2019 GNA Legislative Update #2

The 157th Georgia Legislature met five straight days, Monday February 11th through Friday February 19th for legislative days twelve through sixteen.  The schedule for the week resulted in an increased workload for the lawmakers and a dramatically increased pace to calendar responsibilities.

Legislative week five was the first full-throttle week under the Gold Dome.  The House began its vetting process of Governor Brian Kemp’s first full budget.  Of particular note this past week, the House Appropriations Health Subcommittee had their committee hearings and public comment on their portion of the Fiscal Year 2020 (FY’20) budget.  GNA CEO Matt Caseman and PAP Chair Elect Barbara Austin presented a budget request of $300,000, which would propose to allow GNF’s volunteer Peer Assistance Program to hire two full-time case managers to drastically increase the operational capacity of the program and meet an ever-rising community need.  The coming weeks should shed additional light on the status of the request amongst the other worthy asks of the lawmakers who oversee a large portion of the Department of Community Health’s budget.

Following up on last week’s news of a massive 86-page bill proposing to totally change the state’s certificate of need law (details discussed below), Governor Brian Kemp began introducing his legislative agenda this week.  SB 106, sponsored by Senator Blake Tillery (R-Vidalia), authorizes the Governor to apply for an 1115 Medicaid waiver by June 30, 2020 that could be used to extend coverage to uninsured Georgians living under 100% of the federal poverty level (FPL).  Additionally, the bill also authorizes the Governor to submit one or more 1332 state innovation waivers by December 31, 2021. Any 1332 waiver would be designed to address the affordability and availability of private insurance. Most states have used 1332 waivers to create a reinsurance program or high-risk pool.

The House Special Committee on Access held two hearings this week on HB 198, a proposal to replace certificate of need (CON) with a licensure process. The first hearing was a presentation by the bill’s authors, which walked the committee through the entirety of the measure line-by-line. The second hearing was the time for public comment regarding the proposed legislation and was made up largely of opponents to the proposed changes.

Meanwhile in the Senate, Senator Dean Burke (R-Bainbridge) introduced a competing bill, S.B. 114, that updates the CON law without repealing it and does not include an increase to the Rural Hospital Tax Credit program.

The General Assembly took off Monday to observe President’s Day before returning to the capitol on Tuesday for legislative days 17 through 20, bringing us to the halfway point and even closer to a February 28th crossover day.  This week will again bring on a slate of committee meetings with full length agendas.  Also, the Amended FY’19 budget will see its turn on the Senate floor this week.  As mentioned above, crossover day will be held on February 28th (legislative day 28) and sine die is on the calendar for April 2nd (legislative day 40). 

The following bills have been introduced during the 2019 Legislative Session and are available for consideration:

GNA Priorities: 

H.B. 287 (Dubnik - Gainesville) -- PTIP; (GNA in Favor)

S.B. 76 (Black - Valdosta) -- Veterinary Nurses; (GNA in Opposition)

S.B. 106 (Tillery - Vidalia) -- “Patients First Act”;

S.B. 109 (Walker - Perry) -- APRN Radiological Testing Scope Expansion; (GNA in Favor)

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Other Bills of Interest:

H.B. 10 (Bazemore - Riverdale) --Best practices for feminine hygiene products;

H.B. 42 (Turner - Holly Springs) -- Prohibition on professional licensure boards from

refusing to issue a license or suspending or revoking the license of a person who is

a borrower in default under an educational loan;

H.B. 160 (Dempsey - Rome) --  Department of Community Health to reinstate bariatric

surgery coverage pilot program;

H.B. 166 (Silcox - Atlanta) -- Licensure of Genetic Counselors;

H.B 168 (Taylor, D. - Thomasville) -- Extend tax exemption for five years of property sold to

nonprofit health centers;

H.B. 187 (Dempsey - Rome) -- Create a pilot program to provide coverage of obesity;

H.B. 198 (Hatchett, R. - Dublin) -- Certificate of Need reform, plus Rural Hospital Tax

Credit;

S.B. 92 (Beach - Alpharetta) -- Prohibits professional licensure boards from refusing to

issue a license or suspend or revoke the license of a person who is a borrower in

default under an educational loan;

S.B. 114 (Burke - Bainbridge) -- Certificate of Need reform;

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