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Meanwhile lets just say that we are proud Sally Harrell contributed a whooping 150 entries.
Correction on Medicaid ACTION! (Wrong Link Last Week) Thanks to all of you who pointed out that the link to the Medicaid Waiver Public Comment was wrong in last week’s Snapshot! Review of the Issue: — the Georgia Pathways program (low income Medicaid) requires 20 hours of work or school to be eligible. In Governor […]
Alternate Realities This week has felt like living in an alternate reality that gets more bizarre everyday. I found a bit of solace in reading Anne Lamott’s opinion piece titled, “The resistance will not be rushed,” She tells us that it’s okay that our resistance lacks the flash and vigor of 2017’s marches and protests. […]
A Polar Vortex Shuts Down the Georgia State Capitol This week at the Capitol, almost nothing happened. Public budget hearings were cancelled due to snow, and rather than being rescheduled they were replaced with private meetings with Republican leadership. In the era of virtual technology, this seems unconscionable. The elimination of state public budget hearings […]
The Train has Left the Station Georgia GOP Engines are Stoked With the inauguration around the corner and all the anxiety of impending unknowns, Georgia’s legislature this week got quietly underway. Well, mostly quietly. The evening before our first gavel-in, part of me dreaded walking into the Senate chamber, because I knew my Republican colleagues […]
The Sausage Factory – Sine Die Style Laws and sausages, you should never watch either one being made. — Otto von Bismarck The Republican Sausage Factory Kicks Into Overdrive Driving to the Capitol this week, I felt like I was headed to a Republican bill-making factory. Fortunately most of the bills were harmless, but occasionally […]
The Closing Act Setting the Scene: Long Days and Lots of Bills As the curtain opened on legislative days 36, 37 and 38, legislators deliberated bills in Committees until midnight, sending a regular flow of House bills to the Senate floor. As Senators came to the well to give quick bill summaries, I started documenting […]
“Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around every once in a while, you could miss it.” — Ferris Bueller Follow the Leader Medicaid Expansion and Hospital “CON” Reform Instead of using hospital regulatory reform (Certificate of Need, aka CON) as a bargaining chip for Medicaid Expansion as North Carolina did, Georgia […]
Screeching to a Halt The State Budget Slows Down the Senate The Senate Majority Leader set the pace for the week Monday morning when he announced that the House was late in sending the FY25 budget to the Senate. He also said that since the Senate was ahead of the House in passing their bills, […]
Crossover Week Georgia’s Crossover Hurricane Downgraded to a Tropical Depression At the Georgia Capitol, there are two words that elicit both the excitement of parties and food alongside the dread of long working hours and mischief — Crossover and Sine Die. Crossover Day: A “crossover” deadline is the last day for a bill to pass […]
Bills Are Flying Well, some bills are flying. Number of Republican Bills on Senate Floor: 69 Number of Democratic Bills on Senate Floor: 0 Crossover Day is this Thursday, the deadline by which bills have to pass one chamber to get to the other. Under pressure to make this do or die deadline, legislators were seen running […]