Georgia Legislative Watch

State Sen. David Shafer (R - Duluth) introduced two bills today designed to bring reform to the financially-strapped Grady Memorial Hospital.

Senate Bill 353, the Public Hospital Integrity Act, would seek to prevent those individuals that may have financial ties to a public hospital like Grady or any major hospital vendor from serving on a governing board of a public hospital.

Sen. Shafer said, “This legislation will help ensure that the Grady board’s first loyalty is to Grady as an institution, not those who do business with Grady.”

State Sen. Vincent Fort (D - Atlanta), a co-sponsor of Shafer’s proposal, said the bill was a good first step.

“The conflict of interest bill is very, very important,” Fort said. “I am for stopping conflicts of interest.”

Sen. Shafer’s other bill, Senate Resolution 722, would create a Grady Oversight Committee composed of three members of the state Senate and three members of the state House. The Grady Oversight Committee would be charged with providing legislative oversight of the “operations, contracts, safety, financing, organization, and structure of the Fulton-DeKalb Hospital Authority” along with the Grady Health System and Grady Hospital itself.

In describing the bill, Shafer said the language of the resolution was taken from the bill that created the MARTOC oversight committee.

“Those who run Grady have fought legislative oversight whenever it has been proposed,” Shafer said. “But when they inevitably get into financial trouble, they sing the same old lament of legislative neglect.”

Shafer pointed out that, in 1999, a similar bill to create a Grady Oversight Committee passed the Senate but stalled in the House.

[UPDATE] Here is a copy of the press release sent out by the State Senate on behalf of Sen. David Shafer.

The House Judiciary Committee (non-civil) moved a new version of Georgia’s sex offender bill through its first legislative hurdle:

Georgia lawmakers on Wednesday moved again toward imposing strict residency requirements on sex offenders, but resisted calls to change other parts of the law that could face legal challenges.

By a 9-4 vote, a House judiciary panel approved changes designed to appease the state’s top court, which overturned the strict new residency requirements in November. But sponsors refused to address other parts of the law, which critics said could ultimately do more harm than good by rendering vast residential areas off-limits to sex offenders.

“If someone wants to incorporate those concerns in a bill, we will hear that,” said state Rep. David Ralston, the proposal’s sponsor. But he added, “I didn’t think it was appropriate to reopen the entire law.”
[…]
In November the Georgia Supreme Court overturned portions of the law, ruling that it failed to protect the property rights of offenders, who could be forced to move if a facility catering to children pops up near their home.

The latest version of the bill aims to get around the court’s concerns by allowing a sex offender who owns his or her home to stay there if a center where children gather later opens up nearby. It carves out a similar exception for sex offenders who have established employment.

I believe the bill is HB 908.

Here is the video from Lawmakers on HB 89:

Governor Sonny Perdue stated, during the annual Eggs & Issues breakfast hosted by the Georgia Chamber of Commerce, that he opposes what is commonly known as the “Parking Lot” bill (HB 89):

Perdue addressed the subject as lawmakers were preparing a public hearing on the issue, which the NRA pushed last session. The Georgia Chamber of Commerce has fought the measure, arguing that it violates property rights of employers who don’t want guns in their parking lots.

“The NRA is my friend and I want them to continue to be my friend,” Perdue said during a speech to state business leaders. “I hope we can continue to work together where we don’t pit people between the second amendment and property and employer rights.

“Georgia has been good to the NRA. I hope we can continue that friendship by making sure these constitutional rights don’t collide.”

The NRA is pushing the bill over the objections of the Georgia Chamber and business leaders, making this a fight between two individual rights, gun ownership and private property.

HB 89 is in the Senate Rules Committee today. The hearing is scheduled for 3:30pm in Room 450 of the capitol building. Public comments will be permitted.

[UPDATE - 7:24pm] The Senate Rules Committee effectively gutted HB 89. The Political Insider has the scoop.

SR682 - Effingham County; urged to study its tax structure
Sponsored by: Hill,Jack 4th

A RESOLUTION urging Effingham County to study its tax structure; and for other purposes.