ATLANTA – The Georgia House of Representatives Tuesday overwhelmingly passed a comprehensive overhaul of a mental health-care system rated among the worst in the nation.
“Mental health touches almost every family in Georgia,” House Speaker David Ralston, R-Blue Ridge, who has made the bill his top priority this year, told lawmakers before the 169-3 vote. “These are Georgians who are hurting because the mental health-care system has failed them and hopelessness is winning the battle for their future.”
House Bill 1013 would require health insurance companies to treat mental illness the same way they treat physical illness. The parity provision also would apply to Georgia’s Medicaid and PeachCare for Kids programs and to the State Health Benefit Plan for teachers, university system employees and state workers.
The bill also would require care management organizations (CMOs) participating in Georgia Medicaid to dedicate at least 85% of their revenues to patient care and create a service-cancelable loan program to address a shortage of mental health-care workers.
Ralston said the legislation is being supported by $29 million in the fiscal 2022 mid-year budget and the fiscal 2023 spending plan on top of $58 million the General Assembly appropriated for mental health services last year.
The bill stems from two years of work by a state commission formed to find solutions to the funding, workforce development, access and insurance issues that hamper mental health and substance abuse services in Georgia.
The coronavirus pandemic has added a sense of urgency to the issue, with suicides, opioid abuse and Fentanyl overdose deaths on the rise in Georgia.
“There is no holy grail of how do you solve this,” said Rep. Todd Jones, R-South Forsyth, who worked with Rep. Mary Margaret Oliver, D-Decatur, to shepherd the bipartisan bill through the House Health and Human Services Committee. “[But] we have the ability to at least make a material change. … This is the first step that must be taken.”
Rep. Philip Singleton, R-Sharpsburg, echoed concerns that came up during committee hearings about a provision in the bill that would make it easier to commit mentally ill Georgians to a mental-health facility against their will. But the vast majority of House lawmakers agreed the overall thrust of the measure was well worth supporting.
“This bill is a game-changer,” said Rep. Calvin Smyre, D-Columbus, the House’s longest serving member. “It’s transformational.”
Ralston dropped a strong hint on the state Senate, where the bill now is headed, that he considers the issue too important for the typical give-and-take that occurs between the two legislative chambers.
“Lives are at stake with this bill,” he said. “I hope they will think twice before nitpicking or trying to take apart the work that has been done by this commission.”
This story isavailable through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
ATLANTA – A bill prohibiting giant social media platforms from censoring content based on the author’s viewpoint passed the Republican-controlled Georgia Senate Tuesday along party lines.
Reining in social media platforms including Facebook and Twitter has become a national issue since the companies suspended former President Donald Trump’s accounts a year ago.
The Senate bill, which passed 33-21 and now moves to the state House of Representatives, would prohibit social media platforms with more than 20 million followers from discriminating against an author posting content based not only on the person’s viewpoint but his or her race, color ethnicity, religion. religious or political beliefs, national origin, sex, gender or sexual orientation.
Social media companies still would be allowed not to publish obscene material, said Sen. Greg Dolezal, R-Cumming, the bill’s chief sponsor. The Georgia Public Service Commission would enforce the legislation’s provisions, he said.
Senate Democrats didn’t argue with the need to regulate giant social media platforms. But they questioned doing so at the state level.
A federal judge blocked a similar bill Florida lawmakers passed earlier this year after lawyers for Big Tech companies argued it violated their free-speech rights under the First Amendment.
“Social media needs to be regulated,” said Sen. Jen Jordan, D-Atlanta. “[But] I think this needs to be dealt with at the federal level.”
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
ATLANTA – Metro Atlanta is about to get another new area code.
The Georgia Public Service Commission voted Tuesday to approve the implementation of area code 943 to overlay a region that already includes four other area codes: 404, 770, 678 and 470.
Starting March 15, customers receiving the 943 area code will be required to dial the area code and phone number for all local calls, just as customers with the other metro area codes must do today.
Customers may be assigned a number with the new area code when they request new service or an additional phone line.
Customers can still dial just three digits to reach 911, as well as 211, 311, 411, 511, 611, 711 or 811 if those are currently available in their community.
This story isavailable through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
ATLANTA – U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock and the Republican frontrunner challenging the incumbent Democrat were among the first candidates Monday to qualify officially for this year’s elections, as the weeklong qualifying period began.
