Legislative Update Number 2007.02 - January 22, 2007
Congressional action need to save PeachCare for Kids
By Rep. Pat Gardner
The most significant piece of legislation handled by the Georgia House of Representatives during the first week of the 2007 session was House Resolution 13, which passed unanimously and is aimed at rescuing the PeachCare for Kids program.
On Thursday, January 18, I was part of a bipartisan delegation of state lawmakers who traveled to Washington, D.C., to urge members of Congress to fully fund the $131 million federal shortfall now faced by PeachCare, which provides health insurance for 270,000 children of Georgia’s working families.
We received a favorable response from Georgia’s U.S. Senators and U.S. House members and also had an opportunity to meet with senior advisers to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on the need to protect coverage for 270,000 Georgia children.
Parents and their children depend on this valuable program, and it touches families in every corner of our state, which is why it must be saved from its current economic peril.
I was pleased to join state Department of Community Health Commissioner Rhonda Meadows, Rep. Calvin Smyre (D-Columbus), Rep. Barry Fleming (R-Harlem), Rep. Mickey Channell (R-Greensboro), Sen. Horacena Tate (D-Atlanta) and Sen. Greg Goggans (R-Douglas) on this trip, which hopefully will result in much-needed congressional action.
Please call your Congressman and U.S. Senator and let them know that Georgia’s families need them to reallocate the existing funds in the Children’s Health Insurance Program before the end of February. The immediate problem is that Georgia and 12 other states are being penalized for our successful implementation of this program by a flawed federal formula. That allocation formula needs to be changed now. States slow to implement S-CHIP have money in the S-CHIP bank that could be re-directed to those states like Georgia with children enrolled in this insurance program.
Why now? Georgia’s PeachCare will run out of money May 1, 2007, without additional federal dollars. The DCH will be required to mail out letters to the families of these children in February informing them that their access to healthcare through PeachCare will be terminated on May 1.
What can you do? Call your friends in Washington, D.C. and let them know how important this is to our families. For more information and help in reaching your Congressmen, go to the following website.
http://www.georgiavoices.org/PeachCareAction.aspx.
As a member of the House Appropriations Committee, I joined my colleagues in hearing annual budget requests from state agency department heads this past week, while the full legislature is in official recess. Lawmakers had received a preview of the budget when Governor Perdue addressed a joint legislative session on January 10.
The Governor is proposing a fiscal year 2008 annual budget that would reach an all-time high of $20.2 billion in state government spending. New education initiatives include $21.3 million for expanding graduation coaches and $750,000 for providing a statewide online tutoring program. He also is recommending a 3 percent salary increase for educators this year.
Other funding items in the Governor’s budget plan include $417 million in bonds for capital outlay construction, $176 million to fund health insurance costs for state employees, $50 million toward purchasing and protecting undeveloped land, $15 million for more than 1,200 new prison beds, $1.4 million to add 15 new GBI methamphetamine force agents, $4.8 million to develop a real-time information system to improve cancer screenings and $5 million to restore and revitalize historic sites.
I was pleased to have been assigned to the Appropriations Committee and reappointed to serve on the House Higher Education, Natural Resources & Environment and Public Safety committees. Day 5 of the 40-day legislative session is scheduled for Monday, January 22. Please contact me whenever I can be of service.
- Rep. Pat Gardner (D-Atlanta) represents the 57th District (Atlanta and DeKalb County) in the Georgia House of Representatives. Contact her at 604 Coverdell Office Building, Atlanta, GA 30334; by phone at 404-656-0265 or by e-mail at pat@patgardner.org.
