ATLANTA – State Representative Mickey Channell (R-Greensboro) today introduced House Bill 214, legislation that would move the state’s public health functions out of the Department of Community Health and establish a new Department of Public Health. This legislation incorporates recent recommendations by the Georgia Public Health Commission calling for the creation of a stand-alone state Department of Public Health to assume responsibility for the state’s public health duties, which range from inspecting septic tanks and restaurants to responding to infectious disease outbreaks and major disasters.
“As a state, Georgia faces a lot of different problems in the area of public health, and we’re paying the price in a lot of different ways,” said Channell, “As a population, we’re not nearly as healthy as we should be and we trail the nation on just about any public health measure you can name. We’re far more obese and more prone to cardiovascular disease and cancer than people in most other states. We rank 41st in both infant mortality and premature death.
“The list is almost endless, and these realities carry huge financial price tags that hit all of us in the pocket book in the form of higher taxes and insurance premiums,” continued Channell. “Frankly, it’s also a huge economic development issue. I’m not sure it’s possible to calculate the lost productivity attributable to poor health status, but it is undoubtedly enormous. We can and must do better.
“Creating a separate Department of Public Health is an important first step in addressing these problems,” added Channell. “For more than 30 years now, Public Health has been a division within much larger state departments – Human Resources and, more recently, Community Health – and its priorities have often been subordinate to others within those departments, to the detriment, I believe, of the people of Georgia.
“As a Cabinet-level Department headed by a Commissioner reporting to the governor, Public Health will be in a much better position to respond to the public health needs of Georgia,” concluded Channell. “We will have a smaller, nimbler, more focused public health agency that will prove to be more effective and more efficient. It will receive the same state appropriation as a separate department that it would have as a division within DCH.”
Under Channell’s legislation, the new Department of Public Health would come into existence on July 1, 2011, and would be headed by a Commissioner appointed by the governor and confirmed by the state Senate. Policy would be set by a new nine-member Board of Health, also appointed by the governor.
The bill is being co-sponsored by House Appropriations Committee Chairman Terry England (R-Auburn); House Health and Human Services Committee Chairwoman Sharon Cooper (R-Marietta); House Health Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Butch Parrish (R-Swainsboro); Majority Caucus Chairman Donna Sheldon (R-Dacula), who chaired a special House study committee on public health in 2006; Governor’s Floor Leader Hank Huckaby (R-Watkinsville), a former director of the Office of Planning & Budget; House General Government Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Ed Rynders (R-Albany); and others.
The former chairman of the State Public Health Commission, Philip L. Williams, immediately hailed the introduction of the legislation.
“I know I speak for all the members of the Public Health Commission when I applaud Representative Channell for his leadership on this issue, and I urge the General Assembly to follow his lead,” said Williams, who is dean of the College of Public Health at the University of Georgia. “We simply cannot expect Georgia’s public health situation to improve materially as long as a Division of Public Health remains buried in a larger department with a broader agenda and conflicting priorities. This is a critical first step on what will be a long road toward improving the public health status of the people of this state.”
The Medical Association of Georgia (MAG), the leading voice for the medical profession in the state, and AARP Georgia also announced their support for the legislation.
“We support this bill because a free-standing public health department will have greater access to state leaders and other key stakeholders,” said MAG President Dan DeLoach, M.D. “That means these leaders will gain a better appreciation for the vital role that public health plays in Georgia, and they’ll better understand the need to adequately fund the state’s public health efforts.”
“AARP members are disproportionately impacted by poor public health conditions, and we believe this legislation will pave the way for improvements that will benefit our members and all Georgians,” said Kathy Floyd, AARP Georgia’s Associate State Director for Advocacy. “This is an important organizational improvement, and we enthusiastically support Representative Channell’s legislation.”
Channell, who was recently named chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, previously served as a vice chairman of the House Appropriations Committee and headed its influential Subcommittee on Health. He has long been recognized as a leader on critical healthcare issues.
For more information on HB 214, please click here.
Representative Mickey Channell represents the citizens of District 116, which includes Greene County, and portions of Oglethorpe, Putman, and Wilkes counties. He was elected into the House of Representatives in 1992, and currently serves as the Chairman of the Way & Means Committee and as an Ex-Officio member of the Appropriations Committee. He also serves on the Health & Human Services, Human Relations & Aging, Rules, and Transportation committees.
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