January 30, 2009
On Wednesday, the Senate began the process of dealing with Georgia's transportation funding crisis when the Transportation Committee favorably approved legislation I co-sponsored.
SR 44 is a proposed constitutional amendment that would allow counties to band together and pass a regional, local option sales tax dedicated to transportation projects.
Introduced with bipartisan support, SR 44 and its enabling legislation, SB 39, would authorize multicounty regions to levy an additional 1-cent sales tax if a referendum is approved by the voters in those regions. Specific transportation projects would be identified before moving forward with the referendum. The rationale behind the regional approach is for local dollars to be spent on local roads, where the needs are most critical -- such as relieving metro Atlanta traffic congestion.
As a constitutional amendment, SR 44 still needs approval by two-thirds of both the full Senate and the House of Representatives and must be approved by a majority of Georgia voters in the 2010 general election. Similar legislation was proposed last year but fell short of final passage just before the legislative session adjourned. We are hoping that dealing with the issue early in this term will give lawmakers more time to resolve any disagreements.
Responding to the current state budget crisis, the Senate voted Thursday to mandate much more stringent budget reviews for state agencies. Also known as "zero-based budgeting," the legislation was adopted unanimously.
Georgia is facing its greatest budget crisis in many years because of a revenue shortfall of at least $2.2 billion in the current fiscal year. Gov. Sonny Perdue's budget proposals for the remainder of FY 2009 and all of FY 2010 include deep reductions in funding for nearly every department of state government, as well as the end of property tax relief grants and a new fee on hospitals and health care plans.
SB 1 would require one-quarter to one-third of all state programs to go through a more thorough budget review, as well as making agencies prioritize their services and mandating that state department heads propose alternative levels of funding for their programs.
This effort to avoid future midyear budget crises now goes to the House of Representatives for its consideration.
On Tuesday, I was pleased to host Dr. Howard S. Yager as the Senate's Doctor of the Day. A resident of Senate District 6 in Cobb County, is a private family physician with a practice in Atlanta. Dr. Yager previously served as a Medical Officer and Deputy Regional Health Director for the U.S. Public Health Service. He has been recognized in numerous publications as a distinguished physician and exceptional leader in the medical community. This was his fifth opportunity to serve as Doctor of the Day in the Georgia Senate.
One of Gov. Perdue's budget proposals that is generating considerable opposition is his plan to eliminate Georgia's school nurse program. The $30 million cut in state funding for the remainder of fiscal year 2009 is seen as a very dangerous proposal because of the number of health issues that arise during the school day that require the management of a trained professional.
Nurses in Georgia's schools handle approximately 15 million annual visits to the office or school health room for illness, including students with special medical conditions such as asthma and diabetes. They dispense more than 5 million doses of medication per year.
Keeping a child healthy is essential to his or her learning experience and that of other students. We need to restore this funding to the budget and keep our school nurses on the job for our children and their education.
Transportation funding solution needed now
January 23, 2009
Last year's failure of the General Assembly to pass legislation I co-sponsored, providing a transportation funding solution through a regional, local option sales tax, has contributed to an increasingly bleak financial picture at the Department of Transportation. State DOT Commissioner Gena Evans reported to Appropriations Committee members this week that the state needs about $150 billion to meet transportation needs over the next 20 years.
Senate Transportation Committee Chairman Jeff Mullis (R-Chickamauga) and I have reintroduced the regional sales tax legislation this year (SR 44 and SB 39). Even if the sales tax option legislation is successful this year, the earliest that revenue could be collected is 2011.
Meanwhile, Commissioner Evans reported to lawmakers that $1.04 billion in federal economic recovery funds are presently targeted for highway improvements in Georgia.
Although the exact amount of funding could change, Georgia has been told by the Obama administration these projects could be started within 120 days, Commissioner Evans said. DOT has assembled a list of about 8,500 road projects after receiving input from local governments around the state in anticipation of the funding.
DOT was one of the many agencies that Appropriations Committee members heard from during budget hearings Jan. 21-23.
Gov. Perdue also discussed the budget plans he had introduced during the first week of the session and repeated his proposals for cutting spending and raising taxes to balance the budget.
One of the governor's most controversial proposals is his plan to impose a new 1.6 percent tax on the revenues of hospitals and health insurance plans, which some lawmakers are referring to as the "sick tax."
Admitting the health care tax is a "tough option," the governor said his plan would raise a projected $372 million, which would fill a $208 million Medicaid funding deficit as well as provide a revenue source for Georgia's trauma care network. A small part of the funding would come from higher fines on speeding motorists.
While the governor's plan would clearly benefit hospitals with trauma services and higher numbers of Medicaid patients, there is great concern over the effect of the "sick tax" on other hospitals around the state. Many of these facilities are already strapped for cash, and this is the worst possible time for them to take another financial hit.
According to the Georgia Hospital Association, more than a third of our state's hospitals are operating in the red. Health care providers whose bottom line would be adversely affected by a new tax from the state would have little choice but to pass along that impact to their patients - their paying patients, that is.
