Georgia CommonsSenate Regulated Industries and Utilities Committee
Senate Regulated Industries and Utilities Committee, February 26, 2026
2025-2026 Regular Session · 450 CAP · 39 min
This is a machine transcript of the General Assembly's video, made by a speech-recognition model. It is not an official record and can mishear words, names, and numbers. Speakers are not identified. The video is the record: every timestamp links to the moment it plays.
The video is the General Assembly's, played from its Vimeo channel. Select any time below to play that moment. Watch on the General Assembly's Vimeo channel · Agenda
Summary
Written by an AI model (gpt-6.1-sol) from the transcript. It is not part of the record, and the video is what was said.
The committee heard additional testimony on SB 367 and voted to recommend passage, with two members opposed and the rest in favor. A cancer survivor spoke about the importance of timely treatment, and a former hospital administrator supported easing certificate-of-need requirements, citing experience in Florida. Discussion included whether increased competition could harm rural hospitals. The committee announced another meeting for Monday at noon and adjourned.
Bills discussed (1)
Each account covers the stretch of the meeting it names. The bill's number is said in that stretch, unless it was the only bill on a committee's agenda.
SB 367. Certificate of Need; health care facilities, services, and equipment dedicated exclusively to the treatment of cancer; provide for exemption
From 0:25:35 · turns 3 to 71
The sponsor said the bill had been presented at an earlier meeting and invited additional testimony. An Augusta cancer survivor said prompt access to medical care had helped them survive pancreatic cancer for nine and a half years. The witness supported the bill if it would make cancer care easier to access. A second witness, a former hospital administrator and current think-tank executive director, supported the bill and broader easing of certificate-of-need requirements. The witness argued that these requirements restrict healthcare supply and said Florida’s changes had encouraged hospital construction, outpatient capacity, investment and access. The witness also described a former hospital employer spending millions of dollars opposing a competing hospital’s approval. The sponsor asked whether increased competition after Florida’s changes had caused facilities, particularly rural hospitals, to close. The witness offered to provide specifics, recalled more collaboration and partnerships, and said some rural hospitals expanded access, but did not provide closure figures. No amendment or substitute was offered during this discussion. The committee approved a motion to recommend passage, with two members opposed and the rest in favor.
Transcript
81 turns. Select a time to play that moment of the video.
- 0:14:46
Yeah. Yeah, I'm, yeah, I'm pro-
- 0:18:47
Okay.
- 0:18:50
Yeah.
- 0:25:33
The floor, I want a table here. Uh, Senate Bill 367, Senator Cowsert.
- 0:25:39
Thank you. I, I reviewed the bill previously at a meeting, but there were a number of other people that wanted to be heard on this. So we wanna take the, any following testimony, anybody would like to be heard, then I will close, and we will see if we can move the bill.
- 0:25:52
We have nobody on the signup sheet.
- 0:25:54
You're kidding me.
- 0:25:55
No, sir.
- 0:25:56
All right.
- 0:25:57
Move to pass.
- 0:25:57
We have people testifying.
- 0:25:59
Let's let them- Yeah, p- on, on Zoom? My bad.
- 0:26:01
Yeah.
- 0:26:02
You didn't have them on the signup sheet. Uh, J- Jackson, who's the first one?
- 0:26:08
You are the one who determines the order, but we've got two people on Zoom. I don't have their names. Just pick one.
- 0:26:15
Ronnie it is. Ronnie? Ronnie it is. Ronnie, you're on, baby. Go for it.
- 0:26:25
Ronnie can't hear you. Speak up.
- 0:26:26
Okay. Uh, can you hear me now?
- 0:26:28
I got you, baby. Go ahead.
- 0:26:29
Okay. Hey, um, I
- 0:26:31
Who are, where are you from?
- 0:26:33
Uh, from, uh... Well, my dad's a military brat, but I've been here since '82, so I've been Augusta, Georgia since 1982.
- 0:26:40
Go for it.
- 0:26:41
Um, I was diagnosed-
- 0:26:43
All right
- 0:26:43
... with pancreatic cancer nine and a half years ago now.
- 0:26:47
Wow.
- 0:26:47
Um, I was blessed to have found it early due to some complications, um, that I had with my panca- a couple of ca- uh, pancreatic attacks.
