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> FORSYTH COUNTY NEWS— Sunday, March 28,1W9
Barnes ends session batting 1,000
By James Salzer
Morris News Service
ji
■’•Atlanta - with the state
budget already passed and most
bfGov. Roy Barnes’ agenda
'approved, lawmakers finished up
lire 1999 General Assembly ses-
Wednesday wrangling over
'whether to give themselves a
hefty pay raise.
‘They quietly guaranteed them
selves more money Tuesday
'Hight, but the big payoff was yet
•tofcome Wednesday, when there
■MJre negotiations over a bill con
‘thti’ping a 43 percent pay raise.
’"‘The final pieces of the gover
rfor’s HMO package passed
Wednesday, and by the time law
makers were ready to quit for the
vear, Barnes was declaring his
first session a success.
“Os our 27-bill legislative pack
age, all 27 have passed,” Barnes
told reporters before speaking to
the General Assembly. “We’re
very pleased with our first ses
sion.
“There is so much this session:
regional transportation, health
reform, open-meetings/open
records (bills), tax reform. It’s
hard to pick just one.”
The transportation-authority
fight Barnes predicted before the
session never materialized, and
his property tax cut plan won
rave reviews.
“Gov. Barnes chose good legis
lation, things that both
Republicans and Democrats
could agree on,” noted Rep.
Keith Heard, D-Athens.
Because of that, much of
Wednesday was taken up consid
ering less weighty matters, such
as whether mothers should breast
Wed in public or if the state
create a license plate ded
feated to the Bobwhite quail.
“’■ J A day earlier, the General
Assembly had adopted a $13.3
'birtion budget for the upcoming
year and passed Barnes’ bill to
ifftate an authority to plan and
implement transportation pro
jects in areas with poor air quali
-un
Environmentalists enthused over ’99 General Assembly
' ’, 'j »f
Dave Williams
orris News Service
ATLANTA - Georgia lawmak
ers took on three major types of
xillution during their 40-day ses
iion this year: air, water and soil.
The General Assembly passed
jW. Roy Barnes’ plan to create a
Igional transportation authority
jdeal with poor air quality in
e;orgia’s cities, temporarily
pcked a plan to pump river
into an underground aquifer
5 later sale and beefed up a trust
nd that pays to clean up leaks
tp soil and water from under
ound fuel tanks.
j Environmental advocates say it
JilLfldded up to stellar progress.
I “It’s been the best session since
J’ve been up here,” said Mark
jpVqodall, a lobbyist representing
(The Sierra Club who has worked
Jhe statehouse halls for a decade.
| The Georgia Regional
Utansportation Authority will use
$2 billion in bonding authority to
: direct road and rail construction
i projects in areas that fail to meet
federal clean-air standards. The
authority first will exercise juris
diction over only the 13-county
metro-Atlanta area, but Augusta,
Macon and Columbus may also
come under its purview.
Barnes had expected the authori
ty to cause the biggest fight in the
: General Assembly this year. But it
sailed through with large majori
ties after he guaranteed that fund
ing for metro-Atlanta projects
wouldn’t come at rural Georgia’s
expense.
Jeff Diamond, senior vice presi
dent for communications for the
Georgia Chamber of Commerce
said the business community
backed the bill early as the best
way to relieve traffic congestion
and poor air quality.
“Atlanta is the engine that drives
the state,” he said. “If we’re going
to attract business elsewhere, our
capital city has to be attractive.”
Neill Herring, a longtime South
Georgia environmental lobbyist,
said the authority will be able to
steer development to mass-transit
corridors and deteriorating in
town areas that have been passed
over by suburban sprawl. He said
the bond money also will help
industrial polluters retrofit smoke
stacks to cut down on air pollu-
ty-
Legislation to effectively dou
ble the homestead exemption for
homeowners was approved earli
er. Minor amendments to the
governor’s “Taxpayer’s Bill of
Rights” and a $949 million
unemployment-tax cut were easi
ly approved Wednesday, sending
those measures to Barnes’ desk
for his signature.
Under the “bill of rights,” local
officials will have to roll back the
millage rate if property values
increase. School boards, city
councils and county commissions
will be able to raise the millage
rate only after three public hear
ings.
Lawmakers also gave final
approval to Barnes’ plan to cre
ate a “super agency” for state
health care programs.
Other measures passing
Wednesday included legislation
to:
• Prohibit car manufacturers
from owning a substantial stake
in local dealerships.
• Make it easier for teachers to
keep unruly children out of their
classrooms.
