“Crossover Day” is now only a few legislative days away, so week six was an intense but successful time for my colleagues and I. We discussed and passed the following bills.

Disaster Volunteers

House Bill 487 would provide Civil Air Patrol disaster service volunteers with equal flexibility and leave allowances to the American Red cross volunteers. With this bill, they will be granted paid leave for no more than 15 work days per year to participate in specialized emergency service operations and they will no longer lose seniority, pay, vacation, compensatory time, sick time or earned accumulated overtime due to their emergency situation assistance.

Medical

House Bill 678 would attempt to eradicate “surprise” hospital bills, which occur when an out-of-network doctor participates in a patient’s treatment team during an elective procedure. These bills can be 10 to 12 times higher than in-network charges and are a financial burden to Georgia citizens. This bill will allow patients to request and obtain information about other medical professionals and hospitals and potential care costs before care is given, file a dispute with an arbitrator from the insurance department, and give the patient 90 days to secure payment, negotiate or initiate a dispute after receiving a “surprise” bill.

The Protection of Data

House Bill 79 would require law enforcement agencies to destroy unused data after 30 months. This includes data like license plate information. Such data would only be kept if it is part of an ongoing investigation or toll violation.

Military

House Bill 749 seeks to support our military veterans by excluding military retirement income from Georgia income tax. Military retirement income received by a deceased veteran’s surviving family member, regardless of the family member’s age, would also be excluded from Georgia income tax.

Education

House Bill 740 would prevent expulsion and suspension in public preschool through third grade for five or more days per school year without first attempting a multi-tiered system of support. This bill would exclude students who are in possession of a weapon, drugs or any other dangerous item.

Elderly/Disabled Adult Abuse

House Bill 635 would allow district attorney’s to create an Adult Abuse, Neglect and exploitation Multidisciplinary Team for investigations of elder/disabled adult abuse, neglect, or exploitation. These teams would be made up of representatives from different law enforcement agencies.

Metro Atlanta Transit

House Bill 930 seeks to improve and provide funding for Metro Atlanta transportation and traffic and would create the Atlanta-region Transit Link (the ‘ATL’), which would be responsible for coordinating transit planning and funding and also overseeing Metro Atlanta transit activity.

“Sine Die” is now only 17 working days away, and I encourage you to visit me at my Capitol office or call or email me if you have any questions or concerns regarding any current or upcoming legislation. My Capitol office is located at 228-A State Capitol Atlanta, GA 30334, my office phone number is 404-656-5099, and I can be reached via email at david.knight@house.ga.gov. Thank you for allowing me to serve as your representative.