By State Representative Dominic LaRiccia
(887 words)
With the New Year upon us, my colleagues and I in the Georgia House of Representatives are gearing up for the upcoming 2018 legislative session of the Georgia General Assembly. The 2018 session will begin on Monday, January 8, 2018, and lasts for 40 legislative days, typically ending in late March or early April. While I am in Atlanta during the legislative session, I will be working on policies that will better the quality of life for the citizens of House district 169.
Since the end of the 2017 legislative session, the Georgia House of Representatives has continued its legislative work through various commissions, councils and House study committees. Study committees, councils and commissions are tasked with examining specific policy areas and then submitting reports to the General Assembly based on their findings. Oftentimes, legislation is drafted as a result of the reports and recommendations from these groups.
One of the House’s most aggressive initiatives over the past several months has been the House Rural Development Council, which was established by House Resolution 389 during the 2017 session. I am fortunate to be a member on this council, and since May, my fellow council members and I traveled to several of Georgia’s rural communities and met with local officials to study ways to encourage economic growth. The council is currently examining the components of economic development and related policy areas, such as education, infrastructure, access to health care, rural broadband access and economic growth incentives, in an effort to expand the economic success of Georgia’s rural areas. You can expect the work of the House Rural Development Council to drive much of our legislative agenda during the 2018 session.
The House Rural Development Council has specifically studied challenges related to rural healthcare. Rural Georgia has witnessed a stark decline in access to healthcare in recent years. Eight rural hospitals have either closed or downsized in the last three years, and 15 hospitals are currently in fragile financial states. The continued shortage of physicians in many rural parts of our state is only exacerbating this problem. The General Assembly will continue to look at how to effectively drive physicians to our rural areas, especially through loan repayment programs and additional residencies. In addition, we must evaluate how our mid-level providers – APRNs and PAs – can fill gaps in physician coverage in rural areas. As part of our broadband initiatives, we will seek to incorporate programs that support telemedicine and electronic medical records. Finally, we will look to incentivize larger, more stable hospital systems to support urgent care centers in underserved communities.
We have also worked diligently to update and modernize Georgia’s tax code. Relating to rural development, we will look at our historic preservation tax credits and other rural revitalization tax credit programs to evaluate how we can simplify the process for rural communities in an effort to increase their impact. As Georgians – and Americans, in general – move from the consumption of goods to the consumption of services, it is also necessary for lawmakers to evaluate whether some services, such as rideshare companies, AirBnB and other members of the “sharing” economy, should be integrated into our state’s tax structure. We will continue to evaluate how best to simplify and streamline our state income tax structure, and we hope to continue to increase our revenue shortfall reserve, or rainy-day fund, as we move towards our $2.5 billion goal. Additionally, we will focus on ways that we can preserve and strengthen the HOPE Scholarship program for Georgians.
In addition to studying rural issues during the interim, the House Commission on Transit Governance and Funding, which was established during the 2017 legislative session by House Resolution 848, met to study Georgia’s transit needs and analyzed ways for the state to adequately plan and provide for those needs. The future of Georgia lies at the intersection of surface road improvements and increased transit infrastructure. This future will be unique for both rural Georgia and our metro region. In our rural counties, we will need to focus on regional approaches that assist in moving people to job markets. In Atlanta, we must consider an “all of the above” approach that enhances existing regional infrastructure through transit options – light rail, heavy rail and commuter buses. We can expect to see transit-related legislation in the upcoming session.
As we begin to look ahead to the 2018 session, you may see legislation related to the topics I mentioned. Furthermore, any bill that did not pass during the 2017 session is eligible to be considered again during the 2018 session, so next session you may see some familiar legislation come up for discussion again, such as the adoption reform bill.
In the upcoming session, the House will reaffirm its commitment to the passage of a “clean” adoption bill that is free of any language that may discriminate against certain segments of the population. This legislation, which is the first rewrite of its kind in over 25 years, updates Georgia code to reflect modern adoption practices. My House colleagues and I want to ensure that as many Georgia children in foster care or otherwise find their way to loving homes.
My House colleagues and I will tackle several important issues head on next session, and I’m ready to roll my sleeves get to work on behalf of my constituents.
Representative Dominic LaRiccia represents the citizens of District 169, which includes Bacon County and portions of Coffee and Jeff Davis counties. He was elected to the House of Representatives in 2014 and currently serves on the Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation and the Agriculture & Consumer Affairs, Education, Game, Fish & Parks and Special Rules committees.
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