Greetings from under the Gold Dome! Firefighters from across the State gathered at the Capitol today – complete with lots of fire engines! The Governor recognized their hard work and fine efforts. Below will summarize some of the day’s events:

SB 526 – Sens. Golden and Stephens offered this bill to enact the "Georgia Consumer Choice Negotiated Health Insurance Plan Act." This would amend the Insurance Code in Title 33 in order to provide that contracts may contain such benefits, coverages, and reimbursements as may be agreed upon between the group or individual policyholder and an insurer. This bill is now assigned to the Senate Insurance and Labor Committee.

SR 649 – Sens. Starr and Hecht have introduced this Resolution commending the Georgia Textile Manufacturers Association on its 100^th anniversary.

SR 650 – This Resolution was introduced by Sens. Streat, Cheeks, Huggins and others encouraging wireless telephone companies operating in Georgia to continue to educate consumers on the responsible use of wireless telephones while operating a motor vehicle. This Resolution has been referred to the Senate Committee on Transportation.

SR 655 – This Resolution has been dropped by Sens. Hecht and Thompson in order to create the Senate Study Committee on the Abuse of Children. This Study Committee will look at self-destructive actions by girls and boys – such as drug abuse, promiscuity, prostitution, sexual abuse of children, etc. This Resolution has been sent to the Senate Rules Committee.

HB 1646 – Rep. Ashe’s "bar bill" would require bars to close for business each day at 2:00 a.m. if those counties have a population of 350,000 or more. This would amend Title 3 at Chapter 3. This bill has been forwarded to the House Committee on Regulated Beverages.

HB 1647 – This bill, authored by Rep. Parsons, would not require a marked sign be placed on a business engaged in the sale of used motor vehicles parts that solely operates on the Internet or via electronic commerce. This has been forwarded to the House Committee on Motor Vehicles.

HB 1649 – If you feel like your affections have been alienated, you may have grounds for a tort action. This bill was introduced by Rep. Joyce and would amend Chapter 1 of Title 51 regarding torts and specifically would create and define a tort of alienation of affections. This has been now referred to the House Committee on Judiciary.

HB 1663 – This is an amendment to the State’s "sunshine" laws. Reps. Day, Sauder, Buck, Mueller, and Stephens introduced this bill amending O.C.G.A. § 50-14-1 in order to clarify the definition of an agency to which such provisions are applicable to include county boards of equalization and county boards of tax assessors by inserting a new subparagraph at (a)(1)(C).

HB 1669 – Rep. Wiles has authored this amendment to O.C.G.A. § 33-7-11 concerning the coverage for uninsured motorists in order to change the provisions relating to the definition of "uninsured motor vehicle." The bill states that "uninsured motor vehicle means a motor vehicle, other than a motor vehicle owned by or furnished for the regular use of the named insured, the spouse of the named insured, and, while residents of the same household, the relative of either, except as provided by division (iii) of this subparagraph, as to which there is: …(iii) bodily injury liability insurance and property damage liability insurance in existence but the insurance company writing the insurance has legally denied coverage under its policy, including without limitation a motor vehicle for which coverage has been denied under such policy because the motor vehicle was operated by a person other than the named insured without the express or implied consent of the named insured."

HR 1202 - Rep. Squires introduced another piece of legislation in an effort to help juveniles. This Resolution would create the Joint Study Commission on the Use of Existing and Potential Technology by the Department of Juvenile Justice. It would be composed of seven members - three from the House, three from the Senate, and one appointed by the Governor.

SR 459 – This Resolution, authored by Sens. Walker, Dean, Streat and others, has now crossed over to the House. This would create the Joint Study Committee on the Prevention and Emergency Care of Injuries in Georgia. This has now been forwarded to the House Rules Committee.

The Senate had several bills of interest on its Rules Calendar today. Some of them included SB 465, which is the Governor’s bill concerning the Georgia Technology Authority. This bill had a Floor Substitute that was substantially different than the Committee Substitute; many of the differences relate to resolving possible conflicts of interest. Also, this version would allow the State departments and agencies to expend up to $100,000 on equipment before asking this new Authority for approval. This bill originally came to the Floor by Committee Substitute of the Defense, Science and Technology Committee. Sen. Tanksley presented the bill to the Senate and Sen. Polak went through the changes in the bill. Sen. Polak reminded the Senators that this Authority could be a resource to other agencies within the State. Sen. Lamutt also went to the Well to proclaim his support of the bill and stated that tremendous strides had been made in technology and that Georgia was the number one state in the country in providing services on the Internet. This bill passed out of the Senate but will have to be approved again today due to Senate Rule 143.

