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Senate Insurance and Labor Committee

Senate Insurance and Labor Committee, March 19, 2026

2025-2026 Regular Session · MEZZ 1 · 46 min

This is a machine transcript of the General Assembly's video, made by a speech-recognition model. It is not an official record and can mishear words, names, and numbers. Speakers are not identified. The video is the record: every timestamp links to the moment it plays.

Copy for LLM, View as markdown, and Send to AI use the Markdown version: the summaries Georgia Commons wrote, under headings that name them, then the whole transcript with its times. View raw is the transcript alone.

The video is the General Assembly's, played from its Vimeo channel. Select any time below to play that moment. Watch on the General Assembly's Vimeo channel · Agenda

Summary

Written by an AI model (gpt-6.1-sol) from the transcript. It is not part of the record, and the video is what was said.

The committee unanimously approved three bills: a substitute for HB 323 concerning providers’ access to insurance payment information, HB 1015 raising funding limits for the Georgia Self-Insurers Guaranty Trust Fund, and a substitute for HB 87 concerning disclosure of insurance premium taxes and deductibles. During discussion of HB 87, a county government representative described differences in county and city reporting requirements for premium-tax revenue, prompting a member to suggest further review. The chair also announced that HB 250 would be the first bill considered at the next meeting.

Bills discussed (4)

Each account covers the stretch of the meeting it names. The bill's number is said in that stretch, unless it was the only bill on a committee's agenda.

HB 323. Bridging the Gap for ALS and Chronic Kidney Disease Act of 2025; enact

From 0:21:17 · turns 6 to 36

The sponsor presented a substitute that would let providers request disclosure of insurance payments for patients they treat. The sponsor said the goal was to ensure that providers and patients receive matching explanations of benefits, noting that those statements sometimes differ. The chair asked whether uncertainty about carrier payments made it difficult for providers to determine what to bill patients or write off, and the sponsor agreed. The sponsor also said the insurance commissioner’s office was comfortable with the proposal. The committee unanimously approved the substitute.

HB 1015. Self-insurers Guaranty Trust Fund; revise certain funded levels

From 0:23:53 · turns 44 to 156

The Senate presenter said the bill would raise the Georgia Self-Insurers Guaranty Trust Fund’s cap from $15 million to $25 million and raise the threshold allowing member assessments from $5 million to $10 million. The presenter described the fund as protection for workers whose self-insured employers become bankrupt. A fund representative emphasized that the money comes from self-insured employers, not the state. The fund’s executive director said it had about 100 active members and roughly $15 million. Asked whether members would immediately have to supply another $10 million, the executive director said annual assessments would remain unchanged and the higher cap would allow continued collections and investment growth. In response to questions about bankruptcies and reserve adequacy, the executive director said employer security covers most current claims, but a large employer’s failure could threaten the reserve if its security proved insufficient. The executive director also confirmed annual outside review of the fund’s adequacy. The committee unanimously approved the bill.

HB 87. Insurance; require health benefit policy coverage for medically necessary orthotic and prosthetic devices and their materials and components

From 0:34:57 · turns 163 to 209

The presenter explained that the substitute replaced the original prosthetic-coverage proposal with insurance disclosure requirements. The presenter said the lieutenant governor’s office intended to address prosthetic funding another way. The substitute would require premiums to identify state and county premium taxes and show percentage-based wind and hail deductibles as dollar amounts. The presenter said consumers may mistake a percentage of the home’s insured value for a percentage of the claim, citing a 1% deductible on a $2 million home that meant $20,000 out of pocket. A witness for the Association of County Commissioners of Georgia said cities also collect premium taxes and asked that they be considered. The witness said counties must report how the money is spent and may use it only for specified services or property-tax relief, while cities do not face the same reporting requirements. Asked why the requirements differ, the witness said they did not know. A committee member said residents should have comparable access to city spending information and suggested addressing the difference later. No amendment was offered, and the committee unanimously approved the substitute.

HB 250. Better Small Business Employee Benefits Act; enact

From 0:44:36 · turn 217

The chair announced that the next meeting would begin with this bill, with interested parties present to discuss its advantages and disadvantages. No presentation, debate or vote on the bill occurred at this meeting.

Transcript

219 turns. Select a time to play that moment of the video.

