Senate Health and Human Services Committee, March 18, 2026

Transcript

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1. 0:00:00

   Floor session went a little bit long today. But that is life, and, uh, here we are. Everybody's excited. We got a packed audience here. Wow, this is great. Um-

2. 0:00:11

   The only show in town

3. 0:00:11

   ... Travis Lindley does not have a tie. What is wrong with that? Oh my goodness. I tell you what, we are, uh, that could be a first. So everybody else has a tie, but, uh, we're good. All right. And, uh, let me just say that, uh, we got some, we have some really good, uh, bills. And we got a surprise or two. So, uh, we're ready to go. We got, I think we're gonna go in the way they were on the, uh, on the thing, if we can get the sign-up sheet.

4. 0:00:44

   Uh, good bills. We, tonight we will have finished all of the agency bills, hopefully. We got a couple tonight, and we will have finished all of them. And, uh, we're gonna meet next Monday and Wednesday also. Uh, and we'll get this done tonight. That's why I wanted to go ahead and have the meeting tonight so we won't be, uh, won't be pushing, uh, next week. So House Bill 1096. Uh, Chair Lady, so Committee Chair of Health Appropriations, Darlene Tavor- Taylor of the 173rd, whatever you would like.

5. 0:01:20

   And uh, the floor is yours. 1076, everybody, first bill in your folder. So we'll try not to jump around too much. 1096, I'm sorry. 1096.

6. 0:01:31

   Thank you, Mr. Chairman, members of the committee.

7. 0:01:33

   Hold on just a second. There-

8. 0:01:37

   Thank you, Mr. Chairman, members of the committee. I appreciate the opportunity to bring you House Bill 1096, LC600282S. This is a department bill. This legislation is resulting from last year's House study committee on the Department of Health. The study committee met with various members and leadership at the department, and we traveled and visited many health departments. And if you've seen one health department, you've seen one health department. There's a lot of variety and things that were there. But we identified a way that we could help them, and this legislation seeks to assist in creating a sustainable career ladder that will help in improving employee retention at public health.

9. 0:02:18

   The bill allows county board of health employees who move directly to the state positions at the state Department of Public Health to, um, retain benefits and accrued time. Right now, if they switched, they would lose all that seniority. Um, this will allow the department to retain experienced public health professionals who often leave their public service or turn down permiss- promotions after reaching the top of their career ladder at the county level. It will prevent loss of institutional knowledge, and reduces the need to train new staff that are unfamiliar with our Georgia public health system.

10. 0:02:52

    It allows a narrow group of employees, and it prohibits the county from paying out accrued leave at a transfer, preventing double benefits or double-dipping or windfalls. It authorizes the state personnel board to adopt the rules to ensure consistent implementation. And I'm, it's a very short bill, but I'd be very happy to answer any questions.

11. 0:03:12

    L- let me just, help me, uh, clarify. D- during the pandemic, we had employees, I know from, uh, from where I live in Savannah, to go from the county up to the state and back to the county, and back and forth. And we all sort of pitched in, or they did, public health department pitched in and went back and forth. So is, is this part-

12. 0:03:29

    This w-

13. 0:03:29

    ... of what this bill is?

14. 0:03:30

    I think some of those may have been temporary-

15. 0:03:32

    Okay

16. 0:03:32

    ... just during that. But right now, if you want to transfer and actually become an employee of the state is when you lose your benefits. During the pandemic, I had some that were just still attached to their county. Um-

17. 0:03:43

    So, so this, this prevents-

18. 0:03:46

    This is a permanent fix

19. 0:03:47

    ... any gaps in that.

20. 0:03:47

    Yes. Yes, it does.

21. 0:03:48

    Correct? Do we have questions from the committee?

22. 0:03:51

    Ready for it, Senator.

23. 0:03:52

    All righty. So anything further?

24. 0:03:55

    No, I have no questions.

25. 0:03:56

    No questions. Time to, you're on one.

26. 0:03:59

    Motion to pass.

27. 0:04:00

    Motion to pass.

28. 0:04:01

    Second.

29. 0:04:02

    And second by Senator Orrock. And any further discussion?

30. 0:04:07

    No.

31. 0:04:07

    All those in favor say aye.

32. 0:04:09

    Aye.

33. 0:04:10

    All those opposed like sign. Passes unanimous. Remember, uh, just for the audience, y- you know, if you're on the committee, you gotta vote. So if I don't hear you, you let me know, if we're doing, uh, ayes and aye. Okay, so that passes unanimously, House Bill 1096. And, uh, Chair Lady Taylor, d- who was carrying that for you?

34. 0:04:32

    Um, I believe the department had asked, um, Senator Hufstetler. Uh-

35. 0:04:36

    All right.

36. 0:04:37

    Thank you.

37. 0:04:37

    He nods his head in agreement, so there we go. All righty.

38. 0:04:41

    Thank you very much.

39. 0:04:41

    Thank you.

40. 0:04:41

    I'll come back and see you next week.

41. 0:04:43

    Appreciate that.

42. 0:04:43

    Thank you.

43. 0:04:44

    Thank you so much. Um-

44. 0:04:46

    Mr. Chair, Mr. Chairman, excuse me.

45. 0:04:49

    Yes, sir.

46. 0:04:50

    Is this the best attendance we've had all session in committee?

47. 0:04:54

    You know, it is the best attendance we have had-

48. 0:04:57

    Don't get any ideas, but...

49. 0:05:00

    The 8:30 at night fits everybody well, right? Okay. That's, that's great.

50. 0:05:03

    No coffee.

51. 0:05:04

    Maybe we should do this all the time.

52. 0:05:05

    Yeah.

53. 0:05:06

    No. All righty, so some people do have to drive distances. And, uh, you know, this past couple weeks, uh, there's been a change in the time, and we have a substitute coming on House Bill 154, and we'd like for, um, uh, the governor's floor leader to come down and talk to us anywhere you want to. I think he, I think he wants to stand up and talk behind the podium. There we go. All righty.

54. 0:05:36

    Makes it a little easier.

55. 0:05:37

    All right.

56. 0:05:40

    House Bill 154, this is a substitute. And we're on, it's in your folder, substitute LC600344S. Floor is yours.

57. 0:05:51

    Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. This bill before you is simple, it's practical, and quite frankly, it's something that most Georgians have been wanting for a long time. This legislation would potentially end The twice-a-year clock change in Georgia by moving our state to Standard Time year-round and eliminating the disruption caused by shifting between Standard Time and Daylight Saving Time. Now, brief history here for those that don't remember when this bill came up before, states can opt out of Daylight Saving Time and stay in Standard Time year-round, but they cannot stay on Daylight Savings Time year-round.

58. 0:06:33

    But what we did is we said, "If Congress allows us to stay in Daylight Savings Time, we will." So what this means is we have voted, along with 20 other states, that we will spring forward to Daylight Savings Time year-round if allowed by Congress. Right now, Georgia is in Eastern Standard Time, and we observe Eastern Standard Time and Eastern Daylight Time depending upon which month of the year it is, and twice a year, we move backward and forward as required by federal law.

59. 0:07:06

    Well, this bill uses that existing federal process to help us achieve Daylight Savings Time year-round because while federal law requires us to either be in Standard or Daylight Savings Time, it does not explicitly state which time zone we have to be in. 13 states already op- operate in multiple time zones, so the time zone boundaries are not fixed, and they're regularly adjusted.

60. 0:07:38

    This bill allows us to achieve Daylight Savings Time year-round without having to get congressional approval. What this bill does is allows us to go straight to the Department of Transportation to petition that Georgia actually move from the Eastern Time Zone into the Atlantic Time Zone.

61. 0:07:58

    This law is already allowed by federal law, and the department will consider what's called the Convenience of Commerce standard. If the federal government approves that, then Georgia will move to Atlantic Standard Time. So right now, we're in Eastern Daylight Time. A lot of people think we're always in Eastern Standard Time, but we're not. Eastern Daylight Time. Eastern Daylight Time is the exact clock as Atlantic Standard Time is. So if we switch to Atlantic Standard Time, you won't notice a difference for the seven months of the year that we're in Daylight Savings, but in the winter months, we'll be an hour ahead.

62. 0:08:35

    So practically speaking, this would eliminate the twice-a-year clock change and keep us on a consistent time year-round.

63. 0:08:46

    It'll also achieve our end result of having an extra hour of light at the end of every day. I think, more than ever, Georgians are dealing with a lot. Families are balancing work schedules, childcare, the rising cost of everyday life. They're trying to do the work thing, work hard, raise their kids. And in times like these, we should look for opportunities big and small to make life a little bit easier, and that's what this bill does. It prevents changing back and forth and allows an extra hour of sunshine at the end of the day.

64. 0:09:18

    And you may be wondering why it's in Health and Human Services. I mean, part of that is that last time when we had this bill, I, I had the bill, and, uh, we discussed that during this two-week period, uh, and we're at day number 10 of Eastern Daylight, uh, Time. So, uh, there's an increased risk of heart attack and stroke during this time. Ooh. It's not just morbidity, as in, like, you have a heart attack, stroke, but mortality- Right ... as in, like, you die. So that's why we're in Health.

65. 0:09:48

    It's better health- ... from that perspective. Yes. And, um- Yeah. So, uh, we are... That's where we are, and that's why we're doing it, from a health standpoint and actually f- uh, from a sleep standpoint. All the sleep specialists will say that. We got several questions. Uh, and we'll go with, uh, Senator Hodges, and then, uh, we'll go to the chairman, and we got, we got a bunch of questions. There we go. All righty. All right. Nine people. Nine questions.

66. 0:10:20

    Senator, thank you for bringing this bill, I think. Question: Will... If we do this, will we be on different... Will we have differing time zones than our neighboring states part of the year?

67. 0:10:34

    If our neighbors don't follow suit, then yes, we will. For five months of the year, when they observe Standard Time, Eastern Standard Time, we would be in Atlantic Standard Time, which would be an hour ahead. However, I have spoken... I just got off the phone with the speaker in Florida. They're very interested in doing the same move. I've also spoken to, uh, leaders in South Carolina who may follow suit next week.

68. 0:10:57

    Would it make sense to do it all at the same time?

69. 0:11:02

    No pun intended, yes, it would.

70. 0:11:06

    I mean, when they do it, when they're do it, when the other state, when Florida does it, when S- I mean, Alabama's already that way, I guess. I mean, we have differing time than Alabama.

71. 0:11:14

    Well, Alabama's on Central Time.

72. 0:11:16

    Yeah. So Al- so we're gonna be even more-

73. 0:11:18

    Yeah

74. 0:11:18

    ... off with Alabama.

75. 0:11:20

    At times we will be.

76. 0:11:23

    That is, that is strange.