The Senate also passed out two other bills that have been noted in prior Gold Domes. SB 464, the pinklining legislation that would prohibit insurers from discriminating from issuing, renewing, etc. policies to persons who had been victims of domestic violence, was also on the calendar. The Senate also passed out SB 479, which creates the State’s ombudsman to oversee the Community Service Boards and Regional Service Boards in their delivery of community based services for persons needing mental health, mental retardation, or substance abuse services. Sen. Madden presented SB 479 as a Floor Substitute which was adopted, after the Committee Substitute was defeated, by a vote of 43 to zero. SB 479 was placed on the table under Senate Rule 143 due to the length of the bill. Both of these bills now proceed to the House.

In the House, the Rules Calendar was also filled. It took up HB 1609, the rewrite of the current cemetery and funeral services law. This bill passed by a vote of 167 yeas to two nays. It now proceeds to the Senate. This is Speaker Murphy’s bill. Rep. Sims spoke about the bill from the Well. In addition, Rep. West also rose in support of the bill and explained his strong feelings about the bill as he believes that it will close a lot of loopholes in the current law. Rep. West also explained that he got involved in the funeral home business (he now owns such) from a consumer standpoint. Rep. Jeff Williams also rose in support of the bill as he expressed that he had an obligation concerning the financial security that this bill would provide to persons that are signing pre-need contracts.

The House also approved the legislation, HB 1422, which the Governor proposed on the creation of the Child Advocate Office. This legislation breezed through the House by a vote of 171 yeas to one nay and, thus, makes its way now to the Senate for its consideration. This new Office has been called the "watchdog that watches the watchdog." This legislation gives the Child Advocate the power to investigate how complaints and cases of child abuse and neglect are handled by the Division of Family and Children Services ("DFACS").

The House also passed out a bill that has been worked on by Reps. Ashe and Stuckey which would create the Equity in Sports Act. This would allow females the same access to sports as described by Title IX under federal law. Also, the bill, HB 1308, addresses the issue of females involved in contact sports. The votes on the bill were 163 yeas to 2 nays. The enforcement mechanisms in the bill were revised by the time it reached the House for a vote. A school or local school system would have to adopt a plan of correction if inequities were found in the treatment of girls in sporting activities. This bill also proceeds to the Senate.

The House also had on its Rules Calendar the bill authored by Rep. Jackson, HB 1352, which would expand the current law on the use of retired physicians in providing services in clinics, etc. This bill would have expanded the law to also allow retired nurses, optometrists, etc. to practice under limited licenses – this bill was pulled from the House Rules Calendar as there were rumors that amendments were proposed to allow optometrists the right to prescribe. [A Conference Committee has now been appointed to hear HB 577 (with the attached language of SB 16) that would allow prescriptive authority to optometrists. This bill is a carryover from the 1999 Session and is the continuing warfare between the optometrists and the ophthalmologists on who should have the right to prescribe medications. The Conference Committee includes Sens. Stokes, Ragan and Walker and Reps. Porter, Childers, and Parham. A meeting was rumored to be held late this afternoon between the Conferees to discuss this issue.]

The Senate Health and Human Services Committee met today and took up several bills. They passed out HB 646, Rep. Childers’ bill concerning end-stage renal dialysis centers. This bill creates more oversight of these facilities as well as sets some guidelines regarding training of workers for such facilities. HB 646 passed out by Committee Substitute and now proceeds to Senate Rules. The Committee also heard a bill, passed out last Session but which was halted in Senate Rules due to a conflict between its author, Rep. Grindley, and Sen. Nadine Thomas. HB 271 was basically gutted and used as a vehicle by Sen. Charles Walker so that he could attach language in order for masters’ level psychologists to be licensed. Sen. Madden rose in support of this Substitute offered by Sen. Walker as he explained that there is a current shortage of mental health therapists in the State. This bill also now proceeds to Senate Rules. [It was unclear at the time of the writing of this Report if any language remained in the original bill, HB 271, concerning pharmacy issues.] The Committee also passed out the bill relating to the expansion of PeachCare for Kids, HB 1214. There was no discussion on HB 1214, and it too proceeds to Senate Rules. Next on the Committee’s agenda was HB 1411 which would grant powers to hire staff by the Georgia Board for Physician Workforce to the Board. This bill also passed out and is on its way to Senate Rules. The Committee also held a hearing on the acupuncture bill authored by Rep. Nan Orrock. HB 814 had speakers on both sides of the issue – acupuncturists as well as the Medical Association of Georgia ("MAG"). MAG has been concerned about scientific evidence and patient protections. The acupuncturists stated that they do not diagnose or perform treatment – they are basically a method of "balancing of the body." Acupuncture, as argued, is not a western model of medical treatment. Acupuncturists proclaimed that the bill addresses the issue relating to diagnosis by stating that if a person is actually seeking such, then they should see a medical doctor. No vote was actually taken on this bill.

