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About Jackson herald. (Jefferson, Jackson County, Ga.) 1881-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 25, 2023)
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 25, 2023 THE JACKSON HERALD PAGE 5A State updates Rules vote to mark milestone for medical cannabis in Georgia By Dave Williams Capitol Beat News Service Georgia’s long-delayed medical marijuana program is about to take off, despite a spate of unresolved lawsuits from companies that lost out in the bidding for licenses. The Georgia Access to Medical Cannabis Com mission is expected to vote Jan. 25 on rules governing all aspects of the program from growing the leaf crop in greenhouses under close supervision to manufactur ing low-THC cannabis oil to treat patients suffering from a variety of diseases to sell ing the product at a network of dispensaries across the state. “We'11 have a big ramp- up,” said Andrew Tumage, the commission’s executive director. The commission voted in September to award the first two of six production licens es authorized in a law the General Assembly passed in 2019. Executives with Trulieve Georgia and Botanical Sci ences LLC endorsed the proposed rules during a pub lic hearing Aug. 18 and said they’re ready to go. Trulieve is building a production fa cility in Adel, while Botani cal Sciences will set up shop in Glennville. “No time should be wasted approving these rules,” Tru lieve President Lisa Pinkney told the commission. “We look forward to making a difference for patients in this state.” “No rales are perfect, but these are very good,” add ed Tyler Anthony, general counsel for Botanical Sci ences. “They protect the public while imposing no overly burdensome com pliance concerns. ... They provide a great starting point for launching this industry in Georgia.” Trulieve and Botanical Sciences were awarded Class 1 licenses under the 2019 law in September authoriz ing them to grow marijuana indoors in up to 100,0000 square feet of space. It’s the four Class 2 licens es providing up to 50,000 square feet of growth space that are in limbo. Sixteen companies that were unsuc cessful in bidding for those licenses filed lawsuits in 2021 claiming the selection process was unfair and arbi trary. Georgia Rep. Alan Powell, chairman of the House Reg ulated Industries Committee, attempted to solve the legal logjam legislatively last year with a bill that would have increased the number of li censes to be awarded from six to 22, thus taking care of the 16 litigating companies. “Georgia doesn’t have enough growers to be competitive,” said Powell, R-Hartwell. But after Powell’s legis lation died on the last day of the 2022 session, Gov. Brian Kemp stepped in by directing $150,000 from the Governor’s Emergency Fund to expedite hearings of the lawsuits. Tumage said that money was used to send the legal challenges to the Georgia Office of Administrative State Hearings. Following a series of hearings last fall, an administrative law judge ruled in favor of the state in every case, he said. Howev er, the lawsuits remain pend ing on appeal, he said. “We’re disappointed with the delays,” Tumage said. “The state made every effort to follow the law.” With the awarding of the Class 2 licenses still uncer tain, Powell said he expects lawmakers will make anoth er attempt to find a legisla tive solution during the ses sion that began this month. “The cannabis issue still needs to be fixed,” he said. Tumage said it’s not the commission’s role either to endorse or oppose a legisla tive fix. ““We’re not an advocacy group. We’re a regulatory compliance agency,” he said. “We want to have adequate staffing and resources to regulate what we’ve been tasked with.” With that in mind, the commission is requesting a $125,000 increase on top of its current $908,000 fiscal 2023 budget to move the pro gram forward. That includes licensing the five dispensa ries the original 2019 law au thorized for each production licensee in addition to a sixth dispensary each will be per mitted to open now that the registry of Georgia patients eligible to receive the oil has climbed above 25,000. Tmlieve Georgia initially plans to open four dispen saries in Marietta, Macon, Newnan, and Pooler, accord ing to the company’s web site. Doing the math, allowing each of the six Class 1 and Class 2 licensees six dis pensaries will mean 36 lo cations opening for business across Georgia. Tumage said all could be up and running within six to eight months. With the 2019 law almost four years old, patients who qualify for cannabis oil but can’t get it legally and oth er program supporters have long complained about the delays in getting the drag out to market. But Turnage said the 40-plus states that have launched medical cannabis initiatives have encountered similar delays. “For every state that has started this program, the average is four years to get through the litigation and issue licenses,” he said. “We’re just a little bit ahead of the average.” Rep. Erwin named chairman of Education Committee The Georgia House of