Final Gold Dome Report 2018 Georgia Legislative Session
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Final Gold Dome Report 2018 Georgia Legislative Session June 2018 NELSON MULLINS RILEY & SCARBOROUGH LLP ATTORNEYS AND COUNSELORS AT LAW Atlantic Station 201 17th Street, NW | Suite 1700 Atlanta, GA 30363 T 404.322.6000 F 404.322.6050 nelsonmullins.com 1 2018 Georgia Legislative Session Report In this Report, the Nelson Mullins government relations team provides you an update of the significant initiatives which may be of interest to you, your business or other organization. While much of the client work that our legislative team addresses is in the health, mental health, education and child welfare spaces, we follow and work on a number of other issues impacting our Firm and its clients. Some of the health related areas had fewer initiatives in 2018, due largely to the politics of the election year. However, there were a number of new budget items impacting Georgia's healthcare, transit and education systems which we have outlined because they are interesting and significant. The Overview section below highlights the overall legislative achievements. One hot topic of general interest was in child and adolescent mental health. New in 2017, the Children's Mental Health Commission made a number of recommendations on ideas to improve mental health services to Georgia's children. These discussions resulted in the first such ideas offered in the last ten years, as Georgia has been primarily focused on addressing its issues pertaining to the Department of Justice ("DOJ") settlement. In our Budget summary, you will see in the FY 2019 Budget items funded, based on the Commission's recommendations, which can improve children's mental health services and their delivery. Autism is a continuing large focus and there are also new items under the DOJ settlement, such as new waiver slots and new walk- in crisis centers, and new funding for opioid addiction treatment. The related interest in and concern about suicide prevention also lead to funding for an expanded mobile phone app for teens. Also of general interest, Georgia has not expanded its Medicaid program to cover unattached adults. There was, however, one significant discussion relating to Medicaid expansion. It was the first such dialogue undertaken by the General Assembly and represented the first House of Representatives incursion into the issue, although several Senators have been promoting Medicaid expansion since 2017. This particular deliberation was around the House Minority Leader's Robert Trammell (D-Luthersville) bill, HB 669, which came up in a House Appropriations Committee's Health Subcommittee meeting after the midway point of the Session. The Subcommittee, chaired by pharmacist Rep. Butch Parrish (R-Swainsboro), talked about the national waiver ideas as well as the state dollar cost of expanding coverage as proposed by Leader Trammell. Also at this hearing, Rep. Ron Stephens (R-Savannah) brought up the idea of increasing the excise tax imposed on tobacco products. Presently, the tax on a package of cigarettes in Georgia is $.37 per pack of 20; his idea was to increase that to $1.87 per package, the national average. 2 In the last week of the Session, Governor Deal increased the revenue estimate to permit a budget amendment of $161 million to fully fund the "Quality Basic Education Act" for the first time since 2005. This Act contains the formula for distributing State funds to public school systems to operate 180 school days per year and to account for special needs of students and the varying tax bases of each system. The formula had been cut back significantly during the Great Recession and has been gradually restored over the last four years as the State economy recovered. The full funding of the Teachers' Retirement System, costing an additional $316 million, joined this effort. The Session was, thus, a remarkable one for public education, enhancing Governor Deal's legacy and offering a popular policy achievement for each Member. New transportation and transit funds also were appropriated, addressing the traffic congestion in metropolitan Atlanta. Widening the MARTA service area is very significant. Finally, the Governor and the Republican Majority proudly lowered the State income tax for the first time in more than 50 years. This change occurred because of the federal tax reform in January which had the odd effect of increasing Georgia tax revenue because it is tied to federal adjusted gross income. When federal income tax deductions change, they push up adjusted gross revenue, even though other federal law exemptions and lower rates result in a lower income tax burden. This Report focuses on these subject areas: Page Overview 5 Bills of Interest 6 Adoption .....................................................................................................6 Alcohol ........................................................................................................7 Banking and Finance ..................................................................................8 Certificate of Need Threats .........................................................................9 Child Abuse and Child Welfare ................................................................. 11 Civil Practice ............................................................................................. 15 Code Revision .......................................................................................... 16 Commerce and Trade ............................................................................... 17 Corporations ............................................................................................. 21 Criminal Justice Reforms .......................................................................... 22 Disabled/Individuals with Disabilities ........................................................ 25 Distracted Driving Legislation ................................................................... 26 Education ................................................................................................. 27 Environment and Natural Resources ........................................................ 38 Evidence ................................................................................................... 42 Health Insurance and Practice Scope Initiatives....................................... 43 Insurance Generally, Surprise Billing and Balance Billing Initiatives ........ 47 3 Labor and Employment ............................................................................ 54 Medicaid and Insurance Coverage Legislation ......................................... 56 Mental Health and Autism Coverage Enhancements ............................... 59 Neonatal and Maternal Outcome Initiatives .............................................. 61 Opioid Initiatives ....................................................................................... 62 Prescription, Dangerous Drug, and Law Enforcement Developments ...... 63 Retirement ................................................................................................ 68 Rural Health Initiatives .............................................................................. 71 Social Services ......................................................................................... 73 Taxes and Department of Revenue .......................................................... 75 Torts ......................................................................................................... 82 FY 2019 Budget Overview ..................................................................... 83 Upcoming Study Committees ............................................................... 90 We hope you find this Report helpful, and we would be pleased to discuss it with you if you would like. Please note that this Report is comprehensive, but it does not incorporate all legislative initiatives introduced and/or considered. Bills that passed are highlighted in bold print in each section and many sections have a short introduction to facilitate easier use of this report and to permit the reader to select items of most interest. Stanley S. Jones, Jr. George S. Ray Helen L. Sloat [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] 4 Overview The Georgia General Assembly gaveled open its legislative session on January 9, 2018 and adjourned sine die shortly after midnight on March 30, 2018. This year's focal points included: broadband access and other issues affecting rural Georgia (including assuring access to healthcare services in SB 402); education funding (such as fully funding the Quality Basic Education formula for public schools in the Conference Committee Report for HB 684 and permitting greater charter school funding in HB 787); transit issues (creation of an ATL Authority to serve as a governing board for the planning and coordination of transit in metro Atlanta in HB 930); criminal justice reform issues (SB 406 and SB 407); and a myriad of various tax efforts (e.g. income tax reductions, extension of certain exemptions, State tax changes resulting from the 2018 federal tax law revisions, collection efforts on sales and use taxes on internet sales, Title Ad Valorem Tax ("TAVT") system reform, etc.). This list was an impressive one for any year, particularly an election one. Notably, due to the State's continued focus on economic development, and specifically its courtship of Amazon, there was relatively little debate on "religious freedom" issues