Legislative briefs

Bill seeking end electric vehicle credits gains new life

Legislation calling for a halt to Georgia’s lucrative tax credit for the purchase of electric vehicles was resurrected Tuesday in a House subcommittee under curious circumstances.

House Bill 122, sponsored by Rep. Chuck Martin, R-Alpharetta, was voted down last week in the same Ways and Means subcommittee. But when the panel convened again Tuesday, it was announced that HB 122 had only been “tabled” last time, which is legislative-ese for being postponed.

After the bill was untabled, it quickly passed by a unanimous voice vote. No Democrats were present.

The $5,000 tax credit that goes to consumers who buy or lease an electric car will cost the state $628 million from 2016 through 2020, according to an official state estimate.

HB 122 is not the only piece of legislation to target the tax credit. The same language was added to House Bill 170, the bill that House leaders hope will raise more than $1 billion a year in new revenue for transportation projects. The success of HB 122 Tuesday is seen as a boost for the transportation bill.

— Aaron Gould Sheinin

Easing of restrictions sought for private cancer hospital

Legislation that would ease restrictions on a for-profit cancer hospital in Newnan was filed Tuesday in the state House.

House Bill 482, sponsored by Judiciary Committee Chairman Wendell Willard, R-Sandy Springs, would eliminate the 50-bed cap on the Cancer Treatment Centers of America campus in Coweta County. It would also eliminate the requirement that 65 percent of the hospital’s patients come from out of state.

The Legislature in 2008 agreed to allow CTCA to build its “destination cancer hospital” as long as the company agreed to provide charity care, serve patients covered by Medicaid and attract most of its patients from other states. Critics have said that the hospital’s charity and Medicaid work has failed to meet standards, something CTCA denies.

The 2008 legislation allowed CTCA to bypass the state’s typical “Certificate of Need” process that hospitals and other health care organizations must follow to prove the new facility is needed. Instead, lawmakers approved a separate approval process for a “destination” hospital serving a national patient base, not just filling a need for Georgia patients.