DeKalb County Commissioner Elaine Boyer has offered a resolution outlining a framework for renegotiating the financial relationship between Emory University and Grady Hospital.  In her plan:

1.  Emory would forebear inadequately documented bills, eliminating debt from Grady’s balance sheet and giving the troubled hospital much needed breathing room.

2.  Grady and Emory would implement audit recommendations requiring full documentation of all future bills.  Grady’s auditors say that new documentation procedures would not only help Grady financially but improve the quality of patient care.  Full documentation would also end the discriminatory treatment of Morehouse doctors who are inexplicably required to provide six times as much documentation of their time than Emory doctors.

3.  Emory would assume liability for its own malpractice.  Not only would this save Grady millions of dollars each year defending and settling lawsuits against Emory employees, it would bring the Emory-Grady contract in line with best practices and likely improve the quality of patient care. 

4.  A new Emory-Grady contract would be negotiated recognizing Grady’s in-kind value to Emory as both a tool to attract tuition-paying students and a source of patient and research revenue.

Commissioner Boyer’s resolution expands on an earlier resolution offered by two of her colleagues, Commissioners Larry Johnson and Connie Stokes.  The Johnson-Stokes resolution called for reductions in payments to Emory based on Grady’s in-kind value to Emory.

I am hopeful the DeKalb County resolution will pass the full Board, but Grady should not wait for that happen.  It should move now to restructure its relationship with Emory along the lines suggested by Commissioners Boyer, Stokes and Johnson.

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Bill Loughrey, who served two four year terms on the Fulton-DeKalb Hospital Authority, wrote me last week with his thoughts on Grady.  I shared the letter with the Lieutenant Governor and key leaders of the General Assembly, and a copy made its way into the hands of the AJC.

Loughrey makes a number of interesting points and a couple serious allegations.  They all merit atttention and consideration.

One of Loughrey’s most troubling revelations concerns an independent audit apparently showing that Emory charged Grady for services that it did not perform or properly document.  As the lion’s share of the proposed Grady bailout — $45 million — would actually go to Emory, balancing the books between the two entities ought to be someone at Grady’s  top priority.  But Loughrey says that not only has Grady failed to act on the audit, it has kept the audit report secret for over two years at Emory’s insistence.

The dean of Emory’s medical school told a House study committee today that Loughrey has it wrong.  He says the audit points the finger at Grady, not Emory, although he adds that he has not seen the audit himself.

Getting to the truth of the matter should be easy enough.  I have been advised by Legislative Counsel that the audit is subject to the Open Records Act, and I have requested a copy.  If Grady complies with the law, it should be in my hands Wednesday.

But the issue here is much bigger than where the auditors laid the blame.  No one denies that Grady has very serious problems.  To survive, Grady must confront those problems, not hide them.

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The Senate Rules Committee met this afternoon to set the calendar for tomorrow, Day 29.  We will have a full calendar, with over thirty bills.  Senate Bill 148, the Saving the Cure Act, willl be on the calendar tomorrow, along with Senate Resolution 5, the Taxpayers Dividend Act. 

Senate Resolution 20, the Taxpayer Protection Act, sponsored by Senator Chip Rogers, is also on the calendar.  As I mentioned in an earlier post, the provisions of Senate Resolution 5 have been incorporated into Senate Resolution 20.  If Senate Resolution 20 passes tomorrow, my plan is to withdraw Senate Resolution 5.

The only bill that generated controversy during the Rules Committee meeting was Senate Bill 154 by Senator Jack Murphy.  The bill deals with solid waste contracts, requiring municipalities to honor existing contracts when they annex land.  It is vigorously opposed by the Georgia Municipal Association, which complains that the language is vague and could have unintended effects.  Senator Murphy plans to introduce amendments tomorrow that he believes will address all outstanding concerns.

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I have proposed a constitutional amendment, Senate Resolution 248, which would stop the double taxation of municipal property owners.  It applies to property taxes and provides, in essence, that:

No county shall levy ad valorem taxes or assessments within a municipality for services that are provided by the municipality.

Under my plan, counties would tax for the services that they provide (sheriff, courts, etc.).  Cities would tax for the services that they provide.  If you live in a city with its own police department, why should you pay a second time for a county police department?

I have heard from a number of mayors and city council members, and they are thrilled with this idea.  County commissioners, not so much.  What do you think?

[UPDATE]  Peach Pundit is discussing this idea here.

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Today, the eighteenth day of the 2007 Legislative Session, was dominated by debate on the proposed new city of Dunwoody.  Senator Dan Weber has led the charge for the incorporation of Dunwoody since he was first elected to the State Senate two years ago.

We heard three bills related to the proposed incorporation of this new city, and all three passed over scattered but loud Democratic objections.  Senator David Adelman, the Democratic Whip, attempted to argue that treating the Dunwoody charter referendum as a general bill was a “dangerous precedent,” misstating both the danger and the precedent.  On questioning, he conceded the latter point and crawfished on the former.

