced by Rep. Nan Orrock. Sen. Connie Stokes carried this bill in the Senate for its author. Sen. Stokes made clear that numerous entities had come to an agreement on this bill including the Georgia Hospital Association, the Georgia Pharmacy Association, the ACCG, etc. This bill was designed to provide safeguards for public employees from being stuck by needles that carry bloodborne pathogens. It provides that standards be established by the Department of Human Resources that are similar to those developed by OSHA and followed in the private sector (hospitals, etc.). Sen. Stokes commented that the Washington Post reported that there are between 600,000 and 800,000 "sticks" each year. This bill should be cost neutral according to Department of Audits as it can be grossly expensive if an employee falls victim to a stick and contracts HIV or some other disease. This bill passed, without any amendments, by a vote of 51 yeas to zero nays.

The Senate also passed out the bill authored by Rep. Gail Buckner, HB 1335, creating a research fund for breast, prostate, and ovarian cancers by way of a voluntary contribution from a person’s income tax refund. This bill is actually placed in Chapter 12 of Title 31. This bill passed by a vote of 51 yeas to zero nays.

To cheers and hoorays, the House finally approved the "hate crimes" bill by a vote of 117 yeas to 49 nays. Sen. Fort introduced SB 390. The bill amends Title 17 and specifically O.C.G.A. §17-10-17. 21 (a). It gives additional guidelines to a judge in cases where the "trier of fact determines beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant intentionally selected any victim or any property of the victim as the object of the offense because of bias or prejudice." In maneuvers before the final passage of this bill, the House first tried to table the bill by a vote of 83 to 82 and then reconsidered its action by a vote of 92 to 72. The Senate has to approve the House changes made to this legislation. The changes would allow for additional prison sentences or higher fines could be added on the initial sentences. Most of the states have legislation enhancing penalties for "hate crimes."

The House passed SB 344 by a vote of 139 to 26. This came to the House Floor by Substitute from the House Committee on Motor Vehicles. The bill raises the uninsured motorist coverage from $15,000 to $25,000 (due to bodily injury to or death of one person in any one accident), from $30,000 to $50,000 (because of bodily injury to or death of two or more persons in any one accident), and from $10,000 to $25,000 (because of injury to or destruction of property).

Also, the House passed out the House Industry Committee’s Substitute, with a Floor Amendment authored by Rep. Larry Smith excluding "community" cemeteries, to the Senate’s version of the rewrite of the current cemetery law. This bill, SB 462, would amend Title 10 of the Code, the current "Georgia Cemetery Act of 1983," and insert in lieu thereof the "Georgia Cemetery and Funeral Services Act of 2000." The bill passed by a vote of 163 to 2. The Senate now has to approve the changes made in the House.

The House passed out the House Health and Ecology Committee’s Substitute to SB 479 that would amend Chapter 2 of Title 37 of the Code relating to the administration of mental health, mental retardation, and substance abuse service delivery by the Regional Boards and the Community Service Boards. Chairman Buddy Childers carried the bill in the House and spoke to the merits of the bill. This bill establishes a state ombudsman who may certify community ombudsmen to investigate and make reports and recommendations to DHR and other appropriate agencies concerning any act or failure to act by any services provider (the CSBs) with respect to responsibilities and duties in connection with service recipients (those persons receiving services) who are receiving or are eligible to receive services from a provider. In this version, one of the key differences is that the new state ombudsman would be able to contract with one or more corporations to operate a community ombudsman program in one or more regional board districts within the State. In the original bill, this contracting was limited to contracting with only "nonprofit" corporations. One of the key concerns raised about this legislation pertained to the oversight of the state ombudsman by the Consumer’s Insurance Advocate. This bill passed out of the House by a vote of 139 to 32. The Senate now must approve the changes made to this bill.

The House passed out SB 499, by House Judiciary Committee Substitute, which would amend Chapter 17 of Title 43 of the Code concerning the "Georgia Charitable Solicitations Act of 1988." This bill changes the definition for the terms "charitable organization" and defines the terms "religious organization" and "solicitor agent." The Secretary of State has been behind this legislation. Rep. Allen Hammontree carried this bill on the Floor of the House which won passage by a vote of 158 to zero. The Senate must now approve the changes made, by the House, to this legislation.

