Wilkinson, Gasaway Preview Legislative Session

Stephens County’s state legislators look ahead to the upcoming session in the Georgia General Assembly.

50th District State Senator John Wilkinson and 28th District State Representative Dan Gasaway both spoke to local leaders at a pre-legislative breakfast Monday at the Mitchell Allen Meeting Room in Toccoa.

The two legislators said that three of the biggest issues that are likely to come up under the Gold Dome in Atlanta this year involve transportation, education, and healthcare.

On transportation, a state study committee has released a report on transportation funding.

That report poses a number of ideas, including making changes to or increasing the state’s motor fuel tax.

Gasaway said the state’s situation is urgent because the funding situation may be changing for the state at the same time that more transportation funding is needed.

“Historically, we have had about half of transportation revenues come from the federal government,” said Gasaway. “That is looking like it is certainly not guaranteed and it may end, and we may have to significantly carry our transportation costs internally.”

Gasaway said that report has a lot of scenarios, but not a lot of recommendations.

Wilkinson said all options need to stay on the table when it comes to transportation funding.

However, the state senator said one thing that he feels very strongly about is that local governments need to benefit from whatever the state decides.

“All of us know for a period of time that the amount of revenue local governments have had to use on road projects has decreased so I think it is going to be real important that our counties and our municipalities have some say so on how this revenue is spent and it is not just decided in Atlanta,” said Wilkinson.

Turning to education, both men say the state plans to look at re-doing the school funding formula.

Gasaway said that Georgia is near the top in the Southeast when it comes to per-capita spending per student on education, when adjusted for inflation.

However, he said a new formula is needed so that people can plan.

Gasaway said any new school funding formula needs to be fair for students in rural counties.

“Atlanta has a lot of business and a lot of tax revenues and some of that needs to be spread out to rural counties,” said Gasaway. “That is the part we have to watch and come up with formulas that are fair.”

Wilkinson said that making sure any proposed formula is fair for students and school systems in northeast Georgia is also his main priority.

Another issue the two legislators say could pit rural Georgia against urban Georgia is on the topic of healthcare.

Accoding to Gasaway, the debate may return to the state legislature regarding Certificates of Need and local hospitals in Georgia.

He said some want to look at whether those certificates should exist and protect local hospitals from certain competition in their area.

“What they are trying to do is allow (surgical) centers and things like that into areas and the hospital’s side is that is where they make their money, so they are going to be left with no revenue stream,” said Gasaway.

Wilkinson said there are some in Atlanta who are not concerned at all about healthcare in rural areas and who feel that Certificates of Need should go away completely and the marketplace should decide who stays open by who makes money

However, he noted that rural hospitals operate under different rules than surgical centers do.

“A hospital in a rural area, they have guidelines they have to abide by,” said Wilkinson. “They have to serve everyone that comes in. They have to be open 24 hours a day. They are competing against some of these centers that want to come in and just do the procedures. They (surgical centers) have the option of treating that they want to, that have the coverage and can pay for the procedure. They can be open from 8 to 5. They do not have to be open Saturday and Sunday. They do not have to be open 24 hours a day.”

The Georgia General Assembly session starts later this month.