2006 LEGISLATIVE REPORTS
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2006 LEGISLATIVE REPORTS |
| WEEKLY LEGISLATIVE REPORT – February, 2006
Lawmakers eye re-regulation of natural gas industry
By Rep. Quincy Murphy Many members of the Georgia General Assembly believe it is time to re-examine the issue of regulating the natural gas industry given the dramatic rise in home heating costs in recent years. In 1999, before deregulation, Georgia’s natural gas prices were the third lowest in the nation. Seven years later, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, our prices have skyrocketed to the third highest in the nation. Georgia’s families are waiting for action on reducing the burden of unreasonable natural gas prices. House Bill 1108 would require the Public Service Commission to declare a state of emergency on July 1, 2006, and re-regulate the natural gas industry. The bill authorizes the PSC to establish rules and regulations for the industry that would lead to substantially lower home heating bills. A Senate proposal calls for an increase in the number of regulated gas providers as designated by the PSC. By adding regulated providers, the proposal would allow for a more competitive environment, resulting in price savings to be passed on to consumers. Financial accommodations would also be made during the heating season for the elderly, people with disabilities, low-income families and families with small children, ensuring that these groups are not disconnected from their sources of gas heat during the winter months.
Legislation has been introduced that would ensure that Georgia students who graduate in the top 10 percent of their high school class would be accepted into the University System of Georgia institution of their choice. This legislation would benefit many well-qualified students, especially those from rural areas, who have not been able to attend certain universities because many spaces have been filled by students from out of state. Similar legislation was adopted in Texas and Florida and has proved to be very successful in guaranteeing spots for rural students at the flagship institutions and keeping them from having to go out of state to earn their college degrees. Under the bill, admission would be automatically granted to students in the top 10 percent of their high school graduating class without regard to wealth of the school district or the high school they attended. In Texas in 1997, more than 1,000 high schools did not send a single student to the University of Texas at Austin’s freshman class. After enactment of the 10 percent plan, endorsed by then-Gov. George W. Bush, each of those schools sent at least one student to the flagship university. Supporters of this legislation argue that thousands of deserving Georgia students would benefit from this bill.
A bill before the House Judiciary Non-Civil Committee would make Georgia the final state in the U.S. to give advanced practice nurse practitioners the authority to write prescriptions. Currently, they can only phone in prescriptions after consulting with a doctor. Proponents of the legislation say nurse practitioners are well qualified to write prescriptions and would still discuss prospective prescriptions with physicians. Many nurse practitioners have as much as or more training than Physicians Assistants, who have the power to write prescriptions. Some doctors who favor the measure told the subcommittee it would make their offices operate more efficiently.
Physicians who oppose the measure believe they shouldn’t have to share prescription-writing authority with nurse practitioners, and the Georgia Medical Association opposes giving nurse practitioners independent authority to prescribe drugs. House members voted overwhelmingly to approve legislation that would significantly strengthen the penalties for convicted sex offenders in Georgia. The proposal calls for minimum mandatory sentences of 25 years for aggravated child molestation, aggravated sodomy and aggravated sexual battery charges, followed by lifetime probation. This is an increase over the current 10-year minimum sentence. The bill also states that if a victim is 14 or 15 years old and the defendant is no more than three years older, the offense would be a misdemeanor. Concerns over mandatory sentencing and the costs associated with imposing longer prison terms and the treatment of juvenile offenders were also debated, but the vast majority of House members voted in favor of the legislation to provide stronger protections for all Georgians, especially our children, from the most dangerous of these offenders.
On Friday, House members adopted the revised state spending plan for the remainder of fiscal year 2006, also known as the supplemental budget. The revisions add about $444.6 million to this year’s $17.4 billion budget, with about $145 million going to pay for increased school enrollment. The current fiscal year ends on June 30. Finally, we were all saddened this week by the death of Coretta Scott King, wife of the late Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. She was a beacon of freedom and an inspiration who championed the message of equal rights peace up until her last days. She touched the lives of a generation and through her efforts made this world a better place. The General Assembly will be in recess on Tuesday, Feb. 7, in observance of Mrs. King’s funeral service in Atlanta.
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