In a 167-1 vote, the state House of Representatives passed a bill its sponsor says is a “proactive” step to show doctors and dentists that no insurance mandate will be allowed to hinder their operation in Georgia.
State Rep. Allen Peake’s House Bill 785 states that doctors and dentists in Georgia will continue to get permission to practice from their respective state boards, regardless of any insurance they may accept. That’s the law now. But the Macon Republican fears that if the 2010 federal health insurance mandate is implemented in Georgia, there could be a move to disbar doctors and dentists who decline to accept that insurance.
The federal law is silent on licensing. But in Massachusetts, which mandates health insurance, a state bill was filed that would have made such a connection. A bill identical to Peake’s has passed the Georgia Senate. Now one or the other must cross the hall to the other chamber for final passage before heading to the governor’s desk.
House may strengthen transparency law
Bibb elected officials, listen up. A new bill moving through the state House would strengthen the open meeting laws that have recently tripped up two Macon city councilmen and the Bibb school superintendent. Private meetings of boards and city councils already are illegal, since public business must be conducted in public. At the first hearing of the Jacobs Subcommittee of the House Judiciary Civil Committee on a revised House Bill 397, author state Rep. Jay Powell, R-Camilla, said the language makes clear to everyone “where they stand and what they can do.”
It also increases fines for breaking open meetings laws from a maximum $500 to a maximum $2,500.
City and county governments worry about the cost of fulfilling open records requests. Some media representatives and First Amendment activists testified that they are worried about exemptions.
The state Legislature itself is exempt from open records laws. That won’t change.
A vote on the bill is tentatively scheduled for next week.
Senate panel recommends college credit for veterans
Military veterans would get college credit for what they learn in the service under a bill just recommended by the state Senate Veterans, Military and Homeland Security Committee. Said one of the sponsors, state Sen. Lester Jackson, D-Savannah: “The truth is a 19-year-old vet returning from a combat zone knows more about life than most people twice his age. Providing that young soldier an opportunity to receive course credit for skills he has learned just makes sense.” Senate Bill 328 now moves along for Rules Committee consideration.
Cash for cadets
The state House Higher Education Committee voted in favor of a grant of up to $1,000 to each Georgia Military College student who is involved in ROTC or has signed up for a commission after graduation.
It will depend on Georgia having the money and the Legislature annually choosing to fund it completely, partially or not at all. House Bill 74 simply creates the mechanism for such a budget line item. If it were law, it would have covered 35 students entering the two-year college last fall.
The bill is now heading to the Rules Committee.
-- Compiled by Maggie Lee
