Legislators continued their drive to Legislative Day 40 today, ticking another legislative day off the calendar and taking another major step toward Sine Die. In an early morning meeting, the Senate Appropriations Committee revealed its proposal for the FY 2019 budget, which easily passed out of Committee and is expected on the Senate floor on Friday. The Senate also had a full day on the floor, adopting (among other things) three child welfare bills from the House: HB 494, HB 740, and HB 920. But contentious issues remain, as demonstrated by another salvo in the House Health and Human Services Committee this afternoon, where advocates for Certificate of Need reform made another unsuccessful run at eroding the policy. Details on all this and more in today’s #GoldDomeReport.
In this Report:
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Senate Appropriations Committee Unveils FY 2019 Budget Proposal
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Committee Reports
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New Legislation
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Rules Calendars for Legislative Day 38
Senate Appropriations Committee Unveils FY 2019 Budget Proposal
Early this morning, Sen. Jack Hill (R-Reidsville) convened his Appropriations Committee to present and approve its proposal for the State’s FY 2019 budget. The Committee’s budget maintained many of the increases made by the House with a number of substantial increases for programs and initiatives that won Senators’ favor. Notable changes from the House version include:
Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities
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$4M increase to create a substance abuse and recovery block grant program
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$3M increase to fund an additional Behavioral Health Crisis Center (for a total of two, one rural and one metro)
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$500,000 increase to establish and launch a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit Peer Recovery Coaching Program
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$500,000 increase for St. Joseph’s Mercy Care Indigent Services
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$220,000 increase in funds for the Albany Advocacy Resource Center
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$75,000 increase in funds for Mathew Reardon Center for Autism
Department of Community Health
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$1.5M increase for start-up of the Health Coordination and Innovation Council
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$600,000 increase to provide grants to rural hospitals for Electronic Intensive Care Units
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$500,000 increase to establish criteria and implement reimbursement for Centering Pregnancy programs
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$335,188 increase for a new $250 add-on payment for newborn delivery in rural counties
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$306,600 increase to fund 20 additional OB/GYN residency programs
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$200,000 increase for the start-up of the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine South Georgia campus
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$188,500 increase to supplement 13 existing psychiatry residency programs
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$172,945 increase for reimbursement rates for Adult Day Health Centers
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$150,000 increase to support a community-centered collaborative for healthcare training and care in Columbus
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$113,436 increase for reimbursement rates for Marcus Autism Center
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$104,684 increase for reimbursement rates for nursing home mechanical ventilators
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$100,000 increase for the Georgia Council on Lupus Education and Awareness
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$50,000 increase for start-up of the Rural Health Systems Innovation Center
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$4,470,920 decrease in growth funds for Medicaid based on projected need
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$150,000 decrease in funds for the Patient Centered Medical Home grant program
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Authorization to seek federal approval for continuation of Planning for Health Babies Waiver and a new waiver
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Requirement that participants in SHBP submit certain information relation to pharmacy benefits to DCH
Department of Education
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$266,371 increase for personnel and operations for two transformation specialists
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$175,000 increase for the implementation of the Innovative Assessment Pilot Program described in SB 362
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$175,000 increase for an outdoor learning lab in Walker County and an agricultural education center in Catoosa County
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$75,000 increase for Young Farmers programs to benefit Polk, Wilcox, Baker, Calhoun, Clay, Early, and Randolph counties
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$65,000 increase to fund a counselor study conducted by the Carl Vinson Institute per SB 401
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$5M decrease in new House allocation ($10M) for the purchase of school buses
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$300,000 decrease in new House allocation ($642K) for the purchase and staffing of a mobile audiology clinic
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$163,940 decrease in new House allocation ($227K) for Turnaround Schools Rural Character Education Grant for soft skills training and character education development
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$104,362 decrease in one-time funding of CTAE economic development initiatives in FY 2018
Department of Human Services
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$490,000 increase to new House allocation ($490K) for child advocacy centers to provide an increase in equipment and therapeutic, medical, and outreach services
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$405,436 increase to increase relative and agency foster care rates from House proposal of $2.75 per day to $2.85 per day
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$144,105 increase to increase child caring institution per diem rates and child placing agency administrative costs from Governor’s proposal of 2.5% to 2.6%
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$50,000 increase to support Georgia Family Connection Partnership technical assistance to the counties
Department of Juvenile Justice
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$113,215 increase to increase child caring institution per diem rates and child placing agency administrative costs from Governor’s proposal of 2.5% to 2.6%
Department of Public Health
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$551,858 increase to new House allocation ($551K) to increase the occupational and physical therapy rates in the Babies Can't Wait program
The full Senate proposal for the budget can be accessed online here. The Senate is expected to consider its proposal on the floor on Friday.
