ATLANTA – Georgia will now have until 2025 to spend almost $600 million in federal pandemic relief the state was awarded for services that help people with disabilities and the elderly live at home instead of in institutions.
Funds for home- and community-based services from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) President Joe Biden signed into law in March of last year initially were to be spent by 2024. States will now have until 2025 to spend the money.
“Everyone deserves the dignity to live in their own homes and communities,” U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra said last week.
The vast majority of the $586 million in federal funds awarded to Georgia will be split between two initiatives.
The state will use almost half of the funds – $286 million – to increase pay for home health and direct support workers. In some cases, it will increase reimbursement rates, and in others it will provide temporary pay increases.
“The impacts of COVID-19 were substantial, which resulted in a significant reduction in the direct care workforce,” Georgia’s Department of Community Health (DCH) said in its proposal to the federal government. Increasing pay will help Georgia address the workforce shortage, the proposal said.
Another large portion of the money – around $206 million – will go to expanding technology in home and community-based care settings. The goal is to allow members to use telehealth to interact with health care providers and case managers.
Some of those technology funds are also slated to expand the use of assistive technology devices to promote independence for people living with disabilities and the elderly. Examples of assistive technology include text-to-speech devices, magnifiers, braille readers, pointing devices, and mobility devices.
The third largest line item – $54 million – will provide in-home behavioral aides for youth with autism. The state says this will help reduce the number of young people with autism admitted to psychiatric treatment facilities.
Another $27 million will go toward collaborating with Georgia’s technical colleges to recruit and train more certified nursing assistants (CNAs).
The state will spend an additional $4 million for a supported employment pilot program to help people with disabilities transition from school to the workforce.
The increases in pay rates for care workers are one important step toward helping more Georgians live where they’d like to live, said Maria Pinkelton, public relations director for the Georgia Council on Developmental Disabilities (GCDD).
Georgians with disabilities also need an increase in the number of the Medicaid waivers that support people with disabilities living in the community, more affordable and accessible housing, and more competitive and integrated job opportunities, Pinkelton said.
In 2020, more than 7,000 Georgians with intellectual or developmental disabilities were waiting for Medicaid waivers that would allow them to get home- or community-based services, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation.
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
ATLANTA – Gov. Brian Kemp’s first TV ad of the general election campaign fires back at Democratic challenger Stacey Abrams for a statement she made last month that Georgia is “the worst state in the country to live.”
The 30-second ad, released Tuesday, takes exception to Abrams’ comments by ticking off several of Kemp’s accomplishments as governor, including the state’s economic recovery from the pandemic.
“He reopened Georgia first, brought thousands of jobs, and Kemp’s cut taxes to help families deal with [President Joe] Biden’s inflation,” the narrator says. “Brian Kemp kept Georgia the best place to live.”
Abrams made her remarks at a fundraising dinner for Gwinnett County Democrats in response to Kemp frequently citing Georgia’s annual selection as the No.-1 state in which to do business by Site Selection magazine.
Later, Abrams said her comments were aimed at Georgia’s ranking as 48th in the nation in access to mental health care and as the worst state in the country for maternal mortality.
The Republican-controlled General Assembly has acknowledged both as issues to address. Lawmakers passed comprehensive legislation this year aimed at overhauling Georgia’s mental health-care delivery system and approved a bill extending Medicaid coverage for new mothers from six months to a year.
Kemp won the Republican nomination for a second term as governor last month, trouncing former U.S. Sen. David Perdue in the GOP primary by a surprisingly large margin. Perdue had been endorsed by former President Donald Trump, who was angry that the governor refused to go along with Trump’s efforts to overturn Georgia’s 2020 presidential election results.
Abrams, who lost to Kemp in 2018 in a close race, was unopposed for the Democratic nomination to take on the governor this November in a rematch.
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
Rep. William Boddie Jr. and Nicole Horn shake hands after the Atlanta Press Club insurance commissioner runoff debate.
ATLANTA – The two Democrats competing in the runoff for labor commissioner found little to disagree on during their Atlanta Press Club debate on Monday.
William “Will” Boddie, Jr. and Nicole Horn both touted their pro-worker policies and plans to revamp the state Department of Labor, which ran into serious problems delivering unemployment benefits to Georgians during the pandemic.
“I have a plan. I’m going in as the next labor commissioner with a mantra of people, processes, and technology,” said Horn, a businesswoman. She noted that only 4% of phone calls at the Department of Labor are answered.
Horn also said that she would appoint a chief diversity officer at the agency.
Boddie, a lawyer and state representative from East Point, said he would lobby the General Assembly for increased funds so that the agency could hire more workers, modernize technology, and set up a managerial training track to promote from within.
Boddie noted that some Georgians have been waiting on unemployment insurance payments for as long as two years and that there is currently a Southern Poverty Law Center-led lawsuit pending on the issue.
“I would create a task force within the Department of Labor, with staff from all over the department to go through the cases in claims,” said Boddie.
Both candidates said they fought against Georgia’s decision last June to end expanded pandemic unemployment benefits three months earlier than the federal government required.
Horn said she slept outside of the department to protest that decision and that the early cut-off had hurt Georgia’s workers and economy.
Boddie said he was part of a task force at the Georgia House of Representatives that advocated against the decision.
Both candidates also emphasized their pro-family stances.
Boddie said he would push the General Assembly to expand the parental leave it passed for teachers and state employees to all working parents and encourage tax incentives for businesses to provide child care.
Horn said she would push the General Assembly to invest in child care for working parents and collaborate with unions, businesses, and colleges to create more apprenticeship programs in Georgia.
