By HALIMAH ABDULLAH - McClatchy Newspapers
The Macon Telegraph
February 23, 2010
Washington — Georgia’s largely Republican congressional delegation is unimpressed with President Obama’s attempts to resuscitate his ailing health-care reform agenda by using as a blueprint hotly contested proposals that narrowly passed in the House and Senate last year.
“In order to move forward on health care, the White House must ensure that the Democratic health-care bills currently in the House and Senate will not be the basis for moving forward. It’s clear that’s not the case,” said Sen. Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., who sits on the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions committee and opposes Democrat-backed Senate health-care reform measures. “There are ways to find common ground, but recycling legislation the American people have already rejected is not the way to go about it.”
Obama’s newly released plan to expand health care to the uninsured calls for $950 billion during the next decade to help states weather the cost of expanding Medicaid over four years, ends discrimination against those with pre-existing conditions and aims to reduce the deficit by about $100 billion over 10 years.
Obama generally took parts of the Senate and House measures, which passed on partisan lines, cut the “public option” of government-run insurance plan beloved by liberals and spurned by moderates and conservatives and scaled back the tax on high-end policies derided by labor unions. Under the Obama plan, most Americans would have to get health-care coverage, or face penalties, and there would be federal help for lower-income families who struggle to afford premiums.
New to the debate is an Obama proposal to involve the federal government in overseeing health insurance premiums, traditionally a state function. Obama proposes that federal and state authorities work together and “if a rate increase is unreasonable and unjustified, health insurers must lower premiums, provide rebates or take other actions to make premiums affordable.”
Taxes and regulation likely will prove the biggest flash points for Republican members of the Georgia delegation, the broader GOP and some moderate Democrats.
“I’m sure the average American is just as confused as I am about why President Obama is rolling out this backroom deal days before he’s supposed to have a bipartisan health-care summit,” said Rep. Lynn Westmoreland, R-Grantville. “The Democrats are still peddling the same left-wing, tax-raising, job-killing big government takeover of health care that Americans have soundly rejected.”
It is highly uncertain whether the plan, or a televised bipartisan summit Thursday to discuss health-care legislation, will launch a new bipartisan effort to get a bill passed, as Republicans reacted bitterly to the nearly $1 trillion proposal. “Republicans will continue to offer the kind of step-by-step reforms to lower costs that our constituents have been asking for in the hundreds of town halls and constituent meetings we have had across the country,” said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.
Obama’s last-ditch effort to revive health-care legislation faces difficult, perhaps insurmountable obstacles, but it at least ends his year-old reluctance to immerse himself in the messy details of crafting legislation.
“Democrats will have more comfort now in getting behind a plan,’ said Len Nichols, director of the New America Foundation’s health policy program.
Moderate Blue Dog Democrat Rep. Jim Marshall, D-Macon, said Monday that he is still studying the proposal’s finer points.
Reopening bipartisan talks only makes sense if it’s a cynical political effort to put the Republicans on the spot, said Linda Fowler, a political scientist at Dartmouth University. Georgia Republicans expressed similar skepticism.
“It is my hope that the president and Democrats will make a sincere effort to accept ideas offered by Republicans,” said Sen. Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga., “But the idea of holding a bipartisan health-care summit meant to produce bipartisan compromise four days after the president’s health-care plan is unveiled makes me less than confident.”
McClatchy Newspapers reporters David Lightman and Steven Thomma contributed to this report.
http://www.macon.com/2010/02/23/1034006/ga-lawmakers-discuss-obama-health.html
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Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Calls For Tax Hikes Resisted
By Walter C. Jones - Morris News Service
The Athens Banner-Herald
February 23, 2010
ATLANTA - Georgia legislators aren't in session this week because they're busy taking a closer look at ways to cut the state's budget for the fiscal year starting July 1.
When last month's report of tax collections showed the slide hadn't bottomed out as projected, the leaders called an unusual two-week recess so the budget-writing committees of the House and Senate could trim more than Gov. Sonny Perdue had recommended cutting.
One committee that doesn't have any meetings scheduled during the recess is the House Ways & Means Committee, where any bill to raise taxes must originate.
Republican leaders have said repeatedly that they oppose raising taxes, especially in a weak economy, because they don't want to create any obstacles for employers who might create jobs.
A couple of maverick committee chairmen have authored modest proposals that have failed to move out of tax-writing committees.
Rep. Ron Stephens, R-Savannah, sponsors a bill to hike the tax on cigarettes by $1 per pack, and Sen. Greg Goggans, R-Douglas, sponsors legislation to charge the state's sales tax on lottery tickets.
Stephens, a pharmacist who chairs the House Economic Development Committee, argues a tax increase would discourage smoking, and Goggans, chairman of the Senate Community Health Subcommittee, argues taxing the tickets will reduce the need for spending cuts to Medicaid.
Senior Democrats haven't trumpeted the cause of tax increases, either. Instead, they have called for cracking down on sales-tax cheats.
On Thursday, though, a group of eight rank-and-file Democrats from the House and Senate held a news conference to make public their support for a range of tax increases.
In addition to the tax-cheats bills and those by Stephens and Goggans, they proposed eliminating tax credits designed to spur job creation and temporarily boosting income taxes for people earning more than $400,000.
"The legislative proposals to cut taxes keep pouring in, with no reliable data to show that these cuts create jobs or help working families," said Rep. Virgil Fludd, D-Tyrone. "While we are furloughing teachers and state workers, and cutting education, health, social services and public safety programs, it is only fair to make a comparable reduction to tax credits and exemptions."
Alan Essig, executive director of the independent think tank the Georgia Budget and Policy Institute, has been making the case for years that Georgia's taxes need to rise.
If GOP leaders are afraid employers will flee to states with lower taxes, they'll have a hard time finding one, according to Essig.
Besides, he points to federal figures that show states that increased taxes significantly during the recession of 2001 still enjoyed healthy growth between 2004-07.
Median wages matched the national average; employment and personal income each grew one-tenth of a percent less than the national average.
On the other hand, he says, some states that cut taxes then wound up growing slower than the national average.
The reason, he said, is that wealthy people usually pay the added tax with money they would have saved or spent out of state.
But budget cuts that result in layoffs for government workers means their entire personal income isn't spent in the state's economy.
Picking between layoffs and tax increases isn't easy, Essig says.
"It's not like one is good for the economy and the other isn't," he said. "It's a bad choice. That's the problem with recessions - you have to make bad choices."
The bills to raise taxes remain in committees, where most have had no hearing or vote.
At the same time, another one to cut taxes is headed toward a vote in the House.
Last week, the House Committee on Small Business Development and Job Creation unanimously passed House Bill 1023, the Jobs, Opportunity and Business Success Act of 2010, sponsored by Rep. Tom Graves, R-Ranger.
Graves' combination of tax credits, tax cuts and other incentives aims to spur companies into expanding their payrolls.
"There is only one way to promote sustainable job creation, and that's through the expansion of the private sector," he said.
Essig can sense that he hasn't convinced the leadership.
"You have to make the least-bad choice," he said.
Originally published in the Athens Banner-Herald on Tuesday, February 23, 2010
http://www.onlineathens.com/stories/022310/gen_566389786.shtml
© 2010 OnlineAthens • Athens Banner-Herald
The Athens Banner-Herald
February 23, 2010
ATLANTA - Georgia legislators aren't in session this week because they're busy taking a closer look at ways to cut the state's budget for the fiscal year starting July 1.
When last month's report of tax collections showed the slide hadn't bottomed out as projected, the leaders called an unusual two-week recess so the budget-writing committees of the House and Senate could trim more than Gov. Sonny Perdue had recommended cutting.
One committee that doesn't have any meetings scheduled during the recess is the House Ways & Means Committee, where any bill to raise taxes must originate.
Republican leaders have said repeatedly that they oppose raising taxes, especially in a weak economy, because they don't want to create any obstacles for employers who might create jobs.
A couple of maverick committee chairmen have authored modest proposals that have failed to move out of tax-writing committees.
Rep. Ron Stephens, R-Savannah, sponsors a bill to hike the tax on cigarettes by $1 per pack, and Sen. Greg Goggans, R-Douglas, sponsors legislation to charge the state's sales tax on lottery tickets.
Stephens, a pharmacist who chairs the House Economic Development Committee, argues a tax increase would discourage smoking, and Goggans, chairman of the Senate Community Health Subcommittee, argues taxing the tickets will reduce the need for spending cuts to Medicaid.
Senior Democrats haven't trumpeted the cause of tax increases, either. Instead, they have called for cracking down on sales-tax cheats.
On Thursday, though, a group of eight rank-and-file Democrats from the House and Senate held a news conference to make public their support for a range of tax increases.
In addition to the tax-cheats bills and those by Stephens and Goggans, they proposed eliminating tax credits designed to spur job creation and temporarily boosting income taxes for people earning more than $400,000.
"The legislative proposals to cut taxes keep pouring in, with no reliable data to show that these cuts create jobs or help working families," said Rep. Virgil Fludd, D-Tyrone. "While we are furloughing teachers and state workers, and cutting education, health, social services and public safety programs, it is only fair to make a comparable reduction to tax credits and exemptions."
Alan Essig, executive director of the independent think tank the Georgia Budget and Policy Institute, has been making the case for years that Georgia's taxes need to rise.
If GOP leaders are afraid employers will flee to states with lower taxes, they'll have a hard time finding one, according to Essig.
Besides, he points to federal figures that show states that increased taxes significantly during the recession of 2001 still enjoyed healthy growth between 2004-07.
Median wages matched the national average; employment and personal income each grew one-tenth of a percent less than the national average.
On the other hand, he says, some states that cut taxes then wound up growing slower than the national average.
The reason, he said, is that wealthy people usually pay the added tax with money they would have saved or spent out of state.
But budget cuts that result in layoffs for government workers means their entire personal income isn't spent in the state's economy.
Picking between layoffs and tax increases isn't easy, Essig says.
"It's not like one is good for the economy and the other isn't," he said. "It's a bad choice. That's the problem with recessions - you have to make bad choices."
The bills to raise taxes remain in committees, where most have had no hearing or vote.
At the same time, another one to cut taxes is headed toward a vote in the House.
Last week, the House Committee on Small Business Development and Job Creation unanimously passed House Bill 1023, the Jobs, Opportunity and Business Success Act of 2010, sponsored by Rep. Tom Graves, R-Ranger.
Graves' combination of tax credits, tax cuts and other incentives aims to spur companies into expanding their payrolls.
"There is only one way to promote sustainable job creation, and that's through the expansion of the private sector," he said.
Essig can sense that he hasn't convinced the leadership.
"You have to make the least-bad choice," he said.
Originally published in the Athens Banner-Herald on Tuesday, February 23, 2010
http://www.onlineathens.com/stories/022310/gen_566389786.shtml
© 2010 OnlineAthens • Athens Banner-Herald
State Lawmakers Consider Tax Increases To Balance Budget
By Aaron Gould Sheinin and James Salzer
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Georgia Politics
February 22, 20010
Facing another potential $1 billion budget shortfall, Georgia's legislative leaders are considering a variety of tax and fee increases to balance the state's books.
On the first day of a week of demoralizing budget hearings -- hour after hour of bad news -- top Republicans in the House and Senate told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Monday that nearly everything is on the table.
"We are looking at a hospital tax. We are looking at a tax on tobacco," Senate President Pro Tem Tommie Williams (R-Lyons) said. "I'm not saying we'll do them, but we have to consider them."
The simple fact that Republicans are considering any increase in taxes -- in an election year, no less -- emphasizes the size of the hole the state finds itself in.
State revenues continue to drop, and budget writers must find savings or new sources of revenue to meet the hole in the state's finances. The current year's budget has already been cut more than $1.1 billion, and might require additional cuts through the end of the fiscal year on June 30.
The real problem, however, comes with the fiscal 2011 budget, which takes effect July 1. Gov. Sonny Perdue, in his official budget recommendation last month, predicted state revenues would grow by $800 million in 2011. But that includes more than $300 million coming from a controversial plan to levy a 1.6 percent fee -- others call it a tax -- on hospital patient revenue and a 1.6 percent fee on premium revenues of managed care insurers. Another $288 million came from a fund dedicated to helping local governments issue bonds for major infrastructure projects.
When the governor first proposed those methods of raising revenue, many lawmakers said they would not support them. But legislators are now realizing they have to accept the money Perdue found from those sources, cut the budget by another $600 million or find other sources of revenue. A $1-per-pack increase on cigarette taxes, for example, would raise at least $354 million a year, according to state estimates. It was last increased in 2003 when Perdue and lawmakers raised it by 25 cents per pack. Such a tax would be likely to affect other tobacco products.
In addition to potential tax increases, top House leaders said privately Monday they may allow several sales tax exemptions to expire and will consider increasing certain state fees that haven't seen hikes in decades.
"Are there [tax] exemptions we should not have?" said Williams, the Senate president pro tem.
"Are there services that other states tax that we don't have a tax on? Are there fees we are not covering our costs on? Are there agencies that need to be combined? Do we need to lay off state employees? There are all kinds of possibilities."
The questions and potential answers to the state's fiscal crisis are coming as lawmakers begin a two-week break in the annual legislative session. The House and Senate voted last week to take this time to seek a budget solution among the two chambers and Perdue. Democrats last week rolled out a plan to also increase the cigarette tax by $1 per pack, to realize added revenue through improvements in the state's sales tax collections and to put a 1 percent income tax increase on anyone making more than $400,000 a year.
Perdue communications director Bert Brantley said the governor understands the anguish lawmakers are facing.
"The process they're going through now is the process we went through three months ago," Brantley said, "but it's a very public process now."
Brantley said the governor tried to balance the budget without the new fees but decided it was preferable to other alternatives.
The governor, he said, played a kind of "Let's Make a Deal."
"We said, Door No. 1, here's a provider fee and here's the pros and cons," Brantley said. "Door No. 2, here's the tobacco tax. Door No. 3, here's rate cuts to Medicaid providers."
Brantley recognizes there are political implications to any tax increase. Perdue, who faced term limits, isn't running for re-election, so he leaves office in January.
"This budget was not based on the politics of having to go back to the ballot box," Brantley said. "Others do have to worry about that. And that's fine."
The Republican leadership in the House and Senate recognize that elections are nearing. It's one reason the hearings Monday sometimes seemed designed to make the case of how bad off the state's finances are.
Sen. John Douglas (R-Social Circle) laid out the stark situation as he questioned Col. Bill Hitchens, commissioner of the Department of Public Safety.
"More cuts, more cuts, more cuts are going to further degrade our ability to provide for the public safety?" Douglas asked.
"That's correct," Hitchens said.
Hitchens told another legislator that Georgia has the least number of troopers of any state in the nation on a per capita basis.
"We'd have to triple our size to come up to the national average," he said.
http://www.ajc.com/news/georgia-politics-elections/state-lawmakers-consider-tax-322084.html
© 2010 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Georgia Politics
February 22, 20010
Facing another potential $1 billion budget shortfall, Georgia's legislative leaders are considering a variety of tax and fee increases to balance the state's books.
On the first day of a week of demoralizing budget hearings -- hour after hour of bad news -- top Republicans in the House and Senate told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Monday that nearly everything is on the table.
"We are looking at a hospital tax. We are looking at a tax on tobacco," Senate President Pro Tem Tommie Williams (R-Lyons) said. "I'm not saying we'll do them, but we have to consider them."
The simple fact that Republicans are considering any increase in taxes -- in an election year, no less -- emphasizes the size of the hole the state finds itself in.
State revenues continue to drop, and budget writers must find savings or new sources of revenue to meet the hole in the state's finances. The current year's budget has already been cut more than $1.1 billion, and might require additional cuts through the end of the fiscal year on June 30.
The real problem, however, comes with the fiscal 2011 budget, which takes effect July 1. Gov. Sonny Perdue, in his official budget recommendation last month, predicted state revenues would grow by $800 million in 2011. But that includes more than $300 million coming from a controversial plan to levy a 1.6 percent fee -- others call it a tax -- on hospital patient revenue and a 1.6 percent fee on premium revenues of managed care insurers. Another $288 million came from a fund dedicated to helping local governments issue bonds for major infrastructure projects.
When the governor first proposed those methods of raising revenue, many lawmakers said they would not support them. But legislators are now realizing they have to accept the money Perdue found from those sources, cut the budget by another $600 million or find other sources of revenue. A $1-per-pack increase on cigarette taxes, for example, would raise at least $354 million a year, according to state estimates. It was last increased in 2003 when Perdue and lawmakers raised it by 25 cents per pack. Such a tax would be likely to affect other tobacco products.
In addition to potential tax increases, top House leaders said privately Monday they may allow several sales tax exemptions to expire and will consider increasing certain state fees that haven't seen hikes in decades.
"Are there [tax] exemptions we should not have?" said Williams, the Senate president pro tem.
"Are there services that other states tax that we don't have a tax on? Are there fees we are not covering our costs on? Are there agencies that need to be combined? Do we need to lay off state employees? There are all kinds of possibilities."
The questions and potential answers to the state's fiscal crisis are coming as lawmakers begin a two-week break in the annual legislative session. The House and Senate voted last week to take this time to seek a budget solution among the two chambers and Perdue. Democrats last week rolled out a plan to also increase the cigarette tax by $1 per pack, to realize added revenue through improvements in the state's sales tax collections and to put a 1 percent income tax increase on anyone making more than $400,000 a year.
Perdue communications director Bert Brantley said the governor understands the anguish lawmakers are facing.
"The process they're going through now is the process we went through three months ago," Brantley said, "but it's a very public process now."
Brantley said the governor tried to balance the budget without the new fees but decided it was preferable to other alternatives.
The governor, he said, played a kind of "Let's Make a Deal."
"We said, Door No. 1, here's a provider fee and here's the pros and cons," Brantley said. "Door No. 2, here's the tobacco tax. Door No. 3, here's rate cuts to Medicaid providers."
Brantley recognizes there are political implications to any tax increase. Perdue, who faced term limits, isn't running for re-election, so he leaves office in January.
"This budget was not based on the politics of having to go back to the ballot box," Brantley said. "Others do have to worry about that. And that's fine."
The Republican leadership in the House and Senate recognize that elections are nearing. It's one reason the hearings Monday sometimes seemed designed to make the case of how bad off the state's finances are.
Sen. John Douglas (R-Social Circle) laid out the stark situation as he questioned Col. Bill Hitchens, commissioner of the Department of Public Safety.
"More cuts, more cuts, more cuts are going to further degrade our ability to provide for the public safety?" Douglas asked.
