The debate on Senate Bill 10, the Georgia Special Needs Scholarship Act, dominated the twelfth day of the 2007 Legislative Session.  We debated the bill for nearly three hours and considered six amendments before approving it by a vote of 31 to 23.

The Democrats locked down against the bill, apparently out of the political calculation that they must oppose anything bearing even the remotest resemblance to school vouchers, no matter how otherwise worthy the proposal.

When Senator Chip Rogers took the well in support of the bill, he was asked a rambling list of the oddest questions, including his position on the Flat Tax.  Of course, what else could the Democrats talk about when even The Atlanta Journal Constitution supported Senate Bill 10.

The extended session threw my schedule off for the day.  I missed an afternoon telephone conference of the Governor’s Commission for Newborn Umbilical Cord Blood Research and Medical Treatment.  This commission was appointed last year by Governor Perdue to advance nondestructive stem cell research.

I plan to introduce legislation in the next couple days to encourage cord blood collection.  The bill, tentatively entitled ”Saving the Cure,” will again be dedicated to Keone Penn, a young Gwinnett County man cured of sickle cell anemia by an umbilical stem cell treatment.

Unlike embryonic stem cells which are currently derived by destroying human embryos, umbilical stem cells are not ethically controversial.  They are collected from donated umbilical cord blood and do not involve harm to the newborn baby or destruction of human life at any stage of development.  They are unlike embryonic stem cells in another way.  Embryonic stem cells, which are difficult to manipulate in the laboratory and tend to mutate into cancers, have yet to be shown to cure anything.

In other health care news, I attended part of the hearing on the Senate Bill 28, the controversial “consumer driven” health care bill sponsored by Senator Judson Hill.  This bill is pending before the Senate Insurance and Labor Committee.

Late this afternoon, the Rules Committee voted to favorably report Senate Bill 76.  This bill completes the restoration of the traditional powers of the Lieutenant Governor.  That process began with the adoption of new Senate Rules on the first day of session.  Senate Bill 76 finishes the job by transferring to the Lieutenant Governor all statutory powers of the Senate Committee on Assignments. 

We go into session tomorrow, Day Thirteen, at 10:00 a.m.

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My friends at the Live Oak Republicans held the first of their Policy Breakfast Series today at the State Capitol.  Senator Ronnie Chance and Representative Barry Fleming were the speakers.  These events are free of charge and open to the public.  To learn more, please visit the group’s website.

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Our regular session began as usual at 10:00 a.m.  We unanimously approved Senate Bill 14 dealing with the Superior Court Clerks Cooperative Authority.  We also approved Senate Resolution 126 setting forth our schedule through Monday, February 12, which will be the eighteenth day. 

I introduced Senate Bill 84 at the request of the Insurance Department.  This bill updates the unfair trade practices section of the Insurance Code to deal with insurance scams aimed at members of the military.

My lunch hour was taken up meeting with lobbyists and constituents. I met with both hospital and insurance lobbyists about Senate Bill 73 dealing with continuity of care.  I visited with groups of architects, homebuilders and school children from my district.  I met with electric lobbyists about the shared use of the utility poles (”pole attachment”).  I met with a lobbyist from a leading beer maker about Sunday sales.  I also worked on legislation that would create a Gwinnett County Stormwater Authority.

My afternoon was packed with committee meetings.  At the Banking and Financial Institutions Committee meeting, we heard a presentation from the Commissioner of Banking.  He outlined the annual departmental “housekeeping” bill updating the Banking Code. 

The Health and Human Services Committee acted on several bills and resolutions, most creating study commissions and task forces.  We favorably reported Senate Bill 57 which would provide for a system of licensing dialysis technicians. 

The Rules Committee voted to place Senate Bill 10 on the calendar for tomorrow, the Georgia Special Needs Scholarship Act.  The Democrats, self-proclaimed champions of the downtrodden, appear to be gearing up to oppose this bill.  It should be interesting.

I returned calls right before I left the office.  I reached the one constitutent who had contacted me in opposition to Senate Bill 10.  I explained my reasoning for supporting the bill, and I seemed to win him over.

We go into session tomorrow at 9:30 a.m. You can watch our proceedings live tomorrow at the Georgia General Assembly website.

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I gave an interview to Jesse Freeman of Lawmakers earlier this afternoon on Senate Bill 13, an effort by Senate Democratic Leader Robert Brown to increase the minimum wage from $5.15 to $7.25 per hour.  His bill tracks federal legislation that would raise the minimum wage to the same level but omits many of the exemptions.