Horn also emphasized her past work with a business that helped universities build programs for adult students so they could get better jobs and her experience as a working mother as qualifications for the commissioner role.
As evidence of his legislative success, Boddie pointed to two bills he co-sponsored in the most recent General Assembly session: HB 1390, which reformed Georgia sexual harassment law for government employees, and HB 1391, which raised pay for Georgia public defenders.
Both candidates also said they would focus on helping formerly incarcerated people reenter the economy and protecting gig workers.
“I will make sure Georgia leads the way in creating unemployment insurance for gig workers,” Horn promised.
“I’m going to open the doors with the Department of Labor,” said Boddie. “I’m going to create a call center so you can have a live human being on the phone when you call.”
In the May primary, Boddie pulled 184,446, or 27.7% of the vote, while Horn earned 167,442, or 25.1%, of the vote.
Democrat Janice Laws Robinson at the insurance commissioner runoff debate. Her opponent, Raphael Baker, did not attend.
ATLANTA – Democrat Janice Laws Robinson described her plans to hold insurance companies accountable during an Atlanta Press Club runoff debate Monday.
Robinson’s opponent, Raphael Baker, did not attend the debate.
Though Robinson earned far more votes than Baker in the May primary – 48.7% for Robinson compared to 33% for Baker – the race was pushed to a runoff because neither candidate passed the 50% mark.
Robinson said that she would appoint a special deputy insurance commissioner to focus solely on health insurance and especially mental health care. The state legislature recently passed a new law that will require most Georgia insurers to treat mental and physical health equally.
“We deserve to have parity in mental health,” she said. “This is so important it deserves its own accountability.”
Robinson also said she would act to reduce Georgia car insurance premiums, which are among the highest in the nation.
Robinson criticized Baker for not appearing for the debate.
She also criticized incumbent Republican Insurance Commissioner John King, saying he had done little to tackle high automobile insurance rates.
Robinson said she would focus on rural firefighting resources, noting that Georgia is number nine in the country for wildfires.
Robinson said she could win the general election in November, pointing out that she nearly beat the prior insurance commissioner, losing by only 3 percentage points in 2018.
She lost to Jim Beck, who was subsequently removed from office after conviction on multiple fraud charges, leading Gov. Brian Kemp to appoint King to the post.
“I will bring integrity back to this office,” said Robinson. She said that in her two decades in the insurance profession, she had never been cited with an infraction.
Robinson said that the insurance commission’s recent $5 million fine on Anthem/Blue Cross Blue Shield was just a small first step.
“We need to make sure we are hitting them where it actually hurts,” she said. “I will not tolerate them treating our families unfairly. … I will continue to fine insurance companies that discriminate and do not honor your claims.”
The winner of the June 21 runoff will face King in November.
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
ATLANTA – Charlie Bailey, a lawyer who is running for Georgia’s lieutenant governor position, was the sole candidate to appear at the Atlanta Press Club runoff debate today.
Kwanza Hall, the other Democratic candidate in the runoff, failed to show up for the debate, giving Bailey a chance to explain how he would defeat Republican nominee Burt Jones in November.
Bailey said that he would use the powerful lieutenant governor position to improve health care and education.
“The number one priority is expanding Medicaid,” said Bailey, who speculated that Democrats would have a deficit of only six votes in the state Senate next year.
“I think we can go get six Republican votes to expand Medicaid, to reopen eight of the rural hospitals that have closed in the last 10 years, help cover the over 600,000 Georgians that don’t have health care coverage,” Bailey contended.
Bailey criticized Republican nominee Burt Jones’ record of support for Donald Trump.
“The values of Burt Jones and Donald Trump and authoritarianism and extremism are not the values of Georgians,” said Bailey.
Bailey said that he could defeat Jones in the November general election.
“We’re going to show a contrast in my ideas, which is for expanding Medicaid, making technical college tuition free again…actually not giving teachers just a bonus, but a real raise,” said Bailey. He said he thought teachers should earn at least $70,000 per year.
Bailey also pointed to his near-win in the 2018 race for attorney general, when he earned 49% of the vote, as evidence of his competitiveness for a statewide race.
Bailey initially planned to run for attorney general this year as well but shifted to the lieutenant governor race at the behest of Democratic party leadership.
Bailey said he had worked for the most recent Democratic lieutenant governor, Mark Taylor. “I know what a Democratic lieutenant governor that actually cares about working folks can get done,” he emphasized.
Bailey criticized his absent Democratic opponent Hall, saying Hall had illegally taken thousands of dollars from the city of Atlanta and calling him an “unserious person.”
“I would say [Hall] not being here, it’s a pattern…of a lack of respect for voters,” said Bailey.
In contrast to Hall, Bailey said he had garnered the endorsements of Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams, former Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin, congressional representatives Lucy McBath and Hank Johnson, and former Gov. Roy Barnes.
Bailey emphasized the need for more gun control measures.
“I think Republicans in the state, including Burt Jones, show more allegiance to an inanimate object than they do to human beings,” Bailey said.
“I have seen the devastation that high-capacity magazines have caused,” added Bailey, who was a prosecutor in Fulton County. “These machine guns, these assault weapons that were built for the military, they have no place in our society and I think we should ban them.”
“I believe we are all human beings …that we all deserve the same dignity, the same safety, the same justice, the same opportunity to build for our kids a better life than the one that we had,” Bailey said at the conclusion of the debate.
The runoff between Bailey and Hall will be held on June 21. The winner of the primary runoff will face Jones in the November general election.
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
