So, as you all know, I have this crystal ball and I foresee a future where the amended budget goes on a GLP-1.

But for now, we still have some decisions and investments to make.

House Appropriations Chairman Matt Hatchett expresses optimism about Georgia's budget as he presents the amended budget bill for 2026 to the House, but hints things could change down the road.

Good evening and welcome to Legislative Day 13.

I'm Donna Lowry in Atlanta.

We have lots to discuss with with guests on the show tonight, including a move to curb the access children have to firearms.

And if you're ever frustrated by the automatic renewal of online subscriptions, you're not alone.

We get an explanation on legislation to protect consumers from the so-called negative option.

Another area you might find frustrating is medical bills.

The Medical Debt Protection Act would give Georgians more transparency when it comes to medical billing, and we'll also discuss legislation that would regulate the state's ketamine clinics.

Plus, we learn more about a move to make sense out of purchases, ending with pennies.

But first, our Lawmakers Capitol correspondent Sarah Kallis gives us a wrap up of the day under the gold dome.

Hi, Donna.

Today at the Capitol, the House and Senate received a visit from Braves player and Hall of Famer Andruw Jones.

It was also Latino Day where lawmakers celebrated contributions.

The Latino community has made to Georgia.

And dental hygienists visited the Gold dome for dental Hygiene Appreciation Day.

The house took up the mid-year budget today, also called the Baby budget.

Lawmakers take a mid fiscal year assessment and adjust the budget accordingly.

The amended fiscal year 2026 budget is set by a revised revenue estimate of $42.3 billion.

In addition to the revenue growth, the governor's revenue estimate for the amended FY 26 budget includes $3.3 billion in undesignated surplus funds, for a total revenue adjustment of $4.5 billion, or an 11.9% increase over the original FY 26 budget.

Some of Georgia's multibillion dollar surplus will be given back to certain taxpayers this year, but instead of the one time tax rebate the governor proposed this year, the House will instead put that money toward a property tax credit.

Property tax relief for Georgia's homeowners.

Funding $850 million for the Homeowner Tax Relief Grant program.

This grant will reduce next year's tax bills for homeowners, and we will continue to work to eliminate property taxes on your home.

Other adjustments in the budget include more money for education.

The biggest budgetary expense.. This budget continues to meet our obligations in K-12 and higher education.

Fully funding our formulas and projections for QBE Charter Systems promise and special needs scholarships, AP exams.

Dual enrollment completion schools and Hope scholarships and grants.

And money for prison expansions, infrastructure improvements and additional state employees.

Running a growing state is not cheap, and this budget spends over $300 million in workload adjustments, including K through 12 Medicaid, corrections, health contracts, and DHS out-of-home care.

These additions are largely associated with our growing population.

The supplemental budget passed nearly unanimously and now goes to the Senate for approval.

The Senate voted on three bills today, with Near-consensus.

SB 239 will allow funeral directors to be licensed in Georgia without also being licensed in.

Right now, every state that touches Georgia has split licenses.

This is this way in 26 states, because in Georgia, in order to be a funeral director, you have to be an embalmer.

This is kind of outdated.

It passed unanimously.

SB 403 would help people who have unclaimed property held by the state Department of Revenue reclaim those assets in a more streamlined and efficient manner.

The goal of this bill is to return more money to Georgians faster, with fewer forms, less costs, and fewer administrative barriers.

It, too, passed unanimously, and HB 414 would hold persons and entities from outside of the state to the same legal and ethical state election standards that Georgia politicians must follow.

But what this bill is trying to address, hypothetically, would be me hiring an out-of-state consultant to run negative ads against an opponent, knowing that if there was illegal money used in such a way that the state Ethics Commission does not currently have the ability to go subpoena the bank records of the out of state consultant.

So what we are trying to do here is close a loophole that currently, perhaps has been exploited.

We don't really know if it's been exploited or not because we can't go do that.

But this essentially will seek to stop the practice of using dark money to hire out-of-state consultants to prevent the State Ethics Commission from ever getting the sunlight into these these matters.

While some Democrats question what constitutes a bad actor, they ultimately agreed with the bill.

This can impact legislators on either side of the aisle in both ways, that all of us are vulnerable to this type of behavior, regardless of party.

Senator, I aim to earn my rule of law messaging.

I aim to earn my annoying speeches about how the rule of law matters.

And so if I want to earn those talking points with my colleagues, one good faith way to do that is to acknowledge that, yes, this is basic good government meat and potatoes stuff.

And I would like for Georgians rights to be robust as to out of state actors that potentially do harm.

