GA Legislative Watch | Week Eleven

March 27, 2023
Friendly Amendment, GLW, In the News

GA Legislative Watch

By Molly Mcloughlin & Rebecca Wallace ● March 25, 2023
Smart Brevity™ count: 5 mins . . . 1,348 words

The House beat the Senate in the annual kickball game for the second year in a row. 🤾‍♀️

What they’re saying: The score is nothing compared to the score of bills produced by each chamber. Towards the end of the game, Sen. Chuck Payne (R-Dalton) requested that the scoreboard be changed to show:

House 34, Senate 97 (the number of bills originated in each chamber to date that are ready to sign in to law.)

Let’s see how the score changes by the end of next week.

1 big thing: cardiac arrest

🏥 A powerful and complicated battle is underway over SB 99 which would make it easier for counties with less than 50K residents to build new hospitals.

Doing away with state approval for new hospitals, the bill is being considered in the House in the final days of the legislature.

It’s personal. Lt. Gov. Burt Jones continues to fight for the measure that also allows a new 100-bed hospital to be built in his hometown in Butts County.

But wait, there’s more. Local and state health officials expect the new hospital to be built on land owned by the Lt. Gov.’s father, Bill Jones, who owns Jones Petroleum and is president of Interstate Hospital Systems.

Some have raised concerns over a conflict of interest in the pending decision.

Catch up quick: Jones considers this a matter of access to quality health care for rural communities.

The opposition, notably Wellstar Health System, say it could put struggling hospitals in jeopardy and create hiring and patient rifts between nearby hospitals – especially considering recent closures in rural communities.

Zoom out. SB 99 reforms the decades-old certificate of need (CON) system that governs how the state’s healthcare industry functions and mandates needs-based requirements to build a new hospital.

It’s a legislative issue that comes up annually and until now, has successfully been squashed by the hospital industry.

On life support. Proposals like the mental health bill and $105M earmarked for a new records system at the Medical College of Georgia could be compromised as the proxy war between Senate and House leaders, and now Gov. Kemp, plays out.

💰Side note: The MCG funding was stripped from the higher education budget in retaliation against Wellstar, since the two have a partnership in the works through Augusta University Health System. Senate leaders also gutted a lucrative sales tax exemption for Wellstar.

What’s next: Leaders from the legislative and executive branches continue to deliberate on what could come down to a Sine DIEcision.

2. Notable legislation

FY24 budget still in flux. The only constitutionally required action by the General Assembly is still being hammered out in conference committee.

Law enforcement raises were increased to $6K, up from Kemp’s $2K and the House’s $4K, thanks to Senate budget writers.
Budgets were cut, however, for Georgia Public Broadcasting, school nutrition, sexual assault nurse examiners, and mental health.

⚖️ The highly debated truck weights bill, HB 189, passed out of the Senate on a 44 to 5 vote and now goes back to the House for a final vote since it was amended in committee.

The final version allows certain commercial vehicles to carry an extra 4K pounds, but limits where and how far the heavier trucks can go.
It also gives local law enforcement the authority for snap checks at bridges.

The Safe at Home Act, HB 404, which requires housing rentals to be “fit for human habitation” and caps security deposits at two months, made it out of Senate Rules and goes to the Senate floor for a final vote on Monday.

New bill number, same name. The proposal to define antisemitism in the hate crimes law was revived in a new Senate committee.

The bill number is now HB 144 and goes back to the House and Senate for a vote.

Speaking of copy and paste, the new sports betting legislation, HB 237, made it out of Senate Rules clearing the path for a vote in the full Senate on Monday.

What they’re saying: Even conservative talking heads are voicing their support for it, characterizing opponents as ‘misguided worrywarts.’

The school voucher bill, SB 233, was tabled on the House floor after a committee increased the subsidy to $6.5K – up from $6K.

Students who live in low performing districts could’ve received a scholarship to attend private or home school options.

Further changes to the election law, SB 222, came at the behest of the House Rules committee.

The revised version puts the Secretary of State back on the State Elections Board as a nonvoting member and maintains the original intent to ban outside funding to county elections offices.
It goes back to both the House and Senate due to the amendments.

Bye, TikTok. The ban of the app on state devices passed the House unanimously and moves to the governor’s desk to sign into law.

ICYMI, TikTok’s CEO testified before Congress to fight a potential national ban on the app.

‘To protect our children,’ Gov. Kemp signed into law the bill that limits most gender dysphoria treatment for minors.

3. In other political news . . .

We are ready. Atlanta City Council passed a resolution allowing the Dickens Administration to enter into agreements and contracts with Democratic National Convention organizers if Atlanta is selected as the host city.

It also allows them to enter into agreements with local agencies to finance transportation for the event.

The Federal Reserve raised interest rates by a quarter-point to continue to fend off high inflation – for the 9th time in a row. 😳

The other side: Observers say that higher borrowing rates could make the bank mess worse.
Yes, but: Though the Fed has also tried to slow down hiring, jobless claims in the U.S. for the week ending March 18 fell by 1,000 to 191,000 from the previous week.
Go deeper.

State Sen. Nabilah Islam (D-Lawrenceville) testified to the Federal Election Commission that its rules limiting the salary candidates pay themselves with campaign funds is limiting working class people from running for office.

Driving the news: Islam first requested the change after her experience running for Congress in 2020.

“We need to eliminate the financial barriers that prevent so many qualified Americans from running for office,” she said during her hearing.

Why it matters: Not only is the FEC considering allowing for candidates to pay themselves a higher salary, a change may also include using campaign funds for expenses like childcare and health insurance.

❌ Park closed. Dekalb County CEO Michael Thurmond closed Intrenchment Creek Park until further notice. It’s near the site of a planned city of Atlanta public safety training center, which has drawn protesters from across the country.

Police have found multiple traps, like boards with nails protruding from them — around the park and forest area.
Thurmond’s executive order closes and restricts access to park and other county owned properties, about 140 acres.

Eric Bell, a Democrat, replaces former state Rep. Mike Glanton, who resigned in January to represent the Jonesboro area after winning a special election.

A Republican Super PAC is expanding and establishing its headquarters in Atlanta and bringing with it top strategist Jeff Roe, who previously ran Sen. Ted Cruz’s 2016 presidential campaign.

What they’re saying: The move is a sign that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is one step closer to launching his presidential campaign and that GA is top of mind.