"That's correct," Hitchens said.
Hitchens told another legislator that Georgia has the least number of troopers of any state in the nation on a per capita basis.
"We'd have to triple our size to come up to the national average," he said.
http://www.ajc.com/news/georgia-politics-elections/state-lawmakers-consider-tax-322084.html
© 2010 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Monday, February 22, 2010
Area Officials Oppose Hospital Tax
Gov. Sonny Perdue’s plan to plug a budget hole by taxing hospitals and health insurance plans has its first hearing.
Reporter: Jennifer Maddox Parks
The Albany Herald
February 21. 2010
ALBANY — Some health care officials here agree that imposing a hospital tax is not the appropriate way to fix Georgia’s ailing budget.
Gov. Sonny Perdue’s plan to plug a $274 million budget hole by taxing hospitals and health insurance plans received its first hearing before skeptical House members Wednesday as hundreds of health care lobbyists looked on—which ended with the conclusion that many were cool to the idea.
Tommy Chambless, senior vice president and general counsel for Phoebe Putney Health System, has found himself in the same position. If the tax passes, it would cost Phoebe a net of roughly $900,000.“This will have an impact on every health care facility in the state,” he said. “If you impose a tax that will take out $1 million out of the organization, that revenue flow to the state has to be made up somewhere.”
In order to make up for the financial impact, facilities like Phoebe may have to eliminate some services or increase costs in order to re-balance their books.
“Many hospitals are literally hanging on by their fingernails,” Chambless said. “All facilities will have their cost structure impacted. It’s a extremely negative thing to impose taxes on sick people.”
The governor says the tax increase, which would impose a 1.6 percent fee on revenues from hospitals and insurers, is needed to avoid steep cuts to Medicaid. Perdue has warned that he could push for a 16.5 percent cut in Medicaid reimbursements to hospitals if they don’t support the tax.
One alternative gaining a lot of attention would be to boost the tax on cigarettes by $1-a-pack instead. The last time Georgia boosted its cigarette tax was in 2003 when Perdue pushed through a 25-cent increase, earning criticism from some conservative anti-tax groups.Georgia has the one of the lowest tobacco taxes in the country. Adding the extra dollar may make a $350 million impact to the state budget, Chambless said.
“The (impact) in states that have increased their tobacco tax has been an increase in state revenue, and that it has encouraged people to stop smoking,” he said.
When Palmyra Medical Center was reached for comment on the issue, officials there deferred to the Georgia Hospital Association—who also feels there may be better ways to solve the problem.
“There are other alternatives out there,” said Earl Rogers, GHA senior vice president of government relations. “Ninety eight hospitals in the state will lose money in the deal. They should tax things that make people sick.”
Experts say the lost money may ultimately result in job cuts in the health care industry, which has been one of the shining stars in the state’s economy during the ongoing recession.
“Health care is one of the very few industries not impacted by economic problems,” said Carie Summers, GHA vice president of financial services. “That would seem to be one of the last places you would want to cut.”
Other alternatives, such as pursuing uncollected sales tax, may also help Georgia’s financial doldrums, Rogers said.
“The state ought to take advantage of that,” he said.
In the end, some officials say they don’t anticipate the tax going through.“I don’t believe the people of this state will allow a sick tax to be imposed,” Chambless said.
Others are hopeful it will fail, but are hesitant to predict the future.“The legislature has a lot of tough issues to deal with,” Rogers said. “I think they will be looking at everything.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Email Address: mailto:jennifer.parks@albanyherald.com?subject=Area
http://www.albanyherald.com/home/headlines/84876847.html
Triple Crown Media. - Copyright © 2002-2010
Reporter: Jennifer Maddox Parks
The Albany Herald
February 21. 2010
ALBANY — Some health care officials here agree that imposing a hospital tax is not the appropriate way to fix Georgia’s ailing budget.
Gov. Sonny Perdue’s plan to plug a $274 million budget hole by taxing hospitals and health insurance plans received its first hearing before skeptical House members Wednesday as hundreds of health care lobbyists looked on—which ended with the conclusion that many were cool to the idea.
Tommy Chambless, senior vice president and general counsel for Phoebe Putney Health System, has found himself in the same position. If the tax passes, it would cost Phoebe a net of roughly $900,000.“This will have an impact on every health care facility in the state,” he said. “If you impose a tax that will take out $1 million out of the organization, that revenue flow to the state has to be made up somewhere.”
In order to make up for the financial impact, facilities like Phoebe may have to eliminate some services or increase costs in order to re-balance their books.
“Many hospitals are literally hanging on by their fingernails,” Chambless said. “All facilities will have their cost structure impacted. It’s a extremely negative thing to impose taxes on sick people.”
The governor says the tax increase, which would impose a 1.6 percent fee on revenues from hospitals and insurers, is needed to avoid steep cuts to Medicaid. Perdue has warned that he could push for a 16.5 percent cut in Medicaid reimbursements to hospitals if they don’t support the tax.
One alternative gaining a lot of attention would be to boost the tax on cigarettes by $1-a-pack instead. The last time Georgia boosted its cigarette tax was in 2003 when Perdue pushed through a 25-cent increase, earning criticism from some conservative anti-tax groups.Georgia has the one of the lowest tobacco taxes in the country. Adding the extra dollar may make a $350 million impact to the state budget, Chambless said.
“The (impact) in states that have increased their tobacco tax has been an increase in state revenue, and that it has encouraged people to stop smoking,” he said.
When Palmyra Medical Center was reached for comment on the issue, officials there deferred to the Georgia Hospital Association—who also feels there may be better ways to solve the problem.
“There are other alternatives out there,” said Earl Rogers, GHA senior vice president of government relations. “Ninety eight hospitals in the state will lose money in the deal. They should tax things that make people sick.”
Experts say the lost money may ultimately result in job cuts in the health care industry, which has been one of the shining stars in the state’s economy during the ongoing recession.
“Health care is one of the very few industries not impacted by economic problems,” said Carie Summers, GHA vice president of financial services. “That would seem to be one of the last places you would want to cut.”
Other alternatives, such as pursuing uncollected sales tax, may also help Georgia’s financial doldrums, Rogers said.
“The state ought to take advantage of that,” he said.
In the end, some officials say they don’t anticipate the tax going through.“I don’t believe the people of this state will allow a sick tax to be imposed,” Chambless said.
Others are hopeful it will fail, but are hesitant to predict the future.“The legislature has a lot of tough issues to deal with,” Rogers said. “I think they will be looking at everything.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Email Address: mailto:jennifer.parks@albanyherald.com?subject=Area
http://www.albanyherald.com/home/headlines/84876847.html
Triple Crown Media. - Copyright © 2002-2010
Leaders Give Their Take On Health Care Reform
by Katy Ruth Camp
Marietta Daily Journal
February 21, 2010
By KENNESAW - A group of Cobb leaders, including a United States Representative, a lawyer, a hospital executive, an economist and a doctor all gathered on Thursday evening to discuss the past and future of the nation's health care reform plans before a crowd of almost 150 residents from across the state.
The Kennesaw State University Econometric Center and Small Business Development Center at the Coles College of Business hosted the forum at the KSU Center. Rep. Phil Gingrey, Tobin Watt of Smith Moore Leatherwood and Wellstar Health System CFO Jim Budzinski, hematologist and oncologist all spoke for 15 minutes each before an open Q&A session to discuss their perspectives on what should and should not be passed through legislature to ensure every American can have affordable health care.
"The president made it very clear that health care reform is one of his top priorities," Gingrey said. "I respectfully disagreed then, and I do now. When the unemployment rate is in the double digits and people are out of work, that needs to be the No. 1 issue. And I think if you suggested to someone out of work that you can give them a job and pay what they were making before, but they're on their own when it comes to health care, I think we could all guess they'd take that job." Gingrey also discussed his concerns that health care reform President Obama is proposing would cost too much and does not suggest a system that Americans would want. "
Democrats say this is paid for, but think about how they want to pay for it. With both, half of it is on the backs of existing Medicare funds, which we know are looking a little bleak. There are things I think we need to work on, such as denying pre-existing conditions, tort reform and lowering the cost of health care. But I don't think Americans want a Canadian or U.K. health care system, they want an American system and people do not want political bureaucrats to be the middle-men of their health care service," Gingrey added. Watt agreed.
"People say, 'We have a right to health care.' But what does that mean? To me, that means they want to be able to have everything. And once we say that, we'll never be able to afford this," Watts said. Budzinski said his health care system treats 100,000 uninsured patients a year, and that it cost the system $100 million to provide health care to those patients last year.
"Those costs and numbers are only growing. We need to work on getting hospitals and doctors working together better on this, and to find a cost-effective way to get insurance to these people because they seek out our help long after the illness has developed, and that creates a higher cost in the end," Budzinski said.
Braunstein said he felt whatever was passed needed to cover all the bases and that all "what ifs" are addressed. "
As physicians, we have to look back at some of these sorts of promises and predictions and ask if they were correct. Because we suffer when that answer is no, and are left with more red tape and obstacles," Braunstein said.
The physician also said that new developments in health care that could help many people are currently too expensive for everyone suffering with the respective diseases to take advantages of those breakthroughs.
"The biggest health problem, financially, is Alzheimer's. There is an effective treatment that has been developed and could help a lot of people, but it costs $50,000 per year, per customer. What's going to happen if everyone with Alzheimer's wants this? Who's going to pay for it? These are important questions that haven't been answered throughout this debate," Braunstein said.
Drew Tonsmeire, a business consultant with the KSU/SBDC, said he and others he spoke to were very pleased with the different perspectives each panelist provided and felt he now has a better understanding of what health care reform will mean to everyone, not just patients.
"We began the planning process for this forum back in the fall when we thought there would be some sort of legislature passed and could have these panelists offer their thoughts on what that legislature would bring," Tonsmeire said. "Obviously, nothing passed after changes and delays, but the issues are still there and there are so many things being proposed that people want to get down to what these things will really mean to them and the healthcare system. We were very pleased with the information we received today, and it's just so interesting to see the universal points being debated by people in all forms of the system."
krcamp@mdjonline.com
http://www.mdjonline.com/view/full_story/6420900/article-Leaders-give-their-take-on-health-care-reform?instance=lead_story_left_column
Content copyright © 2009 Marietta Daily Journal
Marietta Daily Journal
February 21, 2010
By KENNESAW - A group of Cobb leaders, including a United States Representative, a lawyer, a hospital executive, an economist and a doctor all gathered on Thursday evening to discuss the past and future of the nation's health care reform plans before a crowd of almost 150 residents from across the state.
The Kennesaw State University Econometric Center and Small Business Development Center at the Coles College of Business hosted the forum at the KSU Center. Rep. Phil Gingrey, Tobin Watt of Smith Moore Leatherwood and Wellstar Health System CFO Jim Budzinski, hematologist and oncologist all spoke for 15 minutes each before an open Q&A session to discuss their perspectives on what should and should not be passed through legislature to ensure every American can have affordable health care.
"The president made it very clear that health care reform is one of his top priorities," Gingrey said. "I respectfully disagreed then, and I do now. When the unemployment rate is in the double digits and people are out of work, that needs to be the No. 1 issue. And I think if you suggested to someone out of work that you can give them a job and pay what they were making before, but they're on their own when it comes to health care, I think we could all guess they'd take that job." Gingrey also discussed his concerns that health care reform President Obama is proposing would cost too much and does not suggest a system that Americans would want. "
Democrats say this is paid for, but think about how they want to pay for it. With both, half of it is on the backs of existing Medicare funds, which we know are looking a little bleak. There are things I think we need to work on, such as denying pre-existing conditions, tort reform and lowering the cost of health care. But I don't think Americans want a Canadian or U.K. health care system, they want an American system and people do not want political bureaucrats to be the middle-men of their health care service," Gingrey added. Watt agreed.
"People say, 'We have a right to health care.' But what does that mean? To me, that means they want to be able to have everything. And once we say that, we'll never be able to afford this," Watts said. Budzinski said his health care system treats 100,000 uninsured patients a year, and that it cost the system $100 million to provide health care to those patients last year.
"Those costs and numbers are only growing. We need to work on getting hospitals and doctors working together better on this, and to find a cost-effective way to get insurance to these people because they seek out our help long after the illness has developed, and that creates a higher cost in the end," Budzinski said.
Braunstein said he felt whatever was passed needed to cover all the bases and that all "what ifs" are addressed. "
As physicians, we have to look back at some of these sorts of promises and predictions and ask if they were correct. Because we suffer when that answer is no, and are left with more red tape and obstacles," Braunstein said.
The physician also said that new developments in health care that could help many people are currently too expensive for everyone suffering with the respective diseases to take advantages of those breakthroughs.
"The biggest health problem, financially, is Alzheimer's. There is an effective treatment that has been developed and could help a lot of people, but it costs $50,000 per year, per customer. What's going to happen if everyone with Alzheimer's wants this? Who's going to pay for it? These are important questions that haven't been answered throughout this debate," Braunstein said.
Drew Tonsmeire, a business consultant with the KSU/SBDC, said he and others he spoke to were very pleased with the different perspectives each panelist provided and felt he now has a better understanding of what health care reform will mean to everyone, not just patients.
"We began the planning process for this forum back in the fall when we thought there would be some sort of legislature passed and could have these panelists offer their thoughts on what that legislature would bring," Tonsmeire said. "Obviously, nothing passed after changes and delays, but the issues are still there and there are so many things being proposed that people want to get down to what these things will really mean to them and the healthcare system. We were very pleased with the information we received today, and it's just so interesting to see the universal points being debated by people in all forms of the system."
krcamp@mdjonline.com
http://www.mdjonline.com/view/full_story/6420900/article-Leaders-give-their-take-on-health-care-reform?instance=lead_story_left_column
Content copyright © 2009 Marietta Daily Journal
During Two-Week Recess Legislators To Look At Budget
Athens Banner-Herald
Morris News Service
February 22, 2010
ATLANTA - The Georgia General Assembly may be in recess this week and next, but that doesn't mean legislators will be out on the playground - it means they'll be working on their math homework by trying to balance the state's beleaguered budget.
The recess gives legislative leaders more time to focus on the budget without the distractions of other types of legislation, or the parade of beauty queens and high school athletes who come to the Gold Dome for a few minutes in the spotlight.
The House and Senate appropriations committees will take the unusual step of meeting together in the middle of the legislative session to go over the $18 billion budget line by line with the agency heads who are requesting a share of the money.
"We have a difficult, difficult budget task in front of us," said House Majority Leader Jerry Keen.
His Senate counterpart predicted lawmakers will go beyond merely cutting.
"I believe what we are facing today, what we are facing over the next two years, is going to call for us to go beyond simply the appropriations process to look at other statutory changes that are necessary, and that opens up an entire spectrum of possible answers," said Senate Majority Leader Chip Rogers.
One idea gaining steam is to "raid" the University System of Georgia budget by moving those appropriations to other agencies because colleges have the option of raising tuition. With record enrollment and tuition currently among the lowest in the nation, the schools could squeeze more out of parents, legislators are thinking.
"I suspect that higher education will be called on to contribute to the shortfall," said Senate Appropriations Chairman Jack Hill.
Regular sessions of the full House and Senate are scheduled to resume March 8.
Originally published in the Athens Banner-Herald on Monday, February 22, 2010
http://www.onlineathens.com/stories/022210/gen_565943258.shtml
© 2010 OnlineAthens • Athens Banner-Herald • Morris Digital Works
Morris News Service
February 22, 2010
ATLANTA - The Georgia General Assembly may be in recess this week and next, but that doesn't mean legislators will be out on the playground - it means they'll be working on their math homework by trying to balance the state's beleaguered budget.
The recess gives legislative leaders more time to focus on the budget without the distractions of other types of legislation, or the parade of beauty queens and high school athletes who come to the Gold Dome for a few minutes in the spotlight.
The House and Senate appropriations committees will take the unusual step of meeting together in the middle of the legislative session to go over the $18 billion budget line by line with the agency heads who are requesting a share of the money.
"We have a difficult, difficult budget task in front of us," said House Majority Leader Jerry Keen.
His Senate counterpart predicted lawmakers will go beyond merely cutting.
"I believe what we are facing today, what we are facing over the next two years, is going to call for us to go beyond simply the appropriations process to look at other statutory changes that are necessary, and that opens up an entire spectrum of possible answers," said Senate Majority Leader Chip Rogers.
One idea gaining steam is to "raid" the University System of Georgia budget by moving those appropriations to other agencies because colleges have the option of raising tuition. With record enrollment and tuition currently among the lowest in the nation, the schools could squeeze more out of parents, legislators are thinking.
"I suspect that higher education will be called on to contribute to the shortfall," said Senate Appropriations Chairman Jack Hill.
Regular sessions of the full House and Senate are scheduled to resume March 8.
Originally published in the Athens Banner-Herald on Monday, February 22, 2010
http://www.onlineathens.com/stories/022210/gen_565943258.shtml
© 2010 OnlineAthens • Athens Banner-Herald • Morris Digital Works
Friday, February 19, 2010
States Consider Medicaid Cuts as Use Grows
By KEVIN SACK and ROBERT PEAR
The New York Times
Politics
February 18, 2010
WASHINGTON — Facing relentless fiscal pressure and exploding demand for government health care, virtually every state is making or considering substantial cuts in Medicaid, even as Democrats push to add 15 million people to the rolls.
Because they are temporarily barred from reducing eligibility, states have been left to cut “optional benefits,” like dental and vision care, and reduce payments to doctors and other health care providers.
In some states, governors are trying to avoid the deepest cuts by pushing for increases in tobacco taxes or new levies on hospitals and doctors, but many of those proposals are running into election-year trouble in conservative legislatures.
In Nevada, which faces an $881 million budget gap, Gov. Jim Gibbons, a Republican, proposed this month to end Medicaid coverage of adult day care, eyeglasses, hearing aids and dentures, and, for a savings of $829,304, to reduce the number of diapers provided monthly to incontinent adults (to 186 from 300).
“We are down to the ugly list of options,” the state’s director of health and human services, Mike Willden, told a legislative committee last week.
The Medicaid program already pays doctors and hospitals at levels well below those of Medicare and private insurance, and often below actual costs. Large numbers of doctors, therefore, do not accept Medicaid patients, and cuts may further discourage participation in the program, which primarily serves low-income children, disabled adults and nursing home residents.
In Kansas, a 10 percent cut in provider payments that took effect on Jan. 1 has prompted such an outcry that Gov. Mark Parkinson, who imposed it, now wants to restore the money by raising tobacco and sales taxes.