77. 0:11:25

    It is. So, uh-

78. 0:11:27

    So don't travel. We stay in the state, we're okay, right?

79. 0:11:30

    Yeah. U- unless, unless Florida and South Carolina do it, too. The Chair of Rules.

80. 0:11:37

    Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Uh, so if I understand you correct, should this bill pass and get signed by the governor, then we would need Department of Transportation to approve it?

81. 0:11:50

    That's correct.

82. 0:11:51

    And at that point, you're saying this last time we changed our clocks would be the last time we ever had to do it again?

83. 0:11:59

    It would be the last time we ever have to do it.

84. 0:12:01

    I'm in.

85. 0:12:08

    Oh, who, who do you recognize him?

86. 0:12:10

    Number three.

87. 0:12:12

    Yeah.

88. 0:12:12

    Okay. So I was raised in Indiana, and Indiana never changed their clocks. So I grew up in, like, the TV station-

89. 0:12:22

    Mm-hmm

90. 0:12:22

    ... or the TV, like, the news came on at 10 o'clock in the summer and 11 o'clock in the winter, because everybody else around us ch- changed clocks. So my brain is incapable of understanding this, 'cause I was raised in Indiana. So are you saying this is good for kids?

91. 0:12:40

    I think it is. I think we live in a society now where, um, our culture needs kids to be outside more. This would give kids more time at the end of the day to play outside. It would, uh, allow parents, when they get off work, to be with their kids outside. It would just add that extra hour of daylight that you see, and probably have seen in the past week. When we do spring forward, that extra hour of sunlight at the end of the day really opens up a lot of opportunities.

92. 0:13:06

    Great. I thought this was the ambulance bill, but if it's good for kids, I believe I've voted against this in the past, but if it's good for kids, I'm with you.

93. 0:13:15

    Thank you. All right.

94. 0:13:16

    Yeah.

95. 0:13:17

    Vice Chair.

96. 0:13:18

    Thank you, Senator, for bringing this. Uh, what I recall from the previous bill that we passed is that, um, isn't it true that although there was a difference of opinion between the House and the Senate about which way we should go, that there was broad agreement that we needed to switch to not changing our clocks twice a year for the reasons that the chairman mentioned?

97. 0:13:42

    That's correct. And actually, after working with the House and the Senate, we both agreed that we should be an hour ahead, and this is the only way that we can jump an hour ahead year-round without congressional approval.

98. 0:13:54

    And so just to follow up, Mr. Chair, so is, then that, would it actually be 9:30 right now?

99. 0:14:01

    Actually, no.

100. 0:14:02

     If we 9:00 would-

101. 0:14:02

     No.

102. 0:14:02

     'Cause we're in Daylight Time.

103. 0:14:04

     Oh.

104. 0:14:04

     We're in Eastern Daylight, which- ... uh, during seven months of the year, Georgia actually technically observes Atlantic Standard Time, so.

105. 0:14:14

     Any other questions?

106. 0:14:15

     If you'd like, is my, is my son working for the-

107. 0:14:17

     Senator Robertson. Tim.

108. 0:14:20

     Your son worked for your doctor.

109. 0:14:20

     I'm glad that they finally

110. 0:14:21

     So-

111. 0:14:21

     ... meet all the people

112. 0:14:22

     Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Um, so if I'm, if I'm hearing you right, we get the extra hour in the evening, but are our kids standing at the bus stop in the dark?

113. 0:14:31

     Good question.

114. 0:14:33

     That was one of the concerns that has been brought up before. And fun fact, back in 1974, Richard Nixon actually signed an executive order that made the entire country go to Daylight Time year-round, and there was some pushback because in the northern states in particular, the sun would come up later. At that time, it was-

115. 0:14:52

     As it should.

116. 0:14:53

     Well, it was almost 9:30 in some states.

117. 0:14:56

     Yeah.

118. 0:14:56

     Um, at that time in 1974, I wasn't alive, but I've been told that a lot of people walked to school. Um- I do.

119. 0:15:06

     I did.

120. 0:15:06

     Walked to school. Lighting was not as, as, uh, as good. Mm-hmm. Um, and I think the way our culture is now, kids are not walking to school. Most parents either drive or you have a, a bus to take you. Uh, we have much better illumination on the streets outside of schools. I think that we have progressed to a point where we can afford this change now, and also afford our kids an extra hour of sunlight at the end of the day when most recreational activities occur, because not a lot of kids are outside in the morning.

121. 0:15:39

     And, and just to be clear, certain times of the year, we would be two hours different from Alabama and the Panhandle of Florida, correct?

122. 0:15:46

     Yes. We are ahead in Alabama in a lot of statistics, and we would be two hours ahead during the winter.

123. 0:15:53

     And our children will be standing in the dark at the bus stop, along with all the children in Puerto Rico?

124. 0:15:59

     Well, h- the reference to that is Puerto Rico is actually in Atlantic Standard Time.

125. 0:16:04

     Right.

126. 0:16:04

     And-

127. 0:16:05

     So we're already there.

128. 0:16:06

     We will be on island time. That's right.

129. 0:16:08

     Thank you.

130. 0:16:09

     Ooh.

131. 0:16:09

     I like that. All right.

132. 0:16:10

     Yeah.

133. 0:16:10

     Uh, S- Senator Orrock.

134. 0:16:13

     Thank you, Mr. Chair. Um, I applaud the ingenuity that has been brought to bear to get a solution here. I know that our chair has, uh, intro- introduced, uh, l- l- probably three different times at least. Uh, and, and it is, I, uh, it is absolutely a health issue. The circadian rhythm is real, and people, uh, s- suffer. Uh, you, you, you cited the, the, the data point of, uh, the, uh, the, the, the health tragedies that occur during that period.

135. 0:16:44

     So it's, it's inarguable to me that this is the healthiest, uh, way we can go.

136. 0:16:49

     Thank you.

137. 0:16:49

     Thank you.

138. 0:16:55

     Chairman Setzler, W3, right?

139. 0:16:57

     Yes, sir. Thank you. Um, again, applaud the, the creativity. Um, I, I'm, I'm gonna share my concern. I, um, m- maybe, a- and I love the, the, the enthusiasm here. Um, my biggest concern, just, just to be very blunt, is I could s- personally support the move. The, the twi- two changes a year don't bother me that much, because in as much as it keeps us in step with our surrounding states. The biggest thing to me is if the entire Eastern Seaboard is aligned, I can do it.

140. 0:17:33

     I, from a business perspective, not just thinking of myself, but I, I'm representative of many others that I work around. I do a lot of work around the country.

141. 0:17:40

     It, it's a, it's an interstate thing for me. Um, I wouldn't, I could never support this if we didn't have all the states, not just adjoining us, but really the whole entire Eastern Seaboard. To me, it's, you know, as a, as a lover of states' prerogatives, um, this to me is something that I, I would love to see Congress or the Department of Transportation, if they've got the power, to act on. I could not support this if the entire Eastern Seaboard didn't move because we have a truly integrated economy. And to, to think about, "Okay, North Carolina's with me these times and months of the year, but they're not with me here," to me, would create chaos from scheduling, and logistics, and just business, and flights, and planning.

142. 0:18:20

     And, uh, to me it, it would be... There, there's a lot of hidden things that I don't think we'd feel as interconnected we are as we are across the states. That's, it's, it's, to me, it's-

143. 0:18:30

     Chuck

144. 0:18:30

     ... it's all or nothing across the states. I appreciate that.

145. 0:18:32

     Right. And I respect that, but somebody's gotta lead, and I think Georgia can do it.

146. 0:18:37

     Right. I mean, we've, we've given Congress the opportunity. In 2002, it was led by, uh, Senator Marco Rubio. Uh, and they passed legislation. Uh, Kelly Loeffler was there. We discussed it with her actually last week briefly. And the, um, and the Senate passed it. US Senate passed it, and the House did not. Two years later, uh, in 20, uh, 20-

147. 0:19:05

     Four

148. 0:19:05

     ... '24, uh, the House passed it, and then the US Senate did not. So, um, we'll see if Georgia can lead. Uh, any other questions?

149. 0:19:14

     I did.

150. 0:19:16

     Um, 12?

151. 0:19:18

     12.

152. 0:19:18

     Yeah.

153. 0:19:20

     Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And, and, um, I, I thank you for bringing this bill and the ingenuity because we've all seen the statistics, those of us in healthcare, of the heart attacks, of the car wrecks, and all those things that happen with the time change, and, um, and I appreciate it. Now, my county does border Alabama, so, um, is it true that, uh, we will be prone to have more heart attacks and car wrecks just by crossing the line into the state of Alabama?

154. 0:19:53

     I'm trying to think of something witty here.

155. 0:19:54

     Two hours different.

156. 0:19:55

     Uh, but, uh, no, I don't think.

157. 0:19:59

     All right. Any other questions?

158. 0:20:00

     Not due to the time change at least.

159. 0:20:01

     We got two here. Uh, Senator Merritt.

160. 0:20:03

     Yes.

161. 0:20:04

     12.

162. 0:20:05

     Oh, thank you, Senator, for bringing this bill forward. Is it not true that this was a- this would actually add stability to kids with special needs, especially those with autism, as they really thrive on a more consistent schedule and routine?

163. 0:20:18

     It, it would. It would, yes.

164. 0:20:19

     Thank you.

165. 0:20:20

     I, I will tell you, a- as a little editorial comment, the most calls I've gotten from profession- health professionals have been sleep doctors.

166. 0:20:28

     Oh.

167. 0:20:28

     They're the ones who feel str- most strongly about this. That's, most of the literature is, is, uh, more recently been with them. Uh, Chair of Judiciary.

168. 0:20:35

     So as a parent with two small children living with that right now, it's been a rough week and a half trying to get your kids back adjusted. It's hard to get them to go to bed. It's hard to get them to get up with the time change. It makes a big impact on kids, and I'm sure the senator from the fifth would see the same thing at his house right now. So in honor of my two kids, at the appropriate time, I'd like to make a motion.

169. 0:20:54

     Oh, okay. Uh, I think now is an appropriate time.

170. 0:20:57

     Move, do pass.

171. 0:20:59

     Second.

172. 0:21:00

     All right. I'm gonna get, get the rules chair the second here. So we got a motion, do pass, got a second here, and we have discussion. Do you have a f-

173. 0:21:08

     Mr. Chairman.

174. 0:21:09

     Uh, hang on just a second. Uh, nine, okay.

175. 0:21:11

     Nine. Thank you. Um, I was gonna echo what, uh, Senator Setzler said. I, I can, I c- from a business standpoint, I mean, the, the, the bank that I spent years at, we had other banks and we had five states. And one, and it was, it would be extremely hard to schedule meetings. I mean, I think there's some unforeseen consequences. I don't want to change my clock twice a year either.

