WEEKLY LEGISLATIVE REPORT – February 3, 2006

Legislation addresses issues with annexation

By Rep. Hugh Floyd

With 15 municipalities, Gwinnett County has been called the “poster child” for problems that county governments across Georgia are having with a growing number of annexations by city governments.

In an effort to help counties address this issue, I have co-sponsored House Bill 962, which would prohibit cities from annexing areas that receive county services, including water, sewers, police and fire protection, without the county’s approval. The proposal would cover only those locations where the county government is providing most of the service.

This legislation would assist in the effort to control growth in the county. When residents request to be annexed into a city with less stringent regulations, growth control is thwarted. HB 962 has bipartisan support and is expected to be debated in committee in the coming week.

Many members of the General Assembly believe it is time to re-examine the issue of regulating the natural gas industry given the dramatic rise in home heating costs in recent years.

In 1999, before deregulation, Georgia’s natural gas prices were the third lowest in the nation. Seven years later, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, our prices have skyrocketed to the third highest in the nation. Georgia’s families are waiting for action on reducing the burden of unreasonable natural gas prices.

House Bill 1108 would require the Public Service Commission to declare a state of emergency on July 1, 2006, and re-regulate the natural gas industry. The bill authorizes the PSC to establish rules and regulations for the industry that would lead to substantially lower home heating bills.

Whether or not re-regulation is the way to go, it is certainly an issue worth discussing in an attempt to address this major problem.

House members voted overwhelmingly to approve legislation that would significantly strengthen the penalties for convicted sex offenders in Georgia.

HB 1059 calls for minimum mandatory sentences of 25 years for aggravated child molestation, aggravated sodomy and aggravated sexual battery charges, followed by lifetime probation. This is an increase over the current 10-year minimum sentence.

The bill also states that if a victim is 14 or 15 years old and the defendant is no more than three years older, the offense would be a misdemeanor. Concerns over mandatory sentencing and the costs associated with imposing longer prison terms and the treatment of juvenile offenders were also debated, but the vast majority of House members voted in favor of the legislation to provide stronger protections for all Georgians, especially our children, from the most dangerous of these offenders.

On Friday, House members adopted the revised state spending plan for the remainder of fiscal year 2006, also known as the supplemental budget. The revisions add about $444.6 million to this year’s $17.4 billion budget, with about $145 million going to pay for increased school enrollment. The current fiscal year ends on June 30.

A bill before the House Judiciary Non-Civil Committee would make Georgia the final state in the U.S. to give advanced practice nurse practitioners the authority to write prescriptions. Currently, they can only phone in prescriptions after consulting with a doctor.

Proponents of the legislation say nurse practitioners are well qualified to write prescriptions and would still discuss prospective prescriptions with physicians. Many nurse practitioners have as much as or more training than Physicians Assistants, who have the power to write prescriptions. Some doctors who favor the measure told the subcommittee it would make their offices operate more efficiently.

Physicians who oppose the measure believe they shouldn’t have to share prescription-writing authority with nurse practitioners, and the Georgia Medical Association opposes giving nurse practitioners independent authority to prescribe drugs.

I want to remind retirees participating in the State Health Benefit Plan that the Department of Community Health has provided a second extension period until March 1 for you to submit the necessary documentation on Medicare Part D enrollment for a reduced monthly premium.

Members should mail verification documents to State Health Benefit Plan, P.O. Box 38342, Atlanta, GA  30334; or fax them to 404-651-5750 or toll-free 866-828-4796. For more information, call 404-656-4594 or 404-463-7008.