Legislative Accomplishments

Last Thursday, March 28, the 2013 legislative session came to an end when the House and Senate completed the 40th and final legislative day. This last day of session is known as gSine Die,h a Latin term meaning gwithout assigning a day for further meeting,h which is how we adjourned.

Although I am still busy going back over all the legislation passed by the General Assembly, there are already several key legislative accomplishments that I want to bring to your attention.

One of the most important bills we passed this session was House Bill 106. This bill establishes the state budget for Fiscal Year 2014, running from July 1, 2013 to June 30, 2014. Totaling $19.92 billion in state funds, the final version of this budget closely mirrors Gov. Dealfs original budget proposal, but includes a number of changes made by the House that benefit education, health care, and economic development.

Among additions made by the House are $38.3 million for Equalization Grants for education, $489,475 for continued expansion funding of all programs that provide physician residency training, $25.7 million for road projects throughout the state, and $4.3 million to help the Georgia Bureau of Investigation and the Georgia Department of Natural Resources retain experienced, certified personnel.

House Bill 142, another major legislative accomplishment from this session, would strengthen Georgiafs ethics laws by placing a $75 limit on each expenditure made by an individual lobbyist on an elected official.

Food and beverages exceeding the $75 limit may be provided to legislators only at group events where all members of the General Assembly, all members of the state House or Senate, all members of a standing committee of either body, or all members of a long-standing caucus recognized by the House or Senate ethics committees are invited.

The bill also bans gifts of tickets to athletic, sporting, recreational, musical concerts and other entertainment events from lobbyists to state officials, which is currently allowed. The only exception would be for events where all members of the General Assembly are invited. HB 142 also restores power to the Georgia Government and Campaign Finance Commission by giving it rule making authority.

Further, the bill limits reimbursements to elected officials to actual and reasonable transportation, lodging, registration, food and beverage expenses that are related to conferences and meetings within the United States.

Finally, HB 142 clarifies and broadens the definition of who must register as a lobbyist so that it applies to anyone who is compensated for or has their expenses reimbursed in an amount greater than $250 if attempting to influence legislation. It also removed all lobbyist registration fees. The commission is now empowered to set reasonable fees for the cost of the ID card.

House Bill 143 would further strengthen Georgiafs ethics laws by making common sense changes to the statefs campaign contribution disclosure requirements. This bill will require greater transparency in campaign finance by requiring disclosure of all contributions of more than $100 received during the month of January. This will ensure that all campaign contributions made just before the start of the annual legislative session are made public before that legislative session ends.

House Bill 372, the HOPE Grant Expansion also received final approval from the House and Senate this session. This bill returns the eligibility requirement for the HOPE Grant from a 3.0 grade-point average (GPA) to a 2.0 GPA. This will return the HOPE Grant requirements to what they were in 2011.

Just as the HOPE Scholarship pays tuition for Georgians attending colleges and universities in the state, the HOPE Grant helps eligible Georgians pay for the costs of attending technical colleges in Georgia. We expect the change in the HOPE Grantfs GPA eligibility requirement to result in 3,500„Ÿ5,000 new students at the statefs technical schools.

This increased enrollment will help fill vacant employment positions throughout the state that require technical skills like plumbing, electrical contracting, and HVAC.

In addition to these bills, the General Assembly approved House Bill 55 to ensure that law enforcement can get the wiretaps needed to combat drug trafficking in our state. This bill resulted from a recent ruling made by the Supreme Court of Georgia that placed a multitude of wiretaps in jeopardy of being found illegal.

The court found that superior court judges did not have the authority to issue wiretaps for criminal investigations where law enforcement would listen to the captured conversations in a location outside of the judgefs jurisdiction.

This decision was particularly problematic because modern technology makes it easier than ever for criminal enterprises to extend beyond one small area or jurisdiction, and the technology necessary to capture those criminal conversations is too expensive to purchase for each of the statefs 159 counties. Judges, therefore, need the ability to grant statewide wiretaps, so that law enforcement can launch effective investigations against large scale organized crime.

House Bill 55 is a very narrowly tailored response to the courtfs decision that does just that. It allows the superior court judge with jurisdiction over a particular crime under investigation to issue a statewide warrant for wiretaps, a power these judges were always thought to have prior to the courtfs decision.

House Bill 242, the Juvenile Justice Reform bill, would substantially revise and modernize provisions relating to Georgiafs juvenile proceedings and enact comprehensive juvenile justice reforms.

These changes have been discussed by advocacy organizations for years and many were recommended by the Special Council on Criminal Justice Reform, which Gov. Deal asked to study the statefs juvenile justice system and formulate ways to improve public safety while decreasing costs.

Among the changes enacted by HB 242 are general definitions of key terms used in juvenile courts and guiding principles that would apply in all juvenile court proceedings. HB 242 would also provide consistency with national standards for cases involving children who have been abused or neglected by the adults responsible for their well-being.

Additionally, the bill would create a new approach for children who have committed acts that would not be against the law if they were adults, such as skipping school, running away from home, or violating curfew. This bill also revises current law regarding how Georgia courts determine a childfs competency in juvenile proceedings.

In addition to the many changes this bill would make to juvenile proceedings in state courts, HB 242 would also make some changes to the Department of Juvenile Justice (DJJ). These changes include shifting away from the terms gyouth development center,h gregional youth detention centerh and other facility terms to gsecure residential facilityh and gnonsecure residential facility,h as well as other changes that affect how DJJ handles children committed to its care.

Another important bill passed by the House and Senate this session is Senate Bill 24. This bill essentially continues an existing funding mechanism for Georgiafs Medicaid program, which provides health care for indigent women and children, as well as elderly patients.

This funding mechanism allows hospitals to pay a self-imposed provider fee to the state that is then used to draw down additional federal Medicaid funds, which are then returned to hospitals through a higher Medicaid reimbursement rate. The General Assembly first enacted this mechanism in 2010 when the state faced a Medicaid shortfall in the hundreds of millions of dollars.

Hospitals asked to enter into the payment agreement with the state in order to avoid a Medicaid reimbursement rate cut. The payment agreement was set to expire on July 1, 2013, so state leaders once again worked with our statefs hospitals to assess the Medicaid funding arrangement.

These discussions resulted in SB 24, which authorizes the Department of Community Health (DCH) to establish, assess, and discontinue provider payments on hospitals. To ensure that the payments remain beneficial to the statefs hospitals and provide oversight, SB 24 allows the General Assembly to override DCH provider payment assessments.

The General Assembly will also retain the ability to adjust the amount of money flowing to hospitals through the funding it appropriates in the state budget.

Now that each of these bills has passed the Georgia General Assembly, they have gone to Governor [Nathan] Deal for consideration. As stipulated in our state constitution, the governor has 40 days to sign or veto the legislation. This means that any bill or resolution that the governor has not vetoed by Tuesday, May 7, 2013, will become state law.

With the future of these bills in the hands of the Governor, the General Assemblyfs 2013 legislative session has adjourned sine die. Although session is over, I encourage you to continue contacting me with any questions or concerns that you might have regarding your state government. You can reach me at home at 706-468-6085 or by email at susan.holmes@house.ga.gov.

Thank you for allowing me to serve as your representative.