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AJC.com > Legislature > Blog > Archives > 2009 > January > 14
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
On the Road to Reform at DOT
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The Department of Transportation might need to get ready for some “reforming,” based on Gov. Sonny Perdue’s State of the State speech and enthusiastic support from Senate Republicans.
“He said what needed to be said,” said Sen. Chip Rogers (R-Woodstock) Senate Majority Leader. “We’re in historic times with respect to a revenue dip. We have to re-organize government and make it leaner.”
After leaving a Senate Republican caucus meeting following the governor’s speech, the two top Senate leaders had their hymnals on the same page about the need to reform the state’s Department of Transportation.
“We re-organized the Department of Driver Services, and it was a success,” Rogers said. Perdue is looking at a different way of delivering DOT services, Rogers said. “We’ve got to take a look at that.”
In his speech, Perdue said his administration “will continue reforming DOT.”
“Once I feel certain we can deliver transportation value to Georgia citizens, I will support responsible measures to raise additional revenues,” Perdue said.
Sen. Tommie Williams (R-Lyons) president pro tem of the Senate agreed with the idea of reforming DOT. “It’s been very lethargic through the years,” he said.
Talk of department reform did not impress Senate minority leader Robert Brown (D-Macon) who said Perdue was slim on details for fixing the state’s transportation woes.
“Apparently, he doesn’t have a transportation plan,” Brown said of the governor. “That was the big gap in his speech.”
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Skepticism on New Hospital Fees
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Gov. Sonny Perdue’s proposal to fund Medicaid and trauma care with a combination of fees on hospitals and health insurance plans, as well as fines on “super-speeder” motorists, met with skepticism from several legislators.
Rep. Earl Ehrhart (R-Powder Springs), chairman of the powerful House Rules Committee, took aim at Perdue’s plan. “I’m unequivocally opposed to that new tax,” Ehrhart said. “That’s not a tax on hospitals. It’s a tax on individual consumers.” Ehrhart, as chairman of Rules, has great power to decide what legislation reaches the House floor.
Perdue first broached the possibility of the hospital fee at a meeting in December with hospital industry executives, many of whom opposed the idea.
Rep. Mary Margaret Oliver (D-Decatur) said she’s a strong backer of a statewide trauma network and is still trying to figure out how much money will come from fining “super-speeders,” as the governor suggested. “What does that mean, really?” Oliver asked. “We’re going to have a real split in the health care community about who gets taxed extra,” Oliver said.
Perdue has proposed a 1.6 percent fee on hospital revenues and health insurance plans to fill the state’s $208 million hole in Medicaid this year, and to provide $60 million towards a statewide trauma network.
Senate minority leader Robert Brown (D-Macon) disagreed with most of what Perdue said. “I’m just disappointed overall with the governor and his lack of leadership,” Brown said. “I don’t think it’s a good idea to tax hospitals to fund trauma care,” Brown said.
Perdue told legislators he knew his plan would “not be universally acclaimed.”
— Mary Lou Pickel and Aaron Gould Sheinin
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‘This is not the tallest mountain’
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Gov. Sonny Perdue ends his State of the State address with a spirit of optimism that better days are ahead, but thriving later takes sacrifice now.
“As I look back and think about our history, I am certain this is not the tallest mountain we’ve been asked to climb,” he said.
“This is the time to continue building our state, to prepare for the future, to plant the seeds that will enrich our children’s inheritance,” he said. “Together, we will do just that.”
And with that, the 2009 State of the State address comes to an end.
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Perdue doesn’t take sides on transportation
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
With Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle backing a regional approach to transportation and House Speaker Glenn Richardson (R-Hiram) calling for a statewide plan, Gov. Sonny Perdue championed neither in his State of the State address.
Perdue, speaking with Cagle and Richardson sitting behind him in the House chamber, said all three men “share a mutual commitment to address our transportation needs,” and that all will work to reform the Department of Transportation.
That reform, he said, according to a copy of his prepared remarks, is aimed at “standing up a system that can take that funding and provide the value Georgians deserve.”
Once that happens, but not before, Perdue said, “I will support responsible measures to raise additional revenues.”
More to come …
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Perdue: Add fees to fund Medicaid and trauma
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Gov. Sonny Perdue, faced with a $208 million deficit in the state’s Medicaid budget, will propose a 1.6 percent fee on hospitals and health insurance plans that could also lead to $60 million for the state’s trauma network.
Perdue, in his State of the State address, said he faced unpalatable options to fill the budget hole for the state’s neediest services. Rather that cut services or charge Medicaid patients more, he said he chose to add the fees on hospitals and plans.
It will also allow the state, he said, “to do what the health-care community has asked of us for so long: one, to significantly raise reimbursement rates for providers, particularly for hospitals; and two, in conjunction with SuperSpeeder legislatiion, provide $60 million to expand the state’s trauma network.”
Acknowledging that this will not be “universally acclaimed,” Perdue asked lawmakers not to “rush into a short-sighted cut that would have long-term consequences for Georgia’s most needy.”
More to come …
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Perdue: Reform Human Resources
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Gov. Sonny Perdue is proposing a major overhaul of the Department of Human Services, an agency that spends $3.8 billion a year and “hasn’t undergone major change since it was formed over three decades ago.”
In his State of the State address, Perdue will propose a new Department of Behavioral Health that will include all mental health and addictive disease programs.
“This will improve our responsiveness to mental health needs and will make funding more transparent,” he said, according to a copy of his prepared remarks.
Secondly, the proposal would create a Department of Health, which would combine the public health and oversight programs in Human Resources and other departments. The remaining social service agencies, including DFCS and Child Support, will be combined under a new Department of Human Resources to be led by Commissioner B.J. Walker.
More to come …
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Here comes the chief, er, governor
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle sure looks odd presiding in the House instead of the Senate. But there he is, with Speaker Glenn Richardson (R-Hiram) standing next to him.
Perdue, or “His Excellency The Governor,” as the official invitation resolution says, will be here in five, four, three, two, one …
Cue music …
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Perdue: think long term
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Gov. Sonny Perdue, who is about to begin speaking in the House, will call on Georgians and its leaders to not make the mistake of focusing on the short-term in the current economic crisis.
“This is a pivotal moment in our nation’s history,” Perdue will say, according to a copy of his prepared remarks.
“Despite the stresses of a moment like this, we must not allow ourselves to be trapped in a short-term mindset where rash decisions result in dire long-term consequences,” the speech reads.
But, Perdue will propose using $50 million from the state’s reserve funds this year and $408 million next year, acknowledging that these are “one-time strategies to help balance this year’s budget that won’t be available next year,” the speech says.
More to come …
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What’s the state of the state?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The answer to the question in that headline will begin to emerge in about 30 minutes when Gov. Sonny Perdue gives his annual update to a joint assembly of the Legislature.
House members are beginning to file into their chamber and senators have already gathered across the hall. Teleprompters are set up on either side of the speaker’s podium in the House.
The anticipation for this speech has only grown in the past 24 hours after Perdue told an annual business breakfast on Tuesday that he wanted to increase merit pay for teachers and offer bonuses to principals of schools that show consistent improvement.
The expectation was that this speech, and the governor’s budget proposal that follows, would be full of cuts, cuts, cuts, and not much in the way of new programs. Perdue’s plan for new initiatives has raised the interest level considerably. Where is the money for the new program going to come from? What else new will he propose? Where is he going to get the estimated $2 billion in cuts the state budget must absorb?
Stay tuned.
— Aaron Gould Sheinin
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