Warnock is not expected the face opposition in the May 24 Democratic primary. On the Republican side, both University of Georgia football icon Herschel Walker and Georgia Commissioner of Agriculture Gary Black signed qualifying papers on Monday.
Walker vowed to tie Warnock to what the GOP frontrunner called the “disastrous agenda” of President Joe Biden.
“Washington Democrats plan to spend millions of dollars to protect Senator Warnock and his 95% Biden voting record,” Walker said. “We will spend every day between now and November reminding Georgians that soaring gas prices, skyrocketing inflation and record levels of crime fall squarely on the shoulders of Joe Biden and Raphael Warnock.”
Other federal candidates to qualify on Monday included U.S. Reps. Carolyn Bourdeaux, D-Lawrenceville, and Lucy McBath, D-Marietta in Georgia’s 7th Congressional District.
McBath currently represents the 6th District but decided to run in the 7th after Republicans in the General Assembly redrew the 6th to lean heavily toward the GOP.
“At this critical moment in our nation’s history, when voting rights, women’s health care, and our democracy are under attack, it’s more important than ever to have leaders who are focused on defeating the extremist Republicans in Congress, not fellow Democrats,” Bourdeaux said Monday in a message to constituents.
“I have taken them on over and over again and I’ll continue fighting for common sense, Georgia values as long as I am your representative in Congress.”
Republican Rich McCormick, who lost to Bourdeaux in 2020, signed up Monday to seek the Republican nomination in the 6th District.
“In Washington, I’ll be a bold and unapologetic advocate for the completion of President Trump’s wall, policies that lock down the border, and aggressive interior enforcement to keep cartels and traffickers out of our country,” McCormick said.
Candidates for the top state offices stayed on the sidelines Monday.
However, a couple of candidates signed up for the lieutenant governor’s race. Savannah activist Jeanne Seaver vowed to push to eliminate the state income tax, while former Atlanta City Councilman Kwanza Hall announced his candidacy for the Democratic nomination and signed qualifying papers on the same day.
Another newly emerged candidate, former Georgia Rep. Mike Coan, announced he will run for Georgia commissioner of labor. Incumbent Republican Mark Butler announced last week he would not seek a fourth term as labor commissioner.
Coan, who currently serves as the agency’s deputy commissioner, will take on state Sen. Bruce Thompson in the GOP primary.
“At this critical time in our history, we need an experienced conservative leader who understands how to run one of Georgia’s biggest agencies,” Coan said.
Meanwhile, a veteran of the state Senate announced Monday he will not seek reelection this year. Senate Rules Committee Chairman Jeff Mullis, R-Chickamauga, will be leaving the General Assembly after serving for 22 years.
“I will be spending more time with family and friends and looking for ways to serve my community in other capacities,” Mullis wrote in a prepared statement.
Qualifying week will continue until noon Friday.
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
ATLANTA – A national organization representing university professors has voted to censure the University System of Georgia (USG) over changes in post-tenure policies.
The system’s Board of Regents voted last October to replace a system that permitted tenured professors to be fired only for a specific cause following a peer review with a system that allows dismissal if they fail to take corrective steps following two consecutive subpar reviews.
The century-old American Association of University Professors released a report in December calling the new policy an attack on academic freedom for allowing tenured professors to be fired without a dismissal hearing.
“The removal of protections for academic freedom will have a devastating effect on the quality of education in the USG system, and on recruitment and retention of faculty and students,” association President Irene Mulvey said. “We call upon the USG regents to rescind the changes to the post-tenure review policy so that academic freedom, so essential for higher education, is restored.”
After the October vote, the regents explained the goal of the changes was to ensure faculty members continue to do their jobs well after they have received tenure.
“While we’re disappointed the American Association of University Professors chose to ignore USG’s long- standing commitment to academic freedom and due process, we remain dedicated to working with faculty at our public colleges and universities to make sure post-tenure review strengthens accountability and rewards the work faculty already do to empower student success in the 21st century,” system officials wrote in a prepared statement after Saturday’s censure vote.
The new policy will apply to all 26 of the system’s colleges and universities except Georgia Gwinnett College. The changes emerged from the recommendations of a working group formed in September of 2020.
The new policy will be fully implemented by this summer, according to the system’s website, with standards that will include “appropriate due process mechanisms.”
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
