Rep. Chad Nimmer
Rep. Nimmer gives update
This past Wednesday the General Assembly reached the half-way mark of the 40-day legislative session. I wanted to take this time to share with you our progress thus far and take a look forward at what we may expect during the second-half of the session.
The 2013 legislative session began on January 14 and I am proud to report that your elected officials have been hard at work since that time. We began the session by re-electing Representative David Ralston as Speaker of the House. I was proud to cast my vote for Speaker Ralston; over the last two years, he has become a trusted friend and I know him to be a man of integrity and sound judgment. I look forward to working with him this session. During the first week of session we also heard from another one of Georgia’s great leaders, Governor Nathan Deal, who presented the State of the State Address. Governor Deal shared that while he would continue to focus on our tight budget circumstances; he also plans to focus on the foundations that will strengthen Georgia, including economic development, public safety and education.
Economic development has been a focus for Governor Deal since he was elected to office and working with the General Assembly, we have made great progress. Last year, the House passed sweeping tax and regulation reforms which have made Georgia more attractive to industry. Georgia is currently enjoying its lowest unemployment rate in nearly four years and continues to be ranked in the top five for business climate by economic development publications.
In terms of education, Georgia has an outstanding Pre-K program that has been nationally recognized. In fact, the President recognized Georgia for its Pre-K program in his State of the Union address and then followed with a visit to our state to see it first-hand. In his budget proposal, Governor Deal included 10 days to the Pre-K school year, which would restore it to its full 180 days. I support this program and will support these changes. While most state agencies have seen an average 3 percent budget cut for Fiscal Year (FY) 2013 and projected for FY 2014, K-12 was not and will not be subject to these reductions. Instead, Governor Deal’s budget will award $156 million in additional funding for enrollment growth in K-12 schools in FY 2013. Additionally, Governor Deal will work with the General Assembly this year to modernize the way the state spends education funding. We have been funding public education under the Quality Basic Education (QBE) legislation, a 1985 formula, which does not meet the needs of today’s classrooms. I look forward to consideration of legislative proposals that will enable us to spend taxpayer dollars more efficiently and produce more effective results in our public schools.
Two issues that have received much attention in the media are the various legislative proposals dealing with ethics reform and the legislative measure that passed and has been signed by Governor Deal addressing funding for the state’s Medicaid program. In regard to ethics reform, House Bill 142 makes sweeping changes to the current system of how lawmakers and lobbyists interact. The bill in its latest form bans lobbyist spending on individual lawmakers, changes what is required of citizen activists attempting to influence legislation and tightens restrictions on travel funded by lobbyists. I support ethics reform and I look forward to studying the bill in its final form when it comes before the House for a vote.
We knew that it would be of the utmost necessity to address the shortfall of funding for our state’s Medicaid program when the session began. As a result of the down economy and the provisions of the federal legislation known as Obamacare, our Medicaid rolls are growing. Prior to this year’s legislation, the state had a two-year-old hospital provider fee, often referred to as the “bed tax,” in which hospitals paid a percentage of their total revenue to help support the state’s Medicaid program. The money allowed the State of Georgia to draw more than $500 million in new federal matching dollars to aid hospitals that care for large numbers of Medicaid patients. The hospital provider fee was set to expire this year. Allowing the fee to expire would have forced urban hospitals to cut services and threatened rural hospitals to close their doors; additionally, it would have resulted in a roughly $700 million hole in the state’s health care budget. The House and Senate passed Senate Bill 24, the Hospital Medicaid Financing Program Act, which will authorize the board of the Georgia Department of Community Health to implement the hospital provider fee. Governor Deal signed this measure into law on February 13, 2013. While issues with the state’s Medicaid program still exist, which we must address as health care continues to consume more and more of the overall state budget, I supported this legislation to avert what could have been a crisis for our hospitals and our citizens.
In addition to these legislative issues, we have also focused other key issues, including juvenile justice reform; eligibility changes to the HOPE grant for technical schools, and of course, the budget.
We have been working on legislation that will overhaul our juvenile justice system. Georgia currently spends more than $90,000 per year on each youthful offender behind bars. And 65 percent who are released come back or are convicted as adults within three years according to the Pew Research Center. House Bill 242 will place nonviolent youth offenders into community-based programs to address the problems that led the youth to crime. Governor Deal has included money in his 2014 budget to help expand the community programs. This bill is still in the legislative process to date.
