ATLANTA – Efforts to enact sweeping changes for aspects of Georgia’s civil courts stumbled in the state Senate Tuesday after the sponsor of a wide-ranging “tort reform” bill shelved the measure following hours of discussion.
The sprawling Senate Bill 415 would alter many areas of Georgia’s civil judicial system from landlord protections and large medical damages to key tweaks on what evidence can be presented in court like seatbelt use.
But the bill ran up against opposition
from Senate lawmakers on both sides of the aisle, wary that too many changes
were crammed into a single bill. They narrowly voted 27-26 to table the bill
upon request from its sponsor, Senate Majority Whip Steve Gooch.
Gooch’s bill marks what may be the last push for major tort-reform legislation this year, after a separate bill he sponsored was gutted in committee and a similar measure in the Georgia House of Representatives stalled.
“There’s a long road ahead on this bill,”
Gooch said after the table vote.
Bills have until Thursday, “crossover
day,” to pass out of the chamber from which they originated – or they will be
dead this legislative session.
The last significant tort-reform bill
that made it through the Georgia General Assembly came in 2005, when lawmakers
set a $350,000 cap on non-economic damage awards only to see the Georgia
Supreme Court rule the limit unconstitutional in 2010.
Georgia’s trial lawyers have long opposed
legislative stabs at tort reform, arguing many of the proposed changes to the
state’s court system would harm everyday citizens to the benefit of big
businesses and insurance companies.
But backers of Gooch’s bill emphasize Georgia’s worsening reputation as a lawsuit-happy environment out of step with the state’s business-friendly image. Speaking from the Senate floor Tuesday, Gooch said large lawsuit awards in recent years have driven up Georgia’s insurance rates and scared off prospective businesses, especially insurance companies.
“Georgia’s civil justice system is
currently one of the most dangerous places for business in the country,” said
Gooch, R-Dahlonega.
Last year, the Institute for Legal Reform
ranked Georgia’s civil justice system 41st among all states, down from 24th
just seven years ago. Georgia was also labeled the sixth worst “Judicial
Hellhole” in the American Tort Reform Association’s annual rating.
Some of the big-ticket items in Gooch’s
bill include a prohibition against seeking “phantom damages,” or monetary
awards beyond what a suing person will actually pay for medical care after an
injury, and broad legal immunity for landlords when guests or other people who
are not leaseholders injure themselves on an owner’s property.
The bill would also allow juries to
consider evidence in lawsuits involving people injured in vehicular accidents
who were not wearing their seatbelts. Representatives for insurers say seatbelt
evidence should be treated like motorcycle helmets, the use of which is
admissible as evidence, while trial attorneys argue the change would have a
chilling effect on crash victims.
Also, Gooch’s bill would require payment
agreements to be disclosed between health insurers and third-party groups that
pay hospital bills, block juries from hearing certain details about how
monetary damages would be divvied up and separate considerations of liability
and damages into different trials.
“In combination, these factors level the
playing field and let juries get practical results based on the evidence,” said
Sen. Bill Cowsert, R-Athens, who pushed strongly for the bill.
Opposition from both sides of the aisle
surfaced Tuesday in an hours-long debate from the Senate floor.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Jesse
Stone called the measure unwieldy and pushed too quickly to the floor after
clearing an insurance-focused committee instead of the courts-focused committee
he chairs.
“Folks, this bill has not been probably
vetted,” said Stone, R-Waynesboro. “It is nowhere close to being properly
effective, even with all the amendments flying around.”
Sen. Harold Jones II, D-Augusta,
highlighted part of the bill that would lengthen the statute of limitations to
file lawsuits for victims of felony crimes only, not misdemeanors. That change
could leave victims of violent misdemeanors like domestic violence with no
recourse to seek financial compensation, he said.
“It’s so problematic for those who are
victims of crime,” Jones said.
Sen. Renee Unterman, R-Buford, also
chastised the bill’s scope and urged its provisions to be considered
separately.
“Yes, there needs to be tort reform,”
Unterman said. “But let’s take a bite out of that apple. Let’s not take the
whole apple crate.”
ATLANTA – The
second phase of a state income tax cut Georgia Republicans launched two years
ago cleared the state House of Representatives Tuesday.
Lawmakers
voted 100-68 nearly along party lines to reduce Georgia’s individual income tax
rate from 5.75% to 5.375%, effective next Jan. 1. The General Assembly approved
the first phase of the tax cut in 2018, reducing the rate from 6% to 5.75%.