  1. 0:19:57

    Art, we're grateful for everyone here. And, uh, this is, uh, Senate Committee for Insurance and Labor, and, uh, thanks for being here on, uh, this day as we have a lot of things going on. Uh, Senator Roberts, if you would, uh, bless this time we have. I'm gonna put you as number three.

  2. 0:20:21

    Yes, sir.

  3. 0:20:21

    And I appreciate it. Thank you.

  4. 0:20:23

    Thank you.

  5. 0:20:26

    If you'd be so kind as to bow your head with me. Dear Heavenly Father, we come before you today, Lord God, as your humble servant, Lord God, understanding our weaknesses and depending on you to make us stronger. We ask, Lord God, as we do the work that we're here to do, that we focus on you, Lord God, never on ourselves, as we move things forward and stop things from moving forward. Lord God, please keep us humble, keep us kind, Lord God, and never let us lose our compassion. We ask these things in the name of your Son, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

  6. 0:20:55

    Amen.

  7. 0:20:55

    Thank you very much. Uh, we've got some items here, and we'll make some clarifications as we go 'cause some of the numbers are changed and the faces are changed. From that standpoint, I'm gonna let, um, Se- a representative, I almost gave her a senatorship, but I'm gonna give her a representative, Mathiak, uh, to come forward on HB 323, and then that's, uh, LC 46-1536S. Is that correct?

  8. 0:21:22

    46. Yes. You said 36.

  9. 0:21:23

    Did I say 36?

  10. 0:21:25

    Yeah.

  11. 0:21:26

    46-1536S. Is that correct?

  12. 0:21:31

    Yes.

  13. 0:21:31

    Okay, good. We got that. And Ms. Karen, uh, uh, or Representative Karen, I call her Karen 'cause she's my friend, and, uh, uh, always, uh, she al- she's always keeping people in adjustment, right?

  14. 0:21:44

    Yes, sir.

  15. 0:21:45

    All right.

  16. 0:21:45

    Yes, sir. Well, you're my senator, too, so sometimes... Well, anyways.

  17. 0:21:51

    Okay.

  18. 0:21:52

    Okay. So today, w- and you do have the right numbers. Um, this is a substitute, a house bill substitute. Um, this is a transparency and accountability bill. Um, w- it, it came through house insurance. Chairman Lumsden had me talk to the insurance, um, commissioner. They are, they are fine with this bill. Um, what it does is it gives the provider the ability to ask for the disclosure of payments for whoever they may be treating.

  19. 0:22:25

    So it's, it's kind of a help for the providers to make sure that what the patient is getting is the same thing that the provider's getting in an explanation of benefits. And that's the s- that's what this bill does.

  20. 0:22:40

    This bill passed last year.

  21. 0:22:41

    Yes, sir.

  22. 0:22:42

    Its content did not make, uh, out of rules is what I remember. Am I correct?

  23. 0:22:46

    Yes, sir.

  24. 0:22:47

    And the issue really for you is more that you don't know what the carrier has paid, so you don't know how to write off or bill the, the clientele. Is that correct?

  25. 0:22:57

    Yes, sir. What we're finding is sometimes those EOBs don't match up.

  26. 0:23:01

    Okay. I have a question from, uh, Senator Doctor.

  27. 0:23:06

    N- not, not a question. A motion-

  28. 0:23:08

    A motion

  29. 0:23:08

    ... when you're ready.

  30. 0:23:10

    I like the motion better than the question.

  31. 0:23:12

    Okay. Uh, I move due pass on House Bill 323, LC461536S.

  32. 0:23:21

    Second? We have a second. Any more questions? Hmm, none. Okay. All in favor, raise your hand. Since it was unanimous, there'll be no opposition.

  33. 0:23:33

    Thank you so much.

  34. 0:23:34

    You're welcome.

  35. 0:23:35

    I appreciate it.

  36. 0:23:35

    Thank you.

  37. 0:23:36

    Thank you.

  38. 0:23:37

    All right. Next bill, uh, you wanna handle just from here?

  39. 0:23:42

    That'd be great.

  40. 0:23:43

    That'd be great if you can.

  41. 0:23:44

    Thank you, Mr. Chair.

  42. 0:23:44

    And if you wanna pull these two guys up if you need to, feel free to pull them up.