- 0:26:57
Glad we're seeing
- 0:26:58
Um, and I've been very blessed to have the, the greatest medical staff I think there is. Um, again, of course, with, when you have pancreatic cancer, you don't think you're gonna, you don't think you're, you're very long, you know, for this earth still. But, uh, due to the, uh, due to the access of care that I've received, and I'm sorry if I get emotional, um, due to the access of care that I received, the speed of care that I received, um, for the last nine and a half years, it's been, um, it's been, it's been a trek.
- 0:27:35
It's been a fight the whole time, but it's, it... I'm only here because of the medical providers that have been fighting for me. And I can tell you clearly that the speed of the service and the access to the service that I received are the reason I'm still here. I was given-
- 0:27:57
So Ronnie, you're, you're, Ronnie, you're 100% for this bill, right?
- 0:28:00
I'm, uh, I'm 100% for... If this bill is about keeping access easier, um, for p- cancer patients, yes. 100%.
- 0:28:11
I have a question.
- 0:28:11
We have a question for you. Hang on one minute, Ronnie. It's for Senator-
- 0:28:14
Thank, yeah. Thank you, Ronnie, for coming and, uh, testifying. God bless you, sir, and that is a testament to doctors and treatment. Are you a veteran?
- 0:28:25
Uh, no.
- 0:28:26
Okay. Uh, I just wanted to ask you that since you were in Augusta, but thank you, sir. Appreciate you.
- 0:28:32
Of course.
- 0:28:33
Questions for Ronnie? Ronnie, thank you very much for your testimony.
- 0:28:38
Uh, you're welcome.
- 0:28:40
Thank you. All right, thank you.
- 0:28:41
Thank you.
- 0:28:44
Whoever's next, please.
- 0:28:50
Good morning.
- 0:28:51
Yes, yes, ma'am. So who, who are you, and where are you from?
- 0:28:53
Hi. My name is Amy McGuire. Can you hear me okay?
- 0:28:56
Yes, ma'am.
- 0:28:57
Great. I wanna thank you very much for this opportunity to speak in favor of this bill, and to talk, um, on a larger scale about the deregulation of CON. I understand you're just looking at some, as I have read the bill, but little bit about, uh, Mr. Chairman and members, just thank you for, um, considering this. I was a previous... I spent 25 years in healthcare administration at teaching hospitals in Florida. Um, was involved in GME and CON, and was often on the other side of many of this, and fought w- along with other executives, um, for other hospitals not to locate in our area.
- 0:29:30
But a lot has changed in Florida, and I guess I come to you today as a citizen, a very proud citizen of Georgia, and a concerned resident, and I hope you'll consider just some information. I think Georgia is at a crossroads. We're a very fast-growing str- state. Aging demographics, persistent rural hospital challenges. Certainly, you're all aware of our workforce shortages and our rising healthcare cost. So I'm gonna focus my comments in sort of three buckets, and one, CON, um, has been through a lot of data, restricts supply in a growing state.
- 0:30:02
Um, I am the executive director of a think tank, so I do a lot of research and policy on workforce, on economic impact, and other various pillars. The second pillar I'd like to talk about is workforce challenges, um, and that they require flexibility. And the third is deregulation is about patient care and access. So as you know, Georgia's one of the fastest-growing states. Our population growth, our health capacity, including surgical centers, imaging facilities, behavioral specialty care, all the things that you're dealing with.
- 0:30:33
But as you look under a regulated CON, it's difficult for existing providers to effectively deliver care, like to Ronnie and his family. I'm assuming all of us have been impacted by cancer. I certainly have had a long list, um, including my mother-in-law and, and various others that have died. So the ability to access care timely is very important, not just in this, but in others. So as you consider, um, some of the things that Georgia learned, and again, Florida just, um- I guess in 2019 we started, um, with our deregulation of CON.
- 0:31:10
But some of what has happened in that reform has been increased hospital construction, ambulatory care construction, especially in growing areas and in our rural areas. This has generated more jobs. Um, we've had more outpatient surgical capacity, which improves healthcare access. We've had greater private capital investment, which creates a positive economic impact, and we have expanded access. All of these are things I think Florida, um, did, and now I think Georgia can learn from some of that.
- 0:31:41
So there are targeted solutions that I believe you could look at. One is this, in expanding the beating blanket restrictions, but really looking at the support that's needed in some of these service lines and in some of these areas. And capital follows certainty, and investment follows that. The workforce challenges do require us to be flexible. And I would just close with a couple of thoughts. You know, around the nation we're seeing this border competition as some states regulated, some states don't.
