House Rules Committee, February 5, 2026

Transcript

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1. 0:18:10

   Sorry.

2. 0:18:15

   Morning, everybody.

3. 0:18:38

   Morning, Representative Martin.

4. 0:18:46

   Morning, everybody. Uh, we'll go ahead and, and start our meeting. I'll recognize Chairman, uh, Newton to, uh, open us up with a word of prayer.

5. 0:19:09

   Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Uh, join with me. Father, thank you for the opportunity to, uh, to serve you today as we, as we try to do every day. Uh, give us wisdom as we do that, as we also serve the people of Georgia and our, and our fellow representatives and legislators. Thank you for this time. Uh, give us wisdom from you. In Jesus' name. Amen.

6. 0:19:27

   Thank you, sir. I'd like to recognize Representative Martin, uh, has an announcement he wants to make, I think.

7. 0:19:36

   Tha- thank you, Mr. Chairman. I just wanted, uh, to, to ask the Rules Committee if they'd join me in welcoming a constituent down from Alpharetta High School, Ms. Holly McGuire in the back, for, uh, coming down to see, uh, the business of Georgia done today.

8. 0:19:49

   Stand up so we can-

9. 0:19:56

   Glad to have you visiting today. Thank you. Okay, let's go ahead and begin over here.

10. 0:20:04

    Chairman Ha- Hagan.

11. 0:20:07

    Thank you, Mr. Chairman and committee. I have House Bill 657. It is about halfway down the blue sheet. This bill provides consistency of care and quality of support for a person or family in substance use abuse recovery by defining certified peer specialists and laying out requirements for recovery community organizations.

12. 0:20:33

    Okay. Don't see any questions.

13. 0:20:35

    Thank you.

14. 0:20:36

    Thank you.

15. 0:20:39

    Senator Efstathiou.

16. 0:20:44

    Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I've got Senate Bill 162, which is the next to last one on the sheet. This is a holdover from last year due to it had turned into multiple subjects, and it's restored now to its original bill, and it's shorter because appropriations were made to the Composite Medical Board that put a new system that's up and running and already showing major improvements. They're doing a great job over there now. And in the past, it's taken way too long to credential and license our physicians and physician assistants. And of course, these come under the Composite Medical Board.

17. 0:21:14

    Our nurses come under the Secretary of State, so this only can deal with, with them on this system. But, so I semi-retired a couple of years ago with a spotless record, and to work across town, it took me three and a half months to get through the credentialing process. And I know people. I mean, I, I did it a lot faster than some people did. But they had a severe shortage of anesthesia staff, and, um, it, um, it's, it's certainly been a problem. But because they've done so much work, the bill is shorter now, so we're only looking at two things in this bill.

18. 0:21:47

    And the Composite Medical Board agrees, one is to allow for an administrative approval. The way it is right now, if the board were to meet today and your paperwork's in tomorrow, then you can't work until the board meets again on March 5th. And this would allow them to administratively approve it, get them working, and then the, the full board can come, um, ratify it later on. The second item, which has the full support of the Georgia Hospital Association, will allow for hospitals to input credentialing information and would a- allow for, uh, individuals to be credentialed statewide.

19. 0:22:23

    Um, and this may need some additional software, and it's gonna be subject to appropriation. So we've actually already done this for our medical students. They were spending hundreds of dollars getting credentialed at every hospital they went to. Dr. Paul Brock, who's a general surgeon, and he's the dean of the Northwest Georgia campus, did this, set this up. It's, it's working, and that's why I refer to this as the Paul Brock Act because he went ahead and did it. And, um, this will be able to get people out almost immediately to help out when somebody's out on disability, pregnancy leave, whatever.

20. 0:22:57

    You know, quite often the baby's a couple of months old before you can get somebody credentialed, um, to work in that facility. Um, so that's the, that's the, the bill and certainly entertain any questions.

21. 0:23:11

    We do have a question. Uh, Chairman Powell?

22. 0:23:14

    Sure. Thank you to my friend. Yeah, you bring this up about, uh, the Composite Board. Yeah. But I've been talking about this for quite a while. We passed some bills a year or two, a session or two back, passed by the General Assembly, signed by the governor, that gave, uh, short-term prescription rights to APAs and PAs under a doctor's protocol. But yet here we are a session or two after they have passed, and there's still a hold up because the Composite Board hasn't passed the rules and regs.

23. 0:23:44

    And it sounds to me like there's other issues that's going on over there. Do you have any suggestions? There, there, there are emergency procedures in place, and I think those happen in some cases. Um, but two things, they didn't have the, um, the software in place to do this, and the second thing is, um, the delay from when the board can meet can sometimes happen to that. But the, the bigger issue here that- wasn't dealt with in that, and that was some, some good measures, is that the hospitals, when we get the, the software ready, can input their credentialing information in there.

24. 0:24:22

    And so it'll be a one-stop shopping now. Instead of the hospital doing their work and the Composite Medical Board doing their work, it'll all be together. And if you're credentialed in this hospital and, and everything's in place, you can immediately go on and work at another hospital that needs you then without going through an emergency process. It sounds like the issue that you've got and the one that I mentioned, that we have some issues with the composite board. It may, may or may not be all technology-based. But I'd like to talk to you offline- Sure ... to get your advice.

25. 0:24:52

    And, and, and I have- Your advice. I, I will, but I'll, I will say the, the new director has made major strides now. I, I think we're down to about 30 days now, when it used to be many, many months. Um, but this would get it down to, uh, you know, potentially instantaneously. We've done this with the medical students of Augusta, and, um, Paul Brock did, and it's working great for the students. Once we saw that, we said, "Well, let's go ahead with the PAs and the, and the physicians." Okay, thank you.

26. 0:25:26

    I have another question. Uh, Senator Kelley. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Chairman Hufstetler, thank you for being with us. When you speak to the credentialing piece here, you mean only allowing the provider to have access to the hospital facility to practice. This doesn't have any relationship to the credentialing through the insurance companies or the payers for that aspect, correct? Correct. This, you know, the, the medical board, Composite Medical Board license you, the hospital credentials you. The software upgrade, when we put it in place, will allow the hospitals to put input in, and then they will be credentialed in that facility.

27. 0:26:04

    And, um, I know both the, the CEOs of the hospitals in Rome want this as soon as we can do it to help out with the shortage they've got. They'll be credentialed immediately in both facilities and can use people at both places or any other hospitals. Thank you.

28. 0:26:24

    Senator, do I have another question? Uh, Whip Park? Yes, sir. Uh, thank you Mr. Chairman. Uh, Senator Hufstetler, thank you for the bill. Um, as I'm just reviewing, um, the committee substitute, on line 27, um, it- it's permissive with respect to certain parameters for the recommended system. It's a may, not a shall. Is there an- Mm-hmm ... intentionality around there? We didn't wanna force any hospital to say, "You have to do this," but they can put e- eventually, when this is implemented, they can put any information they want into this system, and it will allow them to do it.

29. 0:26:57

    So you're right. It's not, it doesn't force anybody to do it, but I can tell you they all want it. Thank you, sir. Thank you. Senators, I, I know many of us have had some calls and concerns about the licensing and the protocol and, and, and the credentialing and everything, and thank you. I don't see any other questions. Thank you, sir. Thank you. Representative Clifton.

30. 0:27:23

    Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Uh, I will be, uh, brief. We're looking at, uh, HB 9573 from the bottom. Um, this is the miniature truck bill. We passed this out of the House last year, um, almost with unanimous consent. Uh, it got to the Senate and had some additions added onto it. Um, and therefore, because of that, the governor decided that, uh, he did not like some of those additions. Uh, through the process of all of this, uh, the governor's offices told us they do support the bill the way that we had written it and would support, um, uh, getting it all the way through.

31. 0:27:57

    Whip Park has a question for you. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Uh, Representative Clifton, thank you for the bill. The one question I had was, with respect to section nine, um, is this been a mandate from local governments with respect to timing, uh, if they want to opt out of these mini trucks utilizing county and city roads? So yes, if the, the, this bill would allow, um, these vehicles to be driven on county and city roads unless marked. So if the county and cities decide they do not want them, they would be, um, need to...

32. 0:28:28

    I'm, I'm not gonna be specific on how they would do it, but they would need to communicate that so that they would not be allowed to be driven. So that would result in a cost by counties and cities to permanently put up signs stating that they prohibit these motors on the roads? I, I would leave that up to the locals on how they want to decide to inform people that they don't want these on there. I would assume a, a road sign would definitely be one way that they could go rou- that route. Okay. Representative Efstration has a question.

33. 0:28:59

    Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Representative Clifton, it feels like we've taken this mini truck issue up year after year after year after year. With respect to the question that was just asked, is this any different in any way than the legislation that's been, feels like, regularly passed by this body over the last few years and, um, we're just trying to, trying to get done this year? Yes, sir. There was one number changed on this bill, and it went from 2025 to 2026 if the bill passes. Everything else goes back to the original language. So this is the same measure which has been repeatedly passed overwhelmingly by the Georgia House?

34. 0:29:34

    Yes, sir. Thank you. Okay. Don't see any other questions. Thank you. Thank you. Chairman McDonald.

35. 0:29:46

    Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Uh, I have two bills if, if I can present them both, sir. Uh, first bill, it's HB 944. Uh, it's on the front page, uh, about three-quarters of the way down. This is just, uh, federal guidelines that are given to us each year that our Commercial Vehicle Enforcement Division has to enforce, uh, o- over our motor carriers that are going up and down our interstates. All we do every year is change the date. T- this year we changed from 2025 to 2026.

36. 0:30:15

    Okay. Don't see any questions. You got another one? Yes, sir, Mr. Chairman. Uh, this, this is a public safety bill that's not only will help protect our law enforcement, but it'll, it'll help protect our families that are going up and down the road. What's the number? Oh, sorry. HB zero two, HB1022.

37. 0:30:38

    It's on the back page.

38. 0:30:45

    Okay, go ahead. Again, this is a, you know, public safety bill that's not only gonna help protect our law enforcement, but help our families that are going up and down the road. There's technology in everything, so today we got technology in window tinting. Um, people are, have the ability now to put a film that's electronic on their, on their front windshields, side windshields, on their back windshields that, that they can control, and control the amount of tint that they want their windows to be. In current, uh, law right now, a window tint, uh, is, uh, around 32%, plus or minus three.

39. 0:31:19

    Um, with, with this technology, they are, they can take it up to 100% or take it down to zero. And, uh, the same thing with, uh, license plates. This bill will also repeal a measure back in 2017 where we, we authorized electronic license plates, where you can sit with an app and, and change what you want on your license plate. Uh, just this, a couple weeks ago, there was three cars in Atlanta with the same license plate riding around, and the flock system picked all of them up. Uh, also, with this technology, they can tint their license plate, so this is also outlawing that.

40. 0:31:55

    Uh, for the first offense, it'll be $500, and any offense after that will be 1,000. So basically, if your law enforcement sees somebody with a tinted window and they cannot see in the car, they pull them over, they could hit a button and make their windows, uh, go clear. Um, it's proven that also with dark-tinted windows, which, which you can't see in, they can't see out. And so this also protects us going up and down the road, our families, uh, for the people that have this dark-tinted window, that they can, you know, in intersections and, um, can see us going up and down the road.

41. 0:32:28

    Okay. Whip Park has a question for you. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Uh, thank you for the bill. Um, I'm certainly supportive of what you're doing. Supportive of the digital license plate component. The definition of electric tinting, uh, reads somewhat broad. Does that, does that exclude manufacturers of new vehicles with, you know, some of this updated technology in the electric tinting component? It, I mean, you know, it, it's got to be, we have a law that, that says 32%, so that's as high as you can go. You can go lower than 32%, plus or minus three, but, you know, law enforcement, they have a, a, uh, a, a measure that they, a gauge, electronic machine that they put on the window to, to see.

42. 0:33:07

    So, you know, by now we're, the, you know, the law only allows 32%, so, um- Are automatic, are the manufacturers of new vehicles are okay with this bill? I haven't had any discussion with them. Okay. Have a question, Chairman Martin, that you- Yes, sir. I apologize, Mr. Chairman. I don't have the bill up on my computer. I'm trying to have it specific, but does this outlaw- Try, try the mic next to you there. That one's not coming on.

43. 0:33:43

    Try it. We usually can hear you when you talk, so- Try the one on the other side. Let's try that one. I can hear you. Yeah, loud enough, Mr. Chairman. Well, talk loud. Okay, go ahead. Uh, it's good. Um, I don't have the bill, but my question is, does this outlaw that electronic technology being in the car at all, or just being used when the car is running? It, it, it, it, that would be a va- vague part in the bill. I do not have any, any specifics. I- is it, here's my concern.

44. 0:34:14

    In, in other states, you know, we may not have, may have, not have that much sunshine here in Georgia, but in other states, in Arizona and Florida, a lot of times this technology is being used when you park your car in the sun all day and you turn off the windows tint. I would hate for us to take that away, because that is, that is a, a valid use of that technology. But I understand what gentlemen's doing when the car is in operation to protect us- Okay ... on safety and protect the public. But I'd just like to be very careful that you don't outlaw something- Get, get Al in, then I'll get you next ...

45. 0:34:48

    that may have been parked in front of a building- Can you move back a little? ... where you want to darken the windows, because, you know, folks- Yeah. There are automatic shields that have been done in the past, but it's not traditional. I see. If this technology can now go on the window, we, we wouldn't want to take it away. Okay. Okay. Chairman Powell has a question for you.

46. 0:35:09

    Try the one next to you then. We're having a little difficulty this morning. Hello? Yeah. Well, just talk loud. It, s- there's a little technical issue here. My friend, is it not true that this is a major public safety issue? This new technology, uh, has created a device that, uh, is, is being used out of criminal element. You may have mentioned about the, uh, the lock that- That's him right there ... is called the same, um, plate. So we have to get these off the roads.

47. 0:35:40

    We may have to get one of the wireless microphones. Okay. Okay. The technology is a, a, a voter issue, and the law enforcement needs to have a, be able to, uh, track these tags. And by this thing of hiding the tag or possibly could even try to change or replace the tag. Is it not for the reason this needs to be passed and moved forward? That, that is a big part of it. You know, with, with changing our, our tag system, we used to have stamp tags, and that's, that's become a problem because now they're, they're vinyl tags, and they're easy to, to change, uh, with putting another vinyl label on them, which, you know, your stamp tags, you could not do that.

48. 0:36:21

    Then, of course, when we, uh, did the electronic tag, you can, it's all in apps. You can put whatever you want to on that. But the main thing is the safety is, as I said before- What you, what you, when you can't see in the car whether, because the tint's too dark, they can't see out. So that's the, another safety issue we have to take into consideration is, is our families going up down the road, and the people that are driving these cars, they can't see us either.

49. 0:36:48

    Okay, don't see any other questions. Thank you, sir.

50. 0:36:50

    Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you, Committee.

51. 0:36:52

    Well, excuse me, we do have a question, I'm sorry.

52. 0:36:54

    All right.

53. 0:36:55

    Chairman Leverett, you had a question, didn't you?

54. 0:36:56

    No, I, I think mine, mine, uh...

55. 0:36:58

    You, you passed? Okay. Anybody? I don't see any, no other questions. Thank you.

56. 0:37:04

    All right. Thank you, sir.

57. 0:37:06

    Uh...

58. 0:37:14

    The floor mics are public, so anyone in the house, so if we can get, we got two members that would like to speak. Yeah, we let them come to the mic. Might as well let them know that they can come to the mic. Okay. Okay, we're, we're having a little difficulty here with the mics. Uh, got a couple of members who want to ask for something. We're gonna try your mic, and if it doesn't work, we'll let you come to the podium. How about that? Okay. Um, Chairman Hawkins?

59. 0:37:35

    The mic's not working.

60. 0:37:35

    Nope. If you would, just go to the podium and... Apologize. We'll try to get them to check this out for us.

61. 0:37:49

    Uh, thank you, Mr. Chairman. I'm asking for HB9, I mean, excuse me, 629. It's on the front page. Um, this is a bill that we had last year, and this bill is now a substitute. It includes a very important issue with stop-the-bleed kits. The, it adds these kits, the training for these kits, to the CPR and AED trainings that are taught in our school to the response teams. Uh, this issue actually came about after the Apalachee school shooting, and unfortunately got sidetracked when a member of the commission was moved to Washington.

62. 0:38:25

    Um, this is supported by the commission, trauma commission, and the regional trauma commission. The kits are provided, uh, to the schools free of charge from a national source. I have placed in the bill that is, uh, it, it will be upon appropriations, uh, so in case something happens in Washington and that money gets lost, we'll find a way to pay for it in Georgia, protect our children. That's the bill.

63. 0:38:55

    Okay. Don't see any questions. Thank you.

64. 0:38:59

    Okay.

65. 0:39:01

    Chair Lady Cooper, you have one? You can use the, use the, this mic. See if that one works for you.

66. 0:39:05

    Okay. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Um, on the first page, about six or seven up from the bottom, is 17, uh, 717, House Bill 717. Uh, some of us that have been here a long time will remember when we had pain clinics popping up everywhere and a real problem with opioids being given and other drugs, uh, mainly by orally. And we had to, uh, have the medical board enact regulations and rules about who could own them, and this bill follows the same thing except we're even in a worse situation.

67. 0:39:39

    Uh, ketamine, which is an extremely, extremely dangerous drug, only FDA approved for anesthesia, and even when an anesthesiologist

68. 0:39:58

    the recovery room, they are there in the recovery room the fact that the patient has had it. So these clinics are popping up with no regulations, uh, nothing about, you know, checking to

69. 0:40:10

    see if patients in the database have recently had the drugs or given them drugs or used the And what it does is try to regulations, uh, physicians with only 50% says they're the most educated and they have to have, uh, the ability to make 50% it's like we will have a defibrillator or that kind of thing, uh, nurse and deputies should own, uh, 49% what they wanted to do. Uh, and also it sets up, you know, uh, about administration.

70. 0:40:42

    Even for physicians, they are requiring through advanced airway-

71. 0:40:48

    You're good

72. 0:40:48

    ... uh, management training. That's how dangerous it is, that a general physician would need advanced training to

73. 0:40:56

    You're good.

74. 0:40:56

    Before they give. So that's what the bill does. I'll answer questions about it.

75. 0:41:01

    Okay, have a question for you. K- Representative Kelley.

76. 0:41:06

    Thank you, Ma- Mr. Chairman. Madam Chair, thank you for the legislation. I, I understand this is a dangerous drug that's being administered. Are there current individuals owning this, are there current facilities owned today that don't meet the ownership structure prescribed in this bill?

77. 0:41:22

    Yes.

78. 0:41:23

    And are we divesting anyone's interest that owns them today?

79. 0:41:27

    No. I would-

80. 0:41:28

    So if you're, if you own one of these today-

81. 0:41:31

    Tell the-

82. 0:41:31

    ... we're not gonna force you to sell or divest your interest?

83. 0:41:35

    No.

84. 0:41:36

    No?

85. 0:41:36

    No, I would like for it to be that way, 'cause they're dangerous and what, They, they will have to register with the board, just register so we know where they are. I would hope that once there's standards put in place, that they would wanna upgrade their facility to meet the standards, not about the ownership maybe, but that they would h- have a defibrillator, uh, the equipment they would need to intubate a patient if they were having airway problems. Uh, because I would think that once you have standards in place, if they're smart, they wouldn't wanna take the chance of having a really bad reaction, and the lawyers, you know, going at them because there were standards and they weren't meeting them.

86. 0:42:20

    Um, they are starting up all over the state. There's probably somewhere about 20-plus of them now that we know of.

87. 0:42:28

    You're good.

88. 0:42:30

    Almost one, he has talked to people, and he even that most of them are not having be an anesthesiologist. And he has, he's had everything that he would have in the OR to help the patients, but he says he's talked to these people over the state. And if you go out on his website, he has, and you look through it, uh, he has a ketamine academy, which is what you do to set them up, and that's why he was talking.

89. 0:43:01

    But he was very with me.

90. 0:43:03

    I agree with you. I hope they bring them up to standards as well. I was just curious about the ownership aspect.

91. 0:43:07

    Yeah.

92. 0:43:07

    Thank you, Madam Chair.

93. 0:43:08

    They're grandfathered in.

94. 0:43:09

    Okay, don't see any other questions on that. Any other member of the committee have anything they wanna present this morning? Okay. Let's do this. Let's set a calendar for Friday, the legislative day number 14. House Bill 629, do I hear a move?

95. 0:43:31

    Moved.

96. 0:43:31

    Second.

97. 0:43:31

    Have a motion and a second. Is there any opposition? It's on. House Bill 945.

98. 0:43:41

    Moved.

99. 0:43:41

    Second.

100. 0:43:41

     Moved and seconded. Any opposition? It's on. Okay. House Bill 980.

101. 0:43:48

     Moved.

102. 0:43:49

     Have a move and second. Any opposition? It's on. Okay, don't forget today we got the budget on the floor. We will not have a rules meeting tomorrow. We will not meet tomorrow. Our next rules meeting will be Monday at 9:00 AM, Monday at 9:00 AM. Thank you. We're adjourned.