Senior issues newsletter [Vol. 32, No. 6 (Feb. 18, 2011)]

Senior Issues Newsletter

House and Senate Calendar
February 22, 2011 is the 17th Day of the Legislative Session.
House cHonoveunseesaant d10S:0e0naa.tme.CanadleSnednatre at 1:00 p.m.
The House and Senate are in session February 23rd and 24th.
Check http://www.legis.ga.gov/en-US/default.aspx for schedule.
Senior Week at the Capitol
Welcome to the 24th Annual advocacy event sponsored by the Georgia Council on Aging known as Senior Week at the Capitol! Advocates will have the opportunity to observe legislators in their gallery, call the legislators out of the gallery, or meet in their offices.
Schedule for Senior Week:
February 22nd -24th, 9:00 am-2:00 pm: Come to the Registration table in the South Rotunda of the Capitol to check in and to visit information tables for the Georgia Council on Aging, AARP, Georgia Gerontology Society, Meals on Wheels Association of Georgia and other organizations.
February 23rd, morning: House Resolution 357 sponsored by Representatives Purcell (159th), Benton (31st) Maddox (172nd), V. Clark (104th), Johnson (37th), and Bell (58th) will be read on the House floor. HR 357 will acknowledge the contributions of senior Georgians and recognize the week of February 21, 2011, as Senior Week at the Capitol.
February 24th, morning: Our Distinguished Older Georgian will be honored in the House of Representatives.
Legislative updates delivered by our Senior Citizens Advocacy Project consultant will be given as follows:
February 22nd, 11:00 a.m.: Room 133 February 23rd, 11:00 a.m.: Room 216 February 24th, 11:00 a.m.: Room 230
February 24th, 9:00 am 2:00 pm, is also Disability Day at the Capitol. Location: Georgia Freight Depot & Washington Street Steps of the Capitol. For more information, go to http://www.gcdd.org/2011/02/governor-slated-to-speak-at-13thannual-disability-day-at-the-capitol.
The Budget Process
HB 77: Amended FY2011 Budget Scheduled for Senate Action This Week
When the House of Representatives passed the Amended FY2011 Budget on February 10, aging services and public health services saw some very critical funding restored for the 4th quarter of FY 2011. Highlights of the restored funds:
$ 344,180 for non-Medicaid home and community based respite & Alzheimer's Respite Services, which may include home delivered meals and congregate meals (of $1,376,718 reduction the Governor recommended)
$ 44,465 for the contract with Center for the Visually Impaired (of the $177,859 reduction the Governor recommended)
$ 2,470,000 for county public health departments throughout the state $13,500,000 for community-based behavioral health programs to meet the terms of a
settlement w/ U.S. Department of Justice $14,000,000 in matching funds to allow eligible private hospitals to receive enhanced
payments through the Disproportionate Share Hospital program
The Senate Appropriations Committee will meet on HB 77, the FY 2011 amended budget, on Tuesday, 2/22, 10:00 a.m., Room 341 CAP. It is expected that the full Senate will vote on Thursday, February 24.
Advocates need to remind their Senators to maintain the House recommendations for aging services in the Senate version of Amended FY 2011 budget.

The Senior Issues Newsletter is a publication of the he Georgia Council on Aging, the Senior Citizens Advocacy Project and the Georgia Gerontology Society. Volume 32, No. 6 February 18, 2011