Even if Mr. Parkinson, a Democrat, overcomes resistance in his Republican-controlled Legislature, it will be too late for Dr. C. Joseph Beck, a Wichita ophthalmologist who informed his Medicaid patients last month that he could no longer afford to treat them.
Dr. Beck said that over eight months last year, his practice wrote off $36,000 in losses from treating 17 Medicaid patients. The state-imposed payment cut, he said, was “the final straw.”
“I’m out, I’m done,” Dr. Beck said in a telephone interview. “I didn’t want to. I want to take care of people. But I also have three children and many employees to take care of.”
Concerns about health care costs are likely to dominate the winter meeting of the National Governors Association, which begins Saturday in Washington.
In advance of the gathering, administration officials have urged governors to endorse President Obama’s health care proposals, or at least to avoid criticizing them. The Democratic plan, which is stalled in Congress, would vastly expand eligibility for Medicaid as one means of reducing the number of uninsured.
But many governors said they were more concerned about the growth of existing health programs. The recession and high unemployment have driven up enrollment in Medicaid while depleting state revenues that help pay for it.
A survey released Thursday by the Kaiser Family Foundation found a record one-year increase in Medicaid enrollment of 3.3 million from June 2008 to June 2009, a period when the unemployment rate rose by 4 percentage points. Total enrollment jumped 7.5 percent, to 46.9 million, and 13 states had double-digit increases.
Because Medicaid enrollment often lags behind unemployment, this year’s increase could prove even greater.
The National Association of State Medicaid Directors estimates that state budget shortfalls in the coming fiscal year, which begins in July in most states, will total $140 billion. Because Medicaid is one of the largest expenditures in every state budget, and one of the fastest-growing, it makes an unavoidable target.
“For most states, the fiscal situation is still dire, and the Medicaid cuts are significant,” said Scott D. Pattison, executive director of the National Association of State Budget Officers.
Governors and legislators have managed to defer the deepest cuts because the federal stimulus package provided $87 billion to states in Medicaid relief. The cost of Medicaid is shared by the federal and state governments, with states setting eligibility, benefit and reimbursement levels within broad federal guidelines, and Washington covering the majority of the expense.
But the stimulus assistance is due to expire at the end of December, in the middle of many states’ fiscal years, leaving budget officials to peer over a precipice. Congress and the White House are considering extending the enhanced payments for six more months, at a cost of about $25 billion.
The House has passed such a measure and Mr. Obama included it in his budget this month, but the Senate has not acted.
The extension would not come close to filling the Medicaid gap in many states. In Georgia, for instance, Gov. Sonny Perdue assumed in his budget proposal that the additional federal money would be provided, but that the state would still face a Medicaid imbalance of $608 million, said Dr. Rhonda M. Medows, the commissioner of community health.
Mr. Perdue, a Republican, decided it would be unwise to cut optional benefits because that might drive Medicaid patients into expensive emergency rooms. He proposed instead to levy a 1.6 percent tax on hospital and managed care revenues and to cut payments to many providers by nearly 2 percent.
Without the tax increases, which face opposition in the General Assembly, the state will have to cut provider payments by 16.5 percent, Dr. Medows said.
“I won’t have any primary care doctors left, much less specialists,” she said. “Certainly down here nobody likes to talk about taxes, but sometimes you have to bite the bullet and do what’s right for a whole lot of people.”
In the Kaiser survey, almost every state reported that Medicaid enrollment for the current fiscal year was exceeding expectations, making midyear budget cuts necessary.
The options are limited by several realities. To qualify for Medicaid dollars provided in the stimulus package, states agreed not to tighten eligibility for low-income people. And any time a state cuts spending on Medicaid, it loses at least that much in federal matching money.
Despite the ban on restricting eligibility, hard-hit states like California and Arizona are considering proposals by their governors that would remove hundreds of thousands from the rolls once the federal financing ends. Gov. Jan Brewer of Arizona, a Republican, has called for eliminating Medicaid coverage for 310,000 childless adults and ending the Children’s Health Insurance Program to help close a two-year budget gap of about $4.5 billion.
Gov. Phil Bredesen of Tennessee, a Democrat, is proposing the largest cuts in the history of TennCare, his state’s Medicaid program. To trim 9 percent of the TennCare budget, he would establish a $10,000 cap on inpatient hospital services for nonpregnant adults and would limit coverage of X-rays, laboratory services and doctor’s office visits.
“I have no choice,” Mr. Bredesen said.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/19/us/politics/19medicaid.html?scp=6&sq=Georgia&st=nyt
Copyright 2010 The New York Times Company
The New York Times
Politics
February 18, 2010
WASHINGTON — Facing relentless fiscal pressure and exploding demand for government health care, virtually every state is making or considering substantial cuts in Medicaid, even as Democrats push to add 15 million people to the rolls.
Because they are temporarily barred from reducing eligibility, states have been left to cut “optional benefits,” like dental and vision care, and reduce payments to doctors and other health care providers.
In some states, governors are trying to avoid the deepest cuts by pushing for increases in tobacco taxes or new levies on hospitals and doctors, but many of those proposals are running into election-year trouble in conservative legislatures.
In Nevada, which faces an $881 million budget gap, Gov. Jim Gibbons, a Republican, proposed this month to end Medicaid coverage of adult day care, eyeglasses, hearing aids and dentures, and, for a savings of $829,304, to reduce the number of diapers provided monthly to incontinent adults (to 186 from 300).
“We are down to the ugly list of options,” the state’s director of health and human services, Mike Willden, told a legislative committee last week.
The Medicaid program already pays doctors and hospitals at levels well below those of Medicare and private insurance, and often below actual costs. Large numbers of doctors, therefore, do not accept Medicaid patients, and cuts may further discourage participation in the program, which primarily serves low-income children, disabled adults and nursing home residents.
In Kansas, a 10 percent cut in provider payments that took effect on Jan. 1 has prompted such an outcry that Gov. Mark Parkinson, who imposed it, now wants to restore the money by raising tobacco and sales taxes.
Even if Mr. Parkinson, a Democrat, overcomes resistance in his Republican-controlled Legislature, it will be too late for Dr. C. Joseph Beck, a Wichita ophthalmologist who informed his Medicaid patients last month that he could no longer afford to treat them.
Dr. Beck said that over eight months last year, his practice wrote off $36,000 in losses from treating 17 Medicaid patients. The state-imposed payment cut, he said, was “the final straw.”
“I’m out, I’m done,” Dr. Beck said in a telephone interview. “I didn’t want to. I want to take care of people. But I also have three children and many employees to take care of.”
Concerns about health care costs are likely to dominate the winter meeting of the National Governors Association, which begins Saturday in Washington.
In advance of the gathering, administration officials have urged governors to endorse President Obama’s health care proposals, or at least to avoid criticizing them. The Democratic plan, which is stalled in Congress, would vastly expand eligibility for Medicaid as one means of reducing the number of uninsured.
But many governors said they were more concerned about the growth of existing health programs. The recession and high unemployment have driven up enrollment in Medicaid while depleting state revenues that help pay for it.
A survey released Thursday by the Kaiser Family Foundation found a record one-year increase in Medicaid enrollment of 3.3 million from June 2008 to June 2009, a period when the unemployment rate rose by 4 percentage points. Total enrollment jumped 7.5 percent, to 46.9 million, and 13 states had double-digit increases.
Because Medicaid enrollment often lags behind unemployment, this year’s increase could prove even greater.
The National Association of State Medicaid Directors estimates that state budget shortfalls in the coming fiscal year, which begins in July in most states, will total $140 billion. Because Medicaid is one of the largest expenditures in every state budget, and one of the fastest-growing, it makes an unavoidable target.
“For most states, the fiscal situation is still dire, and the Medicaid cuts are significant,” said Scott D. Pattison, executive director of the National Association of State Budget Officers.
Governors and legislators have managed to defer the deepest cuts because the federal stimulus package provided $87 billion to states in Medicaid relief. The cost of Medicaid is shared by the federal and state governments, with states setting eligibility, benefit and reimbursement levels within broad federal guidelines, and Washington covering the majority of the expense.
But the stimulus assistance is due to expire at the end of December, in the middle of many states’ fiscal years, leaving budget officials to peer over a precipice. Congress and the White House are considering extending the enhanced payments for six more months, at a cost of about $25 billion.
The House has passed such a measure and Mr. Obama included it in his budget this month, but the Senate has not acted.
The extension would not come close to filling the Medicaid gap in many states. In Georgia, for instance, Gov. Sonny Perdue assumed in his budget proposal that the additional federal money would be provided, but that the state would still face a Medicaid imbalance of $608 million, said Dr. Rhonda M. Medows, the commissioner of community health.
Mr. Perdue, a Republican, decided it would be unwise to cut optional benefits because that might drive Medicaid patients into expensive emergency rooms. He proposed instead to levy a 1.6 percent tax on hospital and managed care revenues and to cut payments to many providers by nearly 2 percent.
Without the tax increases, which face opposition in the General Assembly, the state will have to cut provider payments by 16.5 percent, Dr. Medows said.
“I won’t have any primary care doctors left, much less specialists,” she said. “Certainly down here nobody likes to talk about taxes, but sometimes you have to bite the bullet and do what’s right for a whole lot of people.”
In the Kaiser survey, almost every state reported that Medicaid enrollment for the current fiscal year was exceeding expectations, making midyear budget cuts necessary.
The options are limited by several realities. To qualify for Medicaid dollars provided in the stimulus package, states agreed not to tighten eligibility for low-income people. And any time a state cuts spending on Medicaid, it loses at least that much in federal matching money.
Despite the ban on restricting eligibility, hard-hit states like California and Arizona are considering proposals by their governors that would remove hundreds of thousands from the rolls once the federal financing ends. Gov. Jan Brewer of Arizona, a Republican, has called for eliminating Medicaid coverage for 310,000 childless adults and ending the Children’s Health Insurance Program to help close a two-year budget gap of about $4.5 billion.
Gov. Phil Bredesen of Tennessee, a Democrat, is proposing the largest cuts in the history of TennCare, his state’s Medicaid program. To trim 9 percent of the TennCare budget, he would establish a $10,000 cap on inpatient hospital services for nonpregnant adults and would limit coverage of X-rays, laboratory services and doctor’s office visits.
“I have no choice,” Mr. Bredesen said.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/19/us/politics/19medicaid.html?scp=6&sq=Georgia&st=nyt
Copyright 2010 The New York Times Company
Ga. Lawmakers To Tackle $1B Budget Hole During Hiatus
By TRAVIS FAIN
The Macon Telegraph
News-Local and State
February 19,2010
ATLANTA — With Georgia’s budget picture bleak and looking bleaker, top leaders in the House and Senate announced a two-week hiatus in the ongoing legislative session Thursday to give budget writers time to overhaul the state budget.
Rank-and-file members of the Georgia General Assembly will spend the next two weeks back home. But high-ranking members and members of the House and Senate appropriations committees will be at the Capitol looking for a billion dollars, give or take a few hundred million.
Much of that is likely to come in deep cuts to an already sliced-up state budget as legislators try to avoid tax increases. But some sort of tax increase suddenly seems possible despite its unpopularity among the Republican majority here.
“(There is) a very strong preference to see if this can be done without additional revenues,” Speaker of the House David Ralston said Thursday. “But, hey, at the end of the day, we’ve got to balance the budget.”
Legislators were thrown for a loop by the state’s revenue collections last month. Many had expected the state’s January numbers to be relatively flat compared to the year before — a sign that the economy and tax revenues were recovering.
Instead, they were down nearly 9 percent. That cast more doubt on Gov. Sonny Perdue’s prediction that state revenues will grow about 4 percent in fiscal 2011, which starts July 1.
That was once thought optimistic. Now, many legislators see it as downright unlikely.
But that revenue growth is key to the governor’s 2011 budget. So is an unpopular new tax on hospital revenues and a plan to sell off loans held by the state to generate quick cash. Legislators would like to reject both of these proposals but don’t know whether they’ll be able to find enough cuts to balance the budget without them.
In the meantime, Democrats and some Republicans are calling for a range of small tax increases to get the state through the economic downturn. Increasing the state’s cigarette tax has been a relatively popular idea.
There also are pushes to improve sales tax collections and audit all of the little sales tax exemptions that individual businesses have had written into the code over the years.
Ralston has said repeatedly that there’s just not enough support in the House for any kind of tax increase to balance the budget. But he and other leaders either don’t know where they’re going to find major new cuts, or they aren’t saying.
And Ralston, the Blue Ridge Republican in his first year as speaker, seemed to soften just a bit on the tax issue Thursday as he and others called the state’s budget problems “nearly unprecedented.”
The next two weeks of high-level talks likely will tell the tale, and state leaders are hoping for some good news early next month when tax collections for February are tallied.
The governor’s fiscal 2011 budget includes $18.2 billion in expected state revenues. But some $345 million of that would come from a new 1.6 percent tax on hospital revenues and a similar tax on managed care providers. Another $300 million or so in the governor’s budget would come from selling some of the loans the state has made to local governments to fund water and sewer projects. Neither plan is popular, though the hospital tax seems to have much more vocal opposition than the plan to sell loans.
There also are questions about how much federal money will be available to help prop up the state’s Medicaid budget.
Add in concerns that the governor’s 2011 budget is built on a faulty prediction of revenue growth, and legislators will be looking for $1 billion before they can balance the budget and go home for the year.
Some feel the hole may be even deeper than that. Senate Majority Leader Chip Rogers said Thursday that $1 billion “may be on the low side.”
House Appropriations Chairman Ben Harbin said he and other budget writers “have some plans” on how to deal with all this. But Harbin wouldn’t elaborate much Thursday, and other House and Senate leaders said they were content to let Appropriations Committee members dig through the budget for the next two weeks.
“There will be, at some point, a package ... presented to lawmakers,” Rogers said.
To that end, the House and Senate appropriations committees will take the unusual step of meeting together on the 2011 budget starting Monday.
Harbin said the two groups, which are often at odds, will “put this budget together, together.”
Ralston and Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle, who heads the Senate, issued a rare joint statement on the situation, saying “the reality we face this budget year is nearly unprecedented.”
They promised close cooperation between the two bodies.
Most other legislative business at the Capitol will grind to a halt until there’s a major breakthrough on the budget, and Ralston essentially told members Thursday that they should stay home the next two weeks unless they’re involved in the budget process or a handful of other crucial issues.
To contact writer Travis Fain, call 361-2702 or e-mail him at tfain@macon.com
http://www.macon.com/local/story/1029103.html
Macon.com copyright notice
Material published on Macon.com, including articles, photos, graphics, videos, bulletin board postings and other content, is copyrighted by The Telegraph or by other information providers who have licensed their content for use on Macon.com. The entire contents of Macon.com are also copyrighted as a collective work under the United States copyright laws.
The Macon Telegraph
News-Local and State
February 19,2010
ATLANTA — With Georgia’s budget picture bleak and looking bleaker, top leaders in the House and Senate announced a two-week hiatus in the ongoing legislative session Thursday to give budget writers time to overhaul the state budget.
Rank-and-file members of the Georgia General Assembly will spend the next two weeks back home. But high-ranking members and members of the House and Senate appropriations committees will be at the Capitol looking for a billion dollars, give or take a few hundred million.
Much of that is likely to come in deep cuts to an already sliced-up state budget as legislators try to avoid tax increases. But some sort of tax increase suddenly seems possible despite its unpopularity among the Republican majority here.
“(There is) a very strong preference to see if this can be done without additional revenues,” Speaker of the House David Ralston said Thursday. “But, hey, at the end of the day, we’ve got to balance the budget.”
Legislators were thrown for a loop by the state’s revenue collections last month. Many had expected the state’s January numbers to be relatively flat compared to the year before — a sign that the economy and tax revenues were recovering.
Instead, they were down nearly 9 percent. That cast more doubt on Gov. Sonny Perdue’s prediction that state revenues will grow about 4 percent in fiscal 2011, which starts July 1.
That was once thought optimistic. Now, many legislators see it as downright unlikely.
But that revenue growth is key to the governor’s 2011 budget. So is an unpopular new tax on hospital revenues and a plan to sell off loans held by the state to generate quick cash. Legislators would like to reject both of these proposals but don’t know whether they’ll be able to find enough cuts to balance the budget without them.
In the meantime, Democrats and some Republicans are calling for a range of small tax increases to get the state through the economic downturn. Increasing the state’s cigarette tax has been a relatively popular idea.
There also are pushes to improve sales tax collections and audit all of the little sales tax exemptions that individual businesses have had written into the code over the years.
Ralston has said repeatedly that there’s just not enough support in the House for any kind of tax increase to balance the budget. But he and other leaders either don’t know where they’re going to find major new cuts, or they aren’t saying.
And Ralston, the Blue Ridge Republican in his first year as speaker, seemed to soften just a bit on the tax issue Thursday as he and others called the state’s budget problems “nearly unprecedented.”
The next two weeks of high-level talks likely will tell the tale, and state leaders are hoping for some good news early next month when tax collections for February are tallied.
The governor’s fiscal 2011 budget includes $18.2 billion in expected state revenues. But some $345 million of that would come from a new 1.6 percent tax on hospital revenues and a similar tax on managed care providers. Another $300 million or so in the governor’s budget would come from selling some of the loans the state has made to local governments to fund water and sewer projects. Neither plan is popular, though the hospital tax seems to have much more vocal opposition than the plan to sell loans.
There also are questions about how much federal money will be available to help prop up the state’s Medicaid budget.
Add in concerns that the governor’s 2011 budget is built on a faulty prediction of revenue growth, and legislators will be looking for $1 billion before they can balance the budget and go home for the year.
Some feel the hole may be even deeper than that. Senate Majority Leader Chip Rogers said Thursday that $1 billion “may be on the low side.”
House Appropriations Chairman Ben Harbin said he and other budget writers “have some plans” on how to deal with all this. But Harbin wouldn’t elaborate much Thursday, and other House and Senate leaders said they were content to let Appropriations Committee members dig through the budget for the next two weeks.
“There will be, at some point, a package ... presented to lawmakers,” Rogers said.
To that end, the House and Senate appropriations committees will take the unusual step of meeting together on the 2011 budget starting Monday.
Harbin said the two groups, which are often at odds, will “put this budget together, together.”
Ralston and Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle, who heads the Senate, issued a rare joint statement on the situation, saying “the reality we face this budget year is nearly unprecedented.”
They promised close cooperation between the two bodies.
