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About Jackson herald. (Jefferson, Jackson County, Ga.) 1881-current | View Entire Issue (March 8, 2023)
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 8, 2023 THE JACKSON HERALD PAGE 5A State updates State House approves “Safe Schools Act” By Rebecca Grapevine Capitol Beat News Service The state House of Rep resentatives handily passed a bill last Monday aimed at bolstering school safety in Georgia. The “Safe Schools Act,” which has the strong support of Gov. Brian Kemp, passed on a 148-20 vote. The bill, sponsored by Rep. Will Wade, R-Dawson- ville, one of Kemp’s floor leaders in the House, would require schools to conduct an intruder or active-shooter drill by Oct. 1 each year. It would also require pub lic schools to submit school safety plans to the Georgia Emergency Management Association as well as local emergency management and law enforcement agencies. The legislation would cre ate a mechanism for school employees to earn a “school safety and anti-gang en dorsement” after complet ing a special training pro gram. And it encourages colleges and universities to include training for future teachers in best practices for safe schools and deterring gangs. Though the bill breezed through the House, it drew criticism from some Demo cratic lawmakers. “Unfortunately, there is no evidence to indicate this bill is going to make our schools safer,” said fresh man Rep. Anne Allen West brook, D-Savannah. “It’s just one more burden this body is putting on teachers and students in Georgia’s public schools.” Westbrook cited a study conducted by researchers at Georgia Tech showing increases in anxiety and de pression among students for 90 days after active-shooter drills. “If we want to truly in crease school safety, there are some proactive mea sures we could consider,” she said. Westbrook urged her House colleagues to pass bills that would increase punishments for allowing children access to guns or not adequately securing guns. Rep. Stacey Evans, D-At- lanta, voted for the bill but also urged lawmakers to consider passing gun-con trol measures. “We have so many op tions at our disposal to not make this a reality for our babies and their teachers,” Evans said. Evans criticized Repub lican leaders for not giving gun-control bills hearings in committee this session. Freshman Rep. Leesa Hagan, R-Lyons, a former teacher, spoke out in favor of the bill. “It gives our children a tool so that if an unfortu nately horrible act were to happen at their school, they know what they do,” Hagan said. “They shouldn’t have to do these drills, but the sad fact is these things do hap pen.” The bill will now move to the Georgia Senate for con sideration. Georgia Senate shoots down sports betting bill By Dave Williams Capitol Beat News Service The state Senate soundly rejected legislation Thurs day to legalize sports bet ting in Georgia. Senate Bill 57 was de feated 37-19, as sena tors opposed to gambling joined forces with those who believe legalizing sports betting requires a constitutional amendment. The bill’s supporters ar gued it would not require a constitutional change be cause it would not legalize either casinos or pari-mu tuel betting, the only forms of gambling expressly pro hibited by Georgia’s Con stitution. Instead, the bill defines sports betting as a lottery game, which Georgia vot ers authorized when they ratified a constitutional amendment in 1992 creat ing the Georgia Lottery. Sports betting legislation that does require a con stitutional change is also pending in the state Senate. But since it would be limited to online betting, the other Senate measure wouldn’t have significant economic impact, said Sen. Billy Hickman, R-States- boro. Senate Bill 57’s chief sponsor. “SB 57 creates jobs.” Hickman said. “When you just bet on sports on your phone, no jobs are creat ed.” Hickman cited a study conducted by Georgia Southern University last year that found sports bet ting could inject $1.1 bil lion annually into Geor gia’s economy and create more than 8.500 jobs, many in rural areas of the state. Many of those jobs would come from raising racehorses and growing hay to feed them. The bill calls for building three horse racing tracks in Georgia. Hickman said the state share of the proceeds of sports betting under his bill would raise an estimated $250 million to $350 mil lion per year for Georgia’s HOPE Scholarships and pre-kindergarten programs. But Sen. Marty Harbin, R-Tyrone, argued the rev enue sports betting would bring in wouldn’t be worth the societal toll of expand ing legalized gambling in Georgia. “Much like drugs and alcohol, [gambling] leads to addiction,” Harbin said. “Gambling is financial foolishness. ... The house always wins.” With the defeat of Hick man’s bill, the proposed constitutional amendment is the only sports betting option still alive in the Sen ate. The legislation cleared the Senate Regulated In dustries Committee this week, but time is running out on the measure. It has yet to be scheduled for a floor vote, and Crossover Day - the deadline for bills to pass at least one legis lative chamber - fell on Monday. Georgia Senate passes bill exempting rural hospitals from CON By Dave Williams Capitol Beat News Service Legislation exempting most rural hospitals from Georgia’s certificate of need law cleared the state Senate last Monday. Senators voted 42-13 to no longer require pro posed new acute-care hospitals in counties with populations of fewer than 50,000 residents to have to prove to the state that the medical services they plan to offer are needed in their community. “We have an access-to- health-care problem in rural Georgia,” said Sen. Greg Dolezal, R-Cum- ming, the bill’s chief sponsor. “This is a pru dent step to improve ac cess to care.” Georgia’s CON law was first passed in 1979 to comply with a feder al mandate aimed at re ducing health-care costs by avoiding duplication. About three dozen states currently have CON laws on their books. Other states, including California and Texas, have repealed their CON laws since Congress did away with the mandate, Dolezal said. “The original intent was