Representatives’ Commit tee on Assignments named State Representative Rep. Chris Erwin (R-Homer) as the chairman of the House Education Committee. “I am honored to serve the communities in House Dis trict 32, especially the fam ilies who’ve chosen to call Northeast Georgia home,” said Rep. Erwin. “My pas sion all of my adult life has been to assist our youth in their quest for education and to develop their path to a productive future. I look forward to guiding legisla tion that can help our youth achieve their goals and help parents feel secure in send ing their children to our K-12 schools.” The House Committee on Assignments, chaired by House Speaker Jon Bums (R-Newington), is charged with making all House com mittee assignments for the members of the Georgia House of Representatives. The House Education Committee is responsible for all aspects of legislation that deals with Pre-K and K-12 education in Georgia. Representative Chris Er win represents the citizens of District 32, which includes Banks and Stephens coun ties, as well as portions of Habersham and Jackson counties. He was elected to the House of Representatives in 2018 and currently serves as Chairman of the Educa tion Committee. Health-care needs focus of first day of state budget hearings By Rebecca Grapevine Capitol Beat News Service The mental health of Georgians, especially chil dren, took center stage last Tuesday during the first day of state budget hearings at the state Capitol. Leaders of Georgia’s main health-care agencies told legislators how they plan to address the chal lenges Georgians face as well as how much those plans will cost. Candice Broce, director of the Georgia Division of Family and Children Ser vices (DFCS), told law makers about the problem of “hoteling,” which refers to boarding foster-care chil dren and youth in hotels or offices because appropri ate placements cannot be found for them, usually due to complicated behavioral health issues. “On any given night in Georgia, roughly 50 to 70 children in foster care with complex needs will sleep in a local office or hotel,” Broce said. She called the practice “heartbreaking,” adding that the practice cost the state more than $28 mil lion in fiscal year 2022. “Since joining this agen cy, we have been hell-bent on ending hoteling.” Broce said. DFCS started a program to pay enhanced per-diem rates and provide emer gency grants to incentivize caretakers to take on the foster-care children most at risk for hoteling. The pilot project is work ing, Broce said. Last June, the state hit an all-time low of fewer than 20 children in hotels or offices. And, she said, stays in offices and hotels have also been short ened for many foster-care children. Broce also said DFCS has developed draft legisla tion to address the hoteling problem for lawmakers to consider this session. The issue has emerged as a top concern for lawmakers on both sides of the aisle, in cluding Sen. Blake Tillery. R- Vidalia, chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, and Rep. Mary Margaret Oliver. D-Decatur, a leader in the state’s mental health reform efforts. Kevin Tanner, a former state representative who took over as commissioner of the Department of Be havioral Health and De velopmental Disabilities (DBHDD) last month, out lined several steps his agen cy is taking to help stem the how of children into foster care in the first place. He noted that the Multi-Agen cy Treatment for Children (MATCH) Committee - created by last year’s men tal-health-reform law - be gan meeting last month to work on child-welfare is sues like hoteling. Tanner also said his agen cy works with DFCS and local community-service boards to provide residen tial treatment to mothers who are experiencing sub stance abuse or behavioral health issues. The programs allow children to stay with their mothers during treat ment and help prevent the fracturing of families, Tan ner said. “I look forward to ... [making] sure every family at risk of foster care because of a parent’s substance abuse has access to the pro gram in the future,” Tanner told lawmakers. DBHDD also plans to build a behavioral health crisis center in Fulton County and convert an ex isting facility in Dublin to a higher-level behavioral crisis center if the legisla ture approves Gov. Brian Kemp’s request for $11.1 million for the two projects. State agencies across the board are straggling to hire and retain the workers nec essary to provide the social services Georgians need. Kemp’s proposed budget includes a $2,000 pay raise for all state employees. Statewide, the turnover rate is around 25%, a histor ic high, said Rebecca Sul livan, commissioner of the state Department of Admin istrative Services. The high turnover rates come with increased financial costs as well as intangible hits, such as the loss of institutional knowledge, Sullivan said. Tanner said his agency has been unable to fill posi tions at the five state psychi atric hospitals, forcing them to rely on Jackson Health care, a staffing agency, to fill more than 450 jobs. Broce said many frontline caseworkers leave