Senator Jack Hill, Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee and Rep. Doug Collins, Secretary of the House Appropriations Committee were interviewed together on GPB Lawmakers February 15, 2011 and predicted that the Senate will have minimal changes to the House version and that differences will easily be worked out in Conference Committee.
FY2012 Budget
The House Appropriations committees have turned to the "big" budget for FY2012 to address the loss of $1 billion in federal stimulus money. The Health Subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee met on February 18, 2011 with two agenda items: an overview of Health Care Reform and FY2012 Department of Community Health program budgets. Karen Minyard, Ph.D., gave a briefing on the findings of the Georgia Health Policy Center at the Andrew Young School of Policy Studies, Georgia State University, which has formed work groups to study health care reform. Their reports may be accessed at http://aysps.gsu.edu/ghpc/3685.html.
Major cuts affecting seniors in the FY 2012 DCH budget, presented by Commissioner Cook, included: Eliminating all funding for adult day care licensure Eliminating adult vision, dental and podiatry benefits from Aged, Blind & Disabled (ABD) Medicaid. These benefits are considered "optional" as they are not required under federal Medicaid mandates for states. Several committee members questioned the optional benefit cuts and the corresponding impact that would have on the well-being of persons on Medicaid. For example, lack of appropriate foot care for someone with circulatory problems or diabetes can lead to much more drastic problems up to the loss of a limb. One speculation made by the Department was that primary care physicians would be expected to do the routine foot care or other medically-necessary vision and dental service a prediction that does not seem realistic as we continue to hear about major concerns about the shortage of primary care medical personnel.
Advocates are encouraged to speak out in opposition to these cuts. The House Appropriations Health Subcommittee will hold a public hearing on the Department of Community Health budget for the fiscal year beginning July 1 on Thursday, 2/24, 1:00 3:00 p.m., Room 406 CLOB. Testimony is limited to 5 minutes. Sign up to speak in advance in Room 245 CAP.
Governor Deal's FY2011 Amended Budget and FY2012 Budget proposals can be found in their entirety by selecting "Governor's Budget Report FY 2011" and "Governor's Budget Report FY 2012" at http://opb.georgia.gov. Budget tracking documents can now be found on both the Senate and House web pages at www.legis.ga.gov. These documents allow the reader to track original appropriations, the Governor's recommendations, the House decisions, the Senate recommendations, and then the recommendations which will be agreed upon in conference as the budget makes its way through the process.
Other Committee Meetings of Interest
The Senate Health & Human Services Committee met again on February 16 to consider SB 36, heard last week by a special subcommittee, which would establish an electronic database system for tracking the prescribing and dispensing of controlled substances, such as morphine and oxycodone. Senator Buddy Carter, a practicing pharmacist, again made a thorough presentation on the bill and on the rapidly growing epidemic of prescription drug abuse. A Deputy District Attorney from Cobb County who has worked with drug cases for over 10 years spoke to the Committee in support of the bill, advising that in his view, the "pill mills" and prescription drug abuse he has seen is worse than the meth epidemic and cocaine cartels. Lindsay Bethel, a pharmacist from Rocky Face, also spoke in support. The Committee favorably reported out the bill which included a provision to protect information in the database from being accessible through the Open Records Act. The bill will be sent to the Rules Committee.
SAVE THE DATE
CO-AGE meeting will be held on Thursday, April 28th at the South Georgia Technical College in Americus.
For more information, contact the Georgia Council on Aging office 404-657-5343 or joryan@dhr.state.ga.us.
Legislation of Interest to Seniors
HB 47. Sponsors: Ramsey (72nd), Meadows (5th), Maxwell (17th), Sheldon (105th), Peake (137th), Lindsey (54th): authorizes out-of-state individual accident and sickness insurance policies, health insurance contracts that have been approved under other states' laws, to be sold in Georgia. Effectively, this bill would allow insurers to sell plans to Georgians that do not cover certain benefits that must be covered by plans licensed in Georgia. The bill passed the Health and Life Sub-committee of the House Committee on Insurance which will likely hear the bill this week.

HB 76. Sponsors: Kidd (144th), Powell (29th), Epps (140th), Maddox (127th), Williams (89th). Assigned to the Committee for Economic Development and Tourism, this bill creates the Georgia Certified Retirement Community Program designed to attract retirees to Georgia and assist communities with developing and marketing senior living options.
HB 99. Sponsors: Clark (104th), Cooper, (41st), Sims (119th), Rynders (152nd), Parsons (42nd): requires fingerprint record checks for applicants for licensure as a licensed practical nurse (L.P.N.). This bill passed the House 156-9. Registered nurses already are subject to the background checks.
HB 103. Sponsor: Stephens (164th), Chairman of House Economic Development and Tourism Committee, exempts food and food ingredients from local sales and use taxes, although the recent recommendations from the Special Council for Tax Reform would include a tax on groceries. In addition, Rep. Stephens introduced HR 81 which proposes an amendment to the Constitution so as to provide that the sale or use of food and food ingredients shall be exempt from the state sales and use tax or any local sales and use tax. The House Ways and Means Committee will review this further.
HB 214. Sponsors: Channell (116th), Parrish (156th), England (108th), Cooper (41st), Sheldon (105th). This bill creates a new Department of Public Health and removes the Division of Public Health from the Department of Community Health, the recommendation that emerged from a report issued on December 1, 2010 by the Public Health Commission pursuant to the legislation which restructured the Department of Human Resources in 2009. Public Health would become an independent, cabinet-level state agency, with the Commissioner reporting directly to the Governor and serving as the state's chief health officer. The bill is currently assigned to the House Committee on Health and Human Services and is on the agenda for Wednesday, 2/ 23, 3:00 p.m., Room 606 CLOB.
HB 229. Sponsor: Cooper (41st) prevents the Department of Community Health from overturning hearing officers' decisions. When the state denies a person Medicaid or refuses to approve services, the individual can request a fair hearing. An administrative law judge from the State Office of Administrative Hearings takes evidence from the individual, the agency, and other witnesses, reviews the law, and writes a decision. Currently, DCH can and does often issue a different decision in its own favor, requiring the individual to go to court to reinstate the administrative law judge decision. The bill is assigned to House Judiciary.
HB 258. Houston (170th), Neal (1st), Oliver (83rd), Cooper (41st), Meadows (5th), Dempsey (13th). This bill would help to expand the abilities and the requirements of personnel contracted with the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities when working with mentally ill persons.
HB 260. Sponsors Powell (29th), McCall (30th), Powell (171st), Epps (140th). This bill would, among other things, repeal the definition of a "qualified local government", would provide that comprehensive planning by local governments shall be optional and eliminate reviews of developments of regional impact. The Department of Community Affairs would provide planning assistance to local governments This change would potentially be of concern to advocates in aging because these comprehensive plans were a way that local governments could consider, and effectively plan for, their aging populations. The House Committee on Government Affairs will review the bill.
HB 275: Sponsors: Cheokas (134th), Cooper (41st), Carter (175th), Clark (104th), Harden (147th), Purcell (159th) seeks to clarify the health care providers authorized to effectuate an order not to resuscitate (DNR), including a proxy caregiver. This bill is assigned to the House Health & Human Services Subcommittee
HB 278: Sponsors Bearden (68th), Cooke (18th,), Roverts (154th), Powell (29th), Clark (98th), Braddock (19th) would clarify the entitlement to nourishment or hydration of a person receiving health care. This bill would also amend the standard form of Georgia Advance Directive for Health Care to provide a presumption of hydration and nutrition if the intention of the patient is not known by the agent through other means. It is assigned to the House Human Relations & Aging Committee.
SB 1: Zero Based Budgeting: During the 2010 session of the General Assembly, SB 1 passed the General Assembly but was vetoed by Governor Perdue. On January 27, the State Senate voted to override the veto by a vote of 52-0. SB 1 requires that in any given year the Governor's budget report includes zerobased budgeting for no more than one-third and no less than one-quarter of all programs. Each budget unit is required to include in its budget estimate an analysis summarizing past and proposed spending plans organized by program and revenue source. The House is not expected to take up the override, but is expected to move forward this session on another Zero-Based Budgeting bill (HB 33) (Allison 8th).
SB 17: Sponsors: Golden (8th), Goggans (7th), Shafer (48th): whereby the Governor will appoint a 16-member Special Advisory Commission on Mandated Health Benefits. Including 2 citizen members, the Commission includes a physician, dentist, a chronic disease specialist, health care executives, a health insurer representative, the Georgia Association of Health Plans, a medical ethicist, and members of the subcommittees of the House and Senate responsible for health care and insurance. The purpose of this Commission is to study existing benefits and assess the social and financial impacts of certain mandated benefit requirements of Federal Health Care Reform (the Affordable Care Act). The Senate Insurance and Labor Committee favorably reported out the bill.

