John Lunsford

We have completed 24 days of the state constitutionally-mandated no more than 40 legislative day session. The situation is progressing positively on the budget front, especially in light of the shortfall for the PeachCare health insurance program for children. Indications from the U.S. Congress are that they will make up a portion of the shortfall, but to what amount is uncertain. That will be a positive outcome to what could have been a budget nightmare with this program that provides health insurance to children of poorer families.

The most controversial issue taking place currently under the “Gold Dome” is Certificate of Need (CON). CON is the process in which a hospital or medical facility must receive a CON from the state. The process was adopted in the early 1990’s as an attempt by the federal government to keep healthcare costs lower by only allowing medical facilities that were needed based on a formula of potential patients in an area and how many similar services were being provided. The federal government did away with the program after it was determined that it didn’t lower healthcare costs and left it to the individual states to determine if they wanted to do away with the CON process. Most states did away with CON or greatly reduced its impact. Georgia did not. The impact for us is a cumbersome process in which the ability to create new health businesses, open new hospitals, expand current ones, or offer new services is slowed, stifled or outright denied.

Last year, the Legislature created a CON study committee which held hearings and issued a report. From that process, several bills have been introduced including one form Governor Sonny Perdue. The bills range from the total repeal of CON to an adoption of the CON study report findings. The House of Representatives has created a special CON committee to hold hearings and vote on CON bills in the House. The Senate is sending their CON legislation to their Health and Human Services Committee. In the next few weeks we will start seeing the direction that the legislature may want to take, but for now, it’s an open debate.

We handled several pieces of legislation tied to law enforcement. House Bill 168 made the requirements for associate juvenile court judges the same as juvenile court judges including being 30 years of age, been a citizen of the state for at least 3 years, and having practiced law for 5 years. We approved a raise for district attorneys making their pay more in line with Superior Court judges in H.B. 319. We also passed H.B. 155, a bill requiring a mandatory background check for owners of personal care homes, private home care providers, community living arrangements and child welfare agencies. The bill also makes it unlawful for an owner to operate any of these businesses with a criminal record. All of these bills easily passed and now head to the Senate.

To help our continued desire to always protect society’s most vulnerable from unscrupulous individuals, we passed H.B. 233, legislation that added the term “exploitation” in the long-term care code section. The language would include “exploitation” as the improper use of a disabled or elder person’s resources and property through undue influence, coercion, harassment, duress, false representation or false pretence. Please do not hesitate to let me know your position or feelings on these or any other issue. If you would like to reach me, please call me at (404) 656-7573 or write me at: State Rep. John Lunsford, 401, State Capitol, Atlanta, GA 30334 or e-mail me at john.lunsford@house.ga.gov

The 27th Legislative Day has passed and the Georgia General Assembly has been put on hold until the federal government comes through with their commitment for the PeachCare for Kids program. We are short about $57 million dollars for our PeachCare program, which is the state-federal program that provides health care for children in Georgia whose families’ income levels are too high to qualify for Medicaid but too low to afford health insurance. As many as 270,000 children and their families may find themselves affected by the funding deficit. The deficit is due to the effectiveness of the program as Georgia registered many families who fit the program’s need-based requirements. The Congressional leaders from Georgia, as well as, Governor Sonny Perdue have asked for funding and have received verbal commitments for help. To give the federal government more time to fund the shortfall, we are taking the next few weeks off from official “legislative days” to allow the process to work. However, saying that, during the brief hiatus, we will still be working on many issues like the 2007 mid-year budget, the 2008 budget, certificate of need issues, as well as, several other key initiatives.

In other key legislative action, we passed several education initiatives. The first was House Bill 311, legislation that would be more inclusive for our soldiers, sailors, marines and airmen who have been called up to serve in the war on terror. H.B. 311 would move the date to qualify for Georgia HERO education scholarships back to September 11, 2001, the day the global war on terror began. We also made it easier for parents and guardians to deduct contributions from college savings plans by removing the requirement that the beneficiary must be claimed as a dependent on the Georgia income tax return. It also removes the maximum federal adjusted gross income amounts and the requirement that the parent or guardian be the account owner of the designated beneficiary’s account. Both these bills passed unanimously. For those children who come to the State Capitol to serve as pages, we overwhelmingly passed language that would make this absence from school count as a field trip versus an excused absence.

We have set our 2007 sales tax holiday for school supplies and energy efficient products. This year’s school sales tax saving weekend will be August 2 through August 5. The products exempt during this time are clothing and footwear with a sales price of $100 or less, computers and computer accessories with a sales price of $1,500 or less, and general school supplies with a sales price of $20 or less. The energy efficient products sales tax holiday will be October 4 through October 7. The products which will be exempt during this time are energy efficient products with a sales price up to $1,500 which are purchased for home or personal use. These products may include dishwashers, washing machines, dryers, refrigerators air conditioners, and ceiling fans. This bill, H.B. 128, also passed unanimously.