Look at us all getting along in here today.

I tell you what.

The bill passed 50-1 after the chambers adjourned.

Speaker of the House Jon Burns announced his early literacy act.

Georgia, our Georgia should not be trailing Alabama or Mississippi in any category, but they're far outpacing us when it comes to literacy.

And I congratulate them on their success.

But that also means we have a lot of work to do.

The bipartisan bill would provide funding for literacy coaches in Georgia's public elementary schools in an effort to boost reading levels in the state.

Tomorrow, lawmakers will be.

Back for day 14 of the session.

We can expect a full rotunda as parent teacher associations come to the Capitol for PTA day and a presentation of colors from the Duluth High School Junior ROTC.

That's my Capitol report.

Back to you, Donna.

Thanks, Sarah.

And she's in red like I am because it's go red for Women Day at the Capitol.

So it was great.

Well, we're going to dig in now on legislation dealing with several areas gun violence, ketamine and ambulances.

Joining me to talk about these topics and more is Democratic Representative Michelle O of Johns Creek.

Her House committee assignments include appropriations, Budget and Fiscal Affairs and Oversight and Public Health.

Thanks for coming back to Lawmakers.

I appreciate having you here.

Of course.

Thank you for having me, Donna.

So I want to start the conversation with you with some new information this week.

The Emory Center for Child Health Policy released the state of the Child Health and Well-Being in Georgia report.

The survey found 33% of Georgia parents ranked gun violence among their top three concerns for their child, up from 27% last year.

And the study.

In the study, Gun violence eclipsed education and school quality as parents top concerns.

That doesn't surprise you.

I'm thinking.

It does not surprise me.

Does it surprise you?

No, I guess not.

I mean, we're all concerned about how our kids are about our children being safe in school.

Above all.

I agree.

And you know, when you see that statistic that we've been living with for a few years now, which is that gun violence is the top cause of death of kids and teenagers, it really does provoke that reaction that we are concerned about it.

But I would hope that it also provokes the the desire for action.

Right.

And that's what we're working on in the legislature.

So let's talk about your bill that you have been putting out there for quite a few years.

That involves safe storage of guns for juveniles, for children.

Yeah.

So this is a bill.

You're right.

I've been working on it for many years now.

It's called the Pediatric Health Safe Storage Act.

And the reason we gave the bill that title is precisely what we've been talking about, that it is the top cause of death for kids and teenagers in this country.

Right.

And we invite people to think of this need for gun safety as not a political issue, which is how gun safety is often couched.

But as a public health issue.

And to address it, just like we do any other epidemic.

Yeah.

So it is HB one and HB two, because you have the Pediatric Health Safe Storage Act and the Safe Storage Tax Credit Act.

Talk about the difference.

That's right.

So HB one is our flagship bill.

It is the first bill dropped this entire session.

And all it does is it requires that any firearm that can be accessed by a minor be stored securely.

Period.

Right.

That's it.

It's very straightforward.

I think a lot of people, when I tell them about this bill, they're surprised that it's not already a law, but it is something we continue to work on.

And I hope that that that, you know, dissonance that it isn't already required gets people to, to move on this piece of legislation, HB two, comes at it from a slightly different way.

It's a Safe Storage Tax Credit act.

And what it does is it proposes an up to $300 tax credit for purchase of safe storage equipment.

So you notice it comes at it from a slightly different way, in that it doesn't ban anything.

It doesn't require anything, it doesn't penalize anything.

It incentivizes what we recognize to be responsible gun owning behavior.

And it's something that I do think we can get done in Georgia, because a very similar bill passed in a bipartisan manner in Virginia a couple of years ago and was signed into law by Glenn Youngkin, who was a Republican governor.

So I think we can get that done in Georgia, too.

Would you like to see both of them or one or the other or whatever you can get?

Look, I would be happy to pass any gun safety legislation in this state, but the reason they are HB 1-2 is that they are paired initiatives.

So they really move together and they work best together.

Yeah.

How confident are you about it this year that you can get it passed?

Well, look, I'm always going to work as hard as I can to pass these pieces of legislation.

If it were up to me to control the good policy to pass, of course I would be very confident it would pass.

We do, however, work in a bipartisan manner.

We work in a body that has people with many different opinions in two different parties.

So we really do need our Republican colleagues to recognize how important this is to their families as well, and to join us in moving something that's clearly important to the majority of Georgians.

Okay, well, let's change gears.

You are co-sponsor of Representative Sharon Cooper's bill to regulate ketamine clinics.