• Force Georgians arrested for
repeat drunk-driving offenses to
install ignition interlock devices
in their cars.
The pay raise bill would
increase lawmakers’ salaries
from $11,347 to $16,200, starting
in 2001. State elected officials,
from circuit judges to the state
insurance commissioner, also
would get raises of 7-8 percent.
The House passed the bill
weeks ago, however Democrats
in the Senate feared Republicans
i would use it against them in next
t year’s elections.
: By late Wednesday, negotiators
were counting votes to see if they
could pass a version of the bill
I raising legislative pay to $14,500.
I The General Assembly
; increased its annual expense
i allowance Tuesday night from
I $4,800 to $7,000 and guaranteed
that lawmakers will get the same
raises as other state employees.
tion, a much quicker fix than
revamping development strate
gies.
“You’ll see an impact within
three to four years,” Herring said.
“Metro Atlantans will be enjoying
a measurable improvement in air
quality before Barnes’ first term is
over.”
But Robert Pregulman, Atlanta
based southern field director for
the U.S. Public Interest Research
Group, still wants to see how
inclusive the new authority’s
board will be.
“The (state) DOT (Department
of Transportation) and developers
will have the money and power to
make their voices heard,” he said.
“It is critical that the new board
contains a mixture of people.”
While environmental advocates
supported Barnes’ desire for an
activist role in reducing air pollu
tion, they also were heartened
with the General Assembly’s deci
sion to hold up action on a plan
by TSG Water Resources to inject
treated river water into the
Floridan Aquifer.
In the final hours of the session,
Cwo thousand years ago, a
< JR man named 'Jesus made the
ultimate sacrifice
jik *° in tls next Sunday as we
Rfil U&f Celebrate 9^ or Vof
Kr fits ultimate CriumohJ
BI Christian Church
n Invites you to pin in praise
‘ B and worship KXOO am
lk Cinder the dome at Forsyth
I Central h)igb
» Cbristkni Church. 1270 Sawnee
04 770 887 5542
5 *J hor more iutorowition
For Barnes, the 1999 session
was a chance to follow up on
most of last year’s campaign
promises, from cutting property
taxes to giving managed care
patients more choice over what
doctors they see.
His agenda dominated the ses
sion. Even though more than
2,500 bills and resolutions were
filed, lawmakers felt like they
worked on little else.
“It didn’t seem like we had as
many bills this year. The load
seemed lighter,” remarked Sen.
Casey Cagle, R-Gainesville.
The traditional honeymoon
period most governors have with
the legislature lasted throughout
the 1999 session. But it may not
be so easy next year.
“He’s coming off an election
where he won big and where
Democrats maintained control,”
said Rep. Ben Harbin, R-
Martinez. “Next year, we’ll be
back to normal.”
Georgia
Among Barnes’ bills
Gov. Roy Barnes passed bills
during the 1999 session to:
• Strengthen the open-meetings,
public-records laws
• Mandate local tax-rate roll
l backs when assessed property val
ues rise
i • Provide tax credits to effective
' ly double the state homestead
I exemption
• Allow voters to decide whether
' the state should be able to raise
: the homestead exemption from
i $2,000 to $20,000
I • Make it easier for teachers to
: keep unruly students out of their
classrooms
lawmakers imposed a moratorium
that in effect will prevent any per
mit applicant from moving for
ward with a technology known as
aquifer storage and recovery
(ASR) through the end of 2002.
Coastal environmentalists and
municipal leaders are worried
about the possible effects of mix
ing chemically treated river water
with nearly pure groundwater.
Legislative opponents fought the
moratorium throughout the ses
sion as unnecessary, considering
how long it will take the state to
approve the project. But they gave
in when supporters agreed to
reduce its length from five years
and apply it only to the 11 coastal
counties.
“We would have preferred the
original bill,” said Ben Brewton,
chairman of the Coastal
Environmental Organization of
Georgia. “But with the obstacles
we ran into, we were grateful to
.oqoQ come up with something.”
A House subcommittee plans to
study ASR during the summer,
while the state continues to pursue
a sl4 million multi-year study of
Legislature approves last two pieces of
Gov. Barnes’ health-case legislation
By Dave Williams
Morris News Service
ATLANTA - The Georgia
Senate Wednesday gave final
approval to two of Gov. Roy
Barnes’ three-part HMO-reform
package, two days after the House
sent the third piece of legislation
to the governor’s desk.
