Brock Clay Capitol Report, Week 8

This week, Governor Sonny Perdue cut his budget estimate for 2010 by an additional $1.6 billion. This most likely means additional cuts and personnel reductions, and state leaders are currently huddling to try to figure out how to best address the situation. Governor Perdue has also abandoned his extremely unpopular 1.6 % tax on hospitals and HMOs, which proved to generate huge opposition in the General Assembly. However, the Governor has stated he will accept $1.1 billion in federal stimulus money, which will provide $527 million for Medicaid and $427 million for education. Even so, the new budget will include additional cuts in Medicaid reimbursement rates, higher health insurance premiums for state employees (possibly to the tune of $50 - $75 per month), and an additional $69 million in cuts to state agencies, on top of the currently proposed 10% budget cuts.

The far reaching effects of the "octo - mom" have stimulated two interesting pieces of legislation in the Legislature. Senator Ralph Hudgens (R - Hull) has introduced Senate Bill 169 on behalf of Georgia Right to Life. This legislation would limit the number of eggs a woman could have artificially fertilized or implanted to 3. Rep. James Mills (R - Gainesville), has introduced House Bill 388, which creates a legal mechanism for the adoption of embryos. Georgia currently has roughly 20,000 unused embryos.

Senate Bill 16, dubbed the Sunday Sales Bill, is sponsored by Senator Seth Harp (R - Midland) and currently sits in the Senate Regulated Industries Committee after several hearings. This week, Senator Harp chose to withdraw his legislation due to his lack of confidence in the will of the committee to pass the legislation. This is the third session in a row that the legislation has failed in the Senate. House Regulated Industries Chairman Roger Williams (R - Dalton), has also withdrawn his legislation, citing his lack of desire to ask the House to vote on something the Senate refuses to consider.

Former Senate President Pro - Tem Eric Johnson (R - Savannah) introduced Senate Bill 90, an innovative package that would make Georgia the first state in the country to offer vouchers in all public schools. Senate Bill 90 would provide roughly $5,000 in taxpayer dollars that a family could use to help pay for private school tuition. The student would have to qualify for admission at the new school before receiving the funds, and the parent would have to provide transportation. This legislation passed out of the Senate Education Committee by a vote of 6 - 4. This week, however, several prominent House Members told the Georgia Association of Educators that the proposal might eventually face serious obstacles. Rep. Edward Lindsey (R - Atlanta), Rep. Fran Millar (R - Dunwoody), and Rep. Howard Maxwell (R - Dallas) spoke at the GAE's annual legislative issues forum and expressed doubts about the bill's ability to pass the House.

The House and Senate considered measures this week that would require health insurance to include ABA (applied behavorial analysis) coverage for austism. The Georgia Chamber and NFIB spoke against the efforts as a mandate on small businesses that would increase costs and jeopardize benefits for their employees. Austism Speaks had representatives who advocated for the coverage of these treatments which they argued helped children where traditional meathods had failed. Each chamber's bill was considered and passed the Senate Insurance and House Insurance Sub-Committee levels; however, the Senate bill exempted the state's employees, small businesses under 25 employees and Medicaid.

Earlier this week, it was revealed that a number of state legislators owe the state of Georgia back taxes. An Open Records Request by a metro - Atlanta news outlet reveled three of the legislators' names: Rep. Roberta Abdul Salaam (D - Riverdale), Rep. Al Williams (D - Midway), and Rep. WInfred Dukes (D - Albany). Senate Democratic Leader Robert Brown (D - Macon) voluntarily admitted that he owed back taxes. On Thursday, Senate Ethics Committee Chairman Eric Johnson (R - Savannah) offered a bill that would add additional censorship to legislators who fail to pay their taxes. During the passionate debate, Senator Brown viciously attacked Senator Johnson, displaying pictures of him waving an old state flag and referring to him as a "bloodsucker." The measure ultimately failed to gain the requisite constitutional majority with a vote of 32 - 16.

Tuesday was a big day for transportation with transportation funding bills advancing steadily towards conference committee. Tuesday, the House passed Chairman Vance Smith's House Bill 277 by a vote of 149 - 18 and the accompanying constitutional amendment, House Resolution 206 passed by a vote of 153 - 15. After the debate, the House proceeded to take up Senate Bill 39. If you'll remember, Senate Bill 39 began as Senator Jeff Mullis' proposal to pass a regional transportation SPLOST (estimated to raise approximately $10 billion over the next ten years). After Senate Bill 39 and Senate Resolution 44 (the accompanying constitution amendment) passed the Senate by votes of 52 - 3 and 53 - 2 respectively, the House Transportation Committee stripped the TSPLOST language and replaced it with the language of Senate Bill 120, (contrary to what many originally thought, this was not in concert with MARTA's advocates at the State Capitol). Senate Bill 120 had been previously introduced by Senator Doug Stoner to eliminate the requirement that MARTA spend at least 50% of their revenue on capital expansion. The "new" Senate Bill 39 passed the House on Tuesday 122 - 42. A couple of interesting items to note:

- House Bill 277 and House Resolution 206 were first placed on the House Rules Calendar as passed out of committee. Then, after a deal had been struck between the House Republican and House Democratic Leadership, the two bills were returned to the House Rules Committee, and, along with three amendments, passed back out onto a Supplemental Rules calendar under modified structured rule, meaning essentially that only those three amendments could be considered during the floor debate. Senate Bill 39 was added to the supplemental rules calendar under the open rule, meaning it was fully open for amendment on the House floor.

