Although all signs this morning pointed to a quiet day under the Gold Dome, the halls quickly became abuzz with news of a compromise on HB 159, the adoption bill authored by Rep. Bert Reeves (R-Marietta). The masses got their first look at the substitute bill as Rep. Reeves presented on the House floor just after lunch. After unanimous approval by the House, the House and Senate’s compromise began to look less sure as a another standoff with the Senate took shape. After an hour delay, Senators returned to order and took no action, electing to take the substitute bill home to read over the weekend. And so continues the political logjam as legislators return home for the weekend, set to reconvene on Monday.

Find details of the House’s proposed compromise for HB 159, along with much more, in today’s Gold Dome Report.

In this Report:

• Compromise HB 159 Passes House Unanimously, Stalls in Senate
• Committee Reports
• New Legislation
• Rules Calendars for Legislative Day 15

Compromise HB 159 Passes House Unanimously, Stalls in Senate

Rep. Bert Reeves (R-Marietta) presented a compromise version of HB 159 on the House floor this afternoon—or what was thought to be a compromise. The bill, presented as a Senate Substitute as Amended by the House, addresses three key provisions that the Senate amended from the original House version of the bill and includes:

1. A heavily-revised version of HB 359, the bill relating to private guardianship. Originally passed by both chambers last year, the bill was vetoed by Governor Deal. The Senate Judiciary Committee attached the bill to HB 159 when its passed out the bill earlier this year. Rep. Reeves reported that the compromise bill included many of the main components of HB 359, but it fully addressed the issues so that everyone, including Governor Deal, is “satisfied.”
2. An extension of the lockout for a mother to waive her rights to a child to four days. Currently, a mother has ten days to revoke the choice to put her child up for adoption. The compromise bill would allow a birth mother to waive that revocation period four days after birth.
3. Allowance for the payment of birth mother living expenses in private adoptions. Currently, living expenses may only be paid in agency adoptions.

The House adopted the compromise version of the bill by a vote of 168-0 and immediately transmitted the bill to the Senate for agreement. But no agreement came. Instead, the Senate reconvened after an hour to discuss the compromise proposal. After senators expressed concern over the payment of living expenses in private adoptions, including expression of fears of “baby selling”, the Senate adjourned for the weekend, sending the compromise bill home with Senators for reading over the weekend.

Committee Reports

Senate Insurance and Labor Committee

The Senate Insurance and Labor Committee, chaired by Sen. Burt Jones, (R-Jackson), met yesterday and considered two propositions.

• SB 248, authored by Sen. Marty Harbin (R-Tyrone), relates to the ability of beneficiaries to find and claim insurance paid for by the deceased. Currently, the claimant is responsible for knowing what insurance the deceased had paid for and be able to find the paperwork to prove that they are the beneficiary. This bill is intended to require insurance agencies to actively prove that through either online resources or by hiring agents to compare social security numbers of those that have paid into their funds to determine if they have passed away and therefore, notify the beneficiary. The Committee unanimously recommended the bill DO PASS and be sent to the Rules Committee.
• SB 118, authored by Sen. Renee Unterman (R-Buford), is a continuation of the legislation provided by “Ava’s Law.” Named after a young lady who battled autism, “Ava’s Law” was passed several years ago to ensure that autistic children in Georgia were provided medical treatment regardless of whether or not they had private insurance. The original law provided that children living with autism would be covered up to age 6.  However, as both Sen. Unterman and several representatives of the community - including Ava’s mother, another mother caring for an autistic teenage son, representatives of Navicent Health, the Marcus Institute, and the Georgia Chapter of American Pediatrics – pointed out, many children are not diagnosed until they enter Pre-K at age 4-5. Thus, this bill will raise the age to 12. It will also implement a cap of $30,000. While many would prefer the age limit to be 18 and have a higher cap, they understand the current need to compromise and support this bill.

47 states have already passed autism reform. In addition, the $30,000 cap is lower than most states.  Intensive care, especially evidence-based treatment prescribed by a doctor, such as OT, PT and speech, have proven to make a big difference in the ability of the child to function more normally later in life. In fact, some of the major insurance companies have realized that this type of legislation and treatment makes sense. Currently 1 in 68 children have autism, and it is growing. Navicent noted that when they opened their center, only 700 people came. However, now they have over 2,200 clients, and would have more if they had the capacity to treat them.  The Committee unanimously recommended the bill DO PASS and be sent to the Rules Committee.

New Legislation

The following legislation was read and referred to committee in the House today:

• HB 791, authored by Rep. Chuck Efstration (R-Dacula), amends Title 50 to allow for waiver of sovereign immunity for claims seeking injunctive relief or declaratory judgment against the State of Georgia. The legislation appears to allow waiver only for the State, as counties, municipal corporations, consolidated governments, school districts, hospital authorities, housing and other local authorities, and any other units of local government are excluded from the definition of “State.” The bill was referred to the Judiciary Committee.
• HB 799, authored by Rep. Sharon Cooper (R-Marietta), amends Title 33 to require a hospital providing emergency care to a patient with a health benefit plan that is out of the hospital’s network to notify the patient’s health benefit plan after the patient is stabilized to coordinate post-stabilization care. The health benefit plan must then either authorize post-stabilization care at the hospital and begin negotiations for reimbursement for such care or arrange for the prompt transfer of the patient to a network provider. The bill was referred to the Insurance Committee.
• HB 801, authored by Rep. Scott Hilton (R-Peachtree Corners), is the Georgia Individualized Education Account Act and amends Title 20 to revise the Georgia Special Needs Scholarship Program. The program allows a student with one of an enumerated list of disabilities to take QBE funds allocated to his or her education and apply said funds to costs associated with alternative education. The bill was referred to the Education Committee.

The following propositions were introduced in the Senate today:

• SB 375, authored by Sen. William Ligon Jr. (R-Brunswick), proposes the Keep Faith in Adoption and Foster Care Act and amends Title 49 to allow a child-placing agency to decline to accept a referral for foster care or adoption services under a contract with the State based on the child-placing agency’s sincerely held religious beliefs. The legislation also bars the State from taking an adverse action against such an agency, including failing to renew a contract or license, withholding funding, or taking an enforcement action. This bill appears to attempt to effectuate the intent of the Senate Judiciary Committee’s amendment to HB 159 last session relating to religious freedom and faith-based providers of child-placing services. The bill was referred to the Judiciary Committee.
• SB 376, authored by Sen. David Shafer (R-Duluth), amends Title 10 to prohibit consumer credit reporting agencies from charging a fee for placing or removing a security freeze on a consumer’s account. The bill was referred to the Banking and Financial Institutions Committee.

Rules Calendars for Legislative Day 15

The House will take up one bill on Monday:

• HB 701 – State employment; drug testing; allow testing for all forms of opioids     

The Senate will take up the following on the Floor on Monday:

• SB 331 – Georgia Lottery for Education Act; winner of lottery prize to remain anonymous under certain conditions; allow
• HB 661 – Tax liens; transmittal, filing, recording, access to, and territorial effect issued by Department of Revenue; change provisions