to suppress the volume of health care,” he said. “As you suppress the supply of something, you decrease access. But Sen. Nan Orrock, D-Atlanta. said the CON law protects existing hospitals from being en croached upon by new facilities that hurt them financially by taking away their patients. “The reason CON exists is because a hospital could locate too close to another hospital,” she said. “Pa tients are poached.” Indeed, when Senate Bill 99 was presented to the Senate Regulated In dustries Committee ear lier this month, Dolezal said it was prompted by a private developer’s plan to build a 100-bed acute-care hospital in Butts County. Representatives of the Wellstar Health System told committee members exempting the proposed hospital from the CON process would let the new facility open for business close to both the 25-bed Sylvan Grove Hospital in Jackson and the 160-bed Wellstar Spalding Region al Hospital in Griffin. “You will be adversely affecting a hospital that’s in place a few miles [on the other side of] of coun ty line,” Orrock said Mon day. But Sen. Bill Cowsert, R-Athens, chairman of the Regulated Industries Committee, said the leg islation requires rural hos pitals exempted from the CON law to accept both Medicare and Medicaid enrollees and dedicate at least 10% of their incomes to indigent care. Opponents of CON re form have long argued that significantly reduc ing CON requirements or repealing the law entirety would lead a plethora of physician-owned ambu latory surgery centers to open near existing hos pitals and - since they wouldn’t legally have to accept indigent patients - siphon off paying patients and leave existing hospi tals with a heavy concen tration of non-paying pa tients. “Hospitals are closing down in rural Georgia,” Cowsert said. “This is to encourage new ones.” A second CON bill that has cleared Cowsert’s committee goes farther than Senate Bill 99 in seeking to eliminate the CON law. “Senate Bill 99 is more like a rifle shot narrowly focused on adequate med ical services for rural ar eas of our state,” he said. The bill now moves to the Georgia House of Representatives. Georgia Power seeks $2.1 billion fuel costs recovery By Dave Williams Capitol Beat News Service The higher fuel costs Georgians have been paying at the gas pumps soon could be reflected in their electric bills. Georgia Power filed a request with the state Public Service Commission (PSC) Tuesday to recover $2.1 bil lion in additional fuel costs the Atlanta-based utility has incurred during the last two years and that are projected to occur during the next two years. If approved, the proposal would add $17 to $23 to the monthly bill of the average Georgia Power customer who uses 1,000 kilowatt-hours of power each month. “Just as Georgians paid higher prices at the gas pump in 2022, Georgia Power also paid more for the natural gas (on average three times more) and other fuels we used to generate electricity,” Georgia Power spokesman Jacob Hawkins said Tuesday. “These increases are solely a result of rising energy prices - and Georgia Power earns zero profit from these fuel costs.” Georgia Power executives first announced the com pany would be seeking fuel costs recovery this month last year during testimony before the PSC at hearings on Georgia Power’s 2022 rate hike request. The commission approved a $1.8 billion rate increase for the utility in December, which raised the average res idential customer’s monthly bill by $3.60. The rate hike took effect last month. Georgia Power’s final requested amount and approx imate bill impacts, which will reflect more recent fuel prices, will be provided in April. Georgia House passes EV legislation By Dave Williams Capitol Beat News Service The state House of Representatives unanimously passed legislation Wednesday aimed at helping Georgia begin to prepare for the widespread adoption of electric vehicles by motorists across the state. House Bill 406 would set the stage for building a net work of federally funded EV charging stations along major highway corridors. While utilities are expected to own and operate some of those stations, most likely would open up at convenience stores and other retail locations. The bill calls for EV owners to pay for the electricity that powers their vehicles by the kilowatt-hour rather than by the amount of time they spend at the charging stations. Motorists using the EV charging stations would pay an excise tax on the electricity they buy in addition to the cur rent $210 annual fee EV owners pay. The tax revenue from EVs would help offset the gasoline tax revenue the state Department of Transportation stands to lose during the coming years as more motorists switch to electric vehicles. “Our goal is to ensure Georgia’s roads and bridges are adequately funded,” said Rep. Rick Jasperse, R-Jasper, the bill’s chief sponsor and chairman of the House Transporta tion Committee. The portion of the legislation that would put the Georgia Department of Agriculture in charge of inspecting public EV charging stations would not take effect until the begin ning of 2025. “We’ve got to get an opportunity for the Department of Agriculture and the Department of Revenue to scale up,” Jasperse said. The bill now moves to the Georgia Senate for consider ation. Foliage Fest 5k Presented by Peace Place, Inc. Race Begins at 9:00 am. Pre-registration required Vendors Handmade crafts, artwork & nature inspired items Food & Beverages Enjoy an assortment of food & beverages from local vendors Foi.]agl«: Fest YWh in, at)!*3 L HD rn - j.jim Spring Tree Sale A variety of tr ees and shrubs will be available for order Entertainment Music Hill Lineup 10:30a St. Patrick’s Delight SOCIAL SECURITY DISABILITY 11:00a Applications & Appeals We Do All The Hard Work! Hynes & Associates LLC Disability Advocates Call 678-935-3923 • SSIHelp.org > BBB 17 Years Experience • No Fee Unless Approved 12:00p l:15p 2:00p 3:15p Fiddlin’ Around w/ the Biyceland Bunch Plus Next of Kin Carpenter School of Irish Dance Red Oak Southern Strings The SmiRoom Gang and JAM! For additional information EMAIL communications@cityofjeffersonga.com • CALL (706) 201 * 7893