In Budget news, the House disagreed with the Senate’s changes to the FY 2001 Budget in HB 1160 and has insisted on its position. Likewise, the Senate has also insisted on its position regarding the FY 2001 Budget and has now appointed a Conference Committee. The Senate approved its version by a vote of 44 to 11. The $14.4 billion budget will now be hashed out by both sides in Conference. Thus far, the Senate agreed with the House in allocating the same amounts of funds to education and both have also agreed to support the Governor’s "greenspace" efforts. In the Senate’s version, the Department of Community Health has a "redirection" of funds in order to implement a pharmacy benefit manager program (this has a total of $96,373,033 funds). Also, there is also a $4 million redirection for the reduction of funding at the Georgia Board of Physician Workforce. There is an addition of $34 million to fund the deficit of the State Health Benefit Plan and an addition of almost $17 million to increase Medicaid benefits due to additional utilization. There are enhancements including an enhancement of more than $10 million in order to reimburse physician-related providers on 90% of the 1999 Resource Based Relative Value Scale and an increase for inpatient hospital providers by adding the 2000 DRI inflation factor to the current DRG payment rates in the amount of more than $8 million. The Senate has added more than $300,000 to already more than $9,122,730 proposed by the Governor and the House to fund an increase for reimbursement rates for nursing home providers. Home health providers will also have increases to their reimbursement rates. Unlike the Governor's and House's proposals, the Senate has added $3,000,000 to provide for rural hospital grants under SB 195 - taking the money from public health departments’ funds. From the Tobacco Settlement Dollars, the Senate has agreed to expand Medicaid eligibility for pregnant women and infants with incomes from 200% to 235% of the federal poverty level, and it has agreed with the Governor's and House's proposals on expansion of the Independent Care Waiver program as well as funding for rural health centers and the Federally Qualified Health Center System. The use of the Tobacco dollars is controversial as there is not enough set aside, according to anti-smoking advocates, to fund the proposed statewide anti-smoking campaign of $42 million (this is the minimum amount that the Centers for Disease Control said would be necessary for such a campaign). Both the House and Senate have not favored this proposal by the Centers for Disease Control. The OneGeorgia Authority, however, would get greater funding from the Tobacco money. OneGeorgia is designed to help those in rural areas of the state in their economic development efforts.

Education was again in the news. In an attempt to "overcome mediocrity" as described by Sen. Steve Thompson, this education reform legislation will likely cause changes to every child’s education in Georgia. After exhausting sessions and rewrites of HB 1187, the bill made its way back to both Chambers. The House read the Conference Committee Report on the Governor’s education reform bill, HB 1187. The Senate also dealt with the Conference Committee Report on HB 1187. This bill took several hours for the General Assembly to get final passage of the Conference Committee Report. The House finally approved the bill by a vote of 134 to 39, and the Senate approved it by a vote of 33 to 22. The bill now goes to the Governor for signing.

The House Committee on Banks and Banking has reported out a Substitute to SB 444 that amends Title 10 of the Code relating to commerce and trade. This bill concerns "day trading." In this bill, day trading is the "transmission of two or more electronic orders on the same day to effect both purchases and sales of the same security by a customer of a day trading firm." Also, a day trading firm is defined as a "person who promotes a day trading strategy to the general public or recommends a day trading strategy to any person, either directly or indirectly, through the use of advertising, seminars, training courses, direct outreach programs, on-site trading facilities, or any other means, and who provides to his or her customers either a physical location at which the customers may trade securities or software designed to facilitate the implementation of a day trading strategy at another location." This bill is still in the House Rules Committee.

The House Committee on Motor Vehicles has passed out a Substitute that will probably interest Speaker Murphy (he has been very vocal in the past on seatbelts). SB 211, a bill amending O.C.G.A. § 40-8-76.1 concerning the use of safety belts in passenger vehicles, has been amended to change the definition of "passenger vehicle." In the amendment, the term "passenger vehicle" would also include sport utility vehicles as well as well as pickup trucks. This bill is now in the House Rules Committee.