And ketamine has made headlines in the news since the death of actor Matthew Perry from the drug and you're an anesthesiologist.

So tell us about ketamine and exactly what the bill would do.

Correct.

And I'm glad that this is a piece of legislation that Chair Cooper is bringing up.

I'm very proud to be working with her on this.

Ketamine is a medication that we are finding has several applications that are helpful for patients.

Some of the newer applications, including treatment for pain that is opioid sparing, meaning maybe patients don't need to use opioid based pain medications as much treatment for refractory depression.

Treatment for PTSD.

So you'll notice that people are talking about ketamine more.

However, as this is happening and newer ketamine infusion clinics are popping up around the state, we are realizing that a lot of these ketamine infusion clinics are actually unregulated in a way that I think creates some patient safety issues and some public safety issues, right.

When I administer ketamine in the Or as an adjunct for for pain during surgery that patient gets a very specific protocol in terms of how they are recovered and how they are watched before we send them out to go home.

Right.

And that is because ketamine is a very powerful dissociative anesthetic.

So patients waking up from it may not be quite fit to take themselves home to drive.

Right.

And we want to make sure that all around the state that patients who need it can get access to this care in a safe way.

Okay.

And these clinics, they you said they're unregulated.

What do you want to do to regulate them?

What what does this bill call for.

Right.

So there's some very basic things that we watch in a patient who's gotten ketamine.

Because ketamine can put you at risk, for example, what we call an altered sensorium, altered mental status, right.

That we want to watch.

You make sure you're not getting in a car and driving yourself home immediately after receiving it.

It can change your level of alertness.

It can change the way you breathe, right?

So all these things I think need to be taken into account when a patient is getting a ketamine infusion that someone is trained on, how to give it, trained on how to recover a patient who has received it and trained to react to any emergencies up to and including things like being able to manage an airway, intubated patient if necessary.

Perform CPR.

All these types of things, ketamine can be safe under the right circumstances, but what we're trying to provide is those correct and safe circumstances.

Okay.

We'll keep up with that bill.

So you're also a signer on Representative Alan Powell legislation that looks to stop something else that might amount to a surprise.

The surprise billing coverage for using an ambulance service, specifically ground ambulance.

What are your thoughts on that bill?

Yeah.

So we have passed a surprise medical billing bill here in Georgia in 2021 that protects patients from being subject to medical bills that they did not expect because some of the care they received, often in the emergency room, is not covered under their insurance.

Right.

However, that surprise medical billing bill carved out protections for ground ambulance transports.

So what many people will hear, or maybe what's happened to to you or to me, is that patients will go to the E.R.

For an emergency and then a few weeks later they'll get a bill from the ambulance company saying, oh, did you know that this ambulance was not in network for your insurance?

So you have to pay 2000, $3,000 for this care?

Wow.

You can recognize, obviously, that when you're having an emergency and calling 911, that is not when you're saying flipping through your book of being like, can you send an in-network ambulance?

I have Kaiser can you send this specific ambulance company?

That's not how it works, right?

In an emergency, you want the closest ambulance to take you to the hospital.

So we're trying to protect patients from that surprise bill.

Another bill that we will keep up with.

Thank you, as always, for coming on the show.

And we may have you back.

Oh, I know you're coming back for Lunar New Year.

Yes.

Lunar New Year at the.

Coming up.

Always fun.

Well, coming up, legislation to protect you as a consumer.

Two members of the Georgia House join us to tell us what they're doing to help your wallet.

Stay with us.

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It's not a mountain thing or a coastal thing.

It's a Georgia people, places and stories thing.

Morning edition on Georgia Public Broadcasting.

It keeps Georgians everywhere dialed into home.

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It's a Georgia thing.

Welcome back to Lawmakers.

I'm Donna Lowry.

We want to focus on some of the issues that make it difficult to determine where your money is going.

Joining me is Republican Representative Carter Barrett of Cumming.

He's on the Appropriations Committee.

His other committee assignments include Banks and Banking and Ways and Means.

He's vice chair of higher education.

Also here is Democratic Representative Lisa Campbell of Kennesaw.

She's on the Budget and Fiscal Affairs Committee, as well as human relations and aging and Interstate cooperation.

Welcome to both of you.

Thanks for being here.

So we're going to talk about a lot of different issues.

I'll go back and forth.

Let's get through to as many as we can, representative Campbell.

Let's start with you telling us about the Medical Debt Protection Act, HB 765.

Yes.

Well, I believe no one should declare bankruptcy or go bankrupt because they are sick.

