ATLANTA – State Representative Mack Jackson (D-Sandersville) recently convened the final meeting of the House Rural Development Council at the Georgia State Capitol in Atlanta. Rep. Jackson was named co-chair of the House Rural Development Council, along with State Representative Gerald Greene (R-Cuthbert), by House Speaker Jon Burns (R-Newington) earlier this year.
“The House Rural Development Council has worked tirelessly over the last several months hearing from multiple agencies and stakeholders across the state in an effort to support and enhance Georgia’s rural communities,” said Rep. Jackson. “It was an honor to serve as co-chair of such a distinguished panel of legislators, and I am eager to see the benefits of this council’s work be put into play this coming January.”
During this convening of the House Rural Development Council, members received testimony from additional area experts and state and local leaders on a number of topics that affect Georgia’s rural communities. Specifically, the council focused its efforts on addressing access to Medicaid and pharmaceutical healthcare, property rights for rural families and bolstering economic development in rural parts of the state.
The council first heard from representatives with Georgians for a Healthy Future and Voices of Georgia’s Children, organizations who center their efforts on the impacts of Medicaid coverage for rural families and their children and specifically, how Georgia’s current Medicaid redetermination process is affecting rural Georgians. Voices of Georgia’s Children reported that prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, roughly one in four Georgians, approximately 2.5 million, were covered by Medicaid with the majority of those numbers accounting for children. Prior to Medicaid unwinding, which began in April 2023, 69 percent of children in Georgia were covered under Medicaid.
Now, Voices of Georgia’s Children reports that number has decreased drastically as a large portion of children previously receiving benefits have lost coverage through the redetermination process. Representatives from the organization informed the council of the many challenges rural communities are facing with regards to the redetermination process. Rural residents are most likely to lose coverage especially if that resident is a child who frequently moves between legal domiciles or has non-English speaking parents. Adults are also at risk of losing coverage if they have aged out of the program. As a result, rural families are left to deal with conflicting information on how to remedy their loss of benefits and help is often difficult to come by as many local Department of Family and Children Services (DFCS) offices have extremely limited hours and staff. Voices of Georgia’s Children and Georgians for a Healthy Future found that with increased automatic renewals for previously approved applicants and fewer procedural terminations, Georgians would have a better chance at maintaining their healthcare coverage despite living in rural communities across the state.
In addition to hearing testimony on enhancing accessible healthcare coverage for Georgians, the council also heard from leaders with the American Pharmacy Cooperative, an agency that specializes in supporting local independent community pharmacists and pharmacies in rural parts of Georgia. Independent community pharmacies provide rural residents with affordable, accessible healthcare including prescriptions, COVID-19 testing and vaccinations. American Pharmacy Cooperative reported in rural communities, the ratio of primary care visits to pharmacy visits is 2:11. However, while local pharmacies are equipped with the necessary tools and resources to provide basic healthcare, American Pharmacy Cooperative stated to the council that independent community pharmacies are being pushed out by Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBM’s), large corporations with the ability to set and manipulate drug prices, create networks and engage in rebate practices with impunity. Thus, leaving small community-based pharmacies with no choice but to close their doors. American Pharmacy Cooperative applauded the Georgia General Assembly for their ability to implement model legislation in recent years, aimed at targeting PBM’s and supporting independent community pharmacies. However, despite successful legislation, Georgia still faces the challenge of regulating PBM’s. American Pharmacy Cooperative concluded that pharmacies in Georgia could be better utilized to increase access to healthcare and stressed the need for further regulation of PBM’s in the form of new legislation that could be introduced during the upcoming legislative session.
Georgia Heirs Property Law Center, a non-profit law firm that helps heirs’ property owners, nonprofits and municipalities remediate property disputes, shared with the council their mission to grow Georgia’s economy by building generational wealth, economic value and community stability through securing and preserving heirs’ property rights. The law center works in three departments; direct legal services, land loss prevention services and asset education. The center reported that heirs’ property is a contributing factor to the decrease in owner-occupied homes and family owned farms across rural Georgia. As a result, workforce housing in Georgia is also negatively impacted. In order to combat this ongoing concern for rural families, the law center recommended that the council consider increased funding for local attorneys who specialize in heirs’ property rights because without experienced council, many heirs’ property matters go unresolved, resulting in economic turndown and decreased property value.
Lastly, the council received testimony from the Georgia Downtown Association, a non-profit statewide organization that connects communities and professionals that are committed to downtown vitality. The association highlight the impact of the Georgia Department of Community Affairs (DCA) Rural Zone Program, and incentive based program that focuses on the revitalization of historic downtown cores. Specifically, the association focused its presentation on two rural Georgia cities, Hartwell and Thomaston. The association asked the council to consider giving Rural Zone cities the flexibility to adjust the local district footprints based on market demands, include historic residential housing as eligible for tax credits, with an added benefit of supplementing the state’s work in addressing the housing shortages in Georgia. The association also asked the council to authorize DCA and the Georgia Department of Revenue to coordinate and share information on private sector participants in each designated Rural Zone community.
The council will explore legislative solutions to these issues and others during the 2024 legislative session of the Georgia General Assembly.
The House Rural Development Council was first created in 2017 to work with rural communities to find ways to encourage economic growth and job creation. During the 2023 legislative session, the council was renewed for the current term through the unanimous adoption of House Resolution 488.
More information about the House Rural Development Council may be found here: https://www.house.ga.gov/Committees/en-US/HouseRuralDevelopmentCouncil.aspx
Representative Mack Jackson represents the citizens of District 128, which includes Glascock, Hancock, Warren and Washington counties, as well as portions of Baldwin and McDuffie counties. He was elected in 2008 and currently serves on the Appropriations Subcommittee on Economic Development and the Health, Public Safety and Homeland Security, Reapportionment and Redistricting, Rules, Small Business Development, State Planning & Community Affairs and Transportation committees.
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