due not to pay but to the heavy emo tional demands of the job, though she said turnover for such workers has started to decrease since the height of the pandemic. In good news, Commis sioner Caylee Noggle of the Georgia Department of Community Health ex plained how new funding strategies and increased fed eral funds will increase re sources for hospitals across the state, both mral and ur ban. The goal, she said, is to eliminate the burden of uncompensated care that small, mral hospitals must shoulder for uninsured and low-income patients. The state’s health-care agencies are collaborating to staff up and prepare for what is known as “the great unwinding,” which will take place in April, when the federal government will relax pandemic-era regula tions that prevented states from disenrolling people from Medicaid. Georgia will need to re-examine the eligibility of more than 2 million people now enrolled in the Medicaid insurance program. The health-care adminis trators said they have devel oped plans for what will be a complicated cross-agency operation. Kemp’s budget includes funding for the staffing and technology up grades necessary for the big change. State House Speaker Burns undecided on many issues entering first session at helm By Dave Williams Capitol Beat News Service New Georgia House Speaker Jon Burns is taking a wait-and-see approach toward some key issues the General Assembly is being asked to consider during his first legislative session in the chamber’s top post. Burns. R-Newington, said he’s waiting to see how a court challenge to Georgia’s 2019 abortion law plays out before decid ing whether any additional anti-abortion legislation is necessary this year. Ditto when it comes to whether lawmakers should enact a full expansion of Medicaid under the Afford able Care Act as legislative Democrats have advocated for years. The General As sembly should give fellow Republican Gov. Brian Kemp’s limited Medicaid expansion a chance before going further, Burns told reporters Thursday during his first news conference since House lawmakers elected him speaker earlier this month. Burns also pledged to consider a proposal to eliminate general-election mnoffs in Georgia, which gained momentum after U.S. Sen. Raphael War- nock, D-Ga., defeated Re publican challenger Her- schel Walker in November but was forced into a tax- payer-funded runoff when he failed to win a majority of the vote. Warnock won the December runoff by a larger margin. “I’ll look forward to this discussion,” Burns said. “I have not made a decision.” Burn did promise to give the latest proposal to over haul the state’s decades-old k-12 student funding for mula a good look, and he called further improving the delivery of mental health-care services “a front-burner issue.” The new speaker’s pre decessor, the late David Ralston, made overwhelm ing passage of a compre hensive mental health-care reform bill his major prior ity last year. Ralston died in November after an ex tended illness. Burns said the House will do what it can to move forward Georgia’s bid to become a leader in the electric vehicles indus try. He has rechristened the House Science and Technology Committee the Technology and Infra structure Innovation Com mittee with that in mind. “The opportunities for Georgia with [recently announced EV manufac turing plants] Rivian and Hyundai are exciting,” he said. “I’m convinced Georgia can lead the na tion when it comes to tech nology.” While the Georgia House and Senate have had their fair share of disagreements over the years. Burns predicted the two chambers will en joy a smooth relationship. He pointed to the recent agreement House and Senate leaders reached to schedule the entire 40-day legislative session with a single resolution, some thing that hasn’t happened under the Gold Dome in memory. “That speaks to the issue of are we going to be able to get along,” Burns said. “I think we’re going to get along well.” City of Arcade Election and Notice of Qualifying Fees Pursuant to O.C.G.A. §21-2-131 (a) (1) the City of Arcade will hold a General Election on Tuesday, November 7, 2023. The offices to be filled are three (3) City Council Members At-Large. Qualifying fees will be: Council Member $54.00 Qualifying for the offices listed above will begin at 8:30 a.m. on August 21, 2023, and will end at 4:30 p.m. on August 23, 2023. Qualifying will be held at Arcade City Hall located at 3325 Athens Hwy, Jefferson Georgia 30549. CITY OF HOSCHTON PUBLIC NOTICE An election for the purpose of electing 3 Council Members will be held on November 7, 2023. In accordance with Section 21-2-131 of the Georgia Election Code and Rules of the State Election Board the governing authority of the municipality shall, no later than February 1 of the year of the general election, fix and publish a qualifying fee for each office to be filled in the upcoming election. Such fee shall be 3% of the total gross salary of the office. The qualifying fee for each council seat shall be $180.00 Jennifer Kidd-Harrison Election Superintendent Date of Publication: January 25, 2023