Most other legislative business at the Capitol will grind to a halt until there’s a major breakthrough on the budget, and Ralston essentially told members Thursday that they should stay home the next two weeks unless they’re involved in the budget process or a handful of other crucial issues.
To contact writer Travis Fain, call 361-2702 or e-mail him at tfain@macon.com
http://www.macon.com/local/story/1029103.html
Macon.com copyright notice
Material published on Macon.com, including articles, photos, graphics, videos, bulletin board postings and other content, is copyrighted by The Telegraph or by other information providers who have licensed their content for use on Macon.com. The entire contents of Macon.com are also copyrighted as a collective work under the United States copyright laws.
3 Cities Take Buford Highway Into Future
By Shane Blatt
Gwinnett News
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
February 19, 2010
Two years ago, three newly elected mayors met for lunch at a Ruby Tuesday in Duluth.
On the table: soda, salads, burgers — and Buford Highway.
Duluth’s Nancy Harris, Norcross’ Bucky Johnson and Suwanee’s Dave Williams have a vested interest in the highway. After all, this artery shoots straight through the heart of their respective cities, with up to 33,610 vehicles on average zipping through parts of the corridor each day.
But for these enclaves, Buford is a road riddled with transportation, safety and zoning issues. It’s where exhaust-belching cars crawl from block to block, where pedestrians stroll along broken sidewalks, where traffic lights dance on looping wires strung from tired utility poles, where a hodgepodge of shops and aging strip malls mingle with industrial warehouses and town homes.
So over a meal in January 2008, Williams and his mayoral counterparts pledged to transform more than eight incorporated miles of a 16-mile stretch of Buford Highway from the DeKalb County line to the city of Suwanee.
In March, Duluth is expected to put the finishing touches on its Buford Highway master plan, a vision that could include mixed-use developments, pedestrian overpasses and decorative gateways. In January, Norcross applied for $2 million in mostly state transportation and Atlanta Regional Commission funds that hold the promise of landscaped medians and, later on, sidewalks and underground utilities. And last week, Suwanee leaders met with state transportation officials to discuss streetscaping and keeping the road’s growth in check.
“We’re trying to unring a bell,” Johnson said. “What we’re looking for is a flow to [Buford Highway], rather than something that looks like a patchwork quilt. But it didn’t get this way overnight, and it’s going to take a long time to improve it.”
And those improvements won’t come easy. Because Buford Highway is a state road, the cities must get transportation officials’ blessing to construct medians, plant trees and build gateways.
With preliminary plans to narrow the lanes to slow traffic, Duluth would face the biggest roadblock.
“No, sir,” Georgia Department of Transportation spokeswoman Teri Pope said of Duluth’s “traffic-calming” idea. “There are a lot of restrictions put on state routes that most municipalities don’t know about, don’t want to know about.”
In addition, the cities’ boundaries don’t touch, so there will be gaps of unincorporated highway that Gwinnett County planning officials have said they have no immediate plans to address. Still, city leaders hope their efforts will produce a “halo effect.”
“I think if Norcross has a plan in place and Duluth has a plan in place, the property in between will look like one or both of us,” Harris said. “It would set a precedent for how the area should look.”
Duluth turns to TAD
The city of 26,000 in December green-lighted the creation of its first tax allocation district to spur redevelopment along a three-mile stretch of Buford Highway.
Last month, the city invited residents to weigh in on its redevelopment plan, which locals helped shape after months of input. The plan, 20 to 30 years out, called for landscaped medians and pedestrian overpasses, gateways at North Berkeley Lake and Old Peachtree roads and mixed-use developments.
“We’re looking at the big picture to make [Duluth] a more attractive place for businesses,” Harris said.
The city would almost double the size of its 60-acre downtown district, making Buford Highway the epicenter of a new live, work and shop environment, said economic development manager Chris McGahee.
There are just 400 undeveloped acres remaining in the city of 10 square miles. Most are family-owned or pose topography problems, so mixed-use, in-town living makes sense, McGahee said.
“We’ve all gotten a little bit tired of our moats, our castles, our subdivisions with the yards we have to maintain,” McGahee said. “We’re looking to be more communal.”
Judy Wilson, a 27-year Duluth resident, said she welcomes improvements. “Our city has nothing attractive on Buford Highway,” said Wilson, referring to industrial buildings and vacant lots. “It looks deserted, unkempt, abandoned. We need to fix the sidewalks, put in sewer.”
Woody Bell, also of Duluth, recalls riding his bicycle up and down the city’s stretch of Buford in the 1950s, when it was a rural two-lane road. In the early ’90s, it was widened and Duluth lost its tree canopy. Now empty land and vacant buildings mingle with Dairy Queens, ballet schools and the city’s Public Safety Center.
Bell, who owns Woody’s Nursery, said he’s not sold on the idea of flushing buildings up against the highway or creating medians that will hamper tractor-trailers from maneuvering in and out of his business.
“I think it’s got a lot of potential, if things are done right,” he said. “I just don’t want it to harm the people who are there.”
Norcross embraces Buford
Norcross’ downtown was once invisible from Buford Highway, a nearly conscious push a decade ago to distance the highway from the rustic historic district, officials said.
“It was almost a ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ kind of relationship,” longtime Councilman Craig Newton said. “Then we came to the realization that if we ignore it, it’s not going to go away.”
In 2002, the city earmarked more than $400,000 for benches and sidewalks near Jimmy Carter Boulevard and Langford Road. Then last summer, Norcross took a significant step to reconnect its downtown by introducing Lillian Webb Park, a 4-acre, $4.5 million town center that sits 75 yards from Buford Highway. This spring, sidewalk and streetlight additions to Cemetery Street will further link Norcross’ quaint downtown with the highway, officials said.
As in Duluth, building improvements won’t happen overnight for the two miles that wind through Norcross. It’s a stretch of road where rundown auto-body and title shops mix with Asian- and Latino-run businesses.
Norcross leaders, working with the Gwinnett Village Community Improvement District, are using overlay districts to revitalize buildings. The designation should pave the way for single-story shopping centers to be transformed into multiple-story mixed-use developments, officials said.
“We’re really trying to bring up the level of standard of Buford Highway — of development, safety and mobility,” said Chuck Warbington, executive director of the Gwinnett Village Community Improvement District. “There was never any thought process on how Buford Highway developed back in the ’70s and ’80s. But you’re going to start seeing changes.”
In January, the district, in partnership with Norfolk Southern Railroad, completed $250,000 in sidewalk improvements just south of Norcross, from Jimmy Carter Boulevard to the DeKalb County line.
Mayra Esquea-Cruz, who manages Mi Pilon, a Dominican restaurant, with her sister, said sidewalk and median improvements are long overdue because “a lot of people do get killed crossing the street.” The Norcross Police Department reports one pedestrian fatality in the past 12 months.
Esquea-Cruz fears any changes to building or zoning requirements could work against her business. “A lot of these buildings are very old and out of code,” Esquea-Cruz said. “It’ll hit the Spanish businesses hard and require us to spend more money. We’ve already been hit hard by the economy and immigration.”
Suwanee writes history
For Suwanee, Buford Highway is not so bad. After all, just two lanes run through this city of 16,500 from Suwanee Creek to Sugar Hill, with no immediate plans to widen it.
But Williams wants to be proactive. If Buford Highway were to expand, he said, it could threaten Suwanee’s tree canopy, stymie pedestrian access and thwart efforts to link historic Old Town to the new town center.
“We don’t control the destiny of Buford Highway alone,” Williams said. “But if we don’t plan the future of that road, we know what we’re going to get: Doraville or Chamblee.”
So Williams and other city leaders met with state transportation officials last week, asking to collaborate on a future road design that GDOT and the Suwanee community can live with. Next week, Suwanee will engage its residents, with ideas that include bike lanes, on-street parking and even a roundabout.
Unlike Duluth and Norcross, Suwanee isn’t looking to redevelop existing properties. For Suwanee, it’s an issue of first-generation development — and how that comes about.
“If this were a baseball game, we’d be in the first inning,” Williams said. “Most of the history of that corridor has yet to be written.”
Williams’ colleagues in Duluth and Norcross could help him write that history.
Perhaps over lunch.
----
Glossary
Tax allocation districts: TADs are designated areas that can use public money to fund improvements. Bonds are issued, and they are paid off with the increased tax revenues as property in the district appreciates.
Community improvement districts: CIDs are self-taxing groups of commercial property owners that fund capital and beautification improvements along designated areas.
Overlay districts: Zoning districts that establish consistent architectural and design standards. In Norcross, for instance, such changes would be mandated if the property changed hands.
http://www.ajc.com/news/gwinnett/3-cities-take-buford-313384.html
© 2010 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Gwinnett News
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
February 19, 2010
Two years ago, three newly elected mayors met for lunch at a Ruby Tuesday in Duluth.
On the table: soda, salads, burgers — and Buford Highway.
Duluth’s Nancy Harris, Norcross’ Bucky Johnson and Suwanee’s Dave Williams have a vested interest in the highway. After all, this artery shoots straight through the heart of their respective cities, with up to 33,610 vehicles on average zipping through parts of the corridor each day.
But for these enclaves, Buford is a road riddled with transportation, safety and zoning issues. It’s where exhaust-belching cars crawl from block to block, where pedestrians stroll along broken sidewalks, where traffic lights dance on looping wires strung from tired utility poles, where a hodgepodge of shops and aging strip malls mingle with industrial warehouses and town homes.
So over a meal in January 2008, Williams and his mayoral counterparts pledged to transform more than eight incorporated miles of a 16-mile stretch of Buford Highway from the DeKalb County line to the city of Suwanee.
In March, Duluth is expected to put the finishing touches on its Buford Highway master plan, a vision that could include mixed-use developments, pedestrian overpasses and decorative gateways. In January, Norcross applied for $2 million in mostly state transportation and Atlanta Regional Commission funds that hold the promise of landscaped medians and, later on, sidewalks and underground utilities. And last week, Suwanee leaders met with state transportation officials to discuss streetscaping and keeping the road’s growth in check.
“We’re trying to unring a bell,” Johnson said. “What we’re looking for is a flow to [Buford Highway], rather than something that looks like a patchwork quilt. But it didn’t get this way overnight, and it’s going to take a long time to improve it.”
And those improvements won’t come easy. Because Buford Highway is a state road, the cities must get transportation officials’ blessing to construct medians, plant trees and build gateways.
With preliminary plans to narrow the lanes to slow traffic, Duluth would face the biggest roadblock.
“No, sir,” Georgia Department of Transportation spokeswoman Teri Pope said of Duluth’s “traffic-calming” idea. “There are a lot of restrictions put on state routes that most municipalities don’t know about, don’t want to know about.”
In addition, the cities’ boundaries don’t touch, so there will be gaps of unincorporated highway that Gwinnett County planning officials have said they have no immediate plans to address. Still, city leaders hope their efforts will produce a “halo effect.”
“I think if Norcross has a plan in place and Duluth has a plan in place, the property in between will look like one or both of us,” Harris said. “It would set a precedent for how the area should look.”
Duluth turns to TAD
The city of 26,000 in December green-lighted the creation of its first tax allocation district to spur redevelopment along a three-mile stretch of Buford Highway.
Last month, the city invited residents to weigh in on its redevelopment plan, which locals helped shape after months of input. The plan, 20 to 30 years out, called for landscaped medians and pedestrian overpasses, gateways at North Berkeley Lake and Old Peachtree roads and mixed-use developments.
“We’re looking at the big picture to make [Duluth] a more attractive place for businesses,” Harris said.
The city would almost double the size of its 60-acre downtown district, making Buford Highway the epicenter of a new live, work and shop environment, said economic development manager Chris McGahee.
There are just 400 undeveloped acres remaining in the city of 10 square miles. Most are family-owned or pose topography problems, so mixed-use, in-town living makes sense, McGahee said.
“We’ve all gotten a little bit tired of our moats, our castles, our subdivisions with the yards we have to maintain,” McGahee said. “We’re looking to be more communal.”
Judy Wilson, a 27-year Duluth resident, said she welcomes improvements. “Our city has nothing attractive on Buford Highway,” said Wilson, referring to industrial buildings and vacant lots. “It looks deserted, unkempt, abandoned. We need to fix the sidewalks, put in sewer.”
Woody Bell, also of Duluth, recalls riding his bicycle up and down the city’s stretch of Buford in the 1950s, when it was a rural two-lane road. In the early ’90s, it was widened and Duluth lost its tree canopy. Now empty land and vacant buildings mingle with Dairy Queens, ballet schools and the city’s Public Safety Center.
Bell, who owns Woody’s Nursery, said he’s not sold on the idea of flushing buildings up against the highway or creating medians that will hamper tractor-trailers from maneuvering in and out of his business.
“I think it’s got a lot of potential, if things are done right,” he said. “I just don’t want it to harm the people who are there.”
Norcross embraces Buford
Norcross’ downtown was once invisible from Buford Highway, a nearly conscious push a decade ago to distance the highway from the rustic historic district, officials said.
“It was almost a ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ kind of relationship,” longtime Councilman Craig Newton said. “Then we came to the realization that if we ignore it, it’s not going to go away.”
In 2002, the city earmarked more than $400,000 for benches and sidewalks near Jimmy Carter Boulevard and Langford Road. Then last summer, Norcross took a significant step to reconnect its downtown by introducing Lillian Webb Park, a 4-acre, $4.5 million town center that sits 75 yards from Buford Highway. This spring, sidewalk and streetlight additions to Cemetery Street will further link Norcross’ quaint downtown with the highway, officials said.
As in Duluth, building improvements won’t happen overnight for the two miles that wind through Norcross. It’s a stretch of road where rundown auto-body and title shops mix with Asian- and Latino-run businesses.
Norcross leaders, working with the Gwinnett Village Community Improvement District, are using overlay districts to revitalize buildings. The designation should pave the way for single-story shopping centers to be transformed into multiple-story mixed-use developments, officials said.
“We’re really trying to bring up the level of standard of Buford Highway — of development, safety and mobility,” said Chuck Warbington, executive director of the Gwinnett Village Community Improvement District. “There was never any thought process on how Buford Highway developed back in the ’70s and ’80s. But you’re going to start seeing changes.”
In January, the district, in partnership with Norfolk Southern Railroad, completed $250,000 in sidewalk improvements just south of Norcross, from Jimmy Carter Boulevard to the DeKalb County line.
Mayra Esquea-Cruz, who manages Mi Pilon, a Dominican restaurant, with her sister, said sidewalk and median improvements are long overdue because “a lot of people do get killed crossing the street.” The Norcross Police Department reports one pedestrian fatality in the past 12 months.
Esquea-Cruz fears any changes to building or zoning requirements could work against her business. “A lot of these buildings are very old and out of code,” Esquea-Cruz said. “It’ll hit the Spanish businesses hard and require us to spend more money. We’ve already been hit hard by the economy and immigration.”
Suwanee writes history
For Suwanee, Buford Highway is not so bad. After all, just two lanes run through this city of 16,500 from Suwanee Creek to Sugar Hill, with no immediate plans to widen it.
But Williams wants to be proactive. If Buford Highway were to expand, he said, it could threaten Suwanee’s tree canopy, stymie pedestrian access and thwart efforts to link historic Old Town to the new town center.
“We don’t control the destiny of Buford Highway alone,” Williams said. “But if we don’t plan the future of that road, we know what we’re going to get: Doraville or Chamblee.”
So Williams and other city leaders met with state transportation officials last week, asking to collaborate on a future road design that GDOT and the Suwanee community can live with. Next week, Suwanee will engage its residents, with ideas that include bike lanes, on-street parking and even a roundabout.
Unlike Duluth and Norcross, Suwanee isn’t looking to redevelop existing properties. For Suwanee, it’s an issue of first-generation development — and how that comes about.
“If this were a baseball game, we’d be in the first inning,” Williams said. “Most of the history of that corridor has yet to be written.”
Williams’ colleagues in Duluth and Norcross could help him write that history.
Perhaps over lunch.
----
Glossary
Tax allocation districts: TADs are designated areas that can use public money to fund improvements. Bonds are issued, and they are paid off with the increased tax revenues as property in the district appreciates.
Community improvement districts: CIDs are self-taxing groups of commercial property owners that fund capital and beautification improvements along designated areas.
Overlay districts: Zoning districts that establish consistent architectural and design standards. In Norcross, for instance, such changes would be mandated if the property changed hands.
http://www.ajc.com/news/gwinnett/3-cities-take-buford-313384.html
© 2010 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Hospital Reps Hammer Proposed ‘Bed Tax'
By Craig Schneider
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Georgia Politics
February 17, 2010
Hospital officials turned out in force at the state Capitol on Wednesday to oppose Gov. Sonny Perdue's proposed hospital tax, saying they preferred a tobacco tax to fill a massive Medicaid shortfall.
Some 250 people -- hospital CEOs, Chamber of Commerce officials and lobbyists for doctors, radiologists and dentists -- attended a legislative public hearing on the governor's proposal to fill a $608 million funding gap in Medicaid in the fiscal 2011 state budget. Voices opposing the hospital tax dominated the hearing.
They called it a "sick tax" and a "bed tax." They called it lots of nasty names, asserting that the 1.6 percent tax on patient revenues could increase health care costs, prompt job losses and postpone hospital improvements.
"This is not a small tax," said Kirk Wilson, CEO of St. Joseph's Hospital in Sandy Springs.
Opponents said the tax would take millions from Georgia hospitals, many of which are struggling to make ends meet.
Rep. Jim Cole (R-Forsyth), one of the governor's floor leaders, laid out the bill that would enable the hospital tax. He made clear that while the governor supported House Bill 307 , he was "open to discussion" on alternatives.
The 1.6 percent tax on patient revenues is the most controversial piece of a package of proposals the governor has floated to cover the Medicaid gap. He has also proposed a 1.6 percent tax on the premium revenues of managed care insurers. Together, they would raise about $300 million.
Perdue has also proposed a 1.9 percent cut in the rate used to pay many physicians through Medicaid.
The tax on insurers also came under fire.
"This will exacerbate the problem of the uninsured," said Brad Borum, manager of government relations for insurer Kaiser Permanente.
He said the insurance industry would pass on these increased costs to consumers, leading some employers and people to drop their coverage.
Many who spoke threw their support behind a separate proposal, House Bill 39, that would place a $1 tax on a pack of cigarettes.
The tobacco tax, they said, would provide a steady revenue source as it helps decrease smoking, particularly among the more price-sensitive teenagers.
Both the Perdue proposal and the tobacco tax face some strong opposition. House Speaker David Ralston (R-Blue Ridge) has criticized both, preferring to fill the Medicaid gap through cuts in the state budget.
