After four action-packed days under the Gold Dome this week, today’s convening of the Georgia General Assembly proved more subdued. Although the House took up and passed three health measures, most legislators wrapped up their work by midday and headed back to their districts to recuperate. An opportunity to catch one’s breath is, indeed, warranted for legislators and lobbyists after the busy week downtown, which saw copious agency and public testimony as House Appropriations subcommittees considered Governor Kemp’s FY 2020 Budget proposal and dramatic sparring between proponents and opponents of sweeping reform to Georgia’s Certificate of Need healthcare regulation regime. Who knew a five-day work week could be so draining?

With over 300 bills introduced in the House and 100 introduced in the Senate over the first 16 Legislative Days, the pace does not look to be slowing. However, the chambers will take their time getting started next week. After taking off President’s Day, the House and Senate will reconvene at 10AM on Tuesday and, as of now, neither body has set a Rules Calendar for Legislative Day 17. We will be there when they return, but, for now, on to today’s #GoldDomeReport.

In this Report:

• House Passes Three Health Bills
• Committee Updates
• New Legislation
• Rules Calendars for Legislative Day 17

House Passes Three Health Bills

While the Senate sat idle today without a Rules Calendar, the House pressed ahead and took up three bills this morning--all of which passed easily. The first bill was presented by Rep. Deborah Silcox (R-Sandy Springs). HB 128 amends Title 33 to delete the requirement for insurers to notify the Georgia Composite Medical Board of agreements to settle claims of medical malpractice when the settlement results in a low payment under a high/low agreement. The measure passed 162-0. Rep. Sharon Cooper (R-Marietta) then presented the second bill of the day: HB 63. Rep. Cooper’s bill amends Title 33 to require health benefit plans to establish step therapy protocol that establish the specific sequence in which prescription drugs for a specified medical condition are deemed medically appropriate for a particular patient. The bill also requires plans to establish an exception procedure by which a specific drug prescribed by a practitioner is immediately covered by a plan. This bill passed 162-1. Lastly, Rep. Silcox presented her second bill of the day. HB 166 is the the “Genetic Counselors Act”, and it amends Title 43 to authorize the licensure of genetic counselors. This measure passed 148-13.

Committee Updates

House Education Committee -- Academic Achievement Subcommittee

The Academic Achievement Subcommittee of the House Education Committee, chaired by Rep. Mike Cheokas (R-Americus), met to consider one bill today. HB 32, authored by Rep. Kevin Tanner (R-Dawsonville), amends Title 20 to clarify duties of the Chief Turnaround Officer (“CTO”) at the Department of Education. Specifically, the bill creates the Georgia Turnaround Collaborative to increase the alignment and coherence of efforts to address the academic and nonacademic needs of students attending turnaround schools and their families. The bill also provide stipends for turnaround instructional innovation specialists and will allow conversion of the stipend to a permanent salary step increase after five years of receipt. Administratively the bill allows the CTO to assemble a list of specialists and consultants every two years instead of annually and changes the semi-annual reporting timeline. Rep. Valencia Stovall (D-Forest Park) asked why it was necessary to create a new organization (the Collaborative) since there is already a Turnaround Advisory Council, to which Rep. Tanner stated that the groups have different purposes; the Collaborative would bring state actors together to work on wrap around services while the Advisory Council was charged with implementing the CTO.

The Subcommittee heard from Jimmy Stokes, Chair of the Georgia Turnaround Advisory Council, who was in “full agreement” with the bill. CTO Eric Thomas also spoke in support of the legislation, and the Subcommittee had several questions about how the stipends for turnaround instructional innovation specialists would be awarded and evaluated. Cecily Harsch-Kinnane of Public Education Matters Georgia asked for the Subcommittee’s support of the bill. Paulette Hart of Dougherty County Schools testified about the challenges facing districts like hers and stated that the bill would provide tools to help address the challenges. In response to a question from Rep. Stovall, Ms. Hart noted that her district could also use federal funds to subsidize teacher recruitment and retention efforts. Terri Marcus and Michelle Oliver of Clay County Schools spoke of their partnership with the CTO and challenges recruiting and retaining teachers. The Subcommittee recommended that the bill DO PASS and be sent to the full Education Committee.

House Insurance Committee -- Life and Health Subcommittee

The Life and Health Subcommittee of the House Insurance Committee, chaired by Rep. Darlene Taylor (R-Thomasville), met to hear one bill today. HB 84, authored by Rep. Richard Smith (R-Columbus), amends Title 33 to provide for consumer protections regarding health insurance. Rep. Smith described the legislation as a transparency bill to the Subcommittee, requiring that a hospital inform a patient, upon request, about the providers who may provide the patient services, the costs of the services, and what providers are or are not in the part of the patient’s insurance network. The legislation also requires final billing to be submitted to a patient within 90 days of discharge, completion of services, or final adjudication of charges. He noted that providers and hospitals are both at fault for balance billing because all hospitals would need to do is include in their contracts for providers that they be barred from balance billed. Rep. Smith also reminded the Subcommittee that all of its members except one voted for this bill last year. Rep. Lee Hawkins (R-Gainesville) asked about how quickly insurance companies are paying providers and hospitals, to which Rep. Smith responded there have been no issues raised for properly submitted claims, but the bill pauses the 90-day billing clock for patient billing pending final adjudication of a claim with an insurer. The Subcommittee recommended the bill DO PASS and be sent to the Rules Committee.

