| | 17th Edition | February
10,
2017 |
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|  | | | The Honorable Michael L. Thurmond, CEO of DeKalb County, and the Honorable Kasim Reed, Mayor of Atlanta, participated in the February 8th Inauguration of President Claire E. Sterk as the twentieth president of Emory University. |
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| | | On Capitol Hill, steady work continues as the Senate advances confirmation of the President's cabinet secretaries. Congressman Tom Price (R-GA) has been approved as Secretary of the U.S. Health and Human Services. | | Click here to read the letters |
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|  | | | Emily Fisher, OGCA Director of Policy, and Kallarin Mackey, OGCA Director of State Affairs, at the January 26th GABio dinner. They sat with Lt. Governor Casey Cagle, who received the Legislator of the Year award. |
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| GA State House Update | | Of the myriad of issues covered by OGCA at the State House, following is an update of three issues of particular interest to the Emory community.
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| Campus Carry | | As expected, a new campus carry bill was introduced by Rep. Mandi Ballinger (R-Canton). In vetoing House Bill (HB) 859 last year, Governor Nathan Deal cited specific concerns he had with the bill, including a lack of exemption for child care centers on college campuses. Representative Ballinger's campus carry bill, HB 280, exempts child care centers from the bill's provisions. In its current form, HB 280 applies only to public institutions, though OGCA will closely monitor the bill and work closely with the Georgia Independent College Association (GICA) to advocate for our private property rights.
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| Certificate of Need | | A bill removing restrictions on Cancer Treatment Centers of America (CTCA) has been introduced by Sen. Hunter Hill (R-Atlanta). Senate Bill (SB) 123 repeals the 65% out-of-state patient threshold and removes their 50 bed limit. The bill also allows for new applications for destination cancer hospitals beginning July 1, 2017. Another anti-CON bill has been introduced in the House by Rep. Wendell Willard (R-Sandy Springs) that eliminates capital expenditure thresholds for certain equipment and exempts freestanding emergency departments and mental health facilities from CON. The OGCA team is working closely to protect the CON program and educate lawmakers about the negative impacts of these bills.
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| Hospital Provider Fee | | The legislature has completed its work to renew the Hospital Provider Payment Program until 2020. Under SB 70, the state will continue to draw down additional Medicaid dollars by levying a fee on hospitals based on a percentage of their net patient revenue. The bill now goes to the Governor for final approval, and he is expected to sign the measure.
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| | | The legislature has finalized its schedule for the remainder of the session and is scheduled to complete its work on Thursday, March 30. Each chamber has only 12 legislative days left in which to pass bills to the other side, known as "Crossover Day". After Legislative Day 28, which falls on Friday, March 3 this year, neither chamber can pass bills from their own members and are focused solely on working on bills from the other chamber. Expect a flurry of legislative activity leading up to Crossover Day. | | See the schedule here |
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