On the final day of the 1999 leg
islative session, senators unani
mously passed a bill giving
patients the right to choose doc
tors outside of their managed-care
plan’s network, and voted 38-15
to create a consumer insurance
advocate in the governor’s office
to represent the
-A, public in rate
cases.
/ Sk O n
Monday,
the House
gave final
approval
• Cut unemployment taxes $949
million and raise unemployment
benefits
• Create a superagency for state
health programs and a regional
authority to plan and implement
transportation projects in cities
with poor air quality
• Give managed care patients
I more choice over which doctors
they see and the ability to sue
their HMO for the medical deci
sions companies make
i • Create a consumer advocate’s
office for insurance
- Compiled by Morris News
Service
saltwater intrusion along the
coast.
Another initiative cited by state
Environmental Protection
Division Director Harold Reheis
was the legislature’s approval of a
bill authorizing the use of bond
money to reimburse owners of
underground storage tanks for the
cost of cleaning up their sites.
One in five underground tanks
across Georgia have leaked gaso
line or other fuel into surrounding
soil or water, he said.
“We have a significant backlog
of reimbursements from the trust
fund to owners who have already
done cleanups,” he said.
Reheis said the EPD has helped
pay for about 1,400 cleanups,
while about 4,000 more are in
progress.
Environmental activists say their
lone disappointment this year was
the General Assembly’s approval
of SIO.B million for deepening
Savannah harbor from 42 feet to
as much as 48 feet. While The
Sierra Club and others are con
cerned about the potential harm of
dredging up polluted material
to a bill allowing patients to sue
HMOs for denying or delaying
medically necessary heath care.
Os the three bills, the consumer
advocate measure generated the
most controversy in the waning
days of the session.
In approving the legislation
Wednesday, the Senate agreed to
an amendment the House passed
late Tuesday stripping a provision
that would have subjected health
insurers for the first time to state
approval of rate increase requests.
The provision also would have
allowed property/casualty insurers
which under current law must
submit every change in rates to
the insurance commissioner
and health insurers to raise their
rates up to 5 percent in one year,
or up to 9 percent in two years,
without interference from the
state.
Bringing health and
property/casualty insurance under
the same restrictions was a matter
of fairness, said state Rep. Ben
Harbin, R-Martinez, a member of
the House Insurance Committee,
which initiated the provision.
“We shouldn’t regulate the
industry two different ways
because they sell two different
products,” he said. “We ought to
regulate them the same way.”
While property/casualty insurers
enthusiastically supported the eas
ing of restrictions on their ability
to raise rates, health insurers were
appalled by the amendment and
lobbied Barnes to take a stand
against it.
In the end. Sen. Charlie
Tanksley, R-Marietta, the gover
nor’s assistant floor leader in the
Senate, told his colleagues that
Barnes opposed making such a
substantial change in his bill so
late in the session.
“The governor decided it would
require more consideration,
reflection and resources if it was
to be done adequately,” he said.
In proposing hiring a consumer
from the harbor bottom, the
Georgia Ports Authority wants a
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Pledge of support
Gov. Roy Barnes has
pledged his support for new
legislation created to help
prevent blindness. House Bill
812 would establish a option
al $1 donation at the time of
drivers license renewal.
The money will be used t 0...
establish a program to support
the prevention of blindness.
The bill was created by Rep. ,
Randy Sauder (R-Smyrna), .
who began work on behalf of
the blind in 1991 when his
daughter sustained an injury
that resulted in blindness in.
one eye. Since then, he has
worked to find support and
funding for organizations that
help the blind and vision
impaired.
a
insurance advocate, Barnes:
argued that Georgians need a rep- ‘
resentative in rate cases to go up;
against well-paid insurance indus-;
try lawyers and lobbyists.
But Senate Minority Leader EriC;
Johnson, R-Savannah, said the«
state’s track record with health*
insurance rates shows no need for’
a consumer advocate. He and:
i other Republicans have main;
tained that elected GOP Insurance
Commissioner John Oxendine is:
capable of doing his job without:
such assistance.
“The people around the state:
I have not been crying out despej--;
I ately for a consumer advocate, ;a;
shadow insurance commissioner;
or a new bureaucracy in the goy-;
ernor’s office to protect them,”
Johnson said.
The doctor-choice bill would
i require HMOs to offer enrollees a
i consumer-choice option allowing
them to select out-of-network
I doctors. But the choice option
, would cost patients up to 17.5
> percent more in premiums, or up.
to 20 percent more in deductibles
or co-payments.
,■) It. *
deeper port to accommodate the
growing number of large con-