New Legislation

The following legislation of interest was introduced in the House today:

• HB 308, authored by Rep. Jason Ridley (R-Chatsworth), amends Title 50 to prevent any agency from entering into an agreement with a private entity that would allow for public records to be held exclusively by that private entity. This bill was referred to the House Government Affairs Committee.
• HB 309, authored by Rep. Gregg Kennard (D-Lawrenceville), amends Title 35 to provide for the restriction of criminal history records for convictions of certain misdemeanors and felonies after the completion of the sentence and payment of any restitution. The bill was referred to the Judiciary Committee.   
• HB 310, authored by Rep. Greg Morris (R-Videlia), amends Title 33 to move the deadline for the Department of Insurance to submit an autism coverage report to the General Assembly from January 15 of each year to June 15. This bill was referred to the House Insurance Committee.
• HB 311, authored by Rep. Andrew Welch (R-McDonough), amends Title 23 to waive sovereign immunity in certain situations. The bill was referred to the Judiciary Committee.
• HB 313, authored by Rep. Spencer Frye (D-Athens), amends Title 48 to create a tax exemption for property owned by 501(c)(3) charities if the property is held by the charity for the purpose of building or repairing single family homes which are financed by the charity to individuals using loans that bear no interest. This bill was referred to the House Ways and Means Committee.
• HB 317, authored by Rep. Dewayne Hill (R-Ringgold), amends Title 43 to transfer the jurisdiction of a petition to remove a sanitary collection receptacles from superior courts to local and municipal courts. This bill was referred to the House Judiciary Committee.
• HB 318, authored by Rep. Roger Bruce (D-Atlanta), amends Title 15 to establish a substance abuse program in the juvenile court. This bill was referred to the House Juvenile Justice Committee.
• HB 320, authored by Rep. Dave Belton (R-Buckhead), amends Title 47 to allow for a beneficiary of the Teacher Retirement System of Georgia to be employed by a public school as an instructor in pre-k through grade 12 under certain conditions. The beneficiary can only act as an instructor in a classroom in the areas of science, technology, engineering, arts, or math, and must inform the school system that they are a beneficiary of the TRS. The bill also outlines reporting requirements for the employer to the board of trustees along with requirements of the employer to contribute to the TRS. This bill was referred to the House Retirement Committee.
• HB 321, authored by Rep. Jodi Lott (R-Evans), amends Title 31 to extend the sunset provision of the hospital Medicaid financing program to June 30, 2025. This bill was referred to the House Appropriations Committee.
• HB 323, authored by Rep. David Knight (R-Griffin), amends Title 33 to add new restrictions on actions by pharmacy benefits managers. These new restrictions include prohibitions on referring an insured to an affiliated pharmacy for the provision of pharmacy care services; transferring or sharing records containing patient-identifiable and prescriber-identifiable data to an affiliated pharmacy for any commercial purpose; making any false or misleading statement to an insured, pharmacist, pharmacy, dispenser, or dispenser practice; restricting an insured from utilizing any in-network pharmacy or dispenser practice; and, implementing any medication management program that alters or denies access to ongoing therapy. This bill was referred to the House Insurance Committee.
• HB 324, authored by Rep. Micah Gravley (R-Douglasville), amends Title 16 to create the Office of Low THC Oil Control within the Department of Public Health which is to have the authority to issue licenses for the production, growing, manufacturing, and dispensing of low THC oil. This bill was referred to the House Regulated Industries Committee.

The following legislation of interest was introduced in the Senate today:

• SB 108, authored by Sen P.K. Martin IV (R-Lawrenceville), amends Title 20 to introduce computer science course requirements to the state curriculum. The bill requires school districts to implement the courses on provided timeline. Beginning in the 2021-2022 school year, each local district must have at least one high school with a computer science course and must have exploratory computer science courses in every middle school. Beginning in the 2022-2023 school year, local districts must have computer science courses in 50% of their high schools. Local districts must have computer science courses in every high school beginning in the 2023-2024 school year. Additionally the bill requires that the Department of Education must have computer science courses offered via the Georgia Virtual School. This bill was referred to the Senate Education and Youth Committee.
• SB 109, authored by Sen. Larry Walker (R-Perry), amends Title 43 to remove life threatening situation radiographic imaging testing from the list of approved nurse protocol agreement procedures. The bill also increases the number of advanced practice nurses a physician can enter into nurse protocol agreements with from four to eight. However, the bill stipulates that a physician can only supervise four advanced practice nurses at any given time. This bill was referred to the Senate Health and Human Services Committee.
• SB 110, authored by Sen. Jesse Stone (R-Waynesboro), amends Title 15 to establish the State-wide Business Court pursuant to the Constitution. This bill was referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee.