By Sen. Johnny Grant
Crossover Day, the deadline for bills to crossover from one chamber to another, was this week. It was a very busy week in the state Senate and I am pleased to report the passage of several important bills that will improve Georiga and make it a better place to live.
A hot topic that remained on everyone’s radar the past year is health care reform. While most know that the president signed a reform bill this week in Washington, it is also important to know that your state legislators are fighting for your right to choose your own health care. We passed Senate Bill 317 out of the Senate last week providing that no law can mandate you to participate in a health care program. State leadership is also pursuing available avenues for legal action against the legislation.
We continue to fight for your personal rights in other areas of the law as well. We voted to give property owners the right to choose if they will allow firearms on their premises. We are not forcing anyone to allow guns or banning it from most premises, we are simply leaving the choice up to the property owner. By passing Senate Bill 308, the Lawful Carry Act, we are clarifying laws that confuse gun owners to the extent they are afraid of expressing their constitutional right to carry a firearm.
We passed life saving legislation that closes the loophole for pickup trucks in current sealt belt law. In Georgia alone, over 67 percent of pick-up truck related deaths came from those not wearing a seat belt. Closing the pickup truck loophole will save Georgians $25 million in Medicaid costs over a 10-year period. Senate Bill 458 is a great win for Georgians and brings us in line with over forty other states.
I told you last week about my involvement in finding a state-led effort to manage autism. I am proud to announce that my legislation, Senate Bill 161, which establishes an Autism Task Force, passed the Senate. The task force will develop a plan to educate the public and health care professionals about the advantages and avenues available for early screening, early intervention, diagnosis and treatment of autism. Autism is very common, the Center for Disease Control just lowered their assessment of the prevalence of autism to one in 100 children. If discovered early, autism can be a manageable disease. If not treated, a person can have a lifetime cost of $3.4 million but early intervention and treatment can lower the lifetime cost to $600,000 per person. The task force will make great strides in developing how the state views and treats autism. I look forward to working more on this significant issue.
As always, I am proud to serve my constituents of the 25th district of Georgia and I continue to work on your behalf. We face significant challenges this year, but I am confident that we will overcome them to ensure Georgia can thrive for the future of our children and grandchildren.
Sen. Johnny Grant serves as Chairman of the State Institutions and Property Committee. He represents the 25th Senate District which includes Baldwin, Butts, Greene, Hancock, Jasper, Morgan, Putnam, and Taliaferro counties and portions of Jones and Warren counties. He may be reached by phone at 404.656.0082 or by e-mail at johnny.grant@senate.ga.gov.
COLUMN
For Immediate Release:
March 26, 2010
For Information Contact:
Natalie Strong, Deputy Director
Katie Wright, Communications Associate
katie.wright@senate.ga.gov
404.656.0028