Hospital “Tax” Passes; Legislature Takes 10 Day Break

April 2, 2010 | News

Appropriately on April Fool’s Day (yesterday), the Georgia Senate spent hours conducting business, then suspended business on several occasions, and finally convened when there were enough votes to pass the controversial hospital bed tax bill — HB 307 — with just two votes to spare.  If this bill had not passed, the Legislature would have spent the upcoming days of adjournment in chaos, as there would not have been a viable way for budget writers to finds ways to balance the FY 2011 budget.  Instead and to the relief of Senate leaders, this is what happened (according to the AJC):

By the end of the day, after hours of debate, delays, backroom politics and hurt feelings, the Senate approved HB 307, which would impose a hospital tax to help fill a $600 million gap in Medicaid funding.  The 1.45 percent tax on patient revenue could raise about $170 million.  The bill, with three amendments attached, passed 31-15.

The key to the bill was a last-minute amendment that gives a tax cut to insurers on health insurance premiums when the state’s revenue shortfall reserve is funded at the level of $500 million.  But Gov. Sonny Perdue, while praising the bipartisan bill the House passed last week, lashed out at the Senate for trying to “curry favor with a Washington, D.C., special interest group” by adding the amendment “that triggers yet another provision contingent on the first signs of economic growth.”

The Legislature will return on Monday, April 12 for day 34 in a final push to complete the 2010 session.  During the upcoming days, House and Senate budget writers will meet to carve out the remaining aspects of next year’s budget.  If they can get a good handle on matters, there is a chance this session will end before the end of the month.