ATLANTA – Georgia’s rural hospital tax credit fared better in a new state audit than the critical evaluation the program received from the state Department of Revenue just more than a year ago.
“Hospitals, taxpayers and third parties were largely compliant with statutory provisions,” the Georgia Department of Audits and Accounts concluded in an audit released this week.
The last audit of the tax credit, released in December 2018, found that contributions to the program weren’t necessarily going to the neediest rural hospitals. The report called for bringing greater accountability and transparency to the program.
The General Assembly created the tax credit program in 2016 to help the state’s most financially stressed rural hospitals. A handful of rural hospitals have closed in recent years, unable to generate enough income to keep their doors open.
Under the program, taxpayers who donate to eligible hospitals reduce their state income tax liability by the amounts they contribute.
Donors may choose a specific hospital or, if one is not designated, the hospital receiving the contribution is chosen based on a ranking of financial need. In either case, no individual hospital may receive more than $4 million a year through the program.
Lawmakers capped total annual contributions to the program at $60 million, a level it nearly reached in 2018. However, the donations fell off to $46.5 million in 2019 and likely ended up at a similar level last year, based on data through mid-December, according to the audit.
Advocates for rural hospitals in Georgia blamed the reduction in contributions on a change in federal tax regulations in 2018 that reduced the financial benefit of the donations to individual and corporate taxpayers.
A rule promulgated last August partially restored the federal benefit by allowing some contributions from corporations and pass-through entities to be deducted as a business expense.
As expected, contributions to eligible hospitals vary significantly. In 2019, 12 of the 58 eligible hospitals received more than $1 million in contributions, while 22 received less than $500,000.
Dorminy Medical Center in Fitzgerald, ranked as the neediest rural hospital, received the $4 million limit in 2019, all in undesignated contributions. The hospital receiving the largest amount of designated contributions – Colquitt Regional Medical Center in Moultrie – brought in $3.3 million.
While most 2019 taxpayer contributions to rural hospitals complied with state law, the audit found a limited number of credits that exceeded statutory limits.
The report recommended that the state Department of Revenue strengthen the program’s safeguards by ensuring taxpayers contributing to the program identify the pass-through entities from which they are claiming income and that the agency not allow corporate taxpayer credits to exceed 75% of their actual tax liability.
ATLANTA – Veteran Georgia Public Service Commissioner Lauren “Bubba” McDonald withstood a challenge from Democrat Daniel Blackman Tuesday, winning reelection to a six-year term by a narrow margin.
With 99% of precincts reporting, the incumbent Republican was leading with 50.8% of the vote to 49.2% for Blackman, according to unofficial results.
McDonald, who served 20 years in the Georgia House of Representatives before joining the PSC in 1998, fended off a series of criticisms from Blackman, an environmental advocate who also lost to McDonald in 2014.
Blackman accused McDonald and the other four members of the all-Republican utility-regulating commission of dragging their feet on moving away from the use of coal in power generation toward a greater emphasis on renewable energy, particularly solar power.
The challenger also took the PSC to task for lifting a moratorium on electric service disconnections while the coronavirus pandemic was still wrecking Georgia’s economy, letting Georgia Power Co. recover the costs of its coal ash cleanup initiative from customers and for refusing to pull the plug on the long delayed and overbudget Plant Vogtle nuclear expansion.
McDonald countered by taking credit as a driving force on the commission in favor of expanding the role of solar energy in Georgia and defending Plant Vogtle as a clean source of power that eventually will pay dividends for electric customers over time.
The incumbent also reminded voters his time on the PSC has seen Georgia build upon its reputation for inexpensive, reliable electricity. Indeed, the price of electricity in Georgia is below the national average, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
McDonald was forced into a runoff when he fell barely short in the November general election of winning the 50%-plus-one margin of the vote required in Georgia to avoid a runoff. He captured 49.9% of the vote on Nov. 3.
McDonald represents the PSC’s District 4, which covers all of North Georgia and the state’s border with South Carolina down to Augusta.
Gabriel Sterling, Georgia’s election system implementation manager(Secretary of State video)
ATLANTA – A top official in the Georgia secretary of state’s office pleaded Monday for voters worried about fraud during the Nov. 3 election not to stay home from Tuesday’s U.S. Senate runoffs.
Calling it “Anti-Disinformation Monday,” Gabriel Sterling, the state’s elections system implementation manager, went through allegation after allegation lodged by President Donald Trump and his Republican allies surrounding the election and dismissed charges that President-elect Joe Biden stole Georgia’s 16 electoral votes from Trump in carrying the Peach State.
The president’s campaign to get the election results overturned reached a crescendo during the weekend when Trump spent an hour in a recorded phone conversation pressuring Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, also a Republican, to “find” enough votes to overturn the Georgia results. Biden carried the state by 11,779 votes.
Sterling assured voters concerned about the fraud allegations stemming from the November election that Tuesday’s runoffs will yield legitimate results.