  43. 0:23:48

    Yeah. If you guys wanna just-

  44. 0:23:50

    Yes

  45. 0:23:50

    ... sit right there. Um, this is House Bill 1015, and Representative Werkheiser, it's his bill, but he couldn't be here today, and I'm carrying it on the Senate side. So that's why I'm presenting it. The LC is 520978. And this bill is brought on behalf of the Georgia Self-Insurers Guarantee Trust Fund in the world of workers' comp, which is a very specific part of the law.

  46. 0:24:23

    All the employers with three or more employees in Georgia are required to cover their employees with workers' comp insurance, and that can be done with a traditional workers' comp insurance policy or through a group self-insurance fund or through a qualified self-insurer. If it's the latter, a self-insured employer must be a member of the Georgia Self-Insurers Guarantee Trust Fund to protect employees in the event of a bankruptcy. Employees of that member would be covered by the trust.

  47. 0:24:55

    The statutory cap now for the fund is 15 million. They're at the cap, and the board of the fund voted unanimously to seek a raise to 25 million. Hence, this bill in line, um, 12 and 13 changes that number. And a second provision allows the board to assess its members if the fund drops below 10 million, which previously, which currently is five million, and that change is on line 29.

  48. 0:25:31

    Hmm.

  49. 0:25:31

    And that is the bill. There's was no opposition in the House. No one has, uh, come out of the woodwork against the bill. And so this protects our self-insured system. And if there are any questions that I can't answer, I'll ask my experts here at the witness table.

  50. 0:25:48

    Would, would y'all like to comment on it? Um, I know she has a great summary, but since, and ex- Who you are-

  51. 0:25:56

    You do

  52. 0:25:56

    ... uh, even though I know who you are-

  53. 0:25:58

    You do

  54. 0:25:58

    ... and introduce your guest as well.

  55. 0:26:00

    So I'm Bobby Potter, and I'm here today on behalf of the Guaranteed Trust Fund. This, this is Matt Nanninga, who is the Executive Director of the Guaranteed Trust Fund. And this has been in, this fund has been in existence for 35, 38 years-

  56. 0:26:14

    Yeah

  57. 0:26:14

    ... or thereabout. Uh, Senator Kirkpatrick has outlined exactly what this is about. Um, there is a statutory cap. It needs, it needs to be raised. And rather than do away with the cap, it just, it made more sense just to move the number. Generally, you all will feel better about that, so the number has been moved from 15 to 25. And if, if, if, if, if their reserves go below now 5 million, now 10 million out of five it, it, uh, they could assess their-

  58. 0:26:46

    Yes

  59. 0:26:46

    ... own members. One thing to just point out, as we did with the chairman before, this is not state money. This is money of, uh, the self-insureds in this state. And Matt, you may wanna add a little as to what, what the number is and just who, who these folks are that do this.

  60. 0:27:02

    Sure. Uh, thank you, and thank you all. Thank you, you all. Um, the number, uh, as we've stated, is somewhere around $15 million. Um, we have currently about 100 active self-insured members in the state. They pay a very modest assessment per year, which helps generate the revenue to run the fund, and then increase the... This f- this pool of money is essentially the safety net where if a self-insured entity goes bankrupt, it is in place to make sure that the self-insured employ- the employees of that self-insured aren't left with nothing, 'cause there is nothing else for them.

  61. 0:27:38

    So this pool of money is, you know, sacred, if you will. And it's the, it's the last safety net for these folks, uh, for benefits if, if that entity is, becomes, uh, bankrupt or insolvent.

  62. 0:27:51

    This is not subject to the insolvency pool of the s- state. Am I correct?

  63. 0:27:55

    Correct. Nothing to do with the insolvency pool, nothing to do with the Subsequent Injury Trust Fund. Uh, the insolvency pool is for insurers.

  64. 0:28:03

    Right.

  65. 0:28:03

    This is for self-insurers.

  66. 0:28:05

    Right. Okay. Very good. Very good. Um, did you have a question or did, uh, your light was on, Senator Roberts?

  67. 0:28:12

    No, I, I thought I did, but-

  68. 0:28:14

    Oh

  69. 0:28:14

    ... I didn't.