I am pleased to report that legislation has been introduced in both chambers to support Governor Deal’s proposal to lower the grade requirements necessary to qualify for HOPE grants at Georgia’s technical schools. The requirement will return to a 2.0 grade point average; it had previously been raised to 3.0 due to lottery revenue projections. This change had caused nearly 9,000 students to lose the grant and thousands of others simply did not enroll because they could not afford the costs without HOPE. I am a staunch advocate for the Technical College System of Georgia. The graduates of our technical colleges play a vital role in our state’s economy. By 2020, it is projected that 60 percent of all jobs will require a certificate or degree beyond a high school diploma. Technical colleges have responded to the demands and advanced in recent years offering demanding programs in welding, technology and health care. Technical colleges are helping Georgia meet its workforce needs and allowing it to remain economically competitive.
The House has also been working on the state budget, and as a part of that process has passed House Bill 105 – the Amended Fiscal Year (AFY 2013) state budget, running from July 1, 2012 to June 30, 2013. Each year, it is necessary to adopt an amended budget as it reconciles the projections from last year that were used to create the fiscal year budget with the economic realities of today. The economy is recovering more slowly than we had hoped and the AFY 2013 state budget reflected such by reducing current state spending by $26.3 million.
We are currently working on the budget for Fiscal Year 2014 (FY 2014), running from July 1, 2013 to June 30, 2014. The current proposal for the FY 2014 budget is a total of $19.8 billion, up about one percent from last year’s budget. January brought some positive news with the state’s tax collections up roughly ten percent. However, we are still recovering from years of declining tax collections which the FY 2014 budget proposal reflects.
In the coming weeks, we will continue to work on the budget and other legislative issues. Additionally, I look forward to working on several pieces of legislation which have been introduced by my colleagues in the Senate, including a bill that will lower the legal intoxication limit for boaters.
In addition to the busy legislative session, in January, my colleagues and I received committee assignments for the 2013 Legislative Session. I have been appointed to serve on the Appropriations, Natural Resources & Environment, and Transportation committees. I was also named Vice-Chairman of the Industry and Labor Committee. Additionally, I am serving as a floor leader for Governor Nathan Deal. It is an honor to be given these new responsibilities and I continue to work hard to represent District 178.
One of the best parts of my job as your representative is to have the opportunity to visit with folks from the district during the legislative session. This year, many of you have already taken advantage of one of the most awesome freedoms of our country – visiting your elected officials and sharing with them your thoughts and viewpoints on the issues. Many others of you though unable to travel to Atlanta have contacted me by telephone or in writing. All of my contact information, in Atlanta and in the district is below; please do not hesitate to use it!
Thank you for the privilege to serve as your elected representative.
Contact Representative Nimmer
In Atlanta:
109 State Capitol
Atlanta, GA 30334
404.651.7737 - Office
404.651.5795 – Fax
In the District:
P.O. Box 1174
Blackshear, GA 31516
912.807.6190-Office
Economic development has been a focus for Governor Deal since he was elected to office and working with the General Assembly, we have made great progress. Last year, the House passed sweeping tax and regulation reforms which have made Georgia more attractive to industry. Georgia is currently enjoying its lowest unemployment rate in nearly four years and continues to be ranked in the top five for business climate by economic development publications.
In terms of education, Georgia has an outstanding Pre-K program that has been nationally recognized. In fact, the President recognized Georgia for its Pre-K program in his State of the Union address and then followed with a visit to our state to see it first-hand. In his budget proposal, Governor Deal included 10 days to the Pre-K school year, which would restore it to its full 180 days. I support this program and will support these changes. While most state agencies have seen an average 3 percent budget cut for Fiscal Year (FY) 2013 and projected for FY 2014, K-12 was not and will not be subject to these reductions. Instead, Governor Deal’s budget will award $156 million in additional funding for enrollment growth in K-12 schools in FY 2013. Additionally, Governor Deal will work with the General Assembly this year to modernize the way the state spends education funding. We have been funding public education under the Quality Basic Education (QBE) legislation, a 1985 formula, which does not meet the needs of today’s classrooms. I look forward to consideration of legislative proposals that will enable us to spend taxpayer dollars more efficiently and produce more effective results in our public schools.
Two issues that have received much attention in the media are the various legislative proposals dealing with ethics reform and the legislative measure that passed and has been signed by Governor Deal addressing funding for the state’s Medicaid program. In regard to ethics reform, House Bill 142 makes sweeping changes to the current system of how lawmakers and lobbyists interact. The bill in its latest form bans lobbyist spending on individual lawmakers, changes what is required of citizen activists attempting to influence legislation and tightens restrictions on travel funded by lobbyists. I support ethics reform and I look forward to studying the bill in its final form when it comes before the House for a vote.