The two amendments to House Bill 277 simply provided that the minority party would have two appointments to the legislative oversight committee, and that all of the money collected under the provisions of HB 277 would be under the control of whichever Georgia state agency is designated to receive federal highway funds. Currently, that agency is the Georgia Department of Transportation.

The amendment to House Resolution 206 provided that the 4th penny of the $.04 state sales tax on motor fuels will be given to the Georgia Department of Transportation for use for all transportation purposes.

- During the floor debate on Senate Bill 39, the bill was first tabled, then later taken off the table and voted upon. The final version was a small change from the current system, and requires MARTA to spend only 40% (rather than the previous 50%) of their revenue on capital expansion.

On Wednesday, Lt. Governor Casey Cagle surprised many stakeholders in the transportation committee by assigning House Bill 277 and House Resolution 206 to the Senate Finance Committee, rather than what many assumed would be the logical destination, the Senate Transportation Committee. That legislation is currently waiting for a hearing to be called by Finance Committee Chairman Ronnie Chance (R - Tyrone).

On Thursday, the Senate took up Senate Bill 200, the transportation governance legislation that would transition a large part of the transportation planning and funding responsibility from the Georgia Department of Transportation to a newly created State Transportation Agency (STA). This agency would be controlled by the Governor (5 appointees), the Lt. Governor (3), and the Speaker (3). The Governor would also appoint the chair of that Board and the administrator. Governor Sonny Perdue is pushing this legislation as a cornerstone of his legislative agenda for the year. The new STA would also absorb the State Road and Tollway Authority and the Georgia Regional Transportation Authority. Thursday, the Senate took up the bill and passed it by the slimmest of margins, a final vote of 30 - 25. The bill now proceeds to the House, where many observers speculate it may face serious opposition ( both from Democrats and rural Republicans who worry that the proposed system will heavily favor metro - Atlanta). The bill was amended in the Senate by Senator David Shafer (R - Duluth) to ensure that except in cases of public private partnerships, all contracts issued by the new STA must be issued on a low - bid basis.

This week, trauma care faced another hurdle in gaining sustainable funding as Governor Sonny Perdue cut his proposed budget for trauma care in the face of a wilting revenue estimate. His previous budget proposal had proposed $60 million for the Georgia Trauma Care Network Commission, and the revised budget numbers have cut that number to $23 million. The Georgia Trauma Care Network Commission is yet another victim of the slashing the state of Georgia is currently having to do in the face of an additional budget deficit of $1.6 billion.

In the meantime, Representative Harry Geisinger (R - Atlanta) and Representative Tom Rice (R - Norcross) have continued to work on a trauma funding mechanism contained in House Bill 480 . This legislation would eliminate the unpopular "birthday tax," and also eliminate sales taxes on the purchase of automobiles. Instead, it would institute a one time title transfer fee of 7% capped at $1,500.00. A portion of those funds would be returned to local governments, and a portion will be sent to the state treasury. For the previous fiscal year, approximately $50 per title transferred will be appropriated for the Georgia Trauma Care Network Commission; however, that amount will be capped at $150 million. This bill has been passed out of the Ways and Means Ad Velorum Subcommittee and is currently in full committee.

On Thursday, the General Assembly adopted a new adjournment resolution, setting Legislative Day 40 and Sine Die for April 3, 2009.


...and in other news...

This week, Former Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean announced that he was joining McKenna Long & Aldridge as a senior strategic advisor...

It was on this day in 1836 that the siege of the Alamo ended, with the death of 189 brave men including Davy Crockett and Jim Bowie. Their fight for Texas' liberty made famous General Sam Houston's battle cry, "Remember the Alamo," as 46 days later he captured Santa Anna and Texas gained its independence.

Pork of the Week: Congressman Howard Berman of California has requested $200,000 for Tattoo Removal Violence Prevention Outreach in Mission Hills, California...

Having trouble with getting penalized for drug posession? Acea Schomaker found the solution by stuffing his girlfriend's cat into a homemade bong, alleging that it calmed the 6 month old kitten down. When local police responded to a domestic disturbance involving the situation, they promptly ticketed Schomaker not for posession of an illegal substance, but for misdemeanor animal cruelty...

Have a great weekend.

Seth Millican

Brock Clay Public Affairs