176. 0:21:42

     I don't want to do that. But it's kind of a-

177. 0:21:46

     I, I listened to the banker and the engineer. We got it. Uh, I will, I will tell you.

178. 0:21:50

     Yeah.

179. 0:21:51

     I mean, you're numbers guys. The- My son worked for Amazon in Seattle.

180. 0:21:57

     Yes.

181. 0:21:57

     He had conferences with the London office. He had conferences with the Far East conferences.

182. 0:22:04

     Yeah.

183. 0:22:04

     Um, you know, they figured it out. And I will tell you-

184. 0:22:07

     I-

185. 0:22:07

     ... schools will need to make some adjustments sometimes, but this may or may not pass. This is the first step, further discussion. Uh, Senator Setzler.

186. 0:22:18

     Number three, Mr. Chair. Yeah, and to the, to Senator Hodges' point, um, yeah, we, we work across many time zones. I, I, I do, um, schedule meetings with people in the Denver time zone.

187. 0:22:28

     Absolutely.

188. 0:22:29

     You need to sort of schedule your day that way. So it's not as if Senator Hodges is re- being a, a single time zone person. It's just when you have changes across that, that's not consistent. I know in-

189. 0:22:41

     Yeah. I, I listen. I get-

190. 0:22:43

     I know the, I know the Mountain Time Zone, there's a two, two-hour break. If it's three hours sometimes, parts of the year.

191. 0:22:47

     Right.

192. 0:22:48

     We st- still in our minds are gonna have to kind of maintain this, this break, even though our clocks don't change. So I just, to me, I can't support something unless we're going together as states. To me, this, this puts us out there on our own. If the Department of Transportation approves it, it's not subject to approval of other states.

193. 0:23:04

     We, we g-

194. 0:23:05

     So-

195. 0:23:05

     It is, you're correct. The governor will have to request that from the, uh, Department of Transportation. I think we put a date in there. Were you, uh, you have a date?

196. 0:23:15

     There is a date right now, which is the end of this year.

197. 0:23:17

     Date in there that he has to do that by, but, you know, he can do it earlier, uh, also. Um, no further discussion. All those in favor, let's raise our hands on this one.

198. 0:23:29

     Uh, let's count. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, 10, 11. All those against? El- 11 to two.

199. 0:23:40

     Oh.

200. 0:23:40

     You know, that is a significant percentage. We'll see how that bears out for the rest of the journey. Thank you. Uh-

201. 0:23:46

     Well done

202. 0:23:46

     ... great presentation. Well done.

203. 0:23:51

     So we have, also, we have one more bill by... No, that's it. Um-

204. 0:23:58

     Senator Hatchett, he's the one

205. 0:24:00

     Oh, yes. Yes. That's right. Senator Hatchett, you have, um-

206. 0:24:04

     471

207. 0:24:04

     ... you have 927. SR927. You can do that from your chair if you want to, or go, get back up there. Wherever you wanna be. Uh, and your mic is number 10. I'm not rushing you. We're shifting gears here.

208. 0:24:19

     Yes.

209. 0:24:20

     Um-

210. 0:24:20

     Thank, yeah, thank you, Mr. Chairman. Uh, SR927, uh, this is a resolution that creates a s- a study committee on pharmacy benefit managers and consumer access to prescription medications. Uh, the committee is funded to allow five meetings. It's, you know, it's another study committee. There's one in the House on the same issue. This is, uh, one of those issues that I get a lot of calls from, from my district especially, uh, from... And if you're in a rural district, you more than likely have gotten calls about, um, from your independent pharmacies and, um, we just need to look at this issue further-

211. 0:24:57

     Okay

212. 0:24:57

     ... uh, from both sides.

213. 0:24:58

     All right. Uh, I see no questions. Uh, do I have a motion?

214. 0:25:03

     I make a motion.

215. 0:25:04

     I have a motion, Senator Goodman. Second by, uh, Senator Robertson. And any further discussion? All those in favor of the study committee.

216. 0:25:13

     Study committee.

217. 0:25:14

     Um, everybody's raising their hand. That's great. Unanimous. Okay. So that's, uh-

218. 0:25:19

     Will the study committee be on Florida Standard Time?

219. 0:25:20

     That's good.

220. 0:25:21

     It'll be Atlantic Standard Time.

221. 0:25:22

     Atlantic Standard.

222. 0:25:25

     Yeah.

223. 0:25:25

     'Cause Mike can't be there.

224. 0:25:26

     Just two.

225. 0:25:26

     Well, oh my God.

226. 0:25:28

     If I can ever get one-

227. 0:25:29

     All right, so we're moving along. House Bill 471, Representative Mike Choates of the 151st. And, uh, let's see. 471.

228. 0:26:04

     Okay, does everybody have that in their, uh... This is House Bill 471, uh, LC 570251S. All righty, the floor is yours.

229. 0:26:17

     Thank you, Mr. Chairman, members.

230. 0:26:20

     Oh, hold on. I'm sorry.

231. 0:26:21

     71.

232. 0:26:21

     There we go.

233. 0:26:22

     Okay. I bring before y'all, uh, House Bill 471. It's, uh, Water Safety Education at the Hospital level bill. It emphasizes the importance of water safety education for children by implementing a video presented to young mothers, or new mothers, at the hospital prior to dis- discharge. The short video will be shown before discharge at no cost to the state, with the video being prepared by the Department of Public Health in collaboration with the Every Child a Swimmer Foundation.

234. 0:26:54

     We have met with the Georgia Hospital Association, and they are very supportive of this measure. And I wanna add that drowning is the number one cause of accidental death for children ages one through four, and the second leading cause of accidental death of children five through 14. Now, with me is the Executive Director of Every Child a Swimmer, uh, Casey McGovern, and she'd like to, uh, say a few words if that's okay with the chairman.

235. 0:27:23

     Please. Casey.

236. 0:27:27

     Thank you so much.

237. 0:27:28

     Good evening, Mr. Chair and members. Casey McGovern, and I am the Executive Director of the Every Child a Swimmer program, but more importantly, my daughter passed away 16 years ago to a drowning in our backyard swimming pool. And since August 3rd, 2009, I've been advocating for awareness, education, and change. Drowning is the number one cause of death for children one to four, number two cause of death for children five to 14, and number three cause of death for children, or for adults. And 54% of adult Americans cannot swim well enough to save themself.

238. 0:27:59

     So in 2023, we had success of passing, we call the School Bill, and what that is, is providing education through the school systems K through 12, sharing the resource- resources, sharing the education, um, that I didn't know. On that afternoon, August 3rd, I was home with my husband and my three daughters, and Edna Mae was, is, was the youngest, 19 months of age. And at that time, I was a big supporter of floaties, and I also thought she was much too young to learn how to swim. Um, and so what I would do when we get in the pool, we spent a lot of time in the pool, I purchased this house with four bedrooms when I was pregnant for my third child, so I thought, "I'm blessed.

239. 0:28:35

     Everything's perfect. Helicopter parent." Put the p- the fence around our pool. Um, unfortunately, I didn't invest in swim lessons, thinking that we had plenty of time. At 19 months, we have, we have time. Um, but that afternoon, we spent the day in the pool. I got out, I put her down for a nap, and, um, ran to the grocery store. My husband was home with the girls. Upon me coming home from the grocery store, which, um, I, I put her on the opposite side of the kitchen counter putting my groceries away, and my husband just called me into the other room for a moment.

240. 0:29:05

     So I walked out of the room where she was, came back, and she wasn't where I had left her. So again, as parents, we wanna put our eyes on our children, but I was very complacent because I felt like our house was safe. I felt like everything was there and we were, we pr- protected. Unfortunately, I went bedroom to bedroom looking for my daughter before I proceeded to go outside, and that's when I found her in our backyard swimming pool. One portion of our gate was left open that afternoon, and so the perfect storm occurred for our daughter to unfortunately have this tragedy happen. Um, her incident happened on a Monday, and we said goodbye to her on the following Monday, but I knew, I learned how big of a problem this really truly is.

241. 0:29:41

     It claims over 4,000 lives every single year, not to mention the non-fatals. And it's preventable. It's 100% preventable by education and awareness. And so the first phase, when we had success passing the hosp- the School Bill, educating parents through the school system K through 12 with resources and in- information, this is just the second phase of just educating parents at such a pivotal point when they're sponges and wanting to get this information. And so I really implore you all to favorably, um, you know, just approve this, this bill.

242. 0:30:13

     Um, it will be lifesaving, I guarantee it. Um, and it's just the f- next stage of educating parents and caregivers at a pivotal point in their parent's, parenting life. Um, and like I said, this is preventable. So thank you so much for your time. I'm open to questions. Um, I have another gentleman here that will speak for a moment too, but do you have questions for me?

243. 0:30:36

     Uh-

244. 0:30:36

     Thank-

245. 0:30:36

     No questions. I do have a question. Uh, Senator Setzler.

246. 0:30:40

     Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Um, could you, uh, describe what, what the course is gonna look like? What duration, what kind of things you should be teaching parents w- when-

247. 0:30:49

     Absolutely

248. 0:30:49

     ... when they're having their one-day-old newborn?

249. 0:30:51

     Absolutely.

250. 0:30:51

     Yeah.

251. 0:30:52

     Um, I think it's just letting them, planting the seed. Letting them know that drowning is the number one cause of death, that it takes two inches of water for a drowning to occur, that it's quick, that it's silent. Swim lessons can be started the mobile they ... the moment they become mobile, and where to go for help. Um, and what we have done, this legislation has actually passed in New York, and actually it just passed, it's going to the governor's desk in Florida. And so my hope and goal of the hospital bill and the school bill will just similar ... be similar to Fire Safety Awareness Month in the month of October.

252. 0:31:23

     We all know stop, drop and roll. We all know that we have to have fire extinguishers. We all know we have to have smoke detectors and replace the batteries annually. This is ingrained in our brain at such an early stage, but nobody talks about water safety, and it claims more lives. And so the implementation of this bill will be a video shared upon discharge after delivery, and it'll share just s- simple things that, make sure you have a water watcher. Layers of protection are needed to be able to protect your child. And it's six-minute video that's created right now by the United States Swim School Association that's very neu- neutral and also warm.

253. 0:31:54

     It's not scary. Um, and it's just talking about it proactively and educating parents. Did I answer your question?

254. 0:32:01

     Yes, ma'am.

255. 0:32:01

     Okay.

256. 0:32:01

     Senator Robertson, did you have a question?

257. 0:32:03

     I just, two questions for the author of the bill.

258. 0:32:05

     Okay.