This year’s
bill, which now moves to the Senate, also would offer a new earned income tax
credit for income-eligible Georgians and triple the state’s tax credit for
foster parents from $2,000 to $6,000 a year.
While Gov.
Brian Kemp has expressed reservations about doing another tax cut this year
because of the state’s tight finances, House Republican leaders have supported
the reduction as fulfilling a promise they made to voters.
“It’s
important that we keep our promises,” said House Ways and Means Committee
Chairman Brett Harrell, R-Snellville, the bill’s chief sponsor.
House
Democrats argued the state can’t afford another tax cut that would primarily
benefit upper-income taxpayers. They also accused Republicans of low-balling
the hit the tax cut would inflict on the state budget.
House
Minority Leader Bob Trammell said the tax cut would eventually cost the state
$600 million a year, not Harrell’s estimate of $98 million during its first
year in effect and $250 million annually in the out years.
“This bill
as is creates a hole in terms of revenue,” said Trammell, D-Luthersville. “We
should go very slowly before we go into a change of this significant a nature.”
But Harrell
said other legislation that would increase state revenues would help offset the
impact of the tax cut. He pointed to a bill the General Assembly passed in
January imposing the state sales tax on purchases Georgians make through
third-party market facilitators including Amazon, and pending legislation that
would prohibit taxpayers who itemize from deducting federal income tax payments
from their state tax bill.
“We are not
going to put the state, the citizens of Georgia and our valuable programs at
risk,” Harrell said.
The income
tax cut would apply not only to individual Georgians but to small business
organizations including S-corporations, LLCs, partnerships and sole
proprietorships. However, Georgia’s corporate income tax rate would remain at
5.75%.
ATLANTA – The
Georgia House of Representatives adopted a $28.1 billion state budget Tuesday that
would restore many of the spending cuts Gov. Brian Kemp proposed in January.
The fiscal
2021 budget, which passed 134-35 and now heads to the state Senate, would
soften the impact of spending reductions to state education, health-care programs
and public safety services House Republican leaders argued are vital to Georgia
taxpayers.
“There may
be more changes in this document than any budget you’ve ever seen,” House
Appropriations Committee Chairman Terry England told lawmakers before Tuesday’s
vote.
To achieve
the budget savings needed to restore the spending cuts, the House among other
things cut in half the teacher pay raise the governor recommended, from $2,000
per teacher to $1,000. But House lawmakers still found enough money in the
budget for 2% merit pay raises for all state employees and targeted increases
of 2%, 4% and 5% for workers in state agencies suffering high turnover rates.
However, the
House was only able to restore 236 of 1,212 vacant positions in state
government the governor proposed eliminating.
“State
employees are being asked to carry more of the load,” said England, R-Auburn.
“There should be some financial recognition of that.”
Key
additions the House made to the budget include $19.7 million to expand Medicaid
coverage to low-income mothers for up to six months after the birth of their
babies, a proposal prompted by Georgia’s high maternal mortality rate.
“This is a
major step in taking care of our Medicaid mothers,” said Rep. Sharon Cooper,
R-Marietta, chairman of the House Health and Human Services Committee.
The House
also put money back into the budget to help the Georgia Bureau of Investigation
reduce a rape test kit backlog that has long plagued the agency, funding for
local accountability courts aimed at reducing the state’s prison population,
funding for grants to county boards of health and money to hire two
environmental engineers to monitor the disposal of coal ash at Georgia
landfills.
Besides the
teacher pay raise, the House budget adds 1,000 slots for children to attend pre-kindergarten
and funds counselors in Georgia schools to the full allotment of one counselor for
every 450 students.
The
Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities would receive an
influx of funds for “personal services” to help families caring for disabled
relatives lead more normal lives.
“Many of
these services allow parents and caretakers to go out and work a job,” England
said. “It gives them a respite as well.”
But the
budget’s Democratic opponents argued Republicans didn’t restore enough of the
governor’s spending cuts in areas including personal services, criminal justice
reform, veterans services and maternal mortality. A legislative study committee
recommended late last year expanding Medicaid coverage for new mothers for a
full year.
Rep. David
Dreyer, D-Atlanta, blamed the income tax cut then-Gov. Nathan Deal pushed
through the General Assembly two years ago for the revenue crunch that prompted
the spending cuts.
“We have
made a policy decision with this budget that we would rather cut taxes than
adequately serve many of our Georgia residents,” he said.
But Rep.
David Knight, R-Griffin, who chairs one of the appropriations subcommittees, said
House Republicans did the best they could with the hand they were dealt.
