Our
nation's founders, having experienced the oppression of a king, set out to
create a new form of government that would protect the lives and liberties of
the citizens of this new nation. The creation of three distinct and
separate branches of government were meant to create the necessary checks and
balances to ensure that no one branch would be able to oppress the people as
had been the case in England. Georgia's Constitution follows that same concept
with a separate Article for each of the three branches of Government that
defines the offices of each branch and their responsibilities.
It
is no surprise that leaders want to amass powers, always promising to never
abuse them. It is up to the members of each branch to defend the powers
assigned to them by the Constitution. We have certainly seen our share of
those exercises during these first four days of our 2013 Legislative Session.
We
began our first day, as we begin each day, with the pledge to both the U.S flag
and the Georgia flag followed by our devotion and prayer. We then took
our oath to support the Georgia and U.S. Constitutions. We also swore
that we were not the holder of any unaccounted for money due to the state or
any political subdivision or authority thereof. It was an honor to be
sworn in by former State Senator and now Superior Court Judge Bill Hamrick.
It
all began on Monday when we convened for the first day. As we began to take our
seats, amendments to the rules by which the Senate conducts its business we're
introduced. We had the opportunity to see these proposed changes as we
were convening in the Senate Chambers.
As
we began our day, newly proposed Senate rules were distributed. These
rules made some significant changes in how the Senate would conduct
itself. The most notable changes were a change in who controls every
action in the Senate and a cap on lobbyist gifts to senators, albeit with many
exceptions.
Article
V of the Georgia Constitution lists the members of the Executive branch and
their duties and powers. Paragraph III of this article addresses the
office of the Lieutenant Governor. This paragraph states, “The
Lieutenant Governor shall be the President of the Senate and shall have such
executive duties as prescribed by the Governor and as may be prescribed by law
not inconsistent with the powers of the Governor or other provisions of this
Constitution.”
The newly proposed amendments to the Senate rules gave the
Lieutenant Governor, clearly a member of the Executive Branch, the powers to
decide which committees each member serves on and who chairs those committees.
Prior to this change those powers had resided in the Senate itself, thereby
preserving the separation of powers between the executive and legislative
branches. The Lieutenant Governor was also given the powers to assign
each bill to the committee of his/her choice. While these changes don’t
necessarily give the Executive Branch the power to pass legislation, it
certainly gives it the power to stop any legislation.
In an effort to be the first to claim the adoption of “Ethics
Reform,” the rules included a prohibition of any “gift” with a value in excess
of $100. Of course there were exceptions. Among them were “actual and reasonable
expenses for admission, registration, food, beverages, travel, and lodging
attributed to participating in events, seminars, or educational programs
sponsored by or in conjunction with a civic, charitable, governmental,
educational, professional, community, or business organization or institution
where attendance is related to the Senator's official duties.” Of course these
rules only apply to Senators, not members of the House of Representatives,
Executive or Judicial Branches.
As
I promised to do on day one, I introduced SB 36 that prohibits any gift to any
public officer by a lobbyist. The law already includes the definition of
a gift as something with a value in excess of $100.
On
Thursday, the Senate took up SB 24. The stated purpose of the bill is to
allow the continued collection of what has been referred to as the hospital bed
tax. In 2010, the hospital bed tax was coupled with a reduction in
insurance premium taxes (once the state’s Revenue Shortfall Fund reached $500
million) as a temporary measure to mitigate a Medicaid funding shortfall
due to the declining revenues of the state.
SB
24 grants the Department of Community Health the ability to tax net hospital
revenues at any rate up to the cap set by the Federal government of 6 percent
for up to four years. In an attitude of compromise, recognizing the
difficulties facing the state, conservatives in the Senate fought for
amendments that would have limited the measure to only two years, cap the rate
at the current 1.45 percent and adopt reform measures that are predicted to
save approximately $1 billion. Those amendments failed and ultimately the
measure passed on a vote of 46 to 9.
It
is an honor to represent you, the constituents of the 31st Senate
District at the State Capitol. If you ever have any questions or concerns,
please don’t hesitate to call or email my office.
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Sen. Bill
Heath serves as Chairman of the Government Oversight Committee. He represents
the 31st Senate District which consists of Haralson and Polk counties and
portions of Paulding County.
He may be reached at 404-656-3943 or by
email at billheath@billheath.net.