We knew that it would be of the utmost necessity to address the shortfall of funding for our state’s Medicaid program when the session began. As a result of the down economy and the provisions of the federal legislation known as Obamacare, our Medicaid rolls are growing. Prior to this year’s legislation, the state had a two-year-old hospital provider fee, often referred to as the “bed tax,” in which hospitals paid a percentage of their total revenue to help support the state’s Medicaid program. The money allowed the State of Georgia to draw more than $500 million in new federal matching dollars to aid hospitals that care for large numbers of Medicaid patients. The hospital provider fee was set to expire this year. Allowing the fee to expire would have forced urban hospitals to cut services and threatened rural hospitals to close their doors; additionally, it would have resulted in a roughly $700 million hole in the state’s health care budget. The House and Senate passed Senate Bill 24, the Hospital Medicaid Financing Program Act, which will authorize the board of the Georgia Department of Community Health to implement the hospital provider fee. Governor Deal signed this measure into law on February 13, 2013. While issues with the state’s Medicaid program still exist, which we must address as health care continues to consume more and more of the overall state budget, I supported this legislation to avert what could have been a crisis for our hospitals and our citizens.
In addition to these legislative issues, we have also focused other key issues, including juvenile justice reform; eligibility changes to the HOPE grant for technical schools, and of course, the budget.
We have been working on legislation that will overhaul our juvenile justice system. Georgia currently spends more than $90,000 per year on each youthful offender behind bars. And 65 percent who are released come back or are convicted as adults within three years according to the Pew Research Center. House Bill 242 will place nonviolent youth offenders into community-based programs to address the problems that led the youth to crime. Governor Deal has included money in his 2014 budget to help expand the community programs. This bill is still in the legislative process to date.
I am pleased to report that legislation has been introduced in both chambers to support Governor Deal’s proposal to lower the grade requirements necessary to qualify for HOPE grants at Georgia’s technical schools. The requirement will return to a 2.0 grade point average; it had previously been raised to 3.0 due to lottery revenue projections. This change had caused nearly 9,000 students to lose the grant and thousands of others simply did not enroll because they could not afford the costs without HOPE. I am a staunch advocate for the Technical College System of Georgia. The graduates of our technical colleges play a vital role in our state’s economy. By 2020, it is projected that 60 percent of all jobs will require a certificate or degree beyond a high school diploma. Technical colleges have responded to the demands and advanced in recent years offering demanding programs in welding, technology and health care. Technical colleges are helping Georgia meet its workforce needs and allowing it to remain economically competitive.
The House has also been working on the state budget, and as a part of that process has passed House Bill 105 – the Amended Fiscal Year (AFY 2013) state budget, running from July 1, 2012 to June 30, 2013. Each year, it is necessary to adopt an amended budget as it reconciles the projections from last year that were used to create the fiscal year budget with the economic realities of today. The economy is recovering more slowly than we had hoped and the AFY 2013 state budget reflected such by reducing current state spending by $26.3 million.
We are currently working on the budget for Fiscal Year 2014 (FY 2014), running from July 1, 2013 to June 30, 2014. The current proposal for the FY 2014 budget is a total of $19.8 billion, up about one percent from last year’s budget. January brought some positive news with the state’s tax collections up roughly ten percent. However, we are still recovering from years of declining tax collections which the FY 2014 budget proposal reflects.
In the coming weeks, we will continue to work on the budget and other legislative issues. Additionally, I look forward to working on several pieces of legislation which have been introduced by my colleagues in the Senate, including a bill that will lower the legal intoxication limit for boaters.
In addition to the busy legislative session, in January, my colleagues and I received committee assignments for the 2013 Legislative Session. I have been appointed to serve on the Appropriations, Natural Resources & Environment, and Transportation committees. I was also named Vice-Chairman of the Industry and Labor Committee. Additionally, I am serving as a floor leader for Governor Nathan Deal. It is an honor to be given these new responsibilities and I continue to work hard to represent District 178.
One of the best parts of my job as your representative is to have the opportunity to visit with folks from the district during the legislative session. This year, many of you have already taken advantage of one of the most awesome freedoms of our country – visiting your elected officials and sharing with them your thoughts and viewpoints on the issues. Many others of you though unable to travel to Atlanta have contacted me by telephone or in writing. All of my contact information, in Atlanta and in the district is below; please do not hesitate to use it!
Thank you for the privilege to serve as your elected representative.
Contact Representative Nimmer
In Atlanta:
109 State Capitol
Atlanta, GA 30334
404.651.7737 - Office
404.651.5795 – Fax
In the District:
P.O. Box 1174
Blackshear, GA 31516
912.807.6190-Office
Trackbacks
Trackback specific URI for this entry
No Trackbacks