The Medicaid funding gap is largely due to the reduction of $506 million in money from sources that include the federal stimulus program and the national settlement with tobacco companies.
Perdue has said that if the Legislature fails to find a way to fill the gap, he would push a 16.5 percent cut in Medicaid rates to health care providers across the board.
Several at the public hearing said they feared that plan most of all, asserting it could prompt job losses and health service cuts and even lead some hospitals to shut down.
http://www.ajc.com/news/georgia-politics-elections/hospital-reps-hammer-proposed-310286.html
© 2010 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Georgia Politics
February 17, 2010
Hospital officials turned out in force at the state Capitol on Wednesday to oppose Gov. Sonny Perdue's proposed hospital tax, saying they preferred a tobacco tax to fill a massive Medicaid shortfall.
Some 250 people -- hospital CEOs, Chamber of Commerce officials and lobbyists for doctors, radiologists and dentists -- attended a legislative public hearing on the governor's proposal to fill a $608 million funding gap in Medicaid in the fiscal 2011 state budget. Voices opposing the hospital tax dominated the hearing.
They called it a "sick tax" and a "bed tax." They called it lots of nasty names, asserting that the 1.6 percent tax on patient revenues could increase health care costs, prompt job losses and postpone hospital improvements.
"This is not a small tax," said Kirk Wilson, CEO of St. Joseph's Hospital in Sandy Springs.
Opponents said the tax would take millions from Georgia hospitals, many of which are struggling to make ends meet.
Rep. Jim Cole (R-Forsyth), one of the governor's floor leaders, laid out the bill that would enable the hospital tax. He made clear that while the governor supported House Bill 307 , he was "open to discussion" on alternatives.
The 1.6 percent tax on patient revenues is the most controversial piece of a package of proposals the governor has floated to cover the Medicaid gap. He has also proposed a 1.6 percent tax on the premium revenues of managed care insurers. Together, they would raise about $300 million.
Perdue has also proposed a 1.9 percent cut in the rate used to pay many physicians through Medicaid.
The tax on insurers also came under fire.
"This will exacerbate the problem of the uninsured," said Brad Borum, manager of government relations for insurer Kaiser Permanente.
He said the insurance industry would pass on these increased costs to consumers, leading some employers and people to drop their coverage.
Many who spoke threw their support behind a separate proposal, House Bill 39, that would place a $1 tax on a pack of cigarettes.
The tobacco tax, they said, would provide a steady revenue source as it helps decrease smoking, particularly among the more price-sensitive teenagers.
Both the Perdue proposal and the tobacco tax face some strong opposition. House Speaker David Ralston (R-Blue Ridge) has criticized both, preferring to fill the Medicaid gap through cuts in the state budget.
The Medicaid funding gap is largely due to the reduction of $506 million in money from sources that include the federal stimulus program and the national settlement with tobacco companies.
Perdue has said that if the Legislature fails to find a way to fill the gap, he would push a 16.5 percent cut in Medicaid rates to health care providers across the board.
Several at the public hearing said they feared that plan most of all, asserting it could prompt job losses and health service cuts and even lead some hospitals to shut down.
http://www.ajc.com/news/georgia-politics-elections/hospital-reps-hammer-proposed-310286.html
© 2010 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Emergency Relief: Overcrowded E-911 Center Gets Room To Breathe With New Building
Reporter: Camie Young
The Gwinnett Daily Post
February 17, 2010
LAWRENCEVILLE — Last September, when rain flooded the county, damaging hundreds of homes and leaving residents in peril, there was no way emergency coordinators could fit in the cramped 12-seat conference room dedicated for such jobs at the Gwinnett Justice and Administration Center.
Instead, they hurried to the county’s fire headquarters to set up in training rooms.Now, Gwinnett Emergency Management Director Greg Swanson knows his team has the room and the equipment to handle the roughest of circumstances.
Officials cut a ribbon Tuesday to officially open the county’s new E-911 center and police annex, giving more than twice the room to 911 operators and 10 times the space to the emergency operations center.
“This building, make no mistake, is where public safety in the county starts,” Chief Charles Walter said.
The 45,000-square-foot facility “symbolizes our commitment to public safety and maintaining law and order in Gwinnett County,” Chairman Charles Bannister said.
Dispatchers moved to the new building, which is next door to the county police headquarters on Hi-Hope Road, last month, showing the project came in two months early and, at a price tag of $18.7 million, $1.3 million under budget.
Carrie Bennett, a shift supervisor for the communications division, said the new digs make for a better working environment.
After working for more than a decade in a cramped box at headquarters, having windows to see the sun rise over the snow on Saturday morning was a treat, she said.
“Now we can tell if it’s raining or not,” she said, pointing out that call volumes always increase in bad weather.
Angie Conley, the 911 center manager, said the extra space and the ability to add staff has helped to decrease the tension of the center, and for the past month, waiting times for callers has been close to zero.
Last week’s plane crash, she said, was a hectic situation, but in the old facility, “the entire room would have been tense,” because of the close confines, she said.
Swanson’s team has already used the new emergency operations center, although last weekend’s snow only called for a “monitoring” level of response.
If bad things happen, though, he knows he is better equipped to handle it. The building is constructed to Federal Emergency Management Agency shelter design standards, which means it can withstand winds from tornadoes and even an earthquake.
“It, in theory, will be the last building standing in Gwinnett,” Swanson said. “We’ve truly built a facility that will withstand a natural disaster and will be able to help people (in those times).”
Officials said environmentally responsible approaches were also incorporated, including water-efficient landscaping, low-flow plumbing fixtures and digital HVAC controls.
Email Address: camie.young@gwinnettdailypost.com
http://www.gwinnettdailypost.com/home/headlines/84535132.html
Triple Crown Media. - Copyright © 2002-2010
The Gwinnett Daily Post
February 17, 2010
LAWRENCEVILLE — Last September, when rain flooded the county, damaging hundreds of homes and leaving residents in peril, there was no way emergency coordinators could fit in the cramped 12-seat conference room dedicated for such jobs at the Gwinnett Justice and Administration Center.
Instead, they hurried to the county’s fire headquarters to set up in training rooms.Now, Gwinnett Emergency Management Director Greg Swanson knows his team has the room and the equipment to handle the roughest of circumstances.
Officials cut a ribbon Tuesday to officially open the county’s new E-911 center and police annex, giving more than twice the room to 911 operators and 10 times the space to the emergency operations center.
“This building, make no mistake, is where public safety in the county starts,” Chief Charles Walter said.
The 45,000-square-foot facility “symbolizes our commitment to public safety and maintaining law and order in Gwinnett County,” Chairman Charles Bannister said.
Dispatchers moved to the new building, which is next door to the county police headquarters on Hi-Hope Road, last month, showing the project came in two months early and, at a price tag of $18.7 million, $1.3 million under budget.
Carrie Bennett, a shift supervisor for the communications division, said the new digs make for a better working environment.
After working for more than a decade in a cramped box at headquarters, having windows to see the sun rise over the snow on Saturday morning was a treat, she said.
“Now we can tell if it’s raining or not,” she said, pointing out that call volumes always increase in bad weather.
Angie Conley, the 911 center manager, said the extra space and the ability to add staff has helped to decrease the tension of the center, and for the past month, waiting times for callers has been close to zero.
Last week’s plane crash, she said, was a hectic situation, but in the old facility, “the entire room would have been tense,” because of the close confines, she said.
Swanson’s team has already used the new emergency operations center, although last weekend’s snow only called for a “monitoring” level of response.
If bad things happen, though, he knows he is better equipped to handle it. The building is constructed to Federal Emergency Management Agency shelter design standards, which means it can withstand winds from tornadoes and even an earthquake.
“It, in theory, will be the last building standing in Gwinnett,” Swanson said. “We’ve truly built a facility that will withstand a natural disaster and will be able to help people (in those times).”
Officials said environmentally responsible approaches were also incorporated, including water-efficient landscaping, low-flow plumbing fixtures and digital HVAC controls.
Email Address: camie.young@gwinnettdailypost.com
http://www.gwinnettdailypost.com/home/headlines/84535132.html
Triple Crown Media. - Copyright © 2002-2010
Legislative Notebook: House Proposal Would Put Many Budgets Online
By TRAVIS FAIN
The Macon Telegraph
February 17, 2010
ATLANTA — Georgia cities, counties and school boards with budgets topping $1 million would have to put their budgets online under legislation that passed the House of Representatives on Tuesday.
House Bill 122 would require all local governments over that mark to submit an electronic copy of their annual budgets each year, starting in 2011. It would also require that audits be posted to the Web site, which would be maintained by the Carl Vinson Institute of Government at the University of Georgia.
The bill, which was actually introduced during last year’s legislative session, passed in the House 166-0 on Tuesday morning. It still must pass the Georgia Senate and be signed by the governor to take effect.
The bill, sponsored by state Rep. Ed Lindsey, R-Atlanta, would also require local law enforcement agencies to submit electronic versions of reports breaking down property seizures to the Web site.
Hospital tax focus of gubernatorial debate
Today will be a big day for Gov. Sonny Perdue’s plan to prop up the state’s Medicaid program with a new tax on hospital profits.
The 1.6 percent tax — or fee as some in the governor’s administration prefer to call it — will be up for discussion in a special subcommittee created just to hash out the proposal. Perdue has said it’s the best way to keep the economic downturn from blowing a multi-hundred-million-dollar hole in the health-care program, which receives state and federal funding. But the tax, which Perdue also recommended last year, has proven unpopular.
This issue also will be a major focus of a gubernatorial debate earlier in the day. The debate, put on by a health-care coalition, will last about 90 minutes and starts at 10:30 a.m. at the Grand Hyatt Atlanta in Buckhead. Most of the Republican and Democratic candidates in the 2010 governor’s race are expected to attend, and the entire debate will be geared toward health-care discussion, organizers said.
It also will wrap up in time for attendees to make it to the Capitol for the 1:30 p.m. subcommittee meeting, where state Rep. Jim Cole will present the governor’s 1.6 percent tax proposal, which is contained in House Bill 307.
Cole, R-Forsyth, is the governor’s floor leader in the House. He’s drawn some tough duties this session, his last before leaving the statehouse to take over as Mercer University’s athletics director. Cole is carrying the hospital tax bill for the governor, as well as a Perdue bill that would allow future governors to remove problem school board members when their school systems founder and a proposal for new transportation funding that’s sure to be a major issue as the legislative session goes forward.
Small group rallies against death penalty
More than 50 people rallied at the Capitol on Tuesday to call for a moratorium in the state’s death penalty.
Georgians For Alternatives to the Death Penalty wants the state to suspend the death penalty for at least a year so individual cases can be studied to make sure everyone on death row is actually guilty. DNA tests have exonerated some inmates, and advocates are particularly concerned about the case of Troy Davis, who was convicted in 1991 of killing a Savannah police officer.
But since that conviction, several of the witnesses have recanted their testimony against Davis, and no physical evidence has been presented at all, supporters say.
Senate Bill 175 would implement a one-year moratorium on the death penalty in Georgia, during which Davis’ case, and others, could be reviewed. But the ultimate goal for many advocates at the Capitol was a full repeal of the death penalty. And Tuesday’s event was heavy on religion after an Atlanta pastor noted, the day before Ash Wednesday, that if Rome had not had the death penalty, Jesus Christ would not have been crucified.
Perdue bill to fund transportation filed
Gov. Sonny Perdue’s much-anticipated transportation funding bill was filed late Tuesday afternoon.
House Bill 1218 is about 40 pages and will likely be one of the most debated pieces of legislation of the session. Perdue has already discussed the bill a couple of times so far this session, saying that he favors 2012 votes to bind several counties together across the state to charge an extra penny sales tax to raise new money for transportation projects.
But the devil, as they say, is in the details. And with Tuesday’s filing of the actual bill, negotiations will begin in earnest as the governor, House and Senate work to resolve disagreements over details that have derailed similar transportation funding talks in the last few years.
Committee OKs bill about bicycles on sidewalks
A bill that would allow local governments to decide whether to allow bicycles on public sidewalks moved forward again Tuesday, passing the House Transportation Committee.
The legislation, House Bill 965, moves now to the House Rules Committee, which sets the calendar for debate in the full House. Current state law just allows children 12 and under to ride on a sidewalk. This change, suggested by state Rep. Doug McKillip, D-Athens, would let local governments decide where bicyclists could, and could not, ride on sidewalks in a community.
Legislature honors WRALL softball champions
The world champion Warner Robins American Little League softball team was honored Tuesday in the Georgia House and Senate.
As they usually are, the girls were well-received. They wore their uniforms and took pictures with dignitaries, something that’s kind of become old hat since the girls won the softball Little League World Series in August.
“You girls are awesome,” state Sen. Ross Tolleson, R-Perry, told team members as they filed out of the Senate.
To contact writer Travis Fain, call 361-2702.
http://www.macon.com/local/story/1025834.html tfain@macon.com
Macon.com copyright notice
Material published on Macon.com, including articles, photos, graphics, videos, bulletin board postings and other content, is copyrighted by The Telegraph or by other information providers who have licensed their content for use on Macon.com. The entire contents of Macon.com are also copyrighted as a collective work under the United States copyright laws.
The Macon Telegraph
February 17, 2010
ATLANTA — Georgia cities, counties and school boards with budgets topping $1 million would have to put their budgets online under legislation that passed the House of Representatives on Tuesday.
House Bill 122 would require all local governments over that mark to submit an electronic copy of their annual budgets each year, starting in 2011. It would also require that audits be posted to the Web site, which would be maintained by the Carl Vinson Institute of Government at the University of Georgia.
The bill, which was actually introduced during last year’s legislative session, passed in the House 166-0 on Tuesday morning. It still must pass the Georgia Senate and be signed by the governor to take effect.
The bill, sponsored by state Rep. Ed Lindsey, R-Atlanta, would also require local law enforcement agencies to submit electronic versions of reports breaking down property seizures to the Web site.
Hospital tax focus of gubernatorial debate
Today will be a big day for Gov. Sonny Perdue’s plan to prop up the state’s Medicaid program with a new tax on hospital profits.
The 1.6 percent tax — or fee as some in the governor’s administration prefer to call it — will be up for discussion in a special subcommittee created just to hash out the proposal. Perdue has said it’s the best way to keep the economic downturn from blowing a multi-hundred-million-dollar hole in the health-care program, which receives state and federal funding. But the tax, which Perdue also recommended last year, has proven unpopular.
This issue also will be a major focus of a gubernatorial debate earlier in the day. The debate, put on by a health-care coalition, will last about 90 minutes and starts at 10:30 a.m. at the Grand Hyatt Atlanta in Buckhead. Most of the Republican and Democratic candidates in the 2010 governor’s race are expected to attend, and the entire debate will be geared toward health-care discussion, organizers said.
It also will wrap up in time for attendees to make it to the Capitol for the 1:30 p.m. subcommittee meeting, where state Rep. Jim Cole will present the governor’s 1.6 percent tax proposal, which is contained in House Bill 307.
Cole, R-Forsyth, is the governor’s floor leader in the House. He’s drawn some tough duties this session, his last before leaving the statehouse to take over as Mercer University’s athletics director. Cole is carrying the hospital tax bill for the governor, as well as a Perdue bill that would allow future governors to remove problem school board members when their school systems founder and a proposal for new transportation funding that’s sure to be a major issue as the legislative session goes forward.
Small group rallies against death penalty
More than 50 people rallied at the Capitol on Tuesday to call for a moratorium in the state’s death penalty.
Georgians For Alternatives to the Death Penalty wants the state to suspend the death penalty for at least a year so individual cases can be studied to make sure everyone on death row is actually guilty. DNA tests have exonerated some inmates, and advocates are particularly concerned about the case of Troy Davis, who was convicted in 1991 of killing a Savannah police officer.
But since that conviction, several of the witnesses have recanted their testimony against Davis, and no physical evidence has been presented at all, supporters say.
Senate Bill 175 would implement a one-year moratorium on the death penalty in Georgia, during which Davis’ case, and others, could be reviewed. But the ultimate goal for many advocates at the Capitol was a full repeal of the death penalty. And Tuesday’s event was heavy on religion after an Atlanta pastor noted, the day before Ash Wednesday, that if Rome had not had the death penalty, Jesus Christ would not have been crucified.
Perdue bill to fund transportation filed
Gov. Sonny Perdue’s much-anticipated transportation funding bill was filed late Tuesday afternoon.
House Bill 1218 is about 40 pages and will likely be one of the most debated pieces of legislation of the session. Perdue has already discussed the bill a couple of times so far this session, saying that he favors 2012 votes to bind several counties together across the state to charge an extra penny sales tax to raise new money for transportation projects.
But the devil, as they say, is in the details. And with Tuesday’s filing of the actual bill, negotiations will begin in earnest as the governor, House and Senate work to resolve disagreements over details that have derailed similar transportation funding talks in the last few years.
Committee OKs bill about bicycles on sidewalks
A bill that would allow local governments to decide whether to allow bicycles on public sidewalks moved forward again Tuesday, passing the House Transportation Committee.
The legislation, House Bill 965, moves now to the House Rules Committee, which sets the calendar for debate in the full House. Current state law just allows children 12 and under to ride on a sidewalk. This change, suggested by state Rep. Doug McKillip, D-Athens, would let local governments decide where bicyclists could, and could not, ride on sidewalks in a community.
Legislature honors WRALL softball champions
The world champion Warner Robins American Little League softball team was honored Tuesday in the Georgia House and Senate.
As they usually are, the girls were well-received. They wore their uniforms and took pictures with dignitaries, something that’s kind of become old hat since the girls won the softball Little League World Series in August.
“You girls are awesome,” state Sen. Ross Tolleson, R-Perry, told team members as they filed out of the Senate.
To contact writer Travis Fain, call 361-2702.
http://www.macon.com/local/story/1025834.html tfain@macon.com
Macon.com copyright notice
Material published on Macon.com, including articles, photos, graphics, videos, bulletin board postings and other content, is copyrighted by The Telegraph or by other information providers who have licensed their content for use on Macon.com. The entire contents of Macon.com are also copyrighted as a collective work under the United States copyright laws.
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Experts Brought in to Overhaul Mental Health Hospitals
By Josephine Bennett
Georgia Public Broadcasting
GPBNEWS & Public Affairs
February 15, 2010
MACON, Ga. — The state is bringing in a team of national experts in order to improve Georgia's mental health system and avoid a federal takeover. The team is headed up by Dr. Nirbhay Singh from Virginia. He has worked with states like California, Connecticut and Kentucky whose systems faced similar scrutiny by the Department of Justice.
