Coronavirus has sickened hundreds of thousands people and killed thousands more in Georgia. (Image: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
Nineteen cases of a highly contagious COVID-19 variant originating from Europe have been identified in metro Atlanta, state public-health officials confirmed on Monday.
Early studies suggest the COVID-19 variant is “significantly more contagious” than the original coronavirus strain that sparked a global pandemic last March, according to the Georgia Department of Public Health (DPH). Georgia is among 30 states reporting cases of the variant so far.
The 19 variant cases in Georgia have been reported in several metro-Atlanta counties including Fulton, Gwinnett, DeKalb, Cobb, Clayton, Cherokee, Carroll, Douglas and Paulding. It has infected Georgians from ages 15 to 61, DPH said in a news release.
“We must ensure we are taking every precaution right now to prevent transmission of COVID and to avoid a surge in hospitalizations and loss of life,” said state Public Health Commissioner Dr. Kathleen Toomey.
Toomey added the COVID-19 variant now spreading in Georgia will likely become the “dominant strain” of coronavirus in the U.S. by March after originating in the United Kingdom.
DPH officials are warning Georgians to follow COVID-19 safety measures even more strictly since laboratories have only tested a small number of samples for the variant so far, giving public-health experts a limited view of where the variant might be spreading.
Public-health officials are urging Georgians to wear masks, wash hands and social distance to help curb the highly contagious virus’ spread at a time when COVID-19 positive case rates and deaths have started trending down after grueling winter outbreaks.
The variant’s discovery in Georgia also comes as state officials, hospitals and pharmacies rush to distribute tight supplies of COVID-19 vaccines to health-care workers, nursing-home residents and staff, first responders and people ages 65 and older.
Pharmaceutical companies Pfizer and Moderna have stressed that their COVID-19 vaccines “appear to work” against the variant, according to DPH.
Nearly 750,000 people had tested positive for COVID-19 in Georgia as of Sunday afternoon, with nearly 160,000 more reported positive antigen tests indicating likely positive results. The virus has killed 12,570 Georgians.
Georgia Senate members take the oath of office on the first day of the 2021 legislative session on Jan. 11, 2020. (Photo by Beau Evans)
The Georgia Senate passed its first bill of the 2021 legislative session Monday, unanimously backing legislation calling for auditing up to five tax credit programs each year.
The bill, sponsored by state Sen. John Albers, R-Roswell, aims to curb wasteful loopholes in the state’s tax structure. It would appoint outside auditors to scrutinize the chosen tax programs on request from certain General Assembly committee heads.
“We can continue to solve so many challenges to a balanced and proactive approach to having sound fiscal policy and keeping people working,” Albers said. “This is good policy and it’s the right thing to do.”
The bill now heads to the Georgia House of Representatives.
State senators passed Albers’ bill last February before it was sidelined by the COVID-19 pandemic. The legislature shut down for three months in mid-March as several lawmakers took ill with the virus.
An earlier version of the bill was passed in 2019 but died on Gov. Brian Kemp’s desk. Kemp vetoed it for not giving the budget office the ability to contract with independent auditors to complete the audits.
Albers’ current bill stems from a Senate study committee report in 2017 that found shortcomings in how the state monitors whether a given tax incentive is spurring business and job creation as it was intended to do.
State lawmakers may take another stab at scrutinizing tax incentives during this year’s session. Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Hufstetler, R-Rome, said last week lawmakers plan to propose a two-year study focusing on potential areas to trim the fat from Georgia’s entire $9.5 billion tax-incentive structure.
The deeper dive on tax incentives comes as lawmakers look to plug holes in the state’s $26 billion budget following substantial spending cuts last year due to the pandemic. Budgets for state agencies are poised to stay flat this year with no new cuts or spending increases.
Some budget analysts have called for raising the state’s tax on tobacco from 37 cents a pack up to the national average of $1.81, potentially bringing in $700 million in revenue per year. Lawmakers largely avoided talks of raising the cigarette tax during last year’s pandemic-struck session.
Medicaid enrollment in Georgia has hiked up during the COVID-19 pandemic, prompting some analysts to call for fully expanding coverage for the program that helps low-income families.
Others, however, back the partial Medicaid expansion Gov. Brian Kemp steered through the General Assembly two years ago that won federal approval last year.
The number of Medicaid beneficiaries in Georgia jumped by about 338,000 between March 2020 when the pandemic broke out and December, boosting the total number of children, adult and family recipients to roughly 2,104,000, according to state Department of Community Health (DCH) data.