Georgia's health care advocates have suggested that instead of taxing sick people when they go to the hospital, a higher burden should be placed on one of the root causes of the problem through, for instance, an additional tax on tobacco products. Last year, a $10 annual fee on car tags was proposed for permanent trauma care funding. Others have pointed to the $300 million Georgia would receive under the Obama administration's plan to increase federal funding for Medicaid.
There is no doubt about the importance of our state dealing with the health care system's financial challenges and the need to act now. Another critical need is a reliable, sustainable funding source for Georgia's trauma care centers.
The question is whether a new tax on hospitals, insurers and their consumers is the right way to make up for declining state revenues and whether the "sick tax" would result in a net gain or a net loss for the majority of Georgia hospitals.
Working as a team with President Obama
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January 20, 2009
Today’s inauguration of Barack Obama as the 44th President of the United States, coupled with the solid Democratic majority in both the U.S. Senate and U.S. House of Representatives, has some Georgians concerned how our state, with Republicans in charge of both the legislative and executive branches, will fare in dealing with the federal government the next four years.
In outlining his state budget proposal to lawmakers Jan. 14, Gov. Perdue, in fact, said his plan does “not assume money from Washington” will be coming to Georgia.
However, it should be noted that a number of Georgia Democrats in the legislature have good relationships with the new Obama administration. For example, Sen. David Adelman of Decatur and I were two of the first elected officials in Georgia to endorse President Obama early in his campaign, back in March 2007.
Many others followed, and President Obama not only won the Georgia Primary, he soundly outperformed the previous two Democratic nominees by pulling 47 percent of the Georgia vote in the general election.
The President has stated repeatedly that his policy agenda for leading our nation will have little or nothing to do with political views or partisanship. If federal funding requests from Georgia make good sense toward forging a stronger economy, rebuilding our infrastructure, dealing with our health care crisis, and supporting initiatives that create jobs, then there is no reason for our state’s leaders to be so pessimistic.
I look forward to working with the Obama administration on behalf of Cobb County’s and the state of Georgia’s needs these next four years, and letting the new President know our state will be a “team player” as he leads the nation back to a brighter economic future.
Governor proposes budget cuts, tax increases
January 16, 2009
The 2009 session of the Georgia General Assembly got under way Jan. 12 as lawmakers returned to Atlanta knowing that our No. 1 challenge is to balance the new state budget in the toughest economic conditions we have faced in any of our lifetimes.
On the third day of the session, Gov. Perdue laid out budget proposals that indicate Georgians are in for more tough times in the months ahead.
The governor has responded to a $2.2 billion revenue shortfall in the current fiscal year with a 10 percent cut in state spending between now and June 30, followed by a "slimmed-down," $20.2 billion annual budget for fiscal year 2010. The proposals feature significant reductions in state services, $1.2 billion in new state borrowing, use of more than one third of the state's reserve fund and higher taxes for many Georgians.
Under the governor's plan, teachers and other state employees would go without a pay increase. Also, funding for school nurses and supplements to teachers who receive national board certification would be eliminated.
Basic state funding for public schools would be cut by $185.8 million this year and $197 million in FY 2010, shifting those costs to local property taxpayers and bringing the eight-year total of education tax shifts under this administration to more than $2 billion. Property owners would suffer a further tax increase if legislators approve the governor's plan to eliminate $428 million in tax relief grants to local governments.
The governor is also proposing a new 1.6 percent provider tax on hospitals and HMOs to help fund Medicaid reimbursements - a tax that would inevitably be borne by patients. I will have more to report on this proposal next week.
Other proposed cuts in the governor's budget include $176 million for basic instruction funding at Georgia's colleges and universities, the closing of four state prisons and the elimination of funding for state golf courses and eight state swimming pools at Georgia parks.
The proposed bond package - 20 percent higher than the $1 billion in annual added debt in recent years - is mostly for construction of new schools, college buildings and other facilities. The governor also wants to spend $50 million this year and $408 million next year from the state's reserve fund, which currently amounts to $1.2 billion.
How the state handles its budget priorities in the current economic environment will be the overriding issue of the 2009 legislative session. Appropriations Committee members will begin consideration of the proposal during budget hearings Jan. 21-23. Otherwise, lawmakers are in official recess until Jan. 26.
In his speech to lawmakers, the governor was very short on specifics regarding the state's transportation funding crisis. Last year, legislation I co-sponsored that would have allowed counties to pay for critical transportation needs through a regional local option sales tax fell short of passage in part because of a lack of support from the governor's office. With metro Atlanta residents still stuck in traffic, the governor once again offered no plan for a solution.
The first week of the new session was devoted largely to organizational matters and the introduction of the first legislative proposals to be considered by various committees before they are debated by the full Senate. This year, I am serving as vice chairman of the Senate State Institutions & Property Committee and also as a member of the Ethics, MARTA Oversight, Regulated Industries & Utilities, Retirement, Transportation and Urban Affairs committees.
District 6
P.O. Box 1781
Smyrna, GA 30081
Phone: 770.436.0699
Fax: 770.436.0699
Email: doug.stoner@senate.ga.gov
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