From the Inbox:
Here is Georgia Watch’s latest update on things that affect consumers at General Assembly. The legislature is currently planning to be in session for three days this week. If you have suggestions for us (or if we made a mistake or missed something) please let us know. Also, if you want us to add a colleague to this list have them send a request to dorrock@georgiawatch.org. If you decide that you would not like to receive these e-mails, contact us and we will remove you from the list.
Foreclosure First-Aid (SB 57) SUPPORT
Link to Legislation, Votes and Status: http://www.legis.ga.gov/legis/2009_10/sum/sb57.htm
We are still awaiting new language from a House Judiciary Subcommittee on this bill, which would institute mortgage loan underwriting standards, primarily in the subprime market. This bill is expected to move more swiftly once the legislature reaches crossover day, which is currently scheduled for Thursday, March 25th. We will continue to monitor the process and keep you up to date.
Designated Caregivers (HB 1040) NEUTRAL, WATCHING
Link to Legislation, Votes and Status: http://www.legis.ga.gov/legis/2009_10/sum/hb1040.htm
Rep. Jimmy Pruett (R-Eastman) has introduced a well-intentioned bill that unfortunately could leave injured patients and their families out in the cold if they are hurt by a medical provider. The bill would allow a “designated caregiver,” someone who is not a family member, to perform health maintenance activities on an individual who is currently mentally or physically incapacitated. This involves specialized procedures that don’t need to be conducted in a hospital or nursing home. Current law requires that these services only be performed by a licensed caregiver or a family member. The idea is to allow people to stay at home who don’t have a family member nearby capable of caring for them rather than go to a nursing home.
The only problem with this legislation was that the original language would have granted immunity to doctors and nurses who write the plan of care and train the caregiver designated by the patient or their family. This was fixed in the House Judiciary Committee last week, when a substitute was offered that makes no reference to any limitations of liability.
Immunity for careless doctors and nurses does not help patients, it hurts them. We opposed this legislation until it is amended and will keep an eye on it to make sure that it does not shut the doors to justice for anyone hurt while receiving medical care.
Shifting How PSC Experts are Paid (HB 1233) SUPPORT IN CURRENT FORM
Link to Legislation, Votes and Status: http://www.legis.state.ga.us/legis/2009_10/sum/hb1233.htm
HB 1233, sponsored by Rep. John Lunsford (R-McDonough), seeks to save taxpayer money by shifting funding for Public Se4rvice Commission experts from the state budget to utilities, which can recover their costs from customers. Currently, the PSC sets aside money every year for experts in rate and cost recovery cases. But it is impossible to predict how much they will need from year to year. The method proposed in HB 1233 allows the PSC to continue to choose the experts, who will simply invoice the utility for the cost of their services. The utility will then have the right to recover these costs from customers on a dollar for dollar basis, with no profits to be made on the recovery.
In the original version of HB 1233, however, experts who testify about rate design would not be funded by this new method. This language was included at the request of the Georgia Traditional Manufacturers Association, whose members didn’t want to help pay for testimony that might not be in their interest.
Rate design experts offer testimony on the fairness of how costs are allocated between large utility customers and small ones. An example of unfair cost allocation can be found in SB 31 from 2009, which allowed prepaid financing costs on new nuclear plants to be collected from Georgia Power customers. The bill was passed only after a significant carve-out was made for large ratepayers, so that families and small businesses will pay a disproportionately high share of the charges.
The problem with not including these experts under the new compensation model is that it ties their fate to a shrinking PSC budget. So if the PSC can’t come up with the money to fund rate design experts, then there will be no one to argue against a carve out that benefits large power users to the detriment of families and small businesses.
HB 1233 was in the House Governmental Affairs Committee this past Wednesday. At the suggestion of Georgia Watch, Rep. Mary Margaret Oliver (D-Decatur) moved to amend HB 1233 by striking the exception in the bill for rate design experts. The amendment passed unanimously, as did the amended bill. With the change Georgia Watch now supports the measure. If it passes, all PSC experts will have the same sustainable funding model. HB 1233 now moves on to the Rules Committee, where it waits to be placed on the House floor.
Consumer Protections for Health Insurance Policies - (SB 330) SUPPORT
Link to Legislation, Votes and Status: http://www.legis.state.ga.us/legis/2009_10/sum/sb330.htm
SB 330 is authored by Senator Preston Smith (R-Rome) and would do three things to help health insurance consumers:
Stop health insurers from placing lifetime caps on the amount of coverage that an individual can receive. This practice hurts the most vulnerable of customers who need insurance to cover critical treatments throughout life. If SB 330 passes then insurers won’t be able to cut people off from receiving benefits once they have reached a certain level.
Stop health insurers from canceling policies or denying claims based on errors in an application that are unrelated to a claim at issue. Insurers ask for health information before issuing policies so that they can have an idea of the potential claims exposure for individuals with certain types of pre-existing conditions. But if an individual fails to disclose that they have a hearing aid then that should not be a basis for a denying a claim for injuries suffered in a car accident. This bill would bar denial of claims when they are unrelated to errors or omissions on the policy application.
Allow more young adults to remain on their parents’ health insurance policy. Georgia statutes currently require that the dependent children of parents with group health insurance (which is the most common type of policy offered by employers) must be in college in order to continue to be covered from age 18 to 25. SB 330 simply strikes that requirement from the law so that dependent children can remain on their parents insurance, regardless of the educational status. This will allow more young people to have insurance coverage after high school and allow students who are very ill to take time off of school in order to focus on their health.
SB 330 passed out of the Senate Insurance & Labor committee last week and now waits in Rules to be put onto the floor.
That wraps it up for this week. As always, you can e-mail questions or comments to me. Remember, legislators need to hear from YOU -- the people they represent and the people who will be affected by these policy decisions.
To identify who your Senator and Representative are, go to www.vote-smart.org.
To find copies of these and other Bills, identify members of the Committees and how to contact them, track Committee meetings and votes or watch live or archived video of the House and Senate and select Committee meetings, go to www.legis.state.ga.us.
Danny Orrock
Policy Manager
Georgia Watch
Office: 404-525-1084
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