- 0:32:13
I believe we're seeing a lot of that in Georgia right now, and patients and employers will feel the difference in my opinion. I believe we need a more consolidated approach to CON, and I commend all of you for the beginning of this and the start. So I just wanted to take a few minutes and share some of those thoughts and data, and, um, again, thank you for all that you all do. I know it's a hard job.
- 0:32:37
Chairman Cow- Cowsert has a question for you.
- 0:32:40
Amy, thanks for being with us today. So you had experience in Florida at the time they essentially abolished CON?
- 0:32:49
Ye- yes, sir. And even prior, oh, if I may, um, not only that, years ago, um, I was in the C-suite of a hospital that spent millions of dollars, um, against a CON for a hospital. And there are a lot of legal costs that did not need to be incurred. And so as I have moved, now I had served on a, not only hospital board, but in the C-suite. Uh, you will look around and you'll see hospitals opening up urgent care emergency centers. You will see hospitals benefiting from this.
- 0:33:20
And I think if you had three CEOs of hospitals in Florida testifying before you today, they would tell you what a benefit it has been, the deregulation of CON.
- 0:33:31
One of the rationales behind it-
- 0:33:35
S-
- 0:33:35
... is that, uh, the increased competition might actually put some people out of business, and we've been told for years that rural hospitals were particularly vulnerable on other areas of CON anyway. Did you experience in Florida that any facilities shut down, particularly in the rural parts of the state after CON was abolished?
- 0:33:56
I'd love to get you more detail. Um, and what I recall in my memory as I age is there was a lot more collaboration. There were a lot more, um, rural hospitals that were partnering to provide better care, better access, um, when CON was deregulated. And we did it in phases, certainly in certain service lines, and that was a huge benefit. I think you, it gave the market a chance to adjust, and it also was an opportunity for hospitals to find great partners. I, I think what we see here, and again, as a, um, resident who really cares about our healthcare in Georgia, um, I think we have physicians wanting to come here.
- 0:34:33
You may have seen the data. You know, I think we had 16,000 people leave Florida for Georgia last year. I don't know which of those are doctors, but I will tell you there's so much about our state that is becoming much more attractive. So it's a long way of answering. I can get you the exact specifics. What I do know is, um, several of the rural hospitals were able to expand access.
- 0:34:53
Thank you.
- 0:34:55
Questions for Miss Amy, anybody? Thank you, Miss McGuire, for your testimony. Thank you, everybody.
- 0:34:59
Thank you so much.
- 0:35:00
Thank you. Anybody from the audience that didn't have a sign-up sheet? Anybody got a- anything to add to this? Okay. Mr. Mont- Monty, you got anything to add to this? No, sir. Okay.
- 0:35:14
What's the position of this?
- 0:35:15
Do you know what the position would be, the j- hospital association's position is on this?
- 0:35:22
We're not taking. Taking a position. All right. Miss Anna, I know you're in here somewhere. I saw you walk in. Any position on your side?
- 0:35:38
Some of our friends are for it, some of our friends against it, right? I vote for my friends. I like that. All right. Any more, any more discussion from the panel, uh, from the members? I'll entertain a motion. Move to pass. Motion to pass. Senator Brass? Mr. Chairman, I'll second. Second, Senator Albers. Any discussion? All those in favor, please raise your right hand. Hello over there. Anybody opposed to this? Okay, we got two opposed, the rest for. Motion passed.
- 0:36:09
Let me get this microphone for a second. This one's really-
- 0:36:12
Go ahead.
- 0:36:13
Before we adjourn, I just wanted to remind members our committee dinner is Monday, March the 9th. And, uh, please let, uh, Paige know if you're gonna come, and if anybody that hadn't signed up to sponsor yet, uh, if you would just reach out to her, and we look forward to seeing y'all then. We are meeting again, uh-
- 0:36:34
How did that go?
- 0:36:34
Yeah. We, we are meeting again in this committee on Monday at 12 o'clock. Uh, so members, please plan to be here. That, I believe, will be our last meeting of the year. We have one governor's bill coming through that the floor leader, Bo Hatchett's, asked to have a hearing on, so we'll be here Monday at, uh, noon. Right?
- 0:36:55
Monday at noon.
- 0:36:56
Yeah, Monday at noon.
- 0:36:57
Adjourned.
- 0:36:58
Thank you all for coming. Meeting adjourned.