259. 0:32:05

     Yes, sir.

260. 0:32:06

     So, uh, any questions for the speaker, uh, Senator Harrell?

261. 0:32:10

     Yes. Thank you. Um, yeah. I understand the intention. Um, one of my concerns though is, you know, I remember what that 24 hours or so was like after giving birth and before I went home, and I like don't remember anything I was told.

262. 0:32:30

     Right. Mm-hmm.

263. 0:32:32

     Um, and I could only deal with what was in front of me right at that time.

264. 0:32:37

     Right.

265. 0:32:37

     And like, for me, with my firstborn, it was, it was feeding-

266. 0:32:41

     Right

267. 0:32:41

     ... you know, because he wasn't nursing properly and things like that. Um, so I wonder if it would be better if this information came through the pediatrician, like at a first checkup or during the first year or something like that, rather than in that hospital time when there's so much to cover in the very short amount of time. And I think maybe the information would be received better later.

268. 0:33:11

     Well, I appreciate that, so thank you for bringing that to my attention. Um, and I agree with you in some aspects. However, I also disagree. I think what we're doing is planting the seeds on different areas at parents' lives. Is it gonna be a one fix that's gonna fix it all? No. But it's a point where a parent may be able to get that information. And my hope and goal with this piece of legislation, with it implemented appropriately, is that they'll do s- they'll be able to watch it. There'll be a QR code or something like that. Can ... Do ... Would you like to get more information when they become mobile, six months, nine months? So then again, what that does is it'll plug them, email them, ta- uh, text them so that they'll get that reminder to do that.

269. 0:33:47

     16 years I've been at this. I, I promised my daughter before I walked away from her that I would commit my life to this, and I've done nothing but that since that, that day, and I have worked really hard to, to breach into the pediatrician realm. And because they're inundated with so much information as well, it's probably phase three or phase four of what we're trying to do. But it's a touch point in a parent's life that is pivotal, you know? And they are, they are receiving that information. We are sponges, no matter how t- how hard, how, um, tired we are.

270. 0:34:18

     Because I went through it four times, and I understand that component. But I feel that at that point, as long as we implement it appropriately and give them the tools and maybe a touch point afterwards, or in the, in the bag that we get home with everything, there's also that, that piece of paper that kinda talks about what they can do. Layers of protection. Swim lessons can be started when they're mobile. Takes two inches of water. Most children under the age of one pass away in a bathtub, just by going to get a towel or a phone. But m- I know that I didn't learn that. And so again, what we have to do is do better, and we have to touch them at wherever we can to be able to change this.

271. 0:34:52

     Because again, with the amount of fatal and non-fatal drownings that are happening and not going down, we have to do better. So thank you.

272. 0:35:01

     Thank you. Senator Mangham.

273. 0:35:03

     Yes. Thank you, um, to the witness. I, I applaud your bill, and I support your bill. And I just wanted to ask, um, and the author of the bill may also chime in on this, um, if we allow this to be or online, how would that impact this if you said, for example, to be viewed on site or online? How would that impact your bill?

274. 0:35:34

     How would it impact your, um-

275. 0:35:37

     Mm-hmm

276. 0:35:37

     ... your whole, this whole concept? I, I too, I delivered my son at home, and it was quite interesting, uh- To say the least.

277. 0:35:50

     Okay. Thank you.

278. 0:35:51

     And, uh, but I think that we should have this information, and I'm wondering how would that impact it, if you have an opinion.

279. 0:35:59

     Well, it's optional. The parent can sign a form saying that they don't want to see it or, or view it. So it's, it's not mandatory. It's optional. So I think that answers that. And I'm sure that the, the foundation, Every Child a Swimmer, will be able to prepare a packet and if, if, if the parent chooses, could receive updates, but that's not part of the bill.

280. 0:36:25

     All right. C- uh, Bran-

281. 0:36:26

     But-

282. 0:36:26

     I'm sorry. Go ahead.

283. 0:36:27

     Would it impact it negatively if you did have the bill to say- The presentation of, on water safety education to be viewed on site or online, would it negatively impact your bill?

284. 0:36:43

     Well, it's not mandatory.

285. 0:36:45

     I mean, I understand that, but would it-

286. 0:36:48

     If I could say something-

287. 0:36:49

     To provide-

288. 0:36:49

     I think-

289. 0:36:50

     Right now it says-

290. 0:36:51

     Right

291. 0:36:51

     ... you must do it on site.

292. 0:36:52

     But I think your, your... what it will do is dilute the, the, the work that it's supposed to do. And so how will the vehicle be to get that information to them if they decide to watch it at home? How will that, how will that be shared once they get home? So I think that what that does is it confuses the implementation a little bit more. And so, you know, how, how will they, "Okay, I wanna watch it at home." Well, that's just opting out if they don't wanna watch it at that point, you know? But to have a choice of watching it here or here, okay, but what channel are they gonna be able to do that?

293. 0:37:24

     Right.

294. 0:37:24

     Um-

295. 0:37:24

     Thank you

296. 0:37:25

     ... you know, with that being said. That would be my only question-

297. 0:37:27

     Thank you

298. 0:37:27

     ... with-

299. 0:37:27

     Could we hear from, um-

300. 0:37:28

     Yep, Brad

301. 0:37:28

     ... Brad real quickly? Just identify yourself if you wouldn't mind and, uh...

302. 0:37:34

     Uh, Chairman and members of the committee, thank you for your time. My name's Brad, and I work in the water safety education. I'm also a member of the United States Swim School Association and previously served on their board. Um, drowning's quick, it's silent, and it's often misunderstood. Many parents who experience this tragedy say they simply don't know that it, that this could happen to them. Um, in Georgia, there were eight hu- 868 drowning deaths between 2019 and 2023, with a 2.3, uh, 2 billion impact, uh, in 2020 alone.

303. 0:38:05

     At my business, we promote water safety. We also offer free, uh, lessons for infants ages three to six months. But this isn't about selling swim lessons. This, it's about awareness and prevention. Uh, this bill ensures, ensures that every parents gets life-saving information at the right time. If this helps even one family avoid that loss, it's worth it. Thank you.

304. 0:38:30

     Okay.

305. 0:38:34

     Representative Ciokis, uh-

306. 0:38:36

     Yes

307. 0:38:36

     ... do you have any other questions?

308. 0:38:38

     No.

309. 0:38:38

     Senator Robertson, that's right, you were supposed to... You, you wanted a question for the author?

310. 0:38:43

     Yes, sir. I was trying to follow the rules. Um, I, I, I did wanna say, you said there's absolutely no cost to this program.

311. 0:38:51

     The, the foundation with the Department of, of Health will cr- w- with oversight from the Department of Health, will create the video.

312. 0:39:00

     So will the foundation also help create the paperwork and things of that nature-

313. 0:39:04

     Yes

314. 0:39:04

     ... that have to go out?

315. 0:39:05

     Mm-hmm.

316. 0:39:06

     Okay.

317. 0:39:06

     Yes, we will.

318. 0:39:07

     Um-

319. 0:39:07

     There is a video that exists right now that New York and Florida will be sharing. However, if the hospital, um, does not put it out to anyone- You can get up to the microphone if you would, please. Yeah.

320. 0:39:16

     I'm sorry.

321. 0:39:16

     Go ahead. All right.

322. 0:39:17

     Okay, thank you. And, and I wanna say this, um, we, we had issues with the in-school thing several years ago because related to cost and no additional time in the school. I've, I've seen way too many death videos, homicide videos in my life, and probably the most tragic I ever saw was a child that wandered out of the hotel, and parents were there, and child had a diaper on. Of course, diapers absorb water, and it was, it was a, a very horrific thing to have to sit and watch several times. Um, and, and I appreciate this.

323. 0:39:49

     Um,

324. 0:39:52

     I just, uh, uh, ap- appreciate you bringing this forward, but in my mind, the, the, the, the gentleman spoke about a number of deaths.

325. 0:40:02

     Yeah. With the, the video-

326. 0:40:03

     Are these, are these children deaths, or are these drowning deaths?

327. 0:40:07

     No, this is, this is a... It will be very tasteful.

328. 0:40:10

     No, no, I'm not talking about the video now.

329. 0:40:11

     Okay.

330. 0:40:12

     I'm talking about the gentleman stepped up and talked about a number of deaths.

331. 0:40:14

     Brad, would you mind-

332. 0:40:15

     Yeah

333. 0:40:15

     ... clarifying that for us?

334. 0:40:17

     Yeah. Brad, you, you gave a number for deaths.

335. 0:40:19

     Yeah. I, I do believe that it was total, uh, aquatic-related deaths.

336. 0:40:23

     Okay. I wanna be clear on that because I did some research on it and looked at... My biggest focus, something we don't think of, is 'cause everybody doesn't have a swimming pool, but everybody does have a bathtub. And I've got a 10-year-old daughter, and right before she was born, a friend of ours lost their child in a pool. And so my daughter started getting swimming lessons as soon as she could, as soon as she was able. But, um, I just wanna make sure we have the numbers correct, that when you... The nu- the, the big number you gave out are all deaths-

337. 0:40:53

     Correct

338. 0:40:53

     ... children and adults.

339. 0:40:54

     Yeah.

340. 0:40:54

     Right? Okay. Thank you.

341. 0:40:56

     Okay. Um, Senator Orrock?

342. 0:40:58

     Um, thank you. Thank... Uh, uh, I, I share your sense of urgency and have, have, uh, friends who've had this loss, and I almost lost my little two-year-old in that same sort of thing. They slip out a door, you're talking, next thing they're in the bottom of the pool. Uh, a- and so I applaud this, and I just wanna point out, uh, you might, you all may not know it, but several people here will. You know, the, the governor of Georgia, Zell Miller, in the '90s, came up with The Little Engine That Could book, leaving it, uh, giving it to every, uh, family, uh, following the birth so that the child went home with a book, uh, the, the, the, the infant went home with their parents with a book, and a book that s- said a good message, and it was to encourage reading, uh, to that child in an ongoing way.

343. 0:41:43

     But we, so we have a s- very particular history here of our governor taking an initiative of at bedside, in the hospital, my... Uh, you remember this, uh, Representative Ciokis, I'm sure. Uh, and, uh, uh, in, in, in the, uh, it's, it's, it's a, a, a, a great thing that you're doing, and we have some history directly of, uh, interfacing with the family as-

344. 0:42:08

     Thank you

345. 0:42:08

     ... they're in the hospital-

346. 0:42:09

     Thanks, Senator Orrock

347. 0:42:10

     ... for the better.

348. 0:42:11

     Um, was that a question? You got it? Everybody nodded and agrees. Uh-

349. 0:42:15

     I didn't have-

350. 0:42:15

     Oh, it had nothing? Okay, I'm sorry. I thought that we had more questions. All right, uh, the will of the committee. Senator Orrock?