Singh will be paid up to 3.5 million dollars this year to bring the team experts to Georgia's seven mental hospitals.
Tom Wilson with the Georgia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities says it will be money well spent.
"They're actually helping us write the plans, helping to train staff members, train nurses, train the other people in the facilities to be able to do better work and use more updated methods of taking care of people.
"Wilson says Sing's past experience working with the DOJ could help the state avoid a federal takeover as well as the billions in costs that could come with it.
http://www.gpb.org/news/2010/02/15/experts-brought-in-to-overhaul-mental-health-hospitals
Email
ask@gpb.org
Address
Georgia Public Broadcasting
260 14th Street NW
Atlanta, GA 30318
Georgia Public Broadcasting
GPBNEWS & Public Affairs
February 15, 2010
MACON, Ga. — The state is bringing in a team of national experts in order to improve Georgia's mental health system and avoid a federal takeover. The team is headed up by Dr. Nirbhay Singh from Virginia. He has worked with states like California, Connecticut and Kentucky whose systems faced similar scrutiny by the Department of Justice.
Singh will be paid up to 3.5 million dollars this year to bring the team experts to Georgia's seven mental hospitals.
Tom Wilson with the Georgia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities says it will be money well spent.
"They're actually helping us write the plans, helping to train staff members, train nurses, train the other people in the facilities to be able to do better work and use more updated methods of taking care of people.
"Wilson says Sing's past experience working with the DOJ could help the state avoid a federal takeover as well as the billions in costs that could come with it.
http://www.gpb.org/news/2010/02/15/experts-brought-in-to-overhaul-mental-health-hospitals
ask@gpb.org
Address
Georgia Public Broadcasting
260 14th Street NW
Atlanta, GA 30318
State Attorney General Says Perdue HOPE Shift "Likely" Unconstitutional
By James Salzer
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Georgia Politics
February 15, 2010
Georgia Attorney General Thurbert Baker on Monday said Gov. Sonny Perdue's plan to use lottery money to pay for more state scholarships is "likely" unconstitutional.
Baker, who as a legislator helped carry the constitutional amendment that created the lottery in 1992, was asked by Republican House and Senate leaders to opine on the legality of the shift of taxpayer-funded scholarships to the lottery. The games are already struggling to keep up with the cost of the HOPE scholarship and pre-kindergarten programs.
Baker said, "The state constitutional provision and state law protecting the lottery's funding for HOPE scholarships and other permitted uses are meant to protect the funding for those programs during difficult times. Georgia is facing difficult choices in this year's budget, but the state cannot raid the lottery fund to try to fix our current budget problems."
Perdue wanted to save tax money by shifting about $33 million worth of scholarships and grants -- including awards to private college students -- to the lottery. That might not be a problem in some years, but the cost of HOPE scholarships and pre-kindergarten classes will exceed lottery revenues this year, so the state will have to dip into lottery reserves.
Depending on how deeply it has to dip into reserves, the state may have to begin cutting benefits to HOPE scholars to ensure the program's survival.
Perdue's proposal would help balance the state budget by using lottery reserves rather than tax money.
The constitutional amendment that created the lottery in 1992 states that lottery funds can't "supplant" funding for existing education programs. Most of the programs Perdue wants to shift to lottery funding existed before the lottery. Lawmakers worry that the shift will only speed up the need for cuts in HOPE.
The House voted last week for a mid-year budget that goes against Perdue's proposal to shift the programs to the lottery. The Senate is expected to do the same this week.
Bert Brantley, the governor's spokesman, said after Baker's ruling, "We obviously did not build a budget around something we believed was unconstitutional. We would respectfully disagree with the conclusion.
"At the end of the day, it was a way to keep these scholarships going. It was a way to fund scholarships through HOPE and through [the] lottery. "
Baker is a Democratic candidate for governor.
http://www.ajc.com/news/georgia-politics-elections/ag-says-perdue-hope-306791.html
© 2010 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Georgia Politics
February 15, 2010
Georgia Attorney General Thurbert Baker on Monday said Gov. Sonny Perdue's plan to use lottery money to pay for more state scholarships is "likely" unconstitutional.
Baker, who as a legislator helped carry the constitutional amendment that created the lottery in 1992, was asked by Republican House and Senate leaders to opine on the legality of the shift of taxpayer-funded scholarships to the lottery. The games are already struggling to keep up with the cost of the HOPE scholarship and pre-kindergarten programs.
Baker said, "The state constitutional provision and state law protecting the lottery's funding for HOPE scholarships and other permitted uses are meant to protect the funding for those programs during difficult times. Georgia is facing difficult choices in this year's budget, but the state cannot raid the lottery fund to try to fix our current budget problems."
Perdue wanted to save tax money by shifting about $33 million worth of scholarships and grants -- including awards to private college students -- to the lottery. That might not be a problem in some years, but the cost of HOPE scholarships and pre-kindergarten classes will exceed lottery revenues this year, so the state will have to dip into lottery reserves.
Depending on how deeply it has to dip into reserves, the state may have to begin cutting benefits to HOPE scholars to ensure the program's survival.
Perdue's proposal would help balance the state budget by using lottery reserves rather than tax money.
The constitutional amendment that created the lottery in 1992 states that lottery funds can't "supplant" funding for existing education programs. Most of the programs Perdue wants to shift to lottery funding existed before the lottery. Lawmakers worry that the shift will only speed up the need for cuts in HOPE.
The House voted last week for a mid-year budget that goes against Perdue's proposal to shift the programs to the lottery. The Senate is expected to do the same this week.
Bert Brantley, the governor's spokesman, said after Baker's ruling, "We obviously did not build a budget around something we believed was unconstitutional. We would respectfully disagree with the conclusion.
"At the end of the day, it was a way to keep these scholarships going. It was a way to fund scholarships through HOPE and through [the] lottery. "
Baker is a Democratic candidate for governor.
http://www.ajc.com/news/georgia-politics-elections/ag-says-perdue-hope-306791.html
© 2010 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Fight Against Obesity
Atlanta Daily World
February 14, 2010
The W.K. Kellogg Foundation, among the world's largest private foundations, recently awarded a $300,000 grant to the Morehouse School of Medicine for its "commitment to increasing awareness and heightening understanding about the multidimensional issues that contribute to obesity among children, and African Americans in particular, through the creation of the Commission on Childhood Obesity Prevention (CCOP)," said Barbara Sabol, program officer for the W.K. Kellogg Foundation.
Organized by the Southern Area of The Links Inc. the CCOP is a formal panel based at Morehouse School of Medicine and comprised of many of the nation's health experts who meet to determine long-term solutions for addressing childhood obesity.
This initiative is in line with efforts by first lady Michelle Obama, who kicked off her "Let's Move" drive on Tuesday, Feb. 9-- an agenda of nutrition and exercise programs designed to eliminate "the epidemic of childhood obesity" in a generation.
"This isn't like a disease where we're still waiting for the cure to be discovered," Mrs. Obama said. "We know the cure for this."
Highlights of Michelle Obama's obesity campaign include the following:
-- Children will be encouraged to exercise for one hour per day.
-- The American Academy of Pediatrics will encourage doctors to monitor children's body mass index, a calculation of height and weight used to measure fat.
-- The Obama administration will ask Congress to spend $10 billion over the next decade to give schools more money to serve healthier food.
-- $400 million in tax breaks will be proposed to encourage grocery stores to move into "food deserts," areas with little access to nutritious food.
-- The FDA will work with foodmakers to make labels more "customer friendly." Calorie information will be placed on the front of beverage industry products.
The need for the CCOP grew out of The Southern Area of The Links' efforts to eliminate health inequities and issues that disproportionately impact minorities, particularly in states where the 75 Southern Area chapters are located. Chapters are located in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina and Nassau, Bahamas.
"We saw the formation of the Commission on Childhood Obesity Prevention as a systematic way to sustain impact and make a significant, national contribution towards eliminating childhood obesity and other health issues among African Americans," said Delores Bolden-Stamps, Ph.D., Southern Area program coordinator.
Recent statistics indicate that childhood obesity has reached epidemic proportions, with more than 20 percent of all African-American children deemed overweight or obese. Of all demographic groups classified by race, studies show that African-American youth are most at-risk for childhood obesity and its associated physical, mental, emotional, and social developmental issues.
CCOP panel members include health experts from public and private organizations engaged in childhood obesity prevention in underserved communities, including, but not limited to, The Centers for Disease Control (CDC), The National Urban League, NICHD, Kaiser Permanente, American Heart Association, American Diabetes Association, Community Foundation of Greater Atlanta, and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation.
Through the efforts of Henrie Treadwell, Ph.D., director of Community Voices and Men's Health Initiatives and a research professor in the department of Community and Preventive Medicine, Morehouse School of Medicine is now the official site of the CCOP and the recipient of the $300,00 W.K. Kellogg grant. "This initiative provides viable, sustainable solutions to the obesity epidemic prevalent in African-American communities," said Treadwell.
Funding from W.K. Kellogg will be used to achieve the following CCOP goals: collection and dissemination of findings based on meetings of the commissioners, expert testimonies, and community forums; site visits to document the prevalence of obesity among African-American children in selected states (i.e., Mississippi); development of a comprehensive, culturally-centered curriculum targeted to African-American children that can be utilized by schools and organizations nationwide; establishment of a community report that includes an agenda for collaborative action concerning obesity prevention for African-American children -- with particular emphasis on the states of Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, South Carolina, Georgia, North Carolina and Florida -- to provide support for promising chapter programs and establishment of a permanent entity, The Institute for Childhood Obesity Prevention. Current grant funding will be expended through Sept. 30, 2012.
The CCOP was empanelled on May 15, 2009, at the Southern Area Conference of The Links Inc. in Jacksonville, Fla. The commission is comprised of ten national experts in diverse disciplines including: obesity prevention, pediatric/family medicine, nutrition, physical activity, health education, public health, public policy, community development, private sector initiatives, child/adolescent psychology and program evaluation. The first and second meetings were held on October 31, 2008 and October 30, 2009 at the National Center for Primary Care at the Morehouse School of Medicine. A partnership with the American Heart Association and production of a community-based training CD were also established in 2008.
Special advisors to the CCOP are: William H. Dietz, M.D., Ph.D., director of the Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Obesity in the Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion at the CDC; James R. Gavin III, M.D., Ph.D., clinical professor of medicine at Emory University of Medicine and Indiana University School of Medicine; and David Satcher, M.D., Ph.D., director of the Satcher Health Leadership Institute at the Morehouse School of Medicine in Atlanta; and Joseph L. Webster Sr., M.D., founder of the Comprehensive Center for Digestive and Nutritional Disorders, also interim chair of the CCOP.
Members of the Commission on Childhood Obesity Prevention include: Brook Belay, M.D., senior service fellow, Division of Nutrition and Physical Activity at The Centers for Disease Control; Triesta Fowler-Lee, M.D., medical officer in the Public Information and Communications Branch of the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD); Rodney S. Lyn, Ph.D., M.S., faculty member in the Institute of Public Health at Georgia State University; Calvin Wayne McLarin, M.D., clinical associate professor and member of the Medical Advisory Board at Morehouse School of Medicine; and Toni Moody, M.D., nationally recognized expert on health promotion and obesity prevention.
Other CCOP commissioners are: Judith J. Pickens, M.Ed., senior vice president for Program & Youth Development Services, Boys & Girls Clubs of America; Aaron Shirley, M.D., chairman of the board for the Jackson Medical Mall Foundation and director of Community Health Services with the University of Mississippi Medical Center; Ruby Takanashi, Ph.D., president of the Foundation for Child Development in New York; Joseph L. Webster Sr., M.D., founder of the Comprehensive Center for Digestive and Nutritional Disorders; and Ambassador Andrew Young, creator of a model that combines religion, education, democracy and free enterprise to support the public good.
Co-conveners are: Mary F. Currie, Southern Area Director of The Links Inc.; and Dr. Henrie Treadwell, research professor and Director of Community Voices: Healthcare for the Underserved, Morehouse School of Medicine. Dr. Delores Bolden-Stamps is program coordinator for the Southern Area.
The Links Inc. is an international, women's non-profit, social welfare and service organization of over 12,000 members in 271 chapters across the United States, and the Bahamas. It was founded in 1946. From its inception, the organization's members have been developing and implementing programs that target issues affecting its members and communities. Community service has been the corner stone of the organization's outreach with members contributing more than two million documented hours of community service over the past three years. For the past 60 years, The Links Inc. has been internationally known for its programs that are focused on topics such as health, economics and education, youth, and policy efforts.
http://www.atlantadailyworld.com/articles/2010/02/14/adw_news/doc4b77fcbbbf4b0023300630.txt
Copyright © 2010 Atlanta Daily World.
February 14, 2010
The W.K. Kellogg Foundation, among the world's largest private foundations, recently awarded a $300,000 grant to the Morehouse School of Medicine for its "commitment to increasing awareness and heightening understanding about the multidimensional issues that contribute to obesity among children, and African Americans in particular, through the creation of the Commission on Childhood Obesity Prevention (CCOP)," said Barbara Sabol, program officer for the W.K. Kellogg Foundation.
Organized by the Southern Area of The Links Inc. the CCOP is a formal panel based at Morehouse School of Medicine and comprised of many of the nation's health experts who meet to determine long-term solutions for addressing childhood obesity.
This initiative is in line with efforts by first lady Michelle Obama, who kicked off her "Let's Move" drive on Tuesday, Feb. 9-- an agenda of nutrition and exercise programs designed to eliminate "the epidemic of childhood obesity" in a generation.
"This isn't like a disease where we're still waiting for the cure to be discovered," Mrs. Obama said. "We know the cure for this."
Highlights of Michelle Obama's obesity campaign include the following:
-- Children will be encouraged to exercise for one hour per day.
-- The American Academy of Pediatrics will encourage doctors to monitor children's body mass index, a calculation of height and weight used to measure fat.
-- The Obama administration will ask Congress to spend $10 billion over the next decade to give schools more money to serve healthier food.
-- $400 million in tax breaks will be proposed to encourage grocery stores to move into "food deserts," areas with little access to nutritious food.
-- The FDA will work with foodmakers to make labels more "customer friendly." Calorie information will be placed on the front of beverage industry products.
The need for the CCOP grew out of The Southern Area of The Links' efforts to eliminate health inequities and issues that disproportionately impact minorities, particularly in states where the 75 Southern Area chapters are located. Chapters are located in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina and Nassau, Bahamas.
"We saw the formation of the Commission on Childhood Obesity Prevention as a systematic way to sustain impact and make a significant, national contribution towards eliminating childhood obesity and other health issues among African Americans," said Delores Bolden-Stamps, Ph.D., Southern Area program coordinator.
Recent statistics indicate that childhood obesity has reached epidemic proportions, with more than 20 percent of all African-American children deemed overweight or obese. Of all demographic groups classified by race, studies show that African-American youth are most at-risk for childhood obesity and its associated physical, mental, emotional, and social developmental issues.
CCOP panel members include health experts from public and private organizations engaged in childhood obesity prevention in underserved communities, including, but not limited to, The Centers for Disease Control (CDC), The National Urban League, NICHD, Kaiser Permanente, American Heart Association, American Diabetes Association, Community Foundation of Greater Atlanta, and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation.
Through the efforts of Henrie Treadwell, Ph.D., director of Community Voices and Men's Health Initiatives and a research professor in the department of Community and Preventive Medicine, Morehouse School of Medicine is now the official site of the CCOP and the recipient of the $300,00 W.K. Kellogg grant. "This initiative provides viable, sustainable solutions to the obesity epidemic prevalent in African-American communities," said Treadwell.
Funding from W.K. Kellogg will be used to achieve the following CCOP goals: collection and dissemination of findings based on meetings of the commissioners, expert testimonies, and community forums; site visits to document the prevalence of obesity among African-American children in selected states (i.e., Mississippi); development of a comprehensive, culturally-centered curriculum targeted to African-American children that can be utilized by schools and organizations nationwide; establishment of a community report that includes an agenda for collaborative action concerning obesity prevention for African-American children -- with particular emphasis on the states of Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, South Carolina, Georgia, North Carolina and Florida -- to provide support for promising chapter programs and establishment of a permanent entity, The Institute for Childhood Obesity Prevention. Current grant funding will be expended through Sept. 30, 2012.
The CCOP was empanelled on May 15, 2009, at the Southern Area Conference of The Links Inc. in Jacksonville, Fla. The commission is comprised of ten national experts in diverse disciplines including: obesity prevention, pediatric/family medicine, nutrition, physical activity, health education, public health, public policy, community development, private sector initiatives, child/adolescent psychology and program evaluation. The first and second meetings were held on October 31, 2008 and October 30, 2009 at the National Center for Primary Care at the Morehouse School of Medicine. A partnership with the American Heart Association and production of a community-based training CD were also established in 2008.
Special advisors to the CCOP are: William H. Dietz, M.D., Ph.D., director of the Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Obesity in the Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion at the CDC; James R. Gavin III, M.D., Ph.D., clinical professor of medicine at Emory University of Medicine and Indiana University School of Medicine; and David Satcher, M.D., Ph.D., director of the Satcher Health Leadership Institute at the Morehouse School of Medicine in Atlanta; and Joseph L. Webster Sr., M.D., founder of the Comprehensive Center for Digestive and Nutritional Disorders, also interim chair of the CCOP.
Members of the Commission on Childhood Obesity Prevention include: Brook Belay, M.D., senior service fellow, Division of Nutrition and Physical Activity at The Centers for Disease Control; Triesta Fowler-Lee, M.D., medical officer in the Public Information and Communications Branch of the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD); Rodney S. Lyn, Ph.D., M.S., faculty member in the Institute of Public Health at Georgia State University; Calvin Wayne McLarin, M.D., clinical associate professor and member of the Medical Advisory Board at Morehouse School of Medicine; and Toni Moody, M.D., nationally recognized expert on health promotion and obesity prevention.
Other CCOP commissioners are: Judith J. Pickens, M.Ed., senior vice president for Program & Youth Development Services, Boys & Girls Clubs of America; Aaron Shirley, M.D., chairman of the board for the Jackson Medical Mall Foundation and director of Community Health Services with the University of Mississippi Medical Center; Ruby Takanashi, Ph.D., president of the Foundation for Child Development in New York; Joseph L. Webster Sr., M.D., founder of the Comprehensive Center for Digestive and Nutritional Disorders; and Ambassador Andrew Young, creator of a model that combines religion, education, democracy and free enterprise to support the public good.