Climbing Medicaid enrollment underscores how the pandemic is spurring economic uncertainty for poor children in Georgia, who make up roughly two-thirds of the program’s beneficiaries, said Laura Harker, a senior policy analyst at the nonprofit Georgia Budget and Policy Institute (GBPI).
“It reflects some of the challenges to the whole household when a family member loses income or loses their job that could result in them qualifying or their children qualifying in Medicaid,” Harker said.
Currently, Medicaid coverage is available for Georgia adults with incomes about 35% below the federal poverty line, as well as children in households making up to 138% above the poverty line and low-income senior, blind and disabled adults.
Eligibility is set to change under Kemp’s plan for partial Medicaid expansion, which would cover adults earning up to 100% of the poverty line or possibly 50,000 more beneficiaries, according to state estimates. It also requires recipients to work, attend school or volunteer at least 80 hours each month.
The plan won federal approval last October and is set to roll out in phases starting in July.
Its backers view the plan as a timely tool to help prop up Georgia’s lowest-earning residents as they struggle through the pandemic, particularly if certain jobs never return or are changed drastically in the rebounding economy.
“[The plan] tried to address those jobs right around the eligibility level and create a pathway off Medicaid,” said Chris Denson, the policy and research director for the nonprofit Georgia Public Policy Foundation (GPPF). “There are going to be a lot of long-term ramifications out of this pandemic as far as the economy.”
Kemp’s partial-expansion plan has many detractors who want Georgia to join other states in fully expanding Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, which would cover adults up to 138% of the poverty line and could add 500,000 more recipients to the program, according to GBPI’s estimates.
Full expansion would also boost the federal government’s share of costs for administering Medicaid in Georgia from about 60% currently to 90%, greatly reducing the state’s required contributions, supporters say.
Democratic state lawmakers citing the spike in enrollment have renewed longstanding calls for full Medicaid expansion, a step Georgia’s Republican-led legislature has avoided in favor of Kemp’s plan for partial expansion.
“It is a fiscally responsible option [and] it is a morally responsible option,” said state Rep. Teri Anulewicz, D-Smyrna. “We are turning down federal funds due to political partisanship and that is thwarting Georgians.”
Cost savings from the federal government under full expansion could help the state plug holes in its $26-billion budget for areas like public schools and health care that faced spending cuts last year due to the pandemic, said Harker of the GBPI.
“We’re missing out on the enhanced federal match,” Harker said. “Other states are able to use that money to support their budgets as they face the downturn.”
Critics of that approach argue Georgia’s costs to run Medicaid would still be too high to manage hundreds of thousands more beneficiaries, even if the federal government ups its end of the cost-sharing arrangement. They prefer striking a balance between helping struggling Georgians and weaning them off government assistance.
“As Medicaid enrollment continues to grow, then it crowds out other state priorities,” said Denson of the GPPF. “And there’s always a chance that the feds will drop that matching rate.”
Republican state lawmakers, who hold majorities in both General Assembly chambers, look unlikely to tackle the issue this year after passing a bill in June aimed at expanding Medicaid coverage for new mothers to six months after birth instead of the current two months.
House Appropriations Committee Chairman Terry England, R-Auburn, argued Georgia’s spending might increase by hundreds of millions of dollars with full expansion, calling it a “policy decision” instead of a “budget decision” that would need legislation to pass.
“I think we’ve had numerous discussions over that over the years,” England said. “Remember that with expansion of Medicaid, there is also an increased liability from the state’s portion.”
Still, Medicaid costs are set to increase in the coming months once the federal government nixes a temporary larger share it has been paying amid the pandemic. Georgia Department of Community Health officials project needing an additional $201 million to cover rising Medicaid costs in fiscal 2022.
Kemp’s office pointed to the governor’s budget proposal that includes an additional $329 million for Medicaid through June 2022, plus another $76 million for agencies to implement the partial-expansion plan and other changes to boost insurance coverage and private-sector insurance competition.
“It is crucial that we provide life-saving healthcare to our most vulnerable Georgians, especially during a pandemic,” said Mallory Blount, Kemp’s press secretary.
“Doing so will reduce Georgians’ dependence on the failed promises of the Affordable Care Act, giving low-income Georgians access to affordable care, and increasing competition in the private sector to make more options available throughout the state.”
Gov. Brian Kemp has rolled out his administration’s bill package for foster care and adoption in Georgia that would boost tax credits for foster parents and tighten reporting requirements on child abuse.