I told Lawmakers of my general opposition to government dictating prices, including the price of labor.  I also expressed concern that a higher minimum wage might price some workers, especially the young and less experienced, out of the market. 

Senate Bill 13 has been assigned to the Senate Insurance and Labor Committee.  What do you think?  Should the state minimum wage be increased?

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I participated in two committee meetings this afternoon. The Senate Finance Committee met for over an hour to consider Senate Resolution 21, a constitutional amendment that would require a 2/3 vote to increase any state purpose tax or fee.  

I strongly support the concept but did express concern that the 2/3 vote requirement might pose an obstacle to broader tax reform, such as shifting the tax burden on productivity to consumption.  Senator Bill Heath proposed an amendment, which the committee adopted, effectively re-writing the resolution to require a 2/3 vote for any law “providing for a net increase in state purpose taxes.”  Senate Resolution 21 was then favorably reported by substitute. 

Senator Bill Hamrick presided over a brief meeting of the Rules Committee that resulted in Senate Bill 14 being placed on the calendar for tomorrow.  Senate Bill 10, the Georgia Special Needs Scholarship Act, will come later this week. 

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My friends at the Republican Liberty Caucus of Georgia have endorsed Senate Bill 12.  This bill, which I introduced along with Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Jack Hill and others, would require zero based budgeting. 

This bill has also drawn support from Americans for Prosperity, a grass roots organization advancing free markets and limited government.  Joe McCutchen has also promoted Senate Bill 12 in his monthly subscription newsletter, McCutchen Reports.  Joe has bestowed the superlative ”Super Taxpayer Champion” on several of the sponsors of the bill, including Senators Jeff Chapman, Chip Pearson and Chip Rogers and me.

The bill awaits action by the Senate Appropriations Committee.

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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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Today I introduced Senate Bill 73 which makes changes to the “continuity of care” provision of the Insurance Code.  This provision was triggered earlier this year during the very public contract battle between Blue Cross Blue Shield and Piedmont Hospital in Atlanta.  When the insurer and hospital failed to reach an agreement on renewing their contract, Blue Cross enrollees suddenly found themselves without network access to Piedmont Hospital.

In such instances, state law requires physicians, but not hospitals, to continue care at the old contract rate for patients who are pregnant or chronically ill.  Pregnancy is covered for the full term plus six weeks of post delivery care.  Chronic illness is only covered for 60 days.  Even though it was not bound to do so, Piedmont Hospital voluntarily covered both groups, although there was considerable confusion over exactly what qualified as a chronic illness.  State law does not define the term.

Senate Bill 73, the result of extended discussions with the Insurance Department, is an effort to clarify the continuity of care law.  First, the bill would treat physicians and hospitals the same, extending the continuity of care law to all health care facilities.  Second, the bill would allow all enrollees, not just those chronically ill, 60 days of continued care under the old contract, plus an additional 60 days at the discretion of the Insurance Commissioner (presumably in conjunction with additional negotiations).

I am not in complete agreement with every provision of this bill.  I personally think the notice to the enrollee is too short and the discretionary continuation period is too long, but there will be plenty of opportunity to perfect this bill in the Senate Insurance and Labor Committee.  Senators Ralph Hudgens and Dan Moody cosponsored the bill with me.

I am normally hesitant for government to inject itself into private contract matters.  But in this case, those covered by managed health care policies in many times chose those policies because of representations by the insurer that certain hospitals or physicians were included in network.  To have those hospitals or physicians disappear from the network without notice does not seem fair to me, especially as most of us covered under employer policies are by federal law only allowed to change our options once a year during “open enrollment.” 

Is Senate Bill 73 an appropriate response to this problem?  Let me know what you think.

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On this ninth day of the 2007 Legislative Session, we passed all four bills on the calendar, the first three unanimously.  The Democrats squabbled over Senate Bill 15, which increased the penalties for being repeatedly caught driving without a license.  Senator Steve Thompson offered but later withdrew an amendment to the provision requiring that a reasonable effort be made to ascertain the nationality of those who are convicted or confined.  Senator Thompson wanted to change the word “nationality” to “citizenship” but the bill’s sponsor, Senator Wiles, made a pretty convincing argument that the language in the bill tracks language in treaties governing the arrest of foreign nationals.  The bill passed by a vote of 40 to 8.

The Rules Committee met immediately upon adjournment and put one bill on the calendar for Monday.  We will reconvene at 1:00 p.m., and 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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