Legislation Responding to the Federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act
Several bills have been introduced to prevent state agencies from implementing the Affordable Care Act or to limit the ways they comply. All have been assigned to the Senate Health and Human Services Committee.
SB 25: Sponsors: Hill (32nd), Heath (31st), Rogers (21st) Shafer (48th): would prohibit all State departments or agencies from implementing any provision of federal health care reform legislation unless the General Assembly authorizes such implementation by statute. Senator Hill also introduced Senate Resolution 54 which creates a Senate Study Committee on Health Care Transformation.
SB 23 Sponsors Hill (32nd) Butterworth (50th), Heath (31st), Rogers (21st) Shafer (48th): would prevent agencies from proposing or adopting any administrative rules regarding the implementation or enforcement of the Affordable Care Act without legislative approval.
SB 22 (Sponsors Hill - 32nd, Butterworth - 50th, Rogers - 21st, Heath - 31st) directs the Governor to seek a federal waiver of provisions that require health insurance plans to spend a certain amount of the premiums they collect on health care services as opposed to spending it administrative or marketing expenses. This bill has been assigned to the Senate Health and Human Services Committee.
Department of Community Health Board: Next Meeting, March 10, 2011
Meets every 2nd Thursday of each month at 10:30 a.m. on the 5th Floor at 2 Peachtree.
Department of Human Services Board Meeting: February 16, 2011
Meets every 3rd Wednesday of each month at 10:30 a.m. on the 29th Floor at 2 Peachtree.
Dr. James ("Jay") Bulot, Director of the Division of Aging Services, presented to the Board. His information included the structure of the Division of Aging, a description of collaboration with the Area Agencies on Aging and other aging organizations, and a brief overview of the Older Americans Act. He focused on HCBS, CCSP, Access to Services, Liveable Communities and the Long Term Care Ombudsman Program. The Board also learned that Georgia had just received the 2011 Excellence in Action Achievement Award for outstanding achievement in changing systems by a state. Dr. Bulot told the Board that 1.3 million older Georgians last year accessed services through the Division of Aging Services. Commissioner of the Department of Human Services, Clyde Reese, also gave a report to the Board, primarily about the budget and
funding needs. The budget appears to be holding DHS at a 4% cut for FY11 and FY12. The next DHS Board Meeting will be held March 16, 2011.
Information about specific legislation: Georgia Council on Aging (404)657-5343. Bills and information about the General Assembly: www.legis.ga.gov/enUS/default.aspx. Copies of bills: House Clerk's office (404)656-5015. You can watch the General Assembly and some Committee Hearings in action at http://www.gpb.org/lawmakers. Watch GPTV's "Lawmakers" each evening at 7:00 pm to see the events of the day at the Capitol.