351. 0:42:24

     Uh, I'd like to move due pass on, uh, uh, LC57-0251S. That's House Bill 471.

352. 0:42:32

     Okay. Do I have a second?

353. 0:42:33

     I'll second.

354. 0:42:34

     Second by Senator Mangham. And, uh, any further discussion? All those in favor, let's raise your hand.

355. 0:42:46

     Uh, it's unanimous. Okay, thank you. All righty, um, Senator Cowsert, uh, I don't recall who was carrying the-

356. 0:42:54

     Uh, uh, Senator, uh, Shawn Still

357. 0:42:56

     ... Shawn Still, that's right.

358. 0:42:58

     Okay.

359. 0:42:59

     The Shawn Still.

360. 0:42:59

     Thank you Mr. Chairman, members of the committee. Y'all saved some lives today.

361. 0:43:03

     Thank you.

362. 0:43:06

     And thank y'all for coming. Um, so we are at, that was 471. We're on House Bill 717, Chair Lady Cooper, and we have LC 33-9905S. This is a substitute. Uh, nurse practitioners were included, the PAs were not, so the, uh, substitute includes the PAs, and that's actually the only difference, and the floor is yours.

363. 0:43:33

     Uh, thank you Mr. Chairman, members of the committee. I do bring you, I think, the last agency bill of the day. Uh, this comes from the Board of Medicine, and it is about a very dangerous drug called ketamine, uh, and rogue clinics that are starting across our state that are giving this drug IV. And they're sort of like medi-spas, where you don't really know what you're getting. Uh, there are no standards, there's no safety equipment, um, and like I said, it's a very dangerous drug.

364. 0:44:06

     Uh, ketamine taken orally is bad enough. Um, it is only totally approved as, uh, by the FDA, uh, to given by anesthesiologists and nurse anesthetists as a sedative. Uh, but doctors can use things onli- offline, uh, and there are many studies going on right now to, uh, the use of this drug with different kinds of mental illness. Uh, but when they're done that way under the studies, they are done in very controlled s- situations.

365. 0:44:39

     Um, mental counseling goes along with the therapy session, and the patient is kept for a couple hours. Because they can have out-of-body experiences, they can hallucinate, uh, they can be very unstable. Uh, recently, uh, just with an oral drug, a mother took it, uh, was hallucinating, thought people were gonna take her children, called 911, and very unemotionally said, "They were trying to get my children. I thought it was better if we all went together," and she'd killed her four little daughters.

366. 0:45:13

     That was orally. When it's given IV, like they're doing in this clinics, you can multiply that by about 50 to 100 times in, um, the, the potency and the possibility for problems. Uh, it is a psychedelic, um, and there are even more of these coming out that are even worse, like mushrooms and LSD that are being studied, and so they would be out there and be available. Um, this would allow the Board of Medicine to set standards, such as you need to have resuscitation equipment.

367. 0:45:48

     This is a drug that puts people to sleep. It is a drug that they test for when somebody ha- thinks they've been raped and had a rape day- drug, because it makes them in a sedative sta- where somebody can take advantage of them. So these clinics need to have resuscitation, and they need to have somebody that is trained, that knows how to intubate a patient. Um, and that is what the doctors under training and the nurse anesthetists are the best about doing. And, uh, they are the ones that, the two groups that can, are allowed to own these clinics.

368. 0:46:23

     This is not like your ice cream store down the street, where if you're an entrepreneur, you can use it. This is a medical situation and a medical procedure, and a very dangerous one. And that's basically, and I have agreement between the board, the nurse anesthetists, uh, and the medical association. They have an agreement, and there's a letter you can, could be put out on the desk saying that they're all in agreement to it. And they can have a nurse practitioner or, in addition to it, a PA work in the clinic, but here again, they have to be extremely well-trained, they have to have experience, and they have to keep up their education, because if they are left in by themselves, they have to be able to resuscitate the patient should they get into respiratory failure.

369. 0:47:08

     All right. Any questions from the committee? So b- this is sorta similar to the scenario that happened with pain clinics, uh, about 14, 15 years ago, and they were proliferating and were causing significant, uh, morbidity and mortality, and we tightened those restrictions-

370. 0:47:28

     Okay

371. 0:47:28

     ... up, and, um, and that's been, that's been successful. Uh, and this is sh-

372. 0:47:35

     Basically based on the same thing, except in that case, only physicians could own them. And this, because of the nurse anesthetist, uh, being trained in this area, that we did-

373. 0:47:46

     Okay

374. 0:47:46

     ... and came to an agreement on nurse anesthetist owning them.

375. 0:47:49

     Question, Senator Robertson.

376. 0:47:51

     Thank you, Chairwoman Cooper. Do you know how many ketamine therapy clinics there are in Georgia right now?

377. 0:47:56

     There's no way with us knowing. They would have to register. You can't go back because of our Constitution and close them. So the ones that are here would be allowed to stay, but they would need to register with the Board of Medicine.

378. 0:48:08

     And these-

379. 0:48:09

     And so 20 to 40, we think.

380. 0:48:11

     20 to 40, we think. Do we, do we know, are the, do they have the medical professionals on site, or do they operate under the direction of a medical professional?

381. 0:48:20

     Uh, there's a lot of operating under the direction, uh, and it varies. Uh, one, one clinic, they just showed a great big recliner in a room, and, you know, um, there was somebody, not a nurse practitioner or a highly trained nurse, but just what they called a nurse to watch them. Um, I've seen one That didn't say the doctors were always there, always there. They said they were usually there, and they had four rooms and four monitors for somebody to monitor. But no, no restriction on how much they can use, or that there has to be somebody that's there all the time with them.

382. 0:48:57

     No saying you have to wait two hours before you can go, which is the usual thing under the studies, that they feel like it's okay to let them drive again.

383. 0:49:06

     Yes, ma'am.

384. 0:49:06

     So the board would make those parameters.

385. 0:49:09

     Thank you. Any further questions? If not, I'll entertain a motion. I have a motion, uh, from Senator-

386. 0:49:21

     Pass on LC33-9905S.

387. 0:49:24

     Second.

388. 0:49:25

     Second, Senator Robertson. And any further discussion? All those, uh, in favor say, "Aye."

389. 0:49:34

     Aye.

390. 0:49:35

     All those opposed, like sign. Passed unanimously.

391. 0:49:38

     Thank you. Thank you very much to the committee.

392. 0:49:40

     And I'm carrying this forward.

393. 0:49:42

     Yes, sir, please.

394. 0:49:42

     Thank you, ma'am.

395. 0:49:43

     Okay.

396. 0:49:44

     Okay. All righty. Um,

397. 0:49:50

     House Bill 350. Representative Cameron.

398. 0:49:53

     We can do five more.

399. 0:49:55

     Northwest. We can do five more. We got time. Here we go. Depending on whether we're on daylight savings time or standard time. There we go. I hear you.

400. 0:50:03

     Or we can say brevity is the soul of wit, and I'll be as brief as, or as long-

401. 0:50:07

     All righty

402. 0:50:07

     ... as you want me to be.

403. 0:50:08

     All right. So we're on House Bill 350, and this is LC56-0268, so the original bill.

404. 0:50:16

     Yes, sir.

405. 0:50:16

     All righty. And you, um, and you have some pictures in your folder, I believe. Am I wrong, or right?

406. 0:50:22

     Of an infant safety device. Yes, sir.

407. 0:50:24

     Yes, sir. And, uh, do they?

408. 0:50:27

     Mm-hmm.

409. 0:50:28

     Okay, everybody's got those pictures, and you... The floor is yours.

410. 0:50:32

     Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you for allowing me to come before the committee. Uh, currently under Georgia law, uh, infants, uh, may be surrendered to medical facilities, police departments, and fire departments. Under this bill, uh, ambulance services are added, plus a, uh, one of these, the entities may, uh, install an infant safety, uh, device or what we call a baby box. These baby boxes are manufactured. They're, they have, uh, temperature controls inside.

411. 0:51:03

     They have dual alarms to make sure that they're monitored properly. When someone places a, a infant in, uh, under 30 days in one, in one of these and closes the door, the alarm will go off indicating there's someone in there. And someone at a fire department or police department will know to go and open the back door of this, because they're facing outward. And they'll open the back door, they can remove the infant, then they take them to, they call an ambulance, take them to the hospital.

412. 0:51:35

     Then within six hours of the infant being declared healthy enough to go to foster care. There's, there's, uh... I did compliance audits in the hospital, I mean, in a insurance environment, so I like a tidy, we have a process here, where to go. Um, twice a day, according to the bill, uh, it has to be manually inspected. Uh, and yesterday you asked a question, "What happens when the power goes out?" Um, the s- signal... Well, let me tell you one thing.

413. 0:52:05

     The signal, if say a fire department is not there, it will go to ni- it roll over to 911. 911 will notify a person that there's someone in there to go get them. So there's not, somebody's not gonna stay there all day inside, inside one of these devices. So, uh, if the power goes out, uh, the, the box will signal through the telephone line to the, uh, 911 center that the power's off. So the 911 center will notify someone that the power's off.

414. 0:52:35

     Someone will go lock the door to make sure no one can get in it, notify the vendor that the, the infant safety device is offline, and until which time is the power goes back on, that door is locked and no one can be put in it. So that's essentially the bill.

415. 0:52:56

     Okay, uh-

416. 0:52:56

     And I'll stand for questions.

417. 0:52:57

     Yes, sir. We, we have four people to testify, and, uh, should, uh... Why don't we get folks to quickly testify and then we can do questions, if that's okay with the committee?

418. 0:53:06

     Yes, sir. I'm cool with the committee.

419. 0:53:07

     Okay. So, um, we have, uh, Tripp Richardson, Amy Anders, and Brittany Allmon, and Mike Griffin. All favor? And, um, it is 9:24, so if we can respect-

420. 0:53:26

     Yeah

421. 0:53:26

     ... people's sleep, uh-

422. 0:53:28

     Yeah

423. 0:53:29

     ... we'd appreciate that. Just, just sort of identify yourself, who you're with, and-

424. 0:53:33

     Yes, sir

425. 0:53:33

     ... the floor is yours.

426. 0:53:34

     Uh, good evening, chairman and members of the committee. Thank you for the opportunity to speak tonight. My name is Tripp Richardson with Frontline Policy Council. We have supported this legislation before and are glad to continue our support tonight. It's very late, so I'm gonna keep it very brief. Protecting the lives of vulnerable infants is critical, and HB 350 provides additional tools to do just that. By increasing safe, anonymous options for mothers in crisis, this bill helps prevent unsafe abandonment and ensures newborns can quickly receive medical care and protection.