The Senate Subcommittee of Appropriations on Human Development also met this afternoon. Sen. Nadine Thomas presided over the meeting – Sens. Burton, Lamutt, and Meyer von Bremen attended the hearings. This was a meeting in which presentations were made by the Department of Human Resources and the Department of Community Health on their FY 2001 Budgets. Commissioner Horne from the Department of Human Resources did speak to the Subcommittee; Sen. Toal came to the meeting and waited for quite some time and finally left in order to meet with the Governor without making his presentation. The Subcommittee heard from the public on their requests for money in the 2001 Budget. Such requests included those by the group known as CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates); the American Cancer Society (asking for $42 million dollars from the Tobacco Settlement fund – Sen. Lamutt took this group to task regarding what is currently being raised by this agency and how they proposed to spend this additional amount of money. The American Cancer Society had no information on what its current solicitations are or how the monies would be spent on tobacco smoking cessation programs); the Georgia Association of Primary Healthcare Centers; GATES (for supported training and employment for persons with disabilities); the Georgia Poison Control Program (this program is at Grady which currently has a combined State and federal budget of almost $2.5 million that oversees a phone line where calls are received from throughout the State; these phone lines are staffed with nurses, pharmacists, and physicians); Georgia Association of Public Boards of Health; the Georgia Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatric Physicians (asking for additional money for newborn hearing screenings as well as Tobacco Dollars for cessation programs and equipment for centers working on child abuse in an effort to conduct telemedicine); Georgia Council on Developmental Disabilities (Unlock the Waiting Lists); etc. Sen. Thomas asked several groups to bring back documentation by noon on March 7, 2000 in order to be considered (this included the group from the American Cancer Society).

The House Appropriations Committee met shortly after lunch to discuss the FY 2001 Budget. It passed the $14.4 billion proposed budget with no discussion. One of the most interesting issues in the budget relates to expenditures to fight teenage smoking – the House wants to cut the Governor’s proposal by approximately 25% (this would be done by using the Tobacco Settlement dollars). There are still numerous "pork" projects in the House version (this money is for various local projects that legislators want for their districts).

The Health Care Facilities Subcommittee of the House Health and Ecology Committee also met and took up Rep. Pinholster’s bill, HB 1623 concerning the oversight of physician-owned ambulatory surgery centers. HB 1623 would have placed the oversight with the Composite State Board of Medical Examiners – which was opposed to the bill requiring that the Board oversee such facilities (as it typically just oversees physicians). There was also concern about placing the oversight with the Office of Regulatory Services. There was a decision made to hold this bill and work on it over the summer and perhaps come back in the 2001 Session. Rep. Pinholster brought this bill as a constituent had died due to an ill-fated attempt to have a surgical procedure at a physician-owned facility in his district.

The Governor’s office and the insurance advocates continue in their efforts to perfect the "pinklining" legislation, SB 464, even though the bill passed out of the Senate this afternoon. It is expected that additional amendments will be provided in the House.

Tomorrow, the House will hear several bills on its Rules Calendar. Some include HB 549, which would increase the minimum wage to what the current federal minimum wage level is currently. There are several bills on the calendar relating to privacy issues and the recording of telephone or electronic communications – HB 712, HB 1492, and HB 1576. HB 1492 is on the Calendar which deals with telephone solicitations and the prohibition of making calls from unlisted phone numbers. There is also a bill on the House Rules Calendar concerning an amendment to the State’s ethics’ laws and campaign finance disclosures.