In House Bill 357, we extended certain tax provisions that expired for 2005 tax returns. If we hadn’t passed this legislation, certain provisions that were excluded on federal tax returns would not be exempt on state returns. The items included were the above-the-line deduction for higher education expenses; the up-to-$250 above-the-line deduction for out-of-pocket educator classroom expenses; the research and development tax credit; the work opportunity tax credit; fifteen-year depreciation for qualified leasehold improvements and for qualified restaurant improvements, certain environmental remediation costs; and medical savings accounts. This bill passed unanimously.

In an effort to bring our municipalities in to the same laws that counties face, we will now require tow trucks operating wholly within cities to now have insurance, register with the Public Service Commission, and subject to the same regulations, including maximum tariffs charged, as tow trucks that operate in counties or counties and cities.

If you would like to reach me, please call me at (404) 656-7573 or write me at: State Rep. John Lunsford, 401, State Capitol, Atlanta, GA 30334 or e-mail me at john.lunsford@house.ga.gov

I gave an interview a couple of months ago that is now posted on the Internet. I hope you enjoy the small tour of the capitol.

Get the Flash Player to see this video.

The Georgia General Assembly has completed 29 of the constitutionally mandated not more than 40-day annual legislative session. On Tuesday, we will begin Day 30 which for us means “crossover day.” Crossover day is the day when any bills originating in the House or the Senate must be passed or it will not be considered for passage this year. The days leading up to and including crossover day are very busy ones as many of us are trying to insure legislation important to us has its fair hearing and is passed out of the committee in which it was assigned, passed by the Rules Committee, and then passed by the entire House or Senate. That is a tall order for normal legislation and that is why most legislation introduced doesn’t go any where and effectively “dies.”

Day’s 28 and 29 brought a slew of legislative initiatives that won passage. It also brought a high profile bill that died when the requisite constitutional majority wasn’t reached. First, the high-profile bill that failed was a bill repealing the prohibition on payday lending. The bill would allow payday lending to be reestablished in Georgia, an action that was eliminated from the state a few years back. The payday lending issue is a very emotional one that most of us have heard the pros and cons numerous times. This bill, House Bill 163, was voted on by the House of Representatives and actually received a tie vote of 84-84. Seeing it did not receive a constitutional majority of 91 votes, the bill was defeated and will be reconsidered on Tuesday.

Far too often, the legislation that we pass in the Georgia General Assembly can affect not just our lives, but actually save a life. We did just that in H.B. 147 when we made a bold step in trying to save lives. Far too often, women, when faced with an unexpected or unwanted pregnancy chose to abort the baby. The legislation we passed furthers the Women’s Right to Know Act by requiring that all women who are getting advice and information on getting an abortion, be given information on receiving an ultrasound. If an ultrasound is performed, the woman will have the right to view the active ultrasound, and hear the heartbeat of the unborn child if audible. In addition, the quality of the ultrasound shall be consistent with standard medical practices and show the dimensions, presence of external members and internal organs of the child. We passed this legislation 116 to 54, and hopefully it will save some lives.

We passed legislation moving our Presidential Primary to the first Tuesday of February, which in 2008 will be February 5. The bill would allow for Georgia to play a more important role in selecting presidential nominees for both the Republican and Democrat parties. In addition, for statewide candidates running in primaries and general elections, the threshold for avoiding a run-off was lowered to 45 percent. H.B. 487 passed easily, 154-11.

Another high profile topic is the death penalty. Many of us view the death penalty as a needed deterrent for pre-meditated crimes of violence. H.B. 185 would allow a judge to impose a penalty of death or life imprisonment without parole if 10 of 12 members of a sentencing jury recommend the death penalty. The bill passed 106-65.

Red light cameras have been a point of contention for many legislators over the years. H.B. 77 would provide that only certified peace officers may review and issue citations based on the camera’s photos. Further the legislation would provide a split of the fees after the cost to cover the operation of the camera, with 25 percent going to the local government and 75 percent going to the state trauma fund. This bill passed 110-60.

We also passed a somewhat controversial bill that would allow the legislature more oversight over Jekyll Island, a state-owned island that is controlled by the Jekyll Island Authority. The legislation would create a six-member legislative committee to review all proposed leases and extend the Authority’s oversight by 99 years, a needed step in negotiating long-term deals with hotels. Georgia law requires that 65 percent of the island remain in its natural setting and this law does not diminish or change that requirement. The bill, H.B. 214, passed 130-35. If you would like to reach me, please call me at (404) 656-7573 or write me at: State Rep. John Lunsford, 401, State Capitol, Atlanta, GA 30334 or e-mail me at john.lunsford@house.ga.gov.