“We came in
here with reduced revenues, faced with cuts,” he said. “We rolled up our
sleeves and went to work to figure out how to allocate the resources we had.”
The family of LeRoy Childs takes photos with Gov. Brian Kemp (left) and State Librarian Julie Walker (Right) on March 10, 2020. (Photo by Beau Evans)
ATLANTA – Georgia’s first black library director, LeRoy Childs, was honored at the Georgia Capitol building Tuesday as part of a weeklong celebration of the state’s librarians.
Other Georgia library luminaries were celebrated Tuesday, including the past year’s best librarians and regional system.
Childs was director of the West Georgia Regional Library System for a decade starting in the mid-1970s, according to the Georgia Public Library Service. He worked in the West Georgia system for more than 20 years prior to his promotion to director, serving in a range of roles.
Childs then became the first black president-elect of the Georgia Library Association in 1986, after a stint as treasurer. He was also appointed as a member of the state delegation on the White House Conference of Libraries by then-Gov. Joe Frank Harris.
Childs, who died in 1986, posthumously received the state library’s lifetime achievement award on Tuesday.
“Mr. Childs served tirelessly to help expand the capacity and reach of Georgia libraries and to shape national policy,” said State Librarian Julie Walker.
The state Librarian of the Year award went to Stephen Houser, director of the Twin Lakes Library System in Milledgeville. Houser shepherded the library system through a funding shortfall and locked up a grant to install internet access for the library’s rural facilities.
The Okefenokee Regional Library System was honored as the Library of the Year for its community outreach efforts. The Southeast Georgia library system was celebrated for organizing local programs to drum up interest in public libraries like arts clubs, bingo groups and LEGOs.
Clayton State Library Dean Emeritus Gordon Baker was honored as the state’s Public Library Champion of the Year. Baker worked at Clayton State for more than 15 years and has been a member of the Georgia Library Association since 1977, marking just a handful of his many civic roles in the Georgia library community.
ATLANTA – The Georgia Senate passed legislation Tuesday aimed at expanding the number of students with special needs in Georgia who could qualify for scholarships to help them attend private schools.
Critics frame the measure, Senate Bill 386, as a voucher program likely to funnel state funds from needy rural schools and give families with more financial means a leg up to enroll their children in private schools.
Since 2007, Georgia students with
physical or mental disabilities who have specialized education plans have been
able to qualify for state-funded scholarships to help offset the costs of
tuition and transferring to a private school.
Last year, nearly 5,000 students received
scholarships averaging around $6,300 per student to enroll in private schools
at a total cost to the state of roughly $33 million, according to the Georgia
Department of Education.
Senate Bill 386, sponsored by Sen. Renee
Unterman, would allow children who have accommodation plans, called “504
plans,” under Section 504 of the federal Rehabilitation Act to also qualify for
the special-needs scholarship, along with students who have individualized
education plans.
Students would still have to attend a
year of public school before they could take advantage of the scholarship,
unless they received special-education services in preschool, were adopted or
are in foster care.
Unterman, R-Buford, said the changes
proposed in her bill would give many students with special needs and their
families more choice over where they could attend school.
“It’s not a cookie-cutter school system,”
Unterman said. “There are people and families that operate outside the box.”
The bill passed by a 33-22 vote that fell
along party lines. It now goes to the Georgia House of Representatives.
Several Democratic senators criticized
the bill as a possible backdoor largely for wealthy families who can afford to
pay the medical costs involved in getting a doctor’s diagnosis of a condition
that would qualify for a federal accommodation plan. They also argued wealthier
parents could more easily cover the private-school tuition costs beyond what
the limited state scholarship would fund.
Those factors could give families in
metro Atlanta an advantage to secure scholarship funds over families in rural
parts of the state with fewer financial means, said Sen. Elena Parent,
D-Atlanta. She also pointed out the bill could allow students with behavioral
conditions like attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) to qualify for
the scholarship.
“We are sending the message that we care
a lot more about the education of wealthy families in metro Atlanta than we do
about everyone else,” Parent said.
Others questioned how much more the state
would end up paying with the expanded special-needs criteria. A fiscal note
attached to the bill estimates between 2,800 and 8,600 more students may start
receiving the scholarship, costing the state between $9.5 million and $28.5
million annually.
Senate Education Committee Chairman P.K.
Martin said the bill was tightened in committee to narrowly tailor scholarship
qualifications to more severe permanent physical and mental ailments than the
federal 504 plans may cover. He said the tighter criteria should curb potential
runaway costs.
“There’s not going to be a run on
vouchers if we pass this bill,” said Martin, R-Lawrenceville.