Co-conveners are: Mary F. Currie, Southern Area Director of The Links Inc.; and Dr. Henrie Treadwell, research professor and Director of Community Voices: Healthcare for the Underserved, Morehouse School of Medicine. Dr. Delores Bolden-Stamps is program coordinator for the Southern Area.
The Links Inc. is an international, women's non-profit, social welfare and service organization of over 12,000 members in 271 chapters across the United States, and the Bahamas. It was founded in 1946. From its inception, the organization's members have been developing and implementing programs that target issues affecting its members and communities. Community service has been the corner stone of the organization's outreach with members contributing more than two million documented hours of community service over the past three years. For the past 60 years, The Links Inc. has been internationally known for its programs that are focused on topics such as health, economics and education, youth, and policy efforts.
http://www.atlantadailyworld.com/articles/2010/02/14/adw_news/doc4b77fcbbbf4b0023300630.txt
Copyright © 2010 Atlanta Daily World.
Monday, February 15, 2010
Pa. Police Mum On Motive In Disabled Woman's Death
By DAN NEPHIN
Associated Press Writer
February 13, 2010
GREENSBURG, Pa. – Jennifer Daugherty's mom and stepdad didn't press for details when she mentioned she had made some new friends. The 30-year-old had the mental abilities of an adolescent but wasn't the kind to get in trouble, and she was even thinking about getting her own place soon.
Police found her body Thursday stuffed into a garbage can in a school parking lot; they say she had been forced to consume detergent and urine — and to write a fake suicide note — before she was fatally stabbed by attackers who also shaved her head and painted her face with nail polish. Six suspects have been charged, including her new "friends."
"She was exploited, and her kindness and her handicap made her very vulnerable," Daugherty's sister, Joy Burkholder, said. "She trusted everybody; she believed everyone was good, and no one would hurt her."
Daugherty's stepfather said she often traveled on her own by bus from her home in Mount Pleasant to Greensburg, about 10 miles away, for dental or counseling appointments. After she hopped onto a bus Monday, she called her folks later in the day seeking permission to spend the night at "Peggy's" house.
It was the last time she would talk to them.
Daugherty went willingly to the apartment where she was killed about 30 miles east of Pittsburgh, according to police, who wouldn't discuss a motive or details on how the visit turned deadly.
She was beaten with a towel rack, vacuum cleaner hose and a crutch, and her body was bound with Christmas decorations, an affidavit said. Police said she was fed vegetable oil, medications and spices in addition to soap and urine.
She was stabbed multiple times with an unknown weapon in the neck, chest and head, Westmoreland County Coroner Kenneth Bacha said. Authorities said they found the victim's belongings in the building's attic, as well as items that had been used to clean up blood.
"She was at the wrong place, at the wrong time, stumbled into a bad situation," said Greensburg Police Chief Walter Lyons.
Six people were charged with criminal homicide, kidnapping and other counts: Robert Loren Masters Jr., 36, Ricky Smyrnes, 23, Melvin Knight, 20, Amber Meidinger, 20, and Angela Marinucci, 17, all of Greensburg; and Peggy Darlene Miller, 27, of Mount Pleasant Township. All were being held without bond in the Westmoreland County prison. Prosecutors didn't know whether any of them had attorneys.
There was already a warrant for Smyrnes' arrest at the time of Daugherty's killing, according to a review Friday of criminal records available online. He was charged Jan. 30 with possessing instruments of crime, but the records don't detail the allegations. He was also awaiting trial on simple assault and harassment charges and pleaded guilty on four occasions to charges ranging from burglary to simple assault, theft and trespassing.
Lyons said he believed Daugherty had "some relationship" with Smyrnes.
Stepfather Bobby Murphy, 62, of Mount Pleasant told The Associated Press that Daugherty had the mental abilities of a 12- to 14-year-old.
Murphy said he was the last family member to see Daugherty alive, on Monday, when he took her to get on the bus to Greensburg. He was not sure with whom Daugherty had an appointment, but said that later that day, she called home and asked about going to her friend Peggy's. Murphy said his stepdaughter planned to return home Tuesday.
Daugherty had become involved in a community center in Greensburg where she met several people whose names she mentioned as friends, Murphy said — including several whose first names share those of some of the defendants.
"I don't know them personally, but Jennifer mentioned some of their names as being her friends — but evidently not," he said.
According to an affidavit of probable cause, Knight admitted stabbing Daugherty in the chest, side and neck, and he and Smyrnes carried her body to the parking lot. All six defendants admitted their involvement and implicated others, according to police.
A neighbor in a first-floor apartment reported hearing a "tussle upstairs and a 'heavy bam'" as though a body fell, causing the ceiling to shake before the apartment went quiet Wednesday night, the affidavit said.
Another resident of the first-floor apartment said Smyrnes and two women came to their apartment afterward, and that the man asked them to turn their television down, the affidavit said.
The neighbors, Floria Headen and Angela McGowan, said that people frequently came and went from the apartment and that they had called police about a half-dozen times to complain.
"They was coming in droves. You didn't know who was living there," McGowan said. "It was unreal. All the noise and the pounding and the fighting and the drinking, you thought the ceiling was going to come in on you."
A man found Daugherty's body Thursday morning when he saw the garbage can partly beneath his truck.
Headen has since learned that the Christmas lights police said were used to bind Daugherty had been taken from her porch. The garbage container in which her body was found belongs to Headen's daughter, who lives several houses away, she said.
"I'm in shock, and I'm angry," McGowan said. "I'm angry and it's like you want to cry because that poor child was tortured."
Burkholder described her sister as kind and said she liked scary movies, wrestling and college football.
Daugherty's family moved to Mount Pleasant from Mesquite, Texas, about two years ago to be closer to Murphy's mother-in-law, who is ill, Murphy said.
"One thing I can tell you is there is no reason for them to do what they did to Jennifer," Murphy said. "Jennifer was just a gentle, laid-back person.
"There wasn't a mean bone in her body."
___
Associated Press writer Joe Mandak in Pittsburgh contributed to this report.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100213/ap_on_re_us/us_disabled_woman_torture
Copyright © 2010 Yahoo! Inc. All rights reserved.
Associated Press Writer
February 13, 2010
GREENSBURG, Pa. – Jennifer Daugherty's mom and stepdad didn't press for details when she mentioned she had made some new friends. The 30-year-old had the mental abilities of an adolescent but wasn't the kind to get in trouble, and she was even thinking about getting her own place soon.
Police found her body Thursday stuffed into a garbage can in a school parking lot; they say she had been forced to consume detergent and urine — and to write a fake suicide note — before she was fatally stabbed by attackers who also shaved her head and painted her face with nail polish. Six suspects have been charged, including her new "friends."
"She was exploited, and her kindness and her handicap made her very vulnerable," Daugherty's sister, Joy Burkholder, said. "She trusted everybody; she believed everyone was good, and no one would hurt her."
Daugherty's stepfather said she often traveled on her own by bus from her home in Mount Pleasant to Greensburg, about 10 miles away, for dental or counseling appointments. After she hopped onto a bus Monday, she called her folks later in the day seeking permission to spend the night at "Peggy's" house.
It was the last time she would talk to them.
Daugherty went willingly to the apartment where she was killed about 30 miles east of Pittsburgh, according to police, who wouldn't discuss a motive or details on how the visit turned deadly.
She was beaten with a towel rack, vacuum cleaner hose and a crutch, and her body was bound with Christmas decorations, an affidavit said. Police said she was fed vegetable oil, medications and spices in addition to soap and urine.
She was stabbed multiple times with an unknown weapon in the neck, chest and head, Westmoreland County Coroner Kenneth Bacha said. Authorities said they found the victim's belongings in the building's attic, as well as items that had been used to clean up blood.
"She was at the wrong place, at the wrong time, stumbled into a bad situation," said Greensburg Police Chief Walter Lyons.
Six people were charged with criminal homicide, kidnapping and other counts: Robert Loren Masters Jr., 36, Ricky Smyrnes, 23, Melvin Knight, 20, Amber Meidinger, 20, and Angela Marinucci, 17, all of Greensburg; and Peggy Darlene Miller, 27, of Mount Pleasant Township. All were being held without bond in the Westmoreland County prison. Prosecutors didn't know whether any of them had attorneys.
There was already a warrant for Smyrnes' arrest at the time of Daugherty's killing, according to a review Friday of criminal records available online. He was charged Jan. 30 with possessing instruments of crime, but the records don't detail the allegations. He was also awaiting trial on simple assault and harassment charges and pleaded guilty on four occasions to charges ranging from burglary to simple assault, theft and trespassing.
Lyons said he believed Daugherty had "some relationship" with Smyrnes.
Stepfather Bobby Murphy, 62, of Mount Pleasant told The Associated Press that Daugherty had the mental abilities of a 12- to 14-year-old.
Murphy said he was the last family member to see Daugherty alive, on Monday, when he took her to get on the bus to Greensburg. He was not sure with whom Daugherty had an appointment, but said that later that day, she called home and asked about going to her friend Peggy's. Murphy said his stepdaughter planned to return home Tuesday.
Daugherty had become involved in a community center in Greensburg where she met several people whose names she mentioned as friends, Murphy said — including several whose first names share those of some of the defendants.
"I don't know them personally, but Jennifer mentioned some of their names as being her friends — but evidently not," he said.
According to an affidavit of probable cause, Knight admitted stabbing Daugherty in the chest, side and neck, and he and Smyrnes carried her body to the parking lot. All six defendants admitted their involvement and implicated others, according to police.
A neighbor in a first-floor apartment reported hearing a "tussle upstairs and a 'heavy bam'" as though a body fell, causing the ceiling to shake before the apartment went quiet Wednesday night, the affidavit said.
Another resident of the first-floor apartment said Smyrnes and two women came to their apartment afterward, and that the man asked them to turn their television down, the affidavit said.
The neighbors, Floria Headen and Angela McGowan, said that people frequently came and went from the apartment and that they had called police about a half-dozen times to complain.
"They was coming in droves. You didn't know who was living there," McGowan said. "It was unreal. All the noise and the pounding and the fighting and the drinking, you thought the ceiling was going to come in on you."
A man found Daugherty's body Thursday morning when he saw the garbage can partly beneath his truck.
Headen has since learned that the Christmas lights police said were used to bind Daugherty had been taken from her porch. The garbage container in which her body was found belongs to Headen's daughter, who lives several houses away, she said.
"I'm in shock, and I'm angry," McGowan said. "I'm angry and it's like you want to cry because that poor child was tortured."
Burkholder described her sister as kind and said she liked scary movies, wrestling and college football.
Daugherty's family moved to Mount Pleasant from Mesquite, Texas, about two years ago to be closer to Murphy's mother-in-law, who is ill, Murphy said.
"One thing I can tell you is there is no reason for them to do what they did to Jennifer," Murphy said. "Jennifer was just a gentle, laid-back person.
"There wasn't a mean bone in her body."
___
Associated Press writer Joe Mandak in Pittsburgh contributed to this report.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100213/ap_on_re_us/us_disabled_woman_torture
Copyright © 2010 Yahoo! Inc. All rights reserved.
For Some Jobs, Asperger's Syndrome Can Be An Asset
by Adriene Hill
NPR
February 11, 2010
Aspiritech, a nonprofit in the suburbs of Chicago, trains people with Asperger's syndrome in data entry and computer program testing — skills that come naturally to many with the disorder.
Statistics on the unemployed have been dominating the news for months.
And while the current portrait of the jobless might seem dire, consider this: According to new data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, less than 20 percent of the disabled population in the country has work.
But Aspiritech, a nonprofit in the suburbs of Chicago, is trying to help improve the job outlook for people with Asperger's and high-functioning autism.
The company trains people in data entry and computer program testing — skills that come naturally to many with the disorder.
Important Work
Brian Tozzo is making sure programs like Yahoo Messenger and AOL interact properly with a cell phone. He types a message into his phone and pushes send.
"There it is — 'Hello, how are you?' " Tozzo says. "And on the PC you can see the same message, 'Hello, how are you?' and it passes, hooray!"
Tozzo marks it down as a success in a spreadsheet that has hundreds, even thousands of repetitive tests.
At a different desk, Alan Sun is training with a similar list. "It definitely helps utilize my computer skills and lets me use them to help others," Sun says. "So, at least I'm seeing how my computer skills can be potentially useful to society."
Brenda Weitzberg, the founder of Aspiritech, says employment is so much more than a paycheck. "It is structure to the day," she says. "It is sense of self-worth, value."
Employment is so much more than a paycheck. 'It is structure to the day. It is sense of self-worth, value.' - Brenda Weitzberg, founder of Aspiritech
A Natural Fit
Weitzberg started the business because she felt frustrated with the lack of job resources for her 30-year-old son.
She says software testing is the perfect fit for people like him, with autism spectrum disorder.
"They're very focused on detail," Weitzberg says. "Able to do highly repetitive work, able to spot imperfections."
Aspiritech is relatively new and started with $25,000 in private donations. So far, it's trained eight testers. And the company just signed its first contract for work that will start later this year.
Weitzberg's inspiration is a six-year-old Danish company called Specialisterne.
Difference Not A Disadvantage
Thorkil Sonne is the founder of Specialisterne. The company currently has three dozen consultants with autism spectrum disorder doing software testing and data entry.
"[The company] actually sees autism — the autism characteristics — as a potential competitive advantage," Sonne says.
He came up with the idea after his son was diagnosed with autism, and he says he thinks the outlook for his son has substantially improved since the company's inception. "I think that there's a much more positive attitude," Sonne says, "And openness in the business sector in Denmark."
Sonne's hoping to spread the model worldwide.
Copenhagen Business School professor Robert Austin has studied Specialisterne's business. "It does something that a lot of other models that hope to help people don't do," Austin says. "It aligns the interest of the people being helped with the interest of a business."
Austin says it's a hopeful model that he'd like to see work.
It's one that doesn't view difference as disadvantage.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=123567371&sc=emaf
Copyright 2010 NPR
NPR
February 11, 2010
Aspiritech, a nonprofit in the suburbs of Chicago, trains people with Asperger's syndrome in data entry and computer program testing — skills that come naturally to many with the disorder.
Statistics on the unemployed have been dominating the news for months.
And while the current portrait of the jobless might seem dire, consider this: According to new data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, less than 20 percent of the disabled population in the country has work.
But Aspiritech, a nonprofit in the suburbs of Chicago, is trying to help improve the job outlook for people with Asperger's and high-functioning autism.
The company trains people in data entry and computer program testing — skills that come naturally to many with the disorder.
Important Work
Brian Tozzo is making sure programs like Yahoo Messenger and AOL interact properly with a cell phone. He types a message into his phone and pushes send.
"There it is — 'Hello, how are you?' " Tozzo says. "And on the PC you can see the same message, 'Hello, how are you?' and it passes, hooray!"
Tozzo marks it down as a success in a spreadsheet that has hundreds, even thousands of repetitive tests.
At a different desk, Alan Sun is training with a similar list. "It definitely helps utilize my computer skills and lets me use them to help others," Sun says. "So, at least I'm seeing how my computer skills can be potentially useful to society."
Brenda Weitzberg, the founder of Aspiritech, says employment is so much more than a paycheck. "It is structure to the day," she says. "It is sense of self-worth, value."
Employment is so much more than a paycheck. 'It is structure to the day. It is sense of self-worth, value.' - Brenda Weitzberg, founder of Aspiritech
A Natural Fit
Weitzberg started the business because she felt frustrated with the lack of job resources for her 30-year-old son.
She says software testing is the perfect fit for people like him, with autism spectrum disorder.
"They're very focused on detail," Weitzberg says. "Able to do highly repetitive work, able to spot imperfections."
Aspiritech is relatively new and started with $25,000 in private donations. So far, it's trained eight testers. And the company just signed its first contract for work that will start later this year.
Weitzberg's inspiration is a six-year-old Danish company called Specialisterne.
Difference Not A Disadvantage
Thorkil Sonne is the founder of Specialisterne. The company currently has three dozen consultants with autism spectrum disorder doing software testing and data entry.
"[The company] actually sees autism — the autism characteristics — as a potential competitive advantage," Sonne says.
He came up with the idea after his son was diagnosed with autism, and he says he thinks the outlook for his son has substantially improved since the company's inception. "I think that there's a much more positive attitude," Sonne says, "And openness in the business sector in Denmark."
Sonne's hoping to spread the model worldwide.
Copenhagen Business School professor Robert Austin has studied Specialisterne's business. "It does something that a lot of other models that hope to help people don't do," Austin says. "It aligns the interest of the people being helped with the interest of a business."
Austin says it's a hopeful model that he'd like to see work.
It's one that doesn't view difference as disadvantage.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=123567371&sc=emaf
Copyright 2010 NPR
Conference Call Notes for Unlock Legislative Day at the Capitol Taken Friday, February 12, 2010
For February 16, 2010:
Dress in business attire
Please be sure to bring your picture ID for access into the building
We recommend Marta. Easiest way to get to the capital
The Underground parking deck is the easiest if you are not familiar with downtown.
Please expect to pay between $8.00 - $10.00 for parking downtown
If you can NOT make an appointment please come down. We will be there to support you and help you to pull your legislator out of session and speak to them. Don’t get discouraged or take it personally if your legislator is not responsive to setting up an appointment.
***If you are not sure of whom to speak with, please visit the link provided then enter your information to find your STATE legislator(s) for your area:
http://www.ciclt.net/sn/pol/po_districtlookup.aspx?ClientCode=aadd&State=ga&StateName=Georgia
We will be in room 122 located on the 1st floor of the Capital. It is not at all accessible, so we have made arrangements to have volunteers out front to greet you and give you materials. This is the best we could do inside the Capitol.
After your meeting with your Legislator PLEASE come back to room 122 to check out with us and fill out a brief evaluation.
If your appointment is after 12pm with your Legislator please give Rita Young a call on her cell to meet her elsewhere in the Capitol after your meeting (Rita Young’s cell: 770.688.5487)
Remind your Legislator about your needs and stay on message. We will brief you before you go to your meeting.
Thank your Legislator for the services that are working for you . Be positive and make a good impression.
Yes, you may bring your children down with you, if not PLEASE bring a picture of your child
Keep in mind that you will talk with TWO Legislators on this day. Your state representative and senator.