The bills would revive Kemp’s push to raise the tax credit for foster parents from $2,000 to $6,000 and lower the minimum age adults are allowed to adopt children from 25 to 21. Those proposals were shelved when the COVID-19 pandemic interrupted last year’s legislative session.
A third bill would add more training for juvenile court officers, expand rules for parents under court-ordered alternatives care and require officials to report on a range of child-abuse treatment including abandonment, neglect, emotional abuse and exposure to chronic alcohol or drug use.
The number of Georgia children in foster care has declined over the past three years but remains high, according to state Division of Children and Family Services data. The state currently has about 11,200 children in foster care, down from 15,000 in March 2018.
Kemp has made foster care a legislative priority for his administration along with cracking down on human trafficking and gang activities.
“The most fundamental need for any child is a safe, loving home,” Kemp said Thursday in a statement.
“By making it more affordable to adopt, reducing bureaucratic red tape that stands in the way of loved ones adopting kids, and championing the safety of children across our state, we can ensure Georgia’s children are placed in those homes and secure a safer, brighter future for generations to come.”
The three bills are being sponsored by state Rep. Bert Reeves, R-Marietta, and state Sen. Bo Hatchett, R-Cornelia, both of whom Kemp appointed as floor leaders in their respective chambers.
The measures follow Kemp’s signing of a bill last year that prohibits foster parents from engaging in improper sexual behavior with children in their care, closing a loophole in current state law.
State Sen. Jason Anavitarte, R-Dallas, filed a bill requiring voters to provide photo ID copes twice to request mail-in ballots. (Georgia Senate photo)
ATLANTA – Georgia voters would need to provide copies of their photo identification two separate times to cast absentee ballots under a bill introduced in the General Assembly.
The bill, sponsored by freshman state Sen. Jason Anavitarte, R-Dallas, marks the first move by state Republicans to overhaul election laws after Democrats carried Georgia in the 2020 presidential election and flipped both of the state’s U.S. Senate seats, largely due to historically huge mail-in voting.
Instead of the current signature-verification process, voters would need to provide a photocopy of their driver’s license, passport or other valid ID card when applying for an absentee ballot. Then, another photocopy of that ID would have to be placed in the envelope used to mail back the ballot.
Requiring photo ID for absentee voting is a top priority for Republican leaders in the 2021 legislative session after mail-in votes topped one million in all three rounds of the 2020 election cycle, far exceeding past Georgia elections.
Gov. Brian Kemp and Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger have pushed for the change after doubts from many conservative voters over verifying signatures stirred mistrust in Georgia’s election integrity. Republicans stand a strong chance of passing legislation since they control both chambers in the General Assembly.
Democratic leaders and voting rights advocates have condemned stricter ID requirements as attempts at voter suppression, noting a driver’s license, Social Security number or other identifying documents are already needed to register to vote in Georgia.
Supporters of tighter absentee ID rules point out voters must provide photo ID when casting ballots in person at polling places. They argue mail-in ballots should fall under the same requirements instead of difference rules for signature verification.
Currently, registered Georgia voters need only provide their signature on an application form to request an absentee ballot. Signatures on that request form as well as on the envelope in which voters mail their ballots are matched with other signatures in voters’ registration files before those ballots are accepted.
That process caused controversy in the weeks following former President Donald Trump’s loss in the Nov. 3 election, which he claimed was “rigged” with fraud. State election officials and federal courts rejected those claims as baseless.
Trump and his allies targeted absentee ballots and Georgia’s process for verifying signatures as ripe for fraud, though they gave no evidence backing their claims that widespread fraud occurred in the Nov. 3 election. Trump lost to Biden by 11,779 votes in Georgia.
An audit of more than 15,000 absentee ballots in Cobb County by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation also found no evidence of fraud. Still, state Republicans including Kemp and Raffensperger have urged lawmakers to do away with signature verification in favor of photo ID changes.
“We know there’s a lot of frustration out there,” Kemp said in a recent interview on Fox News. “I think it’s incumbent on us as policymakers to listen to people’s frustrations, but also at the end of the day make sure that we have secure, accessible and fair elections in the state.”
Voter advocates were quick to criticize Anavitarte’s bill after it was filed on Tuesday. They accused state Republicans of trying to change the rules of the game as Democrats gain momentum in Georgia elections.
“Georgians will see through these cynical power grabs, but it’s going to take a big fight on the part of everyone who cares about the right to vote in Georgia,” said the group Fair Fight, which was founded by former gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams. “Republicans are more desperate than ever to hold onto their waning power.”