427. 0:54:06

     Thank you, and respectfully ask your favorable consideration.

428. 0:54:10

     Really appreciate that. Thank you. Uh, you w- you were brief. You, you were a man of your word. Uh, Amy and Brittany and Mike are on deck. Thank you. The floor is yours.

429. 0:54:21

     Hi. Thank you so much for having us tonight. Uh, my name is Amy Anderson. I am not with any organization, I'm just with me and Brittany, and we have been working for about three years to get this passed. Um, we just believe that the, um, consequences of requiring a parent in crisis to surrender a baby face-to-face sometimes causes moms to make really bad choices, and babies end up in very unsafe places. That's why we find babies in dumpsters, um, like the one in Columbus. That's why we find babies in trash cans.

430. 0:54:54

     And so what we're offering is a solution to that, so that when there are parents in crisis that feel like they cannot parent a child but they are too frightened to make other choices, that we give them one last safe, anonymous option of, of using the newborn safety devices, and we would really appreciate your favorable vote.

431. 0:55:15

     Thank you, Ms. Anderson. Uh, and Brittany Allman, are y'all together? Uh, or you're-

432. 0:55:21

     I'm a solo

433. 0:55:21

     ... semi, semi-together?

434. 0:55:22

     Semi.

435. 0:55:22

     The floor is yours.

436. 0:55:23

     Thank you, c- um, Chairman and committee. I am, um, Brittany Allman. I am just an adoptive mom to a safe haven baby who was surrendered under our current safe haven law. But let me tell you a little bit about his story. His biological mother kind of went a little halfway. Um, she called the l- the hospital, um, where she surrendered him at, and asked them to meet her in the parking lot. So though she did do a, do a face-to-face surrender, she did not take the steps to get out of the car and walk into the hospital, and he was surrendered with the placenta still attached to him. So I do know had one of these newborn safety devices, um...

437. 0:55:56

     I do not know, but I am fairly certain that had one of these newborn safety devices been available to her, that she more than likely would have utilized it. Um, I'm thankful every day that she knew of our current safe haven law, but I do know there are mothers out there, and parents, moms and dads, in crisis who would greatly, um, appreciate these de- devices being available to them in the state. Thank you.

438. 0:56:20

     Thank you. Thank you for being a mom. Um, Mike Griffin.

439. 0:56:27

     Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I'm Mike Griffin. I'm the public affairs representative with the Georgia Baptist Mission Board, and we do support this legislation. We appreciate, appreciate Representative Cameron doing this. We've testified on this before. As many of you know, we represent close to 10% of the population, 1.4, uh, million Georgians of 24- uh, 3,400 churches, and so we're, we're in favor of this. We know in the era that we're in, I think it's very important that we focus on protection, rescue, and, uh, provisions, uh, for newborns.

440. 0:56:59

     I know I've heard that, uh, around 25 states have this enacted, and since 2070- uh, since 2017, uh, over 70, uh, babies have been saved through this device that's been being used. And, you know, I grew up in an era we called convenience stores 7-Elevens. Anybody remember that?

441. 0:57:20

     Yeah.

442. 0:57:20

     Well, they call them convenience stores. Why do they call them convenience stores? They're convenient. And when you make things more accessible and more convenient, you have more ability to be able to do some things to help save lives. And I really believe that this is what this will be. And so we wholeheartedly support this, and we would encourage your favorable support. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

443. 0:57:41

     Thank you, uh, Mr. Griffin. D- uh, how many... What was the number of babies?

444. 0:57:44

     It was over 70-

445. 0:57:47

     6

446. 0:57:47

     ... 76 to be exact, uh, since-

447. 0:57:49

     Through the baby box?

448. 0:57:50

     Yes, through the baby box, since, uh, 2017.

449. 0:57:54

     Okay.

450. 0:57:54

     And 25 states have that.

451. 0:57:56

     Okay.

452. 0:57:56

     Only Georgia, I think, and South Carolina in the southeast does not have this provision.

453. 0:58:01

     How many boxes?

454. 0:58:03

     Uh, Chairman Hufstetler.

455. 0:58:05

     How many boxes would be in these 25 states?

456. 0:58:08

     Over 400.

457. 0:58:09

     Uh, uh, Representative Cameron, why don't you get up there and, uh-

458. 0:58:11

     Yeah. Thank you.

459. 0:58:12

     Thank you.

460. 0:58:13

     So I got-

461. 0:58:14

     Thank you, Mike.

462. 0:58:14

     Over 400.

463. 0:58:16

     All right. Uh-

464. 0:58:16

     Dr. Hufstetler, over 400 in, uh, states that go from, uh, New Mexico to Florida to Pennsylvania.

465. 0:58:24

     Okay.

466. 0:58:24

     Yes.

467. 0:58:25

     I guess, I guess here's my concern on that. Am I... I'm on here, right?

468. 0:58:29

     You know, you don't really sound like you're on.

469. 0:58:31

     Sound like I'm on. There I am.

470. 0:58:32

     Oh, you're on. I'm sorry.

471. 0:58:32

     Okay. I mean, I'm looking at this, and it looks like a, a book depository or something. And if we've got 400 of these boxes and 76 babies, then that means if 76 boxes got a baby, that's 324 that all year didn't get a baby put in them.

472. 0:58:52

     Since '17.

473. 0:58:53

     They've been bought.

474. 0:58:53

     A- and... or actually, that's over more years, so it's even more than that. I'm just... This just looks like... I'm just worried about what can go wrong here or something, I guess. If, if, you know, is... If somebody doesn't have a baby in there for years, are they gonna be checking this twice a day like we're saying? I mean, I, I just... I don't know. I'm, I'm not sure about this.

475. 0:59:16

     So in other...

476. 0:59:16

     There's maintenance.

477. 0:59:18

     Ha- uh, is maintenance on... Uh, Representative Cameron?

478. 0:59:23

     Yeah, I, I think if, if these are at fire halls, fire halls, the firemen are pretty fastidious about checking things-

479. 0:59:29

     Mm-hmm

480. 0:59:29

     ... and making sure things, that equipment and other things are working at their fire hall. I believe they'll check it and make it. We have one, uh, right over at the border. I live right on the border of Tennessee and Georgia, and, uh, one was, uh, utilized last year in the place called, uh, Chatta- in Chattanooga at the fire hall. And, uh, my understanding that the firemen do check these things and-

481. 0:59:51

     Gotcha. Thank you. Um, Representative Merritt.

482. 0:59:55

     Senator.

483. 0:59:55

     I'm sorry. Senator Merritt.

484. 0:59:55

     You mean senator?

485. 0:59:57

     Whatever.

486. 0:59:57

     Thank you, Mr. Chairman. So who is paying for the cost of these boxes, the installation?

487. 1:00:01

     It would be the individual communities that wanted to do this. For example, um, my understanding that Henry County is wanting to do a, a number of them, like five or six. So is Cherokee County, and they're allocating money through their budgetary process to pay for them. This-

488. 1:00:14

     Do we know how much they would be?

489. 1:00:15

     Uh, twen-

490. 1:00:16

     The schedule?

491. 1:00:19

     Okay. I'm sorry.

492. 1:00:20

     It's, it's through grassroots, through the people. Okay.

493. 1:00:24

     Yeah.

494. 1:00:26

     All right, so just, uh, clarification, the audience, uh, s- supplying that-

495. 1:00:30

     Yeah, yeah, sorry

496. 1:00:31

     ... uh, there's no fiscal responsibility to the, to the state, and-

497. 1:00:35

     There's no fiscal responsibility to the state

498. 1:00:37

     ... and-

499. 1:00:37

     The cost is approximately $20,000

500. 1:00:39

     ... and grassroots have been paying for them.

501. 1:00:41

     Yeah.

502. 1:00:42

     I gotcha. Okay. Um, Senator Merritt, you ... Uh, Strickland, uh, Chairman Strickland, is that 12?

503. 1:00:48

     It's 11.

504. 1:00:49

     11, gotcha. Okay.

505. 1:00:50

     Um, look, I'll admit when I first heard of this and see the pictures, it gives you a, kind of a weird feeling because who would leave a baby in a box, right? And you made a comment, looks like where you put a book. Um, but you realize it's hard for us to relate to somebody that'd ever leave a child, for most of us. And so we can't really put ourselves in these people's shoes. And to me, if this saves one more life, then it's worth it for our communities. And there's a big movement back home in Henry County to get these in fire stations. My deputy county manager reached out a few weeks ago and said, "If y'all pass this bill, we're ready to go." And there's, there's private money that's been donated.

506. 1:01:22

     And I think it makes a big statement. If we're gonna be a state that, that is pro-life, this is also notice to parents, um, to moms that we're all in and we're willing to help you even if you think you have no options. So I support this.

507. 1:01:38

     Thank you. Um, Senator Robertson.

508. 1:01:40

     Yes. Thank you, Representative, for bringing this legislation. Do you know how many children are abandoned in Georgia every year at the, at the places they can be, be, be abandoned or-

509. 1:01:50

     Not off the top-

510. 1:01:50

     ... turned over now?

511. 1:01:51

     No, sir.

512. 1:01:52

     Um, 'cause I'm a, I'm a little concerned if we're creating a, a way where individuals would be more led to go put the baby in a ... And listen, um, everybody knows my life story and everything, but to put a baby in a box as opposed to taking it to a hospital, taking it to a police department-

513. 1:02:12

     Yeah

514. 1:02:12

     ... or taking it to a fire department or handing it to a firefighter where they're, they're g- guaranteed anonymity. And I'm just wondering if there's a ... I'd lo- I'd love to know the, the total numbers they're giving and, and what, what, what we would be ... If, if this is, if this is a necessary need is my concern.

515. 1:02:33

     I think there's ... Part of this is an unknowable because we don't know how many children are just left somewhere.

516. 1:02:39

     Right.

517. 1:02:39

     Uh, they could be left in the woods. They could be left i- in, in a dumpster or somewhere else. We just don't know.

518. 1:02:45

     Yes, sir.

519. 1:02:46

     This, this part of that's unknowable.

520. 1:02:48

     Yes, sir.

521. 1:02:50

     Uh, Senator Harrell, you're on three.

522. 1:02:53

     Three. Thank you. Um, so we have a picture of, of what this ... I'm gonna call it a safe haven cradle instead of a box-

523. 1:03:01

     Okay

524. 1:03:01

     ... 'cause that just feels better.

525. 1:03:02

     Okay.

526. 1:03:03

     Um, we have a picture of what it looks like on the outside. What does it look like on the inside? And can-

527. 1:03:09

     There's like a, there's almost like a cradle on the inside where you place the infant, and then the door's closed. So on the other side, the, there's a, uh, my understanding, they're, they open up and then remove it.

