GERALD GREENE: House has busy week leading up to Crossover Day

Building upon last year’s Mental Health Parity Act, the House overwhelmingly passed House Bill 520 this week to continue to streamline and improve the state’s behavioral health care system and expand its work force.

This year’s bipartisan mental health bill would create new state authorities and pilot programs to help develop standardized terminology for serious mental illness, improve sharing and collecting data among law enforcement and state agencies, as well as establish rules for transferring data in compliance with federal and state law. By implementing these initiatives, the bill seeks to reduce barriers to care, ensure that individuals receive appropriate treatment for their conditions and decrease recidivism rates for those with mental illness who come into contact with our criminal justice system.

The House also passed bipartisan legislation during the week to expand mental health care options for veterans living in Georgia. House Bill 414 would create the Veterans Mental Health Services Program, which would serve as a competitive grant program to improve access to mental health services for service members, veterans and their family members in Georgia.

My colleagues and I unanimously passed a historic bill to protect the rights of both Georgia’s renters and landlords and ensure that rental properties are kept in a safe and healthy condition. House Bill 404 would require rental properties to be “fit for human habitation” upon signing a lease, and landlords would be required to maintain their properties throughout the duration of the lease. Georgia renters have the right to live in homes that meet certain minimum health and safety standards. Overall, this bill would provide greater protections for tenants under state law and hold landlords accountable for keeping their properties safe for renters.

We passed House Bill 440, which would allow public and private schools to keep lifesaving medications on hand for students who have diabetes. HB 440 would allow prescribers, such as physicians and nurse practitioners, to provide standing orders or prescriptions for ready-to-use glucagon to schools so that this medication can be rapidly administered to students in an emergency.

The House also passed a major bipartisan bill this week to establish the regulatory framework for Georgia’s electric vehicle charging infrastructure, which could encourage more businesses, such as convenience stores, to offer EV charging stations across the state. HB 406 would ensure that EV charging stations operate efficiently and fairly to support the growth and development of EVs in Georgia, which could have numerous benefits for the environment, public health and the economy.

My colleagues and I also passed legislation to allow for reinvestigations of cold-case murders that date back to 1970, in an attempt to help solve these cases. House Bill 88, or the Coleman-Baker Act, would require law enforcement agencies to conduct a thorough review of an original cold case murder investigation upon written request to determine if a new investigation could produce new leads or identify a likely perpetrator.

On Day 27, the House passed legislation to help attract and retain qualified medical examiners in the field of forensic sciences by providing financial support to those burdened with student loan debt. House Bill 163 would create a student loan repayment program for full-time medical examiners who work for the Georgia Bureau of Investigation’s Division of Forensic Sciences.

The House also passed House Bill 147, or the Safe Schools Act, to address how Georgia schools prepare for acts of violence on campus. The bill would require schools to conduct intruder alert drills by Oct. 1 of each school year. The goal of this legislation is to improve school safety and preparedness and reduce incidents of violence and gang activity on school grounds.

I hope that you will continue to reach out this session so that I can address any concerns you might have about legislation that we are considering. You can call my Capitol office number at (404) 656-9210 or email me at [email protected].

As always, thank you for allowing me to serve as your state representative.

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