REP. STEPHANIE STUCKEY BENFIELD'S
LEGISLATIVE REPORT
Week of March 5 - March 9, 2007
WEEKLY LEGISLATIVE REPORT - March 9, 2007
By Rep. Stephanie Stuckey Benfield
Rep. Benfield will host a Forum on the upcoming SPLOST special election on Monday, March 19 from 5:30 - 7:00 p.m. at the DeKalb County Tax Commissioner's Training Room, located at 4380 Memorial Drive in Decatur (across from the jail). Featured panelists include Cassandra Anderson-Littlejohn, Chair of the DeKalb Board of Education, Dr. Crawford Lewis, Dekalb School Superintendent, Dave Schutten, Organization of DeKalb Educators, and Ernest Brown, Friends of DeKalb Education III. The SPLOST III special election will be held the following day on Tuesday, March 20, so this will be a final opportunity to be briefed on the SPLOST vote. The event is co-sponsored by the DeKalb House Delegation.
Legislation would give Georgians cable TV choice
House Bill 227 would change the way in which Georgians are able to choose their cable television broadcast provider. Besides setting guidelines for customer service, the bill provides for the franchising of cable and video services by the Secretary of State, and requires complimentary basic cable or video service to public schools and libraries.
Eleven states that have passed consumer-friendly reforms, and more than 93 percent of state lawmakers who have debated the issue in their states have voted in favor of such reforms. They also said the bill will result in better service for customers and will result in more than $100 in savings per household.
The Georgia Board of Community Health voted Thursday to stop accepting new applications for financially stressed PeachCare for Kids program. This move seems to be unnecessary, however, because Democratic leaders in Congress have said they will expedite more federal funds for the children's health insurance program.
Congressional leaders have already announced that an Iraq war appropriations bill will also include $735 million to eliminate funding shortfalls in 14 states, including Georgia, that operate state children's health insurance programs. Georgia would be completely reimbursed for any stopgap expenditures the state would have to make to prevent any interruption in PeachCare availability.
The state government is able to keep the program running until the congressional action takes place. House Bill 620, which I have co-sponsored, would provide for the proper use of federal Medicaid funds as a bridge until federal State Child Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) funds again become available by enacting limited changes in the PeachCare program to provide for operation in the best interests of children and to prevent future funding volatility.
PeachCare serves a vital state interest by providing high quality, secure health care for children of Georgia's working families. PeachCare has achieved national prominence by successfully enrolling previously uninsured children consistent with the goals of SCHIP, as administered by the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. I firmly believe that PeachCare is essential to the health, education, and welfare of Georgia's children who would otherwise have no reliable access to health care.
After two years in existence, the state's public defender system is under fire from influential lawmakers who say Georgia's state-funded system of lawyers for indigent criminal defendants should be revamped or abolished.
The system is facing a funding crisis that imperils thousands of criminal prosecutions across the state. The case of Brian Nichols, accused of killing a judge and three other people in 2005, has drawn attention to the system. After news reports of the cost of Nichols' defense, which has reached $1.4 million, House Speaker Glenn Richardson and others have expressed concern over funding and oversight of the public defender system.
When created, Georgia's public defender system was heralded as a replacement for a system of uneven local programs. But now, a budget shortage has forced the state Public Defender Standards Council, which oversees the system, to slash spending for some capital cases across the state last year. The judge in the Nichols case has postponed the trial until the state can come up with more money to fund the program.
For the most part, the public defender system is working, but we must require more accountability so that the funding pool is not drained by these extraordinarily costly cases such as the Nichols defense.
I have co-sponsored HB 630, which would allow Georgia to enter into an agreement with other states to elect the President by national popular vote as opposed to our current Electoral College system. Currently, 30 states have introduced similar legislation. In Hawaii and Colorado, a national popular vote bill has passed the Senate. And 15 other states are in the process of drafting their bills for introduction. This is a national movement to ensure presidential candidates are responsive to all states and all voters, not just "battleground" states or niche voters. HB 630 is pending in the House Committee on Government Affairs.
The House Appropriations Committee is continuing to deliberate over the annual state budget while the legislature is in official recess until March 19. To date, the midyear supplemental budget will add $659 million in spending through the end of the current fiscal year (June 30). The fiscal budget for 2008 is slated at $20.2 billion.
• Rep. Stephanie Stuckey Benfield (D-Atlanta) represents the 85 th District (DeKalb County) in the Georgia House of Representatives. Contact her at 512 Coverdell Office Building, Atlanta, GA 30334; by phone at 404-656-7859 or by e-mail at stuckey@mindspring.com. You may also contact her through her web site www.stuckey.org.
Rep. Stephanie Stuckey Benfield (D-Atlanta) represents the 85 th District (DeKalb County) in the Georgia House of Representatives. Contact her at 512 Coverdell Office Building, Atlanta, GA 30334; by phone at 404-656-7859 or by e-mail at stuckey@mindspring.com.
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