“Everybody’s vote is going to count. Everybody’s vote counted,” he told reporters during a news conference at the state Capitol. “If you care about the values and directions of the nation you want to see, it is your obligation to turn out and vote tomorrow, be you Democrat or Republican.”
Georgia voters will head to the polls on Tuesday to elect both of the state’s senators, with Republican incumbents David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler defending their seats against Democratic challengers Jon Ossoff and Rev. Raphael Warnock.
With control of the Senate at stake, interest has been unprecedented for a Georgia runoff election. More than three million voters already have cast their ballots early via absentee ballots or by in-person early voting, setting a record for a runoff in Georgia even before Election Day arrives, Sterling said.
Voter interest has been stirred up by a withering barrage of advertising by the four campaigns and allied groups.
“I’m sure Georgians are tired of TV ads, text messages, voice-mails and mail,” Sterling said. “It’s all going to end very soon, hopefully.”
ATLANTA – The state must pursue new sources of public and private funding to make the improvements needed to move an exploding volume of freight through Georgia efficiently, a state commission is recommending.
A report released last week by the Georgia Freight & Logistics Commission proposed that the General Assembly commit $1 billion to $1.5 billion a year to a dedicated fund for freight projects across the state.
In addition to that public money, the panel suggested legislation authorizing the State Road and Tollway Authority (SRTA) to tap into private financing to help build freight and logistics improvements such as rail projects and truck parking.
“There are some huge freight and logistics challenges ahead of us,” Brad Skinner, a board member at Denver-based freight railroad operator OmniTrax and a member of the commission, said during the panel’s final meeting last month. “[But] our traditional sources of revenue are drying up.”
The legislature created the commission two years ago to look for ways to improve the flow of freight through Georgia. The panel, which disbanded following the release of its final report, included lawmakers, local elected officials, business leaders and logistics executives.
The commission’s mission gained greater urgency last year as the coronavirus pandemic forced Americans accustomed to shopping at brick-and-mortar stores to go online for goods and services. For example, online spending last May was up 77% over May of 2019, according to the report.
The commission’s final report recommended an array of options for new sources of public funding for freight projects, including broadening the uses of motor fuel taxes – currently limited by state law to roads and bridges – to rail projects. The panel also suggested imposing mileage-based user fees, a consumer-based tax assessment on activities such as home deliveries from e-commerce providers, or a statewide assessment on warehouse distribution facilities.
The proposed SRTA legislation would expand the state agency’s authority from the toll lanes in metro Atlanta it currently oversees to let it enter into public-private partnerships to finance and build freight projects.
“SRTA, in conjunction with [the Georgia Department of Transportation], has demonstrated a strong proficiency in executing major infrastructure projects with private financing components, and their scope should be expanded to include freight and logistics projects as well,” according to the report.
The commission identified shortages of both truck parking and commercial truck drivers as major challenges hampering the smooth movement of freight. The DOT is conducting a study of the truck parking issue, looking to expand the supply of spaces beyond those found at truck stops and interstate rest areas.
The report noted that commercial truck driving schools were forced to close last year when the pandemic hit, hurting efforts to train new drivers at a time COVID-19 was increasing the demand for them. The commission recommended creating a workforce development grant program to help the commercial trucking industry work with public high schools in recruiting potential future drivers.
The 2021 General Assembly session kicks off next Monday.
ATLANTA – Gov. Brian Kemp Thursday named four returning members of the Georgia House of Representatives and three new state senators to his roster of floor leaders for the 2021-2022 General Assembly term.
Republican Reps. Bert Reeves of Marietta, Jodi Lott of Evans, Dominic LaRiccia of Douglas and Josh Bonner of Fayetteville will serve as the GOP governor’s House floor leaders.
Lott, LaRiccia and Reeves were all elected to the House in 2014, while Bonner was elected in 2016.
Kemp’s three Senate floor leaders – Republicans Clint Dixon of Buford, Russ Goodman of Homerville and Bo Hatchett of Cornelia – were all elected in November.
Goodman will succeed Sen. Ellis Black of Valdosta, who opted not to run for another term in the Senate this year. Dixon and Hatchett will succeed Sens. Renee Unterman of Buford and John Wilkinson of Toccoa, respectively, both of whom left the legislature in unsuccessful bids for Congress.
Floor leaders sponsor bills introduced into the General Assembly on behalf of the governor and shepherd them through the committee process and onto the floor of their respective legislative chambers.
Kemp noted previous floor leaders have carried dozens of his health-care bills through the General Assembly as well as legislation targeting human trafficking and criminal street gangs.
“Our partnership with the General Assembly has been critical in the fight against COVID-19 as we have worked every day to protect lives and livelihoods,” Kemp said in a statement. “I am confident these outstanding legislators will carry that important work forward, and I appreciate their commitment to the people of Georgia.”
