This seventh day of the 2009 session of the Georgia General Assembly might be said to have been filled with "nurses' caps" and "tax caps."  In the morning, while both the House and the Senate convened for short sessions, the members of the Georgia Nurses Association filled the halls of the Capitol for their annual Legislative Day.  Governor Perdue's budget proposals provided them with a ready-made topic on which to lobby:  the elimination of funds for school nurses in the FY2010 budget.  Nurses from all over the state buttonholed their members of the General Assembly to voice their objections to this proposed cut, and Capitol-watchers have begun to believe that the lobbying by the nurses, PTA's, and others is having an effect.  Of course, if the money is restored, it remains to be seen from where in the budget it will be taken.  [Editor's notes:  A little history seems to be in order here.  State funds for school nurses were never included in the original QBE Act or in any other of the state's education funding legislation prior to QBE.  Instead, when funds became available several years ago as part of the infamous "tobacco settlement" between the tobacco companies and the states, Georgia chose to allocate $30 million of those funds to provide support for a school nurse program for the first time.  Even from the outset, the funds were never sufficient to provide a "nurse in every school" as some legislators bragged, but it was enough to provide support for a "school nurse program" in every system, and every system designed one that fit their needs and matched their budgets.  As of last year, the $30 million of state funds provided just over half of what systems were actually spending on the school nurse program statewide.  A couple of years ago, as the tobacco settlement funds dwindled, a shift in the origin of the school nurse funds occurred.  The state contribution continued at its original $30 million level, but 100% of the funds became state tax dollars, putting the school nurse program literally "in competition" with other state programs for limited state dollars.  Thus, when the most recent budget crunch came, the school nurse funds were designated by Governor Perdue for elimination, setting off the current firestorm.  The final resolution of the controversy is yet to be decided.]

Later in the afternoon, the issue of tax caps continued to dominate discussion and debate, as the Republican leadership seems bound and determined to push this issue through early in the session.  The Ad Valorem Tax Subcommittee of the House Ways and Means Committee met for a second consecutive day to hear testimony and to vote on HR 1, Rep. Ed Lindsey's bill that is supported by the House leadership.  Unlike Monday, when most of the testimony came from representatives of local governments and was in opposition to the legislation, the majority of the testimony on this day was from business representatives whose message was:  "Make sure to include commercial property in the tax cap legislation." (Growth in commercial property values is, indeed, proposed to be capped in HR 1).  To no one's surprise, the bill received a "do pass" recommendation by a 13-3 vote in subcommittee, and it will now go to the full House Ways and Means Committee for consideration on Wednesday.  Interestingly, problems and concerns continue to be raised as the legislation continues to be the focus of discussion, but it appears that the concern over fixing problems is second to the eagerness to push this legislation through.  The first true test, of course, will come when the bill hits the floor of the House (This Friday?), where it will need a two-thirds majority to pass (since it is a proposed constitutional amendment).

Day eight of the 2009 session of the Georgia General Assembly is scheduled for Wednesday, January 28.