528. 1:03:21

     Is there, like, a mattress or bedding or-

529. 1:03:24

     There's something there. There's something that-

530. 1:03:25

     You know what, Representative Cameron, why don't you get somebody else back up here who knows-

531. 1:03:28

     Okay.

532. 1:03:28

     ... knows this.

533. 1:03:32

     Uh.

534. 1:03:32

     Like, is it comfortable for the infant?

535. 1:03:35

     Go ahead, Anne.

536. 1:03:36

     Thank you. Um, there's actually a medical grade bassinet with a blanket and padding and the whole nine yards in the basin- The, the device is actually, it's temperature controlled, it's ventilated, and on the inside the ... And I actually have a picture if you wanna see, but on the inside there's a plexiglass that you can see through, so it's not even dark in there.

537. 1:03:56

     Okay.

538. 1:03:56

     There's a plexiglass, um, there. It keeps it warm. And so when the, when the firefighters or, um, hospital personnel, whoever comes to retrieve the baby, they just open up that plexiglass, pull out the whole entire bassinet, and they can transport the baby straight in that bassinet to wherever the baby needs to be medically evaluated and taken to the-

539. 1:04:16

     Y- you said you do have a picture?

540. 1:04:18

     I do. I'll get you a picture.

541. 1:04:19

     You do? Yeah, get us a picture-

542. 1:04:20

     Yes, sir

543. 1:04:20

     ... if you don't mind.

544. 1:04:21

     Just one more-

545. 1:04:21

     We'll pass it around if you don't mind us doing that.

546. 1:04:23

     Um-

547. 1:04:24

     And, uh, Se-

548. 1:04:24

     I'm sorry.

549. 1:04:27

     Chairman.

550. 1:04:27

     Oh, yeah. It, it's gonna take me just a second to find it 'cause my brain is going crazy. Um-

551. 1:04:31

     We got another question here.

552. 1:04:33

     Gotta have another question.

553. 1:04:35

     Well, while she's looking, it's more of a comment if you'll allow, Mr. Chairman.

554. 1:04:39

     Sure.

555. 1:04:39

     Um, you know, I've ... When I first heard about these, I, I'd certainly had some reservation about it, but I remember about, I don't know, it was seven or eight years ago down in Troup County, they found that child in a, in a cooler.

556. 1:04:54

     Mm-hmm.

557. 1:04:54

     And I think about, you know, if something like this were there where, you know, would that child have made it? You know? And that's-

558. 1:05:03

     Right. And I appreciate that

559. 1:05:04

     ... for me makes it easy, but-

560. 1:05:05

     I mean, I can ... Listen, we had a, a child in Savannah just, um, about two to three years ago that, um, was, um, put in a trash can, and the FBI spent about, I don't know, four, four months or so in the, um, in the dump and, um, and did find the baby's remains. Uh, I mean, it's, you're right, there's a lot of sad situations.

561. 1:05:30

     Yeah.

562. 1:05:31

     Uh, she does have a picture. We just sort of share it to the-

563. 1:05:34

     We would have passed it around, but it's-

564. 1:05:35

     Yeah. Oh, okay. Um, uh, uh, Senator Setzler, you had a question?

565. 1:05:40

     It looks like a bassinet of some sort.

566. 1:05:43

     Mr. Chairman, I, I, um, I just ... We're talking about human lives here. This, this, this is something that matters, and I think that- that's why this is ... And, and this is hard for legislatures. I- if, if there was a legislator that had a sincere disagreement with the approach to this, I find it a hard thing to, how do you express your concerns legislatively? W- w- where in the legislative process do we say, "You know what? We wanna be able to save children through a safe haven law, but we think that..." I mean, of the, of the 76, um- ...

567. 1:06:19

     priceless lives have been saved in these boxes in the last eight years. How many of those would, had boxes not existed, been handed off to police or fire station? I, I share this to the, to the, to the author, I share it with the chair of the committee. Personally feel like, you know, we, when we d- we look at fire station as limited to a facility, police as limited to a facility. Um, I love the addition of ambulance. If we, in addition to fire station, included fire service vehicles on the road, if in addition to police station we included law enforcement vehicles on the road.

568. 1:06:54

     If you see a police officer, hand it over to a police officer. I think going beyond 30 days, um, it may take three or four weeks for a mom to decide, "I, I ain't doing this." I don't know if all the children that are, that are, that are, you know, criminally discarded happened within the first 30 day. To me, the way to handle this best is to go beyond 30 days, uh, for the safe haven law, uh, that has been in place since '02. Um, and then contemplating how do we expand the population of responsible adults to whom one can hand them off.

569. 1:07:29

     And I don't know that we wanna designate elementary school. I don't know if we wanna go with schools. That may- maybe it's a... I just think about right now the parent has a duty to protect a human life, and our laws protect that. Um, I don't think it's asking too much then to hand that off to another human being and have positive control of this, this pr- priceless human life. My question is, if we wanna do be- do better by these children, is a box the way to do it?

570. 1:07:59

     I know there's a lobby to do this and there's, there's people in other states that have done it and we love this, but it's, it's, it's, we're doing something. But in terms of effectiveness, is it better to us broaden the, the universe of people that can validly take these children in? It's not just hospitals, police stations, maybe police cars. Maybe it's ch- childcare facilities. However we wanna define it, I just am a believer in the positive control of adult to adult.

571. 1:08:24

     I-

572. 1:08:24

     You have anonymity, and I don't know why we cut it at 30 days. To me, there's, it's more protective to kids to extend it beyond 30 days than to keep a hard 30-day break. That's, that's just my concern.

573. 1:08:33

     I, I appreciate your thoughtfulness. I, eh, I'm not sure about a police car, 'cause, uh, I'm thinking of child, uh-

574. 1:08:39

     Mr. Chairman

575. 1:08:40

     ... child ab-

576. 1:08:41

     Excuse me.

577. 1:08:41

     Representative.

578. 1:08:42

     Uh, the 30 days is, uh, HHS, I believe, defines a newborn as the date of birth plus 27 or 28 days. So I believe that's where they came up with 30 days.

579. 1:08:51

     Okay. And we got, so I'm thinking of car seats and things like that for policemen on the, on the go kinda thing.

580. 1:08:58

     I, I understand, Mr. Chair. I'm just saying if, if a-

581. 1:09:00

     I, I, listen, I, it's thoughtful. I appreciate that

582. 1:09:01

     ... if, if a child is relinquished, uh, i- in an emergency circumstance, I don't just-

583. 1:09:06

     I, I understand. Uh, I, my vice-chair has some questions.

584. 1:09:09

     Yeah. Thank you.

585. 1:09:10

     Thank you.

586. 1:09:10

     I've got a few.

587. 1:09:11

     Madam Chairman.

588. 1:09:12

     'Cause obviously this is a new technology.

589. 1:09:15

     Yes, ma'am.

590. 1:09:15

     And I know that in some other states there has been some state money used to fund these. I can tell you which states if you wanna know.

591. 1:09:24

     Okay.

592. 1:09:24

     But anyway, my question is, are the boxes regulated by any agency, state or federal, and are they UL certified?

593. 1:09:33

     They are UL certified, but as far as regulating the boxes, uh, it's just what's in the, the act itself. There's no other regulation on top of the boxes that I know of. It's just-

594. 1:09:45

     So in other words, how would, would anybody, any agency of the state government or public health or whoever, would anybody be going to make sure the boxes are operational over time?

595. 1:10:03

     Yes.

596. 1:10:04

     In other words, uh-

597. 1:10:05

     Okay.

598. 1:10:06

     These are not currently regulated-

599. 1:10:07

     Right

600. 1:10:07

     ... that I can see at any level.

601. 1:10:08

     Right. A- as far as I'm aware, state agencies do not regulate. Um, in the contractual agreements, there is, there are certain things that they have to be manually visibly checked twice a day. The alarm has to be tested once a week. They are recertified every year by the company that provides them to make sure that they are in working order, which was, I think, somebody else's question. It, even if a, even if a box has been in place since 2017, it still has to be checked twice a day.

602. 1:10:39

     It still has to have an alarm tested once a week, and it still has a recertification once a year so that if it does not meet those standards, then it has to be taken out of, out of service.

603. 1:10:49

     And follow-up?

604. 1:10:50

     Yes.

605. 1:10:51

     Yeah. So, um, is there only one vendor that makes the boxes?

606. 1:10:55

     Currently in the United States there's only one vendor, yes, ma'am.

607. 1:10:58

     And is that owned by the company that, the nonprofit?

608. 1:11:03

     Right. Safe Haven Baby Boxes is a 501[c][3], yes, ma'am.

609. 1:11:06

     So they're in charge of the manufacturing process?

610. 1:11:09

     They-

611. 1:11:10

     They own the manufacturing process?

612. 1:11:12

     They do.

613. 1:11:12

     Um, okay. Yeah. I, I know that they are manufactured. I'm not sure exactly what the connection is, so

614. 1:11:18

     Okay.

615. 1:11:19

     I'll have to

616. 1:11:19

     And just one more. Um, do you worry at all about unintended consequences of, for example, a father who doesn't know that the baby's being given up? How would you ever find the father if the father wanted-

617. 1:11:34

     Um-

618. 1:11:34

     ... to be involved with the baby?

619. 1:11:36

     We have a current safe haven law that's been in place for 25 years that a parent can surrender a child, and there are certain steps that are, are in place, um, as far as notification, put in the thing in the paper, all of those things. None of that changes with adding the newborn safety devices to the law. The only thing that is different, and it's one less, I mean, one additional place where the baby can be surrendered. And, um, um, to, uh, Senator Setzler's comment too, I just wanna say that there is a difference between anonymity and confidentiality, and I think that's where, um, Senator Setzler and I don't exactly see it the same way.

620. 1:12:20

     Because- It is anonymous if you do not know who I am, if you cannot identify me.

621. 1:12:27

     They pick it up

622. 1:12:28

     If I have to walk into a fire station, if I have to hand off to a paramedic, if I have to go into a hospital and hand a baby to someone, I don't have to give you my name. I don't have to do any of those things, but you know who I am. You saw my face. You, you saw how tall I was. You know what color my hair is. You saw what vehicle I drove up in. You can identify me. So that is not anonymity. That is confidentiality, and it is a thing. But in this day and age, the reason that people find babies in dumpsters is because we have cameras everywhere.

623. 1:13:02

     We have, everywhere we go, we're on video. You can... They can put your picture up on social media five seconds after you've walked into a hospital. Those things are not an- anonymous. They are confidential, and there is a big difference.