Parking and other information about the Capitol:
Driving Directions
Parking
Parking Lot Location:
-Located on Fraser Street, 2 blocks from the Capitol
Pete Hackney
-Located on the corner of Butler Street and Decatur Street
Steve Polk Plaza
-Located on Martin Luther King Jr. Dr. beside the World of Coca-Cola
From the South:
Take I-75/85 North to Exit 245 (Capitol Avenue). At the bottom of the exit ramp, continue straight through the stop sign. At the first traffic light, turn left onto Hank Aaron Drive. The Capitol will be approximately one mile down on the left.
From the North:
Take I-75/85 South to Exit 248A (Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive). Bear right onto Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive. The Capitol will be on the left.
From the East:
Take I-20 West to Exit 58A (Capitol Avenue). Turn right on Capitol Avenue. The Capitol will be approximately one mile down on the left.
From the West:
Take I-20 East to Exit 56B (Windsor St./Spring St./Stadium). At the third light, turn left onto Central Avenue. Go to Mitchell Street and turn right. The Capitol will be two blocks down on the left.
Accessibility
Parking Spaces for visitors with disabilities are located on Mitchell Street. Vehicles may stop briefly at the loading zone to drop off passengers.
Entrances for visitors in wheelchairs may enter the Capitol from the loading zone off of Mitchell Street and from Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive via ramps which provide access to the first (ground) floor.
Elevators The elevators are located on the east and west sides of the Capitol.
Restrooms Wheelchair accessible restrooms are located on the first, third and fourth floors of the Capitol building. Facilities for ladies are located on the first floor, inside the Capitol Avenue entrance and on the third floor in room 342. Mens' facilities can be found on the first floor and on the fourth floor adjacent to the House Gallery.
Water Fountains Accessible water fountains can be found near the first floor restrooms on the east side of the Capitol and inside the Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive entrance.
Telephones Both a TDD and a Volume Control Telephone are located on the first floor of the Capitolin the restroom area.
Galleries Wheelchair spaces are provided in the Senate and House galleries and most legislative committee meeting rooms are accessible.
Capitol Grounds The paths leading to points of interest on the Capitol grounds are paved.
Dress in business attire
Please be sure to bring your picture ID for access into the building
We recommend Marta. Easiest way to get to the capital
The Underground parking deck is the easiest if you are not familiar with downtown.
Please expect to pay between $8.00 - $10.00 for parking downtown
If you can NOT make an appointment please come down. We will be there to support you and help you to pull your legislator out of session and speak to them. Don’t get discouraged or take it personally if your legislator is not responsive to setting up an appointment.
***If you are not sure of whom to speak with, please visit the link provided then enter your information to find your STATE legislator(s) for your area:
http://www.ciclt.net/sn/pol/po_districtlookup.aspx?ClientCode=aadd&State=ga&StateName=Georgia
We will be in room 122 located on the 1st floor of the Capital. It is not at all accessible, so we have made arrangements to have volunteers out front to greet you and give you materials. This is the best we could do inside the Capitol.
After your meeting with your Legislator PLEASE come back to room 122 to check out with us and fill out a brief evaluation.
If your appointment is after 12pm with your Legislator please give Rita Young a call on her cell to meet her elsewhere in the Capitol after your meeting (Rita Young’s cell: 770.688.5487)
Remind your Legislator about your needs and stay on message. We will brief you before you go to your meeting.
Thank your Legislator for the services that are working for you . Be positive and make a good impression.
Yes, you may bring your children down with you, if not PLEASE bring a picture of your child
Keep in mind that you will talk with TWO Legislators on this day. Your state representative and senator.
Parking and other information about the Capitol:
Driving Directions
Parking
Parking Lot Location:
-Located on Fraser Street, 2 blocks from the Capitol
Pete Hackney
-Located on the corner of Butler Street and Decatur Street
Steve Polk Plaza
-Located on Martin Luther King Jr. Dr. beside the World of Coca-Cola
From the South:
Take I-75/85 North to Exit 245 (Capitol Avenue). At the bottom of the exit ramp, continue straight through the stop sign. At the first traffic light, turn left onto Hank Aaron Drive. The Capitol will be approximately one mile down on the left.
From the North:
Take I-75/85 South to Exit 248A (Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive). Bear right onto Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive. The Capitol will be on the left.
From the East:
Take I-20 West to Exit 58A (Capitol Avenue). Turn right on Capitol Avenue. The Capitol will be approximately one mile down on the left.
From the West:
Take I-20 East to Exit 56B (Windsor St./Spring St./Stadium). At the third light, turn left onto Central Avenue. Go to Mitchell Street and turn right. The Capitol will be two blocks down on the left.
Accessibility
Parking Spaces for visitors with disabilities are located on Mitchell Street. Vehicles may stop briefly at the loading zone to drop off passengers.
Entrances for visitors in wheelchairs may enter the Capitol from the loading zone off of Mitchell Street and from Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive via ramps which provide access to the first (ground) floor.
Elevators The elevators are located on the east and west sides of the Capitol.
Restrooms Wheelchair accessible restrooms are located on the first, third and fourth floors of the Capitol building. Facilities for ladies are located on the first floor, inside the Capitol Avenue entrance and on the third floor in room 342. Mens' facilities can be found on the first floor and on the fourth floor adjacent to the House Gallery.
Water Fountains Accessible water fountains can be found near the first floor restrooms on the east side of the Capitol and inside the Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive entrance.
Telephones Both a TDD and a Volume Control Telephone are located on the first floor of the Capitolin the restroom area.
Galleries Wheelchair spaces are provided in the Senate and House galleries and most legislative committee meeting rooms are accessible.
Capitol Grounds The paths leading to points of interest on the Capitol grounds are paved.
Georgia Programs Saved by Politics
By James Salzer
Georgia Politics
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
February 12, 2010
Gov. Sonny Perdue is being reminded this year that killing state programs is politically difficult even in the midst of the worst fiscal crisis since the Great Depression.
The staff of Gov. Sonny Perdue argues that grants are too small
Perdue and lawmakers said before the legislative session began that severe budget constraints would force them to eliminate long-standing programs that the state could no longer afford.
But a month after releasing his spending plans, Perdue is already seeing some of his ideas for trimming state government shoved aside, particularly those with a large number of politically active beneficiaries.
Nowhere is that more evident than in the governor’s proposal to eliminate the $29.7 million program begun in the early 1970s that provides grants to about 34,000 private college students.
To save money, Perdue has called for the elimination of grants that go to all private college students. He also wants to increase awards to private college students who earn the HOPE scholarship. The governor’s staff argues that the grants, which were cut to about $775 this year and could shrink further, are too small to make a big difference for students attending private colleges costing $20,000, $30,000 and up.
“From a policy perspective, it makes sense to focus our limited resources on HOPE-eligible students in both our public and private colleges,” the governor said in a statement to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
But a potent group of lobbyists, private college presidents and students have been quickly mobilized to save the program, and some House leaders are making it clear they’d cut money from the public university system before they eliminate grants to private college students.
The proposal to end the Tuition Equalization Grant isn’t officially dead, but it’s in serious trouble.
Alan Essig, executive director of the Georgia Budget and Policy Institute think tank, said killing long-standing programs is never easy, even when lawmakers know they have to slash $1.2 billion from this year’s budget.
“This is kind of a case study in an attempt to eliminate something based on policy rationale, not political rationale,” said Essig, a former state budget analyst. “Even if you have a rational reason for doing it, it’s difficult to pull off because of the political constituency of those who take advantage of the program.”
Trey Childress, director of the Office of Planning and Budget, said Perdue knew his proposal to end the grants would face stiff opposition. “If there is a defined constituency, it’s very difficult to reverse course on something folks are accustomed to receiving,” he said.
But opponents of eliminating the program say there is more than politics involved.
“This is something that benefits the state and saves it money,” said House Appropriations Chairman Ben Harbin (R-Evans). “There are some things that should be cut, but this is one of those things that shouldn’t be cut.”
Young Harris College President Cathy Cox, a former Democratic state lawmaker and secretary of state, said Perdue’s plan doesn’t make sense because the grants are a good deal for the state.
“At first blush it sounds like, ‘Why are we helping private colleges?’ But it’s not about helping private colleges. It’s about getting Georgia students college-educated.”
Perdue has been in this situation before. He initially ran into tough legislative opposition when tried to cut funding to the various halls of fame around the state. Local lawmakers opposed the idea. He eventually vetoed funding for the Golf Hall of Fame over the objections of Harbin and Augusta-area lawmakers.
Perdue was the second consecutive governor to try to eliminate funding for elementary school foreign language programs in select schools across the state. He called the programs a limited “pilot” effort that served too few students. Parent protests saved the program for several years, but Perdue finally vetoed money for it in 2007.
Perdue has proposed closing small-town welcome centers and asked the Department of Natural Resources to evaluate money-losing golf courses, but lawmakers representing those districts have fought to save them.
Those were relatively small-time projects. Eliminating the private school grants is much tougher for Perdue because they have long had strong support from lawmakers.
They also have a large, influential constituency: about 34,000 students attending more than 40 private schools receive the grants, their parents, and the leaders of those schools who are often leaders their communities.
Under the program, all private college students were scheduled to receive a $950 grant this year. Because of spending cuts, they instead got about $775. Most states have similar private college aid programs.
Private college students with at least a B average are also eligible to receive HOPE scholarships, just like their public school counterparts.
Student Finance officials said because money is short, the state next year would have to keep the grants in the same range as this year, an amount Perdue staffers argue would be too little to really make private college more affordable.
So Perdue proposed eliminating the automatic grant, but increasing the award to private college students who earn the HOPE scholarship from $3,500 to $4,250. That means that private school students getting HOPE would end up with about the same as they would have received from the two programs together. About 40 percent of private college students receive HOPE, according to the Georgia Student Finance Commission.
The change would save the state about $16 million.
“This grant began long before the HOPE scholarship, and in good economic times we pushed the amount up to help our private college students,” said Perdue, a longtime supporter of the program.
“But with all the cuts needed in the budget this year, we looked for ways to make the most of limited state funds.”
Advocates for keeping the TEG say some students may who might otherwise attend private colleges could wind up in University System schools. And that would cost the state more money because it spends far more educating a student in the public colleges than it does on the grant program.
Cox said the average income for families sending children to Young Harris College is $70,000 to $80,000. Freshman tuition at the school is $19,000, but many students receive aid from the college to help pay the bills. “$800 can make a difference,” Cox said of the grant.
Two political science majors at LaGrange College, Elissa Marks and Jamaica Thomas, were among a group of students who went to the Capitol recently hoping to persuade lawmakers to keep the grant.
“The TEG [grant] isn’t the definitive way I can go to college, but it helps me out,” Marks said. “It is definitely something that helps me not have as much of a debt to pay off when I graduate.”
Unlike Marks, Thomas said losing the grant might make LaGrange College unaffordable.
“It means a lot to me because I really do need the money,” she said.
Rep. Earl Ehrhart (R-Powder Spring), who heads the House budget subcommittee on Higher Education, is a big supporter of the program. He asked the public University System to look at taking an additional spending cut, a move that could save the private-school grant program.
In trying to eliminate the program, Perdue is going against the grain of the Republican-led General Assembly. Lawmakers such as Ehrhart have spent years looking for ways to make it easier for parents to send children to private schools. Ehrhart is executive director of a private school scholarship program called Georgia Christian Schools Scholarship Fund.
Kelly McCutchen, president of the Georgia Public Policy Foundation, said Perdue and lawmakers are in a tight spot and that eliminating any program is going to be difficult.
“Right now, we’re talking about do you keep a bed tax that tons of health care people are upset about, or do you get rid of the Tuition Equalization Grant or do you cut education funding some more?” he said. “That’s the kind of question the legislators are dealing with.
“The policy question is which one would produce the least negative effect on the state. The political question is which one creates the least pain politically.”
The fact that Perdue is even raising the possibility of eliminating the grants shows how bad the budget situation is, Essig said.
“It shows you the depth of the problem we have that we are talking about eliminating programs that have a political constituency,” he said. “It shows you the easy cuts have been made and we’re down to the more difficult ones.”
http://www.ajc.com/news/georgia-politics-elections/georgia-programs-saved-by-301246.html
© 2010 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Georgia Politics
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
February 12, 2010
Gov. Sonny Perdue is being reminded this year that killing state programs is politically difficult even in the midst of the worst fiscal crisis since the Great Depression.
The staff of Gov. Sonny Perdue argues that grants are too small
Perdue and lawmakers said before the legislative session began that severe budget constraints would force them to eliminate long-standing programs that the state could no longer afford.
But a month after releasing his spending plans, Perdue is already seeing some of his ideas for trimming state government shoved aside, particularly those with a large number of politically active beneficiaries.
Nowhere is that more evident than in the governor’s proposal to eliminate the $29.7 million program begun in the early 1970s that provides grants to about 34,000 private college students.
To save money, Perdue has called for the elimination of grants that go to all private college students. He also wants to increase awards to private college students who earn the HOPE scholarship. The governor’s staff argues that the grants, which were cut to about $775 this year and could shrink further, are too small to make a big difference for students attending private colleges costing $20,000, $30,000 and up.
“From a policy perspective, it makes sense to focus our limited resources on HOPE-eligible students in both our public and private colleges,” the governor said in a statement to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
But a potent group of lobbyists, private college presidents and students have been quickly mobilized to save the program, and some House leaders are making it clear they’d cut money from the public university system before they eliminate grants to private college students.
The proposal to end the Tuition Equalization Grant isn’t officially dead, but it’s in serious trouble.
Alan Essig, executive director of the Georgia Budget and Policy Institute think tank, said killing long-standing programs is never easy, even when lawmakers know they have to slash $1.2 billion from this year’s budget.
“This is kind of a case study in an attempt to eliminate something based on policy rationale, not political rationale,” said Essig, a former state budget analyst. “Even if you have a rational reason for doing it, it’s difficult to pull off because of the political constituency of those who take advantage of the program.”
Trey Childress, director of the Office of Planning and Budget, said Perdue knew his proposal to end the grants would face stiff opposition. “If there is a defined constituency, it’s very difficult to reverse course on something folks are accustomed to receiving,” he said.
But opponents of eliminating the program say there is more than politics involved.
“This is something that benefits the state and saves it money,” said House Appropriations Chairman Ben Harbin (R-Evans). “There are some things that should be cut, but this is one of those things that shouldn’t be cut.”
Young Harris College President Cathy Cox, a former Democratic state lawmaker and secretary of state, said Perdue’s plan doesn’t make sense because the grants are a good deal for the state.
“At first blush it sounds like, ‘Why are we helping private colleges?’ But it’s not about helping private colleges. It’s about getting Georgia students college-educated.”
Perdue has been in this situation before. He initially ran into tough legislative opposition when tried to cut funding to the various halls of fame around the state. Local lawmakers opposed the idea. He eventually vetoed funding for the Golf Hall of Fame over the objections of Harbin and Augusta-area lawmakers.
Perdue was the second consecutive governor to try to eliminate funding for elementary school foreign language programs in select schools across the state. He called the programs a limited “pilot” effort that served too few students. Parent protests saved the program for several years, but Perdue finally vetoed money for it in 2007.
Perdue has proposed closing small-town welcome centers and asked the Department of Natural Resources to evaluate money-losing golf courses, but lawmakers representing those districts have fought to save them.
Those were relatively small-time projects. Eliminating the private school grants is much tougher for Perdue because they have long had strong support from lawmakers.
They also have a large, influential constituency: about 34,000 students attending more than 40 private schools receive the grants, their parents, and the leaders of those schools who are often leaders their communities.
Under the program, all private college students were scheduled to receive a $950 grant this year. Because of spending cuts, they instead got about $775. Most states have similar private college aid programs.
Private college students with at least a B average are also eligible to receive HOPE scholarships, just like their public school counterparts.
Student Finance officials said because money is short, the state next year would have to keep the grants in the same range as this year, an amount Perdue staffers argue would be too little to really make private college more affordable.
So Perdue proposed eliminating the automatic grant, but increasing the award to private college students who earn the HOPE scholarship from $3,500 to $4,250. That means that private school students getting HOPE would end up with about the same as they would have received from the two programs together. About 40 percent of private college students receive HOPE, according to the Georgia Student Finance Commission.
The change would save the state about $16 million.
“This grant began long before the HOPE scholarship, and in good economic times we pushed the amount up to help our private college students,” said Perdue, a longtime supporter of the program.
“But with all the cuts needed in the budget this year, we looked for ways to make the most of limited state funds.”
Advocates for keeping the TEG say some students may who might otherwise attend private colleges could wind up in University System schools. And that would cost the state more money because it spends far more educating a student in the public colleges than it does on the grant program.
Cox said the average income for families sending children to Young Harris College is $70,000 to $80,000. Freshman tuition at the school is $19,000, but many students receive aid from the college to help pay the bills. “$800 can make a difference,” Cox said of the grant.
Two political science majors at LaGrange College, Elissa Marks and Jamaica Thomas, were among a group of students who went to the Capitol recently hoping to persuade lawmakers to keep the grant.
“The TEG [grant] isn’t the definitive way I can go to college, but it helps me out,” Marks said. “It is definitely something that helps me not have as much of a debt to pay off when I graduate.”
Unlike Marks, Thomas said losing the grant might make LaGrange College unaffordable.
“It means a lot to me because I really do need the money,” she said.
Rep. Earl Ehrhart (R-Powder Spring), who heads the House budget subcommittee on Higher Education, is a big supporter of the program. He asked the public University System to look at taking an additional spending cut, a move that could save the private-school grant program.
In trying to eliminate the program, Perdue is going against the grain of the Republican-led General Assembly. Lawmakers such as Ehrhart have spent years looking for ways to make it easier for parents to send children to private schools. Ehrhart is executive director of a private school scholarship program called Georgia Christian Schools Scholarship Fund.
Kelly McCutchen, president of the Georgia Public Policy Foundation, said Perdue and lawmakers are in a tight spot and that eliminating any program is going to be difficult.
“Right now, we’re talking about do you keep a bed tax that tons of health care people are upset about, or do you get rid of the Tuition Equalization Grant or do you cut education funding some more?” he said. “That’s the kind of question the legislators are dealing with.
“The policy question is which one would produce the least negative effect on the state. The political question is which one creates the least pain politically.”
The fact that Perdue is even raising the possibility of eliminating the grants shows how bad the budget situation is, Essig said.
“It shows you the depth of the problem we have that we are talking about eliminating programs that have a political constituency,” he said. “It shows you the easy cuts have been made and we’re down to the more difficult ones.”
http://www.ajc.com/news/georgia-politics-elections/georgia-programs-saved-by-301246.html
© 2010 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
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