And we have so many Georgians these days, more than 1 million who do not have access to health insurance.

Many more are falling off because of the expiring ACA tax credits, and even those that have insurance.

As you just covered with doctor are often have surprise billing.

So medical debt is actually the leading cause for personal bankruptcy in Georgia today.

So that's why I've been hearing from constituents and introduce this bill.

Essentially, this bill ensures that you won't be going bankrupt because you got sick.

And it seeks to provide protections against collection actions.

So health care providers will still get paid.

But the the act ensures that a reasonable payment plan is in place, that you have time to heal and to recover.

That when health care providers sell your medical debt to other debt collectors, they are still responsible and cannot engage in predatory debt collection methods.

So they can't put liens on your home.

They can't garnish your wages.

It also ensures that your medical debt will not appear on your credit report for a year after you've started a payment plan so that you can get.

He'll get back to work.

You won't be penalized.

You won't lose your your apartment, your home, your car, and you can continue to make payments on the plan.

So again, it really seeks to ensure that no one in Georgia is going bankrupt because they get sick or get into a car accident, that they have the means and the protections in place to make payment plans, reasonable payment plans.

A lot of elements there.

Okay.

We'll keep up with it.

Representative Barrett, you have a bill, HB 529, Georgia, Georgia online automatic Renewal Transparency Act.

And we've heard about this before.

So tell us about it.

Because you tried last year.

So we've all had subscriptions in our lives and for longer term subscriptions sometimes you'll you'll sign up for them.

And they and it's compulsory that you have an automatic renewal provision on it.

And you won't really have an option frequently.

And a lot of people get stuck with a surprise when they see their bank statement or their credit card statement.

Whoa, I didn't see that.

I didn't I forgot all about that.

And it frequently it's a much higher price than it was originally.

And so this this bill is designed to bring some additional transparency and some relief from some of those things and some very simple ways that will be good for all Georgians.

It's a great bill.

It's a great opportunity.

Every year there's a consistent theme.

I love to do things that look after our seniors.

And I think this bill brings some great protection to all Georgia families, but especially our seniors.

It passed in the House.

It passed last year, 160 9-2 in the House.

And it's in the Agriculture and Consumer Affairs Committee in the Senate right now.

How are you feeling about it?

I feel great about our chances.

I've got a a veritable buffet of ways to tweak it as we need to.

So I'm feeling very positive about them helping us get it over the finish line.

Okay.

Thank you very much.

Representative Campbell, you have another bill relating to medical costs that would prohibit insurers from denying payment for a medical test or prescription without prior authorization.

This has received a lot of a lot of news about this.

So explain what it would mean for Georgians.

What it would mean for Georgians is that your care that you receive from your doctor, from your nurse, from your health care provider is not interrupted, and that our health care needs are met directly with our doctors.

So any test, any medical procedure, surgery, medication cannot be denied by a health insurance provider.

So it really gets back to the practice of medicine between doctors and their patients.

Okay.

And so that whole prior authorization thing, it's in the insurance committee.

Right.

That's right.

What are you expecting.

To happen there.

Because, you know, there's a there's a lot they're going to be looking at this year in particular.

It's true.

You know, my hope is that they are open to having courageous conversations that this is a real need, that so many Georgians are facing.

I first heard about this with seniors speaking to, you know, our seniors cataract surgeries a couple of years ago were being denied.

And think about how many almost all of us are going to need that particular surgery at some point in our lives.

And there was tremendous pushback.

So again, I think hopefully they can have the courage to have this difficult conversation so that we can bring in Georgians to testify how this is hurting their ability to get the care that they need.

Okay.

We'll keep an eye on that one, too, because that's one that's a big talker.

Let's talk about your bill.

That's also a talker.

The penny bill.

What to do with those pennies when you.

First of all, they're phasing out pennies.

So what happens when you can't get a penny or you don't have them available?

Your bill is trying to address that.

Yeah, it's a very basic bill.

It's almost a just a common sense bill that that when you go and use your debit card or your credit card, nothing different happens.

It doesn't matter if you have an odd penny or something that ends in $0.02 or $0.03 or $0.07 or whatever.

But with cash, a lot of retailers are dealing with pennies is going to be more and more of a problem.

Most people, we all have jars full of pennies at home, and that's where they seem to be staying.

So this bill is very basic.

It's the intent is for cash transactions, all of your transactions, all of your purchases can be bundled together.

The taxes are applied to it.

And then whatever the total number is, if it ends in a one or a two, it'll be rounded down to the nearest nickel or a six or a seven.

