The Senate and House came to an agreement on the FY 2019 Supplemental budget.
Highlights include:
➤ $60.4 million for school safety- $30,000 per school
➤ $8.4 million APEX Program- support counselors for mental health service in high school
➤ $20 million for southwest Georgia farmers’ loan program- Hurricane Michael
➤ $2 million-assistance for hospitals affected by hurricane Michael in rural counties
➤ $500,000 for coding labs in middle schools in rural or low wealth schools
➤ $500,000 for Augusta University to fight women’s/ childhood cancer
➤ $71.9 million in increased funding for Medicaid
➤ $250,000 to reduce waiting list for Meals on Wheels
➤ $350,000 for Alzheimer’s public awareness campaign
➤ $350,000 to GBI to fund an app for school safety, “See Something, Send Something”
➤ $180,000 Security for 4-H camps
Legislation passed this week
➤ SB 1: “C.J.’s Law”; makes it a felony for “knowingly” committing a hit and run accident that results in a serious injury.
➤ SB 17: Authorizes Telephone Cooperatives to expand their authority to include broadband services.
➤ SB 32: Provides immunity from liability for people who rescue or attempt to rescue animals locked in motor vehicles.
➤ SB 48: Identifies and supports students in pre-kindergarten through 2nd grade with dyslexia. Provides teacher preparation programs for instruction relating to students with dyslexia.
➤ SB 55: Allows members of the Employee Retirement System of Georgia (ERS) to purchase Supplemental Guaranteed Lifetime Income annuities.
➤ SB 67: Provides eligibility for funding to educational facilities that are destroyed or damaged by fire or natural disaster to repair, update, or replace the portions of the building that were not destroyed. Allows low wealth eligibility for consolidating school systems
➤ SB 72: Changes the dates for hunting season to allow for an extended archery only season until January 31st. Raises the bag limit to 12 deer daily. Modifies the provisions related to hunting for wild hogs.
➤ SB 99: Allows applicants for a license from the Department of Natural Resources to designate “Organ Donor” on their license and shares donor information with organ procurement organizations.
BIlls introduced in the Senate this week:
➤ SB 107: Creates a monument to honor the memory and legacy of Zell Miller on Capitol grounds
➤ SB 108: Requires courses in computer science for students in middle and high school.
➤ SB 109: Allows for physicians to allow up to eight advanced practice registered nurses to administer radiographic imaging tests in non-life-threatening situations.
➤ SB 110: Creates a state-wide business court.
➤ SB 112: Prevents the financing of nuclear power plants through the taxation of public schools.
➤ SB 113: Requires nursing homes to have a backup power source to provide power in the event of a blackout.
➤ SB 114: Revises provisions relating to Certificate of Need (CON) requirements. Establishes the Health Strategies Council.
➤ SB 115: Allows for telemedicine licenses to be issued to licensed medical professionals in other states so they can practice medicine with patients in Georgia through telemedicine.
➤ SB 119: Requires all tax bills to receive an economic analysis before being adopted by the House or the Senate.
➤ SB 120: Requires an economic analysis of certain income tax credits and exemptions.
➤ SB 121: Increases the length of time that prescription information is retained to five years. Authorizes the Attorney General’s Medicaid fraud Control Unit to access the data.
➤ SB 123: Reinstates the surcharge for disposing of coal ash in municipal solid waste disposal facilities.
➤ SB 131: Establishes the Georgia Major Airport Authority, a state authority over the Atlanta Airport.
House legislation now in the Senate:
➤ HR 51: Creates the Georgia-North Carolina and Georgia-Tennessee Boundary Line Commission. This commission will be used to resolve border disputes between Georgia and Tennessee.
➤ HB 63: Requires health benefit plans to establish step therapy protocols.
➤ HB 184: Streamlines the deployment of wireless broadband in the public rights of way.
➤ HB 158: Ensures that Medicaid recipients have the same access to antiretroviral regimens used to treat HIV and AIDS as those included in the Georgia AIDS Drugs Assistance Program.