The House Committee on Ways and Means has favorably reported out a Substitute to SB 461 on the prohibition of the sale and distribution of any tobacco product through a vending machine. This bill has caused a bit of a stir. It would specifically amend Title 48 concerning the taxation and revenue section of the Code. The bill is intended to help reduce the use of tobacco products by Georgia’s youth. The bill is now in House Rules Committee.

The General Assembly recessed for St. Patrick’s Day on March 17, 2000. Many were working on the Budget; others were planing on attending the Savannah St. Patrick’s Day festivities; and others were returning to their home districts for rest before the final crunch begins on Monday.

The Senate Rules Committee met on Friday to set its final Calendar (more on the calendar below). Also, over this weekend, the Conference Committee will begin to hash out the differences between the House and Senate versions of the FY 2001 Budget in HB 1160 – those sessions had begun on Friday.

Many were still discussing the events from Wednesday regarding HB 271, the bill originally introduced by Rep. Grindley in the 1999 Session that was recently gutted by Sen. Walker to be used as a vehicle to provide for licensure of mental health therapists (those with master’s level degrees in psychology and specifically those graduates from an Augusta area school). This "mental health therapist" would evaluate and treat persons with behavioral, affective, cognitive, and interpersonal problems or conditions or seeks to prevent such problems or conditions or seeks to enhance behavior and mental health. This bill was reconsidered yesterday after it failed passage on March 14, 2000. This surprised many and caused a stir amongst several legislators as well as lobbyists. Initially, there was concern that this bill would somehow also be used as a vehicle to allow for an expansion of the scope of practice for psychologists by allowing them to prescribe.

Sen. Don Thomas announced from the Senate’s Well that Sen. Mike Egan was resting comfortably after collapsing on the Senate’s Floor on March 15, 2000. Sen. Egan (in his last Session because he is retiring after this year), fell ill and it was first feared that something was seriously wrong. Sen. Egan was to carry the "equity in sports" legislation for Reps. Ashe and Stuckey on Wednesday afternoon before he fell ill. [HB 1308 passed by a vote of 52 yeas to zero and now awaits Governor Barnes’ signature.] Sen. Thomas, also a family physician, assured his fellow Senators that Sen. Egan would be back in the Senate by Monday.

The House will debate the Governor’s "pinklining" bill, SB 464, on Monday. This bill would prohibit insurance companies, when writing, issuing, or renewing insurance policies, from discriminating against persons who have been victims of domestic violence.

On Monday, the House will hear SB 440, Sen. Charles Walker’s bill, creating the Medical Center Authority Act.

The Senate, having more than 60 bills on its final calendar, will hear HB 1423 on motor vehicle emissions, which has caused such debate as it would change the current law allowing vehicles to be tested annually for emissions to every other year for testing.

The Senate will also debate a "pharmacy" bill amending Chapter 22 of Title 31 concerning clinical laboratories. Specifically, this would allow pharmacists to perform capillary blood tests and interpret those test results as a way in which to screen for or monitor disease risk factors. The caveat is that these capillary blood tests must be available to and for use by the public without licensure of the user of such test.

The bill feared as being the "vehicle of choice" or "Christmas tree" by the insurance lobbyists, HB 818, is also on the Senate’s calendar. HB 818 now includes measures that were previously introduced at the insistence of the Department of Insurance (SB 492 and SB 493 regarding domestication of health maintenance organizations and risk-based capital requirements for health maintenance organizations, respectively) as well as language amending the current law on Medicare supplement insurance policies.

Additional bills on the Senate’s calendar include bills dealing with hotel and motel taxation as well as other motor vehicle measures.

One bill of interest which did not make it out of the Senate Rules Committee is HB 1189, the Qualified State Tuition Program, by Rep. Louise McBee. This legislation would have allowed family members to establish individual college funds for their children with contributions of up to $5,000 per year. Such contributions to funds would have been exempted from taxes. HB 1189 previously passed, by a unanimous vote, by the House. The only way for this bill to survive now is to be attached to some other moving piece of legislation.

Day thirty-nine, Monday, should be a very long day in both Chambers.