If it's a if it's a three or four will be rounded up, or a seven or eight or a nine will be rounded up to the nearest nickel.

Very basic.

And it will all come out in the wash.

Sometimes you'll you'll get the benefit of rounding down, and sometimes you'll get the, the inconsequential other side.

When when you, when they round up, it just gives some guidance to other.

And many states are dealing with this now, and most states are having to take this issue up.

What's the reaction you're getting from people?

I think people are very relieved.

They just want to have some guidance.

Now, it remains to be seen how that will go through the committee process, but I don't expect a whole lot of pushback.

I'm hearing very favorable feedback.

Retailers certainly want to know just how to go.

Yeah, I know there are a lot of people rolling up those pennies they have in the jars right now to try to get that money, because they don't know what's going to happen to it.

So we'll keep up with that bill.

All right.

Representative Campbell, tell us about your idea for the Georgia Children's First Trust Fund.

H.R.

396.

So pleased you asked about that.

We talked about it last year.

This is a bill that every Georgia family needs.

Our families are really struggling to afford early learning and child care.

So this bill would take $3 billion.

You might have heard we have about 14 billion in unallocated reserves and apply it to the services that we need.

That money would be invested.

So forevermore, the revenue on that return.

And the projections are that in the first year it would return about $100 million dollars.

That money, 30% of it would go to the Caps program to help parents who right now cannot afford to pay for child care, to pay for that care.

Our current funding only funds 15% of all eligible families in Georgia that need that care.

30% of the funding would go to child care providers.

Our child care providers to help them pay their teachers livable wages, be able to offer benefits, to be able to retain those teachers and make sure that our early learning care is the highest quality.

And then 30% would go to a long range plan.

The end goal is that we would have the highest quality early learning and child care in Georgia for every single family who wants it, and that's achievable with this kind of investment within the next 5-10 years.

You mentioned we talked about it last year.

How are you feeling this year?

There's a lot of conversation about wanting to support our children, so I'm hopeful that we'll actually get the commitment to put the money where our mouth is and to actually invest, you know, the brain development 0-4 is the most impactful on a person's a child's life.

And not only would this be great return on investment for those children, the dividends for to follow them for the rest of their lives.

There's an immediate economic impact with parents going back into the workforce now and also for the next decade to come.

So all of our Atlanta chambers, metro chambers, many of our business community leaders are also looking at this.

So I hope that there's going to be continued emphasis and bipartisan support of investing in our kids.

Okay.

We'll keep up with that one, too.

Representative Barrett, you have a resolution urging Congress to come up with a plan to balance the budget within ten years.

What led to that decision?

So I keep this this prop on my bookshelf at the Capitol.

This is a a very ornate dragon made out of currency from a foreign country.

And the paper's worth more than the currency.

The currency is worthless.

And they build these.

They make these wonderful things out of the paper.

I keep this on my bookshelf at the Capitol.

We talk about.

There are so many great things going on in Georgia, and we, of course, balance our budget in the state of Georgia.

We know how to do that here.

And we do.

And we do it every year.

Our friends in Washington, D.C., it's been quite a while since the budget has been balanced.

25, 26 years.

And and, you know, the number 1 tax on America is, is the hidden tax of inflation.

We can all feel it.

I carry this silver dollar everywhere I go in my pocket.

It's a constant reminder of what happens when government is not fiscally responsible, what it can do to families.

And it is it is.

You've had it for how long?

I've had this.

This coin was from 1,886, which is the year the Dubinin family sold Jekyll Island to some folks from New York City, where they ultimately started the Federal Reserve.

And they didn't pay that much for it.

They paid $125,000 for 10 miles of shoreline and 5,000 acres of land.

Today, you can't even buy a scrubby old lot somewhere for 125,000.

How are you feeling about this bill?

I feel great about it because it truly is a bipartisan issue.

You know, it affects every single family in America.

I think it's the most important thing we can do is learn to be fiscally responsible, come up with a plan to balance our budget in Washington, D.C., like we do in Georgia.

And I think that every it benefits every single one of us and all of our families.

And it just doesn't matter for a Republican or a Democrat, because we all have been to to a fast food restaurant that was $15.

I can't really believe that.

We'll keep up with that.

All right.

Thank you both for coming on the show.

But that does it today for Lawmakers.

Actually for this week.

We'll be back on Monday.

Sarah Kallis will be at the Gold Dome and have a Lawmakers Capitol report at the end of PBS NewsHour tomorrow night.

Have a good evening.