Analysis: Legislators are taking their anger out on many state agencies.

Savannah Morning News 

ATLANTA - The target of political anger has shifted from the University System of Georgia's Board of Regents to the state's hospitals.

It's not that the regents are entirely out of the doghouse with legislators, but there's a new subject. Before the regents, it was the State Transportation Board. At the start of the session, it was lobbyists.

Who can say the next target? During a period when elected officials are under pressure to cut spending or raise revenue - both unpopular - they're not generally in the best of spirits to begin with. Some also bear significant personal financial strain due to businesses, investments or employers who are suffering in the current economy.

So, they get ticked off easily.

Lobbyists were indirectly blamed for some political careers being shaken up before the session began, most notably with the resignation of House Speaker Glenn Richardson.

Next, the Transportation Board angered legislators and Gov. Sonny Perdue early in the legislative session by voting to switch from a cash to an accrual accounting system. While that may sound pretty esoteric, the switch put the Department of Transportation onto the path that had led to more than $450 million being overspent, which required the virtual halt in new projects until the overage was paid down.

Accrual accounting wasn't entirely to blame, and several lawmakers were pushing legislation to formally authorize it. They were peeved that the board voted to change to accrual before the legislation could become law.

That tempus dissipated when the board reversed itself.

Then along came the Board of Regents to catch some grief.

Legislators have harbored a long-standing annoyance with both boards because of their independence, so it took little effort for the regents to replace the transportation board in the crosshairs.

The regents' crime? First, they raised tuition and fees to avoid the pain of last year's budget cuts and even gave pay raises to some faculty and administrators. Then, they iced the cake with the list of possible cuts they could enact if the University System were asked to shoulder the entire $300 million revenue shortfall that was predicted.

That list, leaked at colleges all over the state to professors and reporters before delivery to the Appropriations subcommittees that requested it, included not just 4,000 layoffs but also the closing of satellite campuses many legislators had lobbied hard to open. Dozens of majors would be eliminated, possibly disrupting the careers of hundreds of students.

Of course, the most dramatic cut, which would only yield $6.5 million, was the ending of the popular youth 4-H program. It overloaded legislators' Blackberries with e-mails from seemingly every fourth-grader in the state, pleading for another chance to go to Rock Eagle.

By the time Perdue announced Thursday that he was recommending another $120 million be cut from the system's budget, it almost seemed like good news in comparison.

When he announced the university cuts, Perdue flashed his anger at the latest objective, the hospitals.

Their transgression was in not going along with a scheme he proposed to milk more money from the federal government. It's complicated, and it required the hospitals to pay a 1.6 percent tax on their revenues, money many of them would recover by upping their costs, which the federal share of Medicaid was to pay. While some large hospitals that treat loads of Medicaid patients would have come out ahead, many private hospitals would have been the losers.

The hospital lobby refused to buy in. It argued instead for a higher tax on cigarettes.

Ironically, the hospital lobby's political contributions are far greater than those of the tobacco companies, and the hospitals still lost their battle, at least so far.

The governor said he was disappointed in the hospitals.

"Frankly, I don't think the hospital community has been fair with the citizens of Georgia," he said. "They have not addressed this the way I have had to address this with a balanced budget. They've offered no ideas other than 'to cut them or raise money elsewhere.' And that's unacceptable."

Perdue said if they didn't want to pay a 1.6 percent tax, maybe they'd rather have a 10.25 percent cut in what they're paid by Medicaid. On top of that, he wants to take away nonprofit hospital's exemption from sales tax on the supplies they buy.

Immediately, the hospital groups dusted off quotes they use every year predicting dozens of facilities will close. Next comes an even more intense lobbying campaign than had already been engaged to stop what they called the "sick tax."

Perdue's proposal isn't a done deal, but legislative leaders are open to consider it, like Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle.

With 13 more legislative days in the current session still left, maybe the hospitals will find a new bad guy to replace them on the hot seat.

Posted via email from Jim Nichols for GA State House