624. 1:13:18

     So are you saying, I mean, obviously, the c- boxes don't have cameras on the outside, the cameras on the inside.

625. 1:13:24

     Correct.

626. 1:13:25

     But if you're at a fire station or hospital, there's cameras everywhere.

627. 1:13:28

     As long as that camera is not pointed directly onto the box so that you do not get the mother's face as she puts it in, that's not an issue. The issue is you don't want to be able to have the mother's face because you don't want her to show up on TikTok or Facebook or wherever else, or the evening news the next day.

628. 1:13:50

     Uh, question, Chairman.

629. 1:13:55

     Yes, sir. So I got a question, and I'm... Before I ask the question, I'll, I'll tell you, I do think this is a way better option than a trash can or a, or a cooler. So, um, but y- you said if the, I believe the author, Representative Cameron, said if, if the fire department is not there, they're out on a call, then, and a baby comes in, a call goes to 911. Is that correct?

630. 1:14:23

     That's correct.

631. 1:14:24

     All right. What happens if you're in a county, and I won't say any names, but maybe the one we're in, and that call goes to voicemail?

632. 1:14:34

     Okay. Um, there are several different things. The, number one, if you cannot meet the standard of five minutes or less, you aren't certified. You can't have your box. They will not install.

633. 1:14:46

     Okay.

634. 1:14:46

     They will not allow. So, um, the average time that a baby is in the box is usually about two minutes. The longest time a baby's been in the box is four minutes and 28 seconds.

635. 1:14:56

     Okay. Thank you. That answered that.

636. 1:15:01

     Any other questions? Senator Robertson.

637. 1:15:04

     Thank you. Representative, um, are, are you familiar with ambulance services?

638. 1:15:09

     A little bit, sir.

639. 1:15:10

     Okay. Would, would it be true to say that the vast majority of ambulance providers in the State of Georgia are private providers? They are not, um, affiliated with a hospital per se, or they are not county employees.

640. 1:15:25

     I would say that-

641. 1:15:26

     Yeah

642. 1:15:26

     ... probably is true.

643. 1:15:27

     So the, the vast majority of those. So, um, but we are giving them, um, um, protection from, from civil action, right? If something were to happen and s- a baby were to pass away in one of these boxes, correct, in this legislation. We're, we're giving, we're giving them a type of immunity that's normally reserved for a government.

644. 1:15:49

     Government.

645. 1:15:50

     Right. Is that true?

646. 1:15:52

     I believe that's what is written.

647. 1:15:54

     Okay. I just, just, just wanted to make sure. And as far as, uh, Vice Chair Kirkpatrick's question about the cameras-

648. 1:16:01

     Mm-hmm

649. 1:16:01

     ... this is a box that can be opened by someone who may not be there to deposit a child, correct?

650. 1:16:08

     Not if there's a child inside.

651. 1:16:10

     No, ma'am. I'm saying if I walk up and there's not a child inside the box-

652. 1:16:13

     Right

653. 1:16:13

     ... am I able to open that box?

654. 1:16:14

     Yes, sir.

655. 1:16:15

     Am I able to put something inside that box and close it, whether it be a child or anything else?

656. 1:16:19

     If you put anything inside that box and close the door, it activates the alarm.

657. 1:16:22

     Immediately.

658. 1:16:22

     But yes, sir, you can put anything you want to.

659. 1:16:24

     Right. And so when it activates the alarm, we pull the video, we still can't see the face of the individual. Under, under what you think would be the best circumstance, we would not be able to see the face of the individual depositing something there?

660. 1:16:36

     Mm-hmm.

661. 1:16:36

     Okay. Thank you.

662. 1:16:42

     Any other questions?

663. 1:16:44

     I don't know if it is the best.

664. 1:16:48

     It's late.

665. 1:16:48

     I- it is late. Do we have, uh... We'll solitude with the committee.

666. 1:16:54

     Motion to-

667. 1:16:56

     Senators

668. 1:16:56

     ... motion to pass.

669. 1:16:57

     Okay. Got a-

670. 1:16:58

     Second.

671. 1:16:58

     All right. Got a motion to pass. Got a second. Further discussion?

672. 1:17:01

     Thank you.

673. 1:17:03

     Uh, Senator Setzler.

674. 1:17:04

     Three. Mr. Chair, I think the bill needs more work. I think there's, um, a way to achieve the objectives of this to make it more, um, effective for handing off kids. Uh, I think the ability to have a third party, if a parent gives specific authority to a sister, family member, friend to, if, if they're personally bashful about delivering the baby, I think a third-party option ought to be available if there's a bashful parent. I just think the positive control, and I think, I think there's some concern within agencies about not having positive control of adult to adult.

675. 1:17:40

     Um, we're, we essentially are allowing a parent to get around their responsibility to care for a child. That's, that's, it's a big step in our, in our, in our law. We do that sp- for a very good reason. We've been doing this for 25 years. I just believe the positive control handoff from adult to adult is essential, and I think there's a way to be even more protective than what this bill contemplates by broadening the universe of locations and settings-

676. 1:18:09

     All right, so do you have some amendments-

677. 1:18:10

     Without the bill

678. 1:18:12

     ... or motions-

679. 1:18:12

     M-

680. 1:18:12

     ... or what do you got?

681. 1:18:13

     If we're moving at a s- at a, at a, at a lightning pace, I can put amendments, throw amendments on the table if we, if we're moving that fast. Uh, I, I just-

682. 1:18:24

     I think members want to be protective. This is a very difficult issue to oppose for people. But I think we'd do well to work through details that need to be worked through. I, I, I can make amendments on the fly with the best of them. I'm prepared to if that's the posture of the committee.

683. 1:18:39

     Mr. Chairman.

684. 1:18:40

     Yeah, no.

685. 1:18:40

     Senator.

686. 1:18:41

     Uh, Senator Robertson.

687. 1:18:44

     Um, Mr. Chairman, I don't think there's a more pro-life individual in this capital than I am, but I know we are meeting two times next week.

688. 1:18:52

     We are.

689. 1:18:53

     And if it is the will of the committee, I would make motion to table this so that we have time to review it, look at it. Um, the last thing I want this late hour is for Senator Setzler to be throwing amendments on the table. But I would, I would love to make a motion to table.

690. 1:19:07

     All right.

691. 1:19:07

     I'll second that.

692. 1:19:08

     We'll postpone consideration.

693. 1:19:09

     All right, so table or postpone consideration, that takes precedence over the do pass, so we've got to vote on that, uh, immediately. Do I have a second on that? Do you have a second here? Primary second. And, uh, any further discussion on that? So let me j- uh, I have some discussion on it. The, uh, if this passes or doesn't pass, uh, we're going to address this, uh, issue. Uh, we're gonna address this, uh, bill and, uh, whether we make changes or not, so let me just be clear on that.

694. 1:19:44

     Uh, so, um-

695. 1:19:45

     Discussion, Mr. Chairman

696. 1:19:46

     ... any further discussion?

697. 1:19:47

     Discussion.

698. 1:19:48

     Just, just for clarity, and to the author of the motion to table, m- if my understanding is correct, you would like to look at this further to see if there are additional provisions we could put in this to provide for more locations to surrender a baby-

699. 1:20:03

     I made that motion.

700. 1:20:04

     Excuse me. I thought-

701. 1:20:06

     No.

702. 1:20:07

     No, it was-

703. 1:20:07

     I didn't say it

704. 1:20:08

     ... s- it was your, uh-

705. 1:20:09

     Okay

706. 1:20:09

     ... person.

707. 1:20:10

     So you're, you're, you're making this motion so that we could potentially look at more or explore more options for mothers to surrender a child and maybe make this stronger, and also address the concerns that have been brought up.

708. 1:20:23

     Yes, I want to make it better.

709. 1:20:24

     Okay.

710. 1:20:24

     That's what I'd like to do.

711. 1:20:26

     Is there further discussion?

712. 1:20:29

     Senator Orrock?

713. 1:20:30

     Oh, thank you. Um, it- d- do, do we have the data or should, would we want to know the data about what's working so far? What, what, what is, what, what, what's been produced by the office?

714. 1:20:42

     I think we have partial data on that. But, but we can certainly tighten that up depending on how this goes.

715. 1:20:47

     Okay. Well, I mean, it's just, it's just, it's just more data.

716. 1:20:50

     It's a, it's a question. I got you. I understand.

717. 1:20:52

     One of the ...

718. 1:20:53

     Uh, Chairman Hufstetler.

719. 1:20:55

     To comment on that, I was, I was looking at the, uh ...

720. 1:21:00

     Uh, and this may be correct or incorrect, but- ... Senator Robertson's question- ... about how many happened in Georgia, it said 478 were dropped off in Georgia. 76 in 25 states, that's 3. So we're talking about 478 if Georgia was the same, going to 481. But then would any of those three have been dropped off anyway?

721. 1:21:20

     You know, I, I, you know-

722. 1:21:20

     So I, I think we ought to get those kind of statistics for the next meeting.

723. 1:21:23

     That's what ... Yeah.

724. 1:21:24

     Uh, uh, uh, depending on how this goes, we're gonna have more statistics I'm sure. Um, all right, so no further discussion, uh, let's vote on this, uh, to table or, uh, whatever the nomenclature. Let me make sure I got the nomenclature correct.

725. 1:21:41

     We have a table till the top, certainly.

726. 1:21:45

     Can he withdraw his motion-

727. 1:21:47

     Yeah

728. 1:21:47

     ... to do pass?

729. 1:21:48

     It's like the table, table till the top so-

730. 1:21:50

     We're gonna vote on the table first.

731. 1:21:51

     What?

732. 1:21:52

     Does he actually want to withdraw?

733. 1:21:54

     Excuse me. Do you-

734. 1:21:56

     You may, you may his motion.

735. 1:22:01

     He has tabled till the president.

736. 1:22:05

     So I just want to make sure we got the correct nomenclature. It is table. Table takes precedence, so that's why we're gonna vote on that. And, uh, all those in favor of tabling this until next week, uh, raise your right hand. Or left hand, I don't care. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. That's eight. All those not in favor? One, two, three, four. Eight to four. Uh, so the motion is tabled, but I want to be clear. We're gonna come back with some more statistics.

737. 1:22:37

     We're gonna answer everybody's questions. We're gonna follow up on the, uh, handing off to others. Uh, we're gonna follow up on the ambulance, whether that's a private service or not. So we may, may or may not. May want to just do public service.

738. 1:22:51

     Okay.

739. 1:22:51

     So w- we're gonna designate these areas. Remember we got safe haven. We got that sign. So that may, may be the way to do that. Um, thank you very much, Representative Cameron-

740. 1:23:00

     Thank you

741. 1:23:00

     ... and those who testified. And meeting is adjourned.