Committee Reports
House Insurance Committee
The House Insurance Committee, chaired by Rep. Sharon Cooper (R-Marietta), met to consider two propositions today:
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SB 31, formerly authored by Sen. Josh McKoon (R-Columbus), was picked up by Sen. Matt Brass (R-Newnan), who inserted modified language from his SB 459, coined the Rural Hospital Infusion Plan Act. Brass’s substitute to SB 31 would relax Certificate of Need (“CON”) restrictions on Cancer Treatment Centers of America’s (“CTCA”) destination cancer center in Coweta County. Currently, CTCA is limited to a patient mix of at least 65% out-of-state residents and a maximum of 50 beds. CTCA’s proposition would eliminate those limits, but today’s proposal also would have increased CTCA’s indigent care obligation and required the acceptance of Medicaid. It also provided for a penalty if the indigent care requirement was not met. The substitute considered today also included the pediatric co-location provisions inserted in SB 81 last week. Three amendments were offered, two CON exemptions (for freestanding emergency rooms and for non-clinical capital improvements over a certain threshold) and a sunset for the restrictions removed from CTCA. All three amendments failed, and the underlying bill failed, as well.
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HR 1592, authored by Rep. Karen Mathiak (R-Griffin), urges health insurers to provide coverage for less-addictive opioids, opioid addition treatments, and opioid alternative treatments in an effort to combat the opioid epidemic. The Committee recommended the resolution DO PASS without discussion.
House Insurance Committee
The House Insurance Committee, chaired by Rep. Richard Smith (R-Columbus), met on Wednesday to consider one bill. SB 319, authored by Sen. John Albers (R-Alpharetta), creates the Office of Fire Commissioner. Rep. Smith presented a substitute to the bill that transfers fire marshal and arson investigations from the Department of Insurance to the Firefighters Training and Standards Council. The Committee recommended the bill DO PASS by Committee Substitute and be sent to the Rules Committee.
New Legislation
The following propositions have been introduced in the House and Senate. New legislation requiring consider by both chambers is not likely to advance this legislative session.
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HB 1066, authored by Rep. Jonathan Wallace (D-Watkinsville), prohibits the state from contracting with companies that do not provide a certification as to net neutrality.
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HB 1073, authored by Rep. Matt Gurtler (R-Tiger), provides that no state or local revenues or funds shall be used to fund or subsidize the construction, equipping, maintenance, or renovation of any stadium or athletic venue that is used or is to be used primarily by one or more professional sports teams.
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SR 1064, authored by Sen. Freddie Powell Sims (D-Dawson), creates the Senate Study Committee on Continual Audit Exceptions on Local School Systems. The Committee would study the issue of local school systems that continually receive findings of irregularities or budget deficits each year and determine if other punitive or corrective measures are necessary to obtain compliance by local school systems with continual citations, including, considering the withholding of state funds from the local school system and the removal of the local board of education members.
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SR 1067, authored by Sen. Emanuel Jones (D-Decatur), creates the Senate Study Committee on the Financial Impact of Atlanta Annexation on Schools. The Committee would study the economic impact of this annexation on the DeKalb County school system and the Atlanta Independent School System and see if there are possible avenues to ameliorate such impact.
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SR 1068, authored by Sen. Steve Gooch (R-Dahlonega), creates the Senate Study Committee on Evaluating the School Year Calendar of Georgia Public Schools. The Committee would study the issue of varied school start dates to determine its economic impact to the travel and hospitality industry.
Rules Calendars for Legislative Day 38
The House will take up the following propositions on Friday:
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SB 191 -- Petroleum Pipelines; regulation and permitting in this state; definitions; provide
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SB 194 -- Garnishment Proceedings; maximum part of disposable earnings subject to garnishment; change
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SB 332 -- Department of Natural Resources; hunter mentor program; provide
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SB 365 -- Code Revision Commission; statutory portion of said Code; revise, modernize, correct errors or omissions in and reenact
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SB 397 -- Real and Personal Property; municipalities to hire state licensed real estate brokers to assist in sale; allow
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SB 402 -- "Achieving Connectivity Everywhere (ACE) Act"
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SB 451 -- State Soil and Water Conservation Commission; formulate certain rules and regulations in consultation with Environmental Protection Division of the Dept. Of Natural Resources; remove authority
The Senate Rules Committee had not met at deadline, but the Rules Calendar for Friday will be posted online here on Thursday.
