Under the Gold Dome
State Representative John Lunsford's
Weekly Capitol Update
The Budget Shortfall is on everyone’s mind
February 6th, 2009
The 2009 General Assembly session has slowed down due to the current economic crisis and the looming $2 billion revenue to the state. This critical shortage has forced the entire membership to first stop and understand that there isn’t any money for special projects, and worse yet, most current programs will face reductions in funding or outright elimination. There is a very good reason why there hasn’t been much legislation looked at, because we are all looking at the budget, and determining how it affects us.
The schedule for the General Assembly has been modified by the leadership of the House and Senate. This was done to slow the pace down of the constitutionally-mandated, no more than forty day session of which as of this past Friday, came to 15 days. We are waiting to see what the federal stimulus package does for education and Medicaid funding which consumes a majority of the roughly $19 billion annual budget total. The General Assembly will meet on Tuesday through Thursday of each week until the end of March, hoping to finish in 35 days. It also will leave five days for a brief session should the economic crisis worsen and adjustment needed for the Fiscal Year 2010 budget.
The House has passed several meaningful pieces of legislation including House Bill 141, a bill that further updates our state banking code. This includes amending the definition of “net assets” and “financial institutions”, reestablishes what a credit union is and is not, as well as other house-keeping rules. This bill passed easily, 162-5. We also modified the threshold requirements to purchase corporate owned life insurance from 10 employees to 2 employees. H.B. 80 passed unanimously.
In an effort to help those who work in the state’s largest business, agriculture, we have ratified the Governor’s executive order which provides a state sales tax exemption for the sale of dyed fuel oils which are used exclusively for agriculture, timber growing, harvesting, and mining or construction purposes. This bill, H.B. 121 passed unanimously also. We also passed H.B. 69, a bill that would allow for the change in criteria for determining “candidate for non-resuscitation” from needing two physicians to only one. The bill also clarified that 2 physicians were required to concur on an order not to resuscitate. This bill easily passed 153-4. We unanimously passed H.B. 128, a bill that would exempt from occupation taxes, administration fees, and regulatory fees, those self-employed individuals that are also disabled veterans or blind.
One bill that has received and will receive continued attention is Governor Sonny Perdue’s plan to create a “hospital tax.” The bill, H.B. 307, was introduced this week as a way to overcome the $423 million shortfall in the state’s Department of Community Health’s budget. The bill would require hospitals to pay the state a 1.6 percent “provider-fee” out of their net patient revenues. The taxes collected will allow the DCH to leverage those funds for additional Medicaid funding from the federal government. At this point in time, the legislation faces an uphill battle as many in the legislature don’t understand Hospital finance and worse yet don’t have time to learn it.
I will keep you informed through weekly updates. Your opinions and concerns are important to me and I consider it an honor to serve you at the state capitol and in our district. 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
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