DARREL EALUM: Clock’s ticking down to Crossover Day

In a significant shift from our first two weeks when we passed only a few bills each legislative day, bills are now coming out of committee and onto the House Floor at a fast and furious pace. Our House Bills that will have a chance to become law must be passed by the House by Crossover Day, our 28th legislative day, and sent to the Senate.

Albany Doughty County Day at the Capitol was exciting. We had our municipal, business, and educational leaders visit us here at the Capitol, and I had the tremendous honor to introduce our Mayor Dorothy Hubbard to the House. Sharing with our members that she is the President of the Georgia Municipal Association and advocates for 520 cities all across Georgia was really special. Mayor Hubbard’s address to the House was outstanding!

During our storms in January 2017, Civil Air Patrol cadets and employee volunteers labored along side us to clean our streets and clear debris from our neighborhoods. In the House, we overwhelmingly passed HB 487, which would provide more flexibility to emergency response volunteers by allowing state agency employees who are certified Civil Air Patrol disaster service volunteers to be granted paid leave for up to 15 work days per year to participate in Civil Air Patrol specialized emergency service operations. For example, during our disasters when Governor Deal declared a state of emergency through the Georgia Emergency Management and Homeland Security Agency, those state agency employee volunteers would have benefited from HB 487.

In an effort to eradicate surprise hospital billing for scheduled procedures, we passed HB 678. This bill would provide several consumer protections regarding health insurance and would prevent patients from receiving “surprise” bills, which can be 10 to 12 times higher than in-network charges when an out-of-network doctor participates in their treatment team during an elective procedure. Under HB 678, hospitals, health care providers, and insurers would be required to disclose to patients which doctors in their treatment team are part of their insurance network, which health care plans they participate in, and which hospitals they are affiliated with prior to providing nonemergency services. If a provider were not in the patient’s network, the provider would be required to give the patient an estimated bill upon request. Furthermore, patients who receive a surprise bill would have the right to file a dispute with an arbitrator from the insurance department. These unexpected and astronomically expensive out-of-networks bills have forced some Georgians into bankruptcy, and two out of three Georgians will receive a surprise medical bill in the next two years.

We overwhelmingly passed HB 79, which would strengthen our state’s privacy laws and protect Georgians from having their license plate information stored indefinitely or subject to open records requests. HB 79 would require law enforcement agencies that obtain license plate information through automated license plate recognition systems to destroy unused data after 30 months; however, agencies would be allowed to keep this data beyond 30 months if the data is part of an ongoing investigation. HB 79 would impose penalties for unlawfully sharing this information. Captured license plate data collected would also be exempt from open records requests. These automated systems are high-speed cameras that use computer algorithms to convert images of license plates into computer data, and currently, there is no limit to how long law enforcement agencies can save this data.

We also unanimously passed HB 749, a measure that would benefit Georgia’s retired veterans and their families by specifying that military retirement income be excluded from Georgia income tax. If a deceased veteran’s surviving family member, regardless of the family member’s age, were to receive any military retirement income, it would also be excluded from state income tax under this legislation. Our state has passed many military-friendly measures over the past several years, but Georgia is currently one of only nine states in the nation that does not address military retirement pay tax exemptions. If signed into law, this bill would bring Georgia up to speed with other states that have instituted similar pro-military policies.

State Rep. Darrel Ealum, D-Albany, has represented District 153, which includes a portion of Dougherty County, since 2015. He serves on the Banks and Banking, Defense & Veterans Affairs, Human Relations & Aging and State Properties committees. He also is a member of the Military Affairs working group.