[March 14, 2016] | Spring is in the air as I type this, and it makes me smile I got the grapes pruned and blueberries sprayed just in time. We kicked off the ninth week of the 2016 session on Monday, March 7 with legislative day 32. We now have 5 legislative days left. This week as fun, as we had Murray Youth and Adult Leadership in town, and we had a good amount of time to visit with them before running off to Senate committee meetings where we House members have bills in play. With Crossover Day behind us, the House has shifted much of its focus to considering Senate bills and monitoring any changes made in the Senate to our House bills and vice versa. When it passed the Senate and then the House without changes, it?s on to the Governor for his look over.
One bill that received final passage this week by an unanimous vote in the House was Senate Bill 137. SB 137 would expand current Georgia property insurance laws to allow corporations specifically described as one or two family residential buildings to collect insurance coverage against fire damage when a building is completely destroyed by fire.
Another pro-business bill given final approval in the House this week was Senate Bill 158, the ?Consumer and Provider Protection Act.? I carried this bill in the House for Senator Dr. Dean Burke. SB 158 passed unanimously and establishes a framework for rental preferred provider healthcare networks in Georgia to increase transparency for health care providers and consumers. These rental networks give providers increased access to their customers and give customers greater access to ?in-network? providers, offers access to information for both, while still promoting this business practice in Georgia.
Receiving over an hour of debate was SB 308, which passed by vote of 103 to 52. This measure creates the Positive Alternatives for Pregnancy and Parenting Grant Program within the Georgia Department of Public Health, DPH. Its purpose is to promote healthy pregnancies and childbirth by awarding grants to nonprofit organizations that provide pregnancy support services. DPH will oversee the program and execute a legal contract with a management agency to administer this program. Grants cannot exceed 85% of the provider?s annual revenue.
In addition to giving final approval to many other bills this week, the Senate passed the FY2017 budget, or House Bill 751. Even though HB 751 received passage in the House, the Senate version of the 2017 budget varied slightly from the original version that was passed by our body, prompting the creation of a conference committee this week. As a bill makes its way through the legislative process, bills are likely to be changed or amended in committees or as bills pass between the House and Senate chambers. When a different version of the same bill passes in the House and the Senate, the Speaker of the House and the Lieutenant Governor will both appoint a conference committee to work out the differences between the House and Senate versions of the bill. Once the conference committee reaches an agreement, their final version is then presented to both the House and Senate for a floor vote. If both chambers approve the conference committee legislation, it is then sent to the Governor?s desk for consideration. I look forward to hearing the final recommendations of the conference committee appointed this week for HB 751 and to seeing a final budget proposal for FY2017.
Despite a busy legislative agenda, we also took time this week to honor some distinguished Georgians in the House Chamber. We were pleased to have a visit from former Detroit Lions and Georgia Tech wide receiver Calvin ?Megatron? Johnson, Jr. We also welcomed former University of Georgia and Atlanta Falcons safety Scott Woerner, who was recently announced as a 2016 College Football Hall of Fame inductee. Woerner is now a teacher in North Georgia. Also honored were the 1963 Leesburg Stockade Women, heroes of the American Civil Rights Movement. These 14 young girls from the ages of 10 to 15 dared to speak out against injustice and racial inequality and were illegally arrested and held captive in an abandoned stockade in Leesburg, Georgia.
Qualifying began at 9 AM for the May Primaries and for the November General Elections. The 2nd floor of the Capitol was filled with legislators qualifying for their respective seats. House Speaker David Ralston, U.S. Senator Johnny Isakson, Congressman Buddy Carter, 1st District; Congressman Tom Graves, 14th District; and Congressman Tom Price, 6th District; were just a few of the many men and women standing in line with me when qualifying began. It has truly been the greatest honor of my life to serve the citizens of District 11 as their State Representative in Atlanta for the last 6 years. My duty is to be the most effective, accessible, and accountable voice for Murray, Gordon, and Pickens Counties in the General Assembly. This responsibility is something that I cherish and respect. The line was too long I the morning, so I completed the qualification for re-election later that afternoon after my presentation to a Senate committee meeting.
With only two weeks and five legislative days remaining, we will be in intense committee meetings and spending a lot of time on the House floor, working to pass thoughtful legislation for the citizens of Georgia. If you have questions or concerns about any of the legislation that the House or Senate will be discussing, please feel free to reach out to me; I am never too busy to hear from you. Your thoughts and opinions are important to me, and as your Representative, I want to make sure that I am truly representing your interests under the Gold Dome. You can reach me at my office, which is (404) 656-7857, or by email at rick.jasperse@house.ga.gov.
As always, thank you for allowing me to serve as your Representative.