I grew up in Dunwoody, and I was proud to support this movement as a cosponsor of Senate Bill 82, the charter referendum bill, and Senate Bill 83, a companion bill dealing generally with the transfer of county assets to the new city.  Its provisions are necessary because DeKalb County is threatening to sell all county parks in Dunwoody to private developers if the new city is formed.

The third Dunwoody bill, Senate Bill 32, eliminates any unicorporated pockets of territory between Dunwoody and Doraville by annexing territory to Doraville.

Senate Resolution 5, the Taxpayers Dividend Act, was on the calendar of the Senate Finance Committee today.  No vote was taken, at my request.  I am preparing a committee substitute addressing concerns raised by the Department of Community Health and Georgia Hospital Association.  I hope to have it ready for the next Finance Committee meeting.

Tomorrow will be a busy day.  The Rules Committee met this afternoon and voted to send seven bills to the floor. 

The Senate Health and Human Services Committee will meet in the afternoon, and several bills, including the controversial Senate Bill 53 will be on the agenda.  I am undecided this bill, which would exempt Cancer Centers of America from the state’s Certificate of Need laws.  I have suggested several changes to the bill’s sponsor, Senator Tommie Williams, and will come to the committee meeting with an open mind.

The Senate Regulated Industries and Utilities Committee will meet for the first time on Wednesday afternoon.  On the agenda will be Senate Bill 114 and Senate Bill 115.  The Senate Insurance Labor Committee will meet Wednesday morning, and my Senate Bill 84 will be on the agenda.

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Today is the tenth day of the 2007 Legislative Session.  The Senate Republican Caucus will meet today at noon, and the Senate itself will go into session at 1:00 p.m. 

We have one bill on the calendar, Senate Bill 8.  I discussed this legislation in my entry about the first meeting of the Senate Finance Committee.  Senate Bill 8 levels the playing field between local government and property taxpayer with respect to interest owed the overpayment or underpayment of taxes.  I expect it to pass without much controversy.

Senate Bill 10, the Georgia Special Needs Scholarship Act, will be available in the Senate Rules Committee this afternoon.  This bill narrowly passed out of the Senate Education Committee last week, and I expect that it will come to floor this week, perhaps as soon as tomorrow.

You can watch our proceedings live as always at the General Assembly website.

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The Atlanta-Fulton County Senate Delegation held its organizational meeting earlier today.  We elected a new chairman, Senator Horacena Tate, who succeeds Senator Vincent Fort in this role.  Senator Dan Moody was re-elected as vice chairman, and Senator Emmanuel Jones was elected secretary to succeed Senator Tate. 

The Democrats have a majority of the votes in the delegation, but a traditional spirit of bipartisanship has prevailed in the election of delegation officers, with a Democrat serving as chairman and a Republican as vice chairman.  There was an abortive attempt to upset this tradition when Democrat Senators Nan Orrock and David Adelman nominated the ex-chairman, Senator Fort, for the vice chairmanship, against Senator Moody, a Republican.  Senator Fort, who would have likely been defeated even with the Democratic majority in the delegation, declined to run.

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Today is the eighth day of the 2007 Legislative Session. I arrived a few minutes late because of traffic, a problem that affected more than just me, apparently because of a convention at Phillips Arena. Hence, I am uploading this entry after the morning’s work has been done.

Congressman Lynn Westmoreland paid a visit to the Senate Chamber today. He spoke briefly and concluded his remarks by expressing an interest in working with us in state government “once again.” He was not any more specific but I am pretty sure he does not have plans to run again for his old seat in the Georgia House of Representatives.

The two bills on today’s calendar, Senate Bill 11 and Senate Bill 18, both passed unanimously.

The Rules Committee will meet later this afternoon to set the calendar for tomorrow.

Tomorrow, the ninth day, will begin for me at 8:00 a.m. with the organizational meeting of the Atlanta-Fulton County Senate Delegation. I am supporting Senator Horacena Tate for the chairmanship of the delegation, to succeed Senator Vincent Fort. Senator Tate has the ability and temperament we need in this leadership role. I have no idea whether Senator Fort will attempt to run for reelection.

Our session tomorrow, and every Friday, will begin early at 9:00 a.m. You can watch our proceedings live as always at the General Assembly website.

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I met this afternoon with executives and lobbyists from the grocery and convenience store industries.  We discussed Sunday sales at great length, and I hope they felt as good about our exchange as I did.

Because that meeting ran over, I was late to the Senate Finance Committee meeting and missed the vote on Senate Bill 8.  This bill, introduced by Senator Eric Johnson, levels the playing field between local governments and their taxpayers.  Current law requires interest to be paid by the local government on any overpayment of taxes should the taxpayer win a property reappraisal appeal, just as the the taxpayer is required to pay interest on any underpayment of taxes.  However, the amount of interest to be paid by the local government is capped at $150.00.  Senate Bill 8 removes the cap so that both local government and taxpayer are treated the same.  It is sensible legislation.

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