  70. 0:28:14

    Okay. Okay. In understanding that this is a self-insured, these are larger companies. Y'all are buying your own reinsurance and things of that nature, so you're not subject, that's why you're not subject to the, um, um, insolvency pool from that standpoint.

  71. 0:28:27

    Correct.

  72. 0:28:27

    And you're just raising limits. And by statute, by the State of Georgia, you need to go through us in order to get that limit changed.

  73. 0:28:34

    Correct.

  74. 0:28:34

    When was the last time it was changed, just curious?

  75. 0:28:37

    It was before I became the administrator. Uh, I'm guessing it was, I think 10 years ago.

  76. 0:28:44

    Okay.

  77. 0:28:45

    And it, when it was first started, I believe the reason there was some, it was very, it's been raised several times as we've gone along s- since, since its existence. But I, I'm sorry, I don't have the last time it was raised.

  78. 0:28:56

    Okay. We got Senator Cowsert.

  79. 0:28:58

    Yes. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. So if you only have 100 members and you're about to raise another 10 million, that's 100,000 a piece.

  80. 0:29:06

    Yes. No, we're not, to clarify, we're not raising it. We're not gonna make them all pay to raise it to 25 million.

  81. 0:29:12

    Okay.

  82. 0:29:12

    Right now we've been, the money that's in there has increased. Uh, it's invested in Treasuries, and so that pool of money is there, and it's been increasing. If it hits the $15 million cap, which w- is about what we're at-

  83. 0:29:24

    Okay

  84. 0:29:24

    ... if a member said, "Hey, you can't assess us anymore," that could happen where we'd lose the ability to raise money to run the fund and increase the pool of money that we have as a safety net. Uh, there was a case in Alabama where a self-insured, uh, their, their self-insured pool decided they were no longer going to assess. They had a massive bankruptcy. They were left way underwater, and then had to assess all their members hundreds of thousands of dollars. Uh, we're hoping to never have to do that and keep a modest yearly assessment, uh, in place so that they can, we can operate the fund and then also continue to grow the fund to help protect those members.

  85. 0:30:03

    So you wanna be able to keep assessing them, and you're about to s- lose that ability because you've already hit the cap.

  86. 0:30:10

    Correct.

  87. 0:30:10

    That's right.

  88. 0:30:11

    Okay. But that doesn't mean you're gonna necessarily raise that-

  89. 0:30:14

    We're not changing-

  90. 0:30:15

    ... pot up to f- 25 million.

  91. 0:30:17

    Yeah. We're not changing anything as far as the-

  92. 0:30:20

    Yeah

  93. 0:30:20

    ... yearly assessments. It's gonna be the same price for every member, uh, currently. Um, this just gives us the legal authority to do it.

  94. 0:30:28

    Mm.

  95. 0:30:28

    If someone called us on it, they, we, they would say, "Well, we're not paying the assessments anymore. You can't assess us." Then we, we don't have-

  96. 0:30:34

    Yeah

  97. 0:30:34

    ... the legal authority to do it.

  98. 0:30:36

    Am I correct in this, is that each one of your members signs an indemnity agree- or do they sign an indemnity agreement that you can assess them, and is their, their entire balance sheet really is, is subject to you, or is that a specific amount?

  99. 0:30:51

    They, they have their own, each member ha- is siloed, if you will-

  100. 0:30:56

    Right

  101. 0:30:56

    ... with their own security agreement. We either hold a letter of credit or a surety bond for each member. If, if they do go bankrupt, we pull that letter of credit. We then pay their claims. If in that process we're off or they're under-secured, we then have to use this pool of money for the last safety net protection for the employee.

  102. 0:31:17

    Okay.

  103. 0:31:17

    Um-

  104. 0:31:17

    You are similar to a mutual insurance company in its purest form.

  105. 0:31:22

    Uh-

  106. 0:31:22

    You're all, y- if, if their, if, as I understand what you said, if the, what they put up as security does not meet the obligations that they have, you then can assess your members for the differential. Is that right?

  107. 0:31:35

    Well, w- we would like to not, and we would use this, this fund.

  108. 0:31:39

    You'd use this fund.

  109. 0:31:40

    Yeah.

  110. 0:31:40

    Okay.

  111. 0:31:41

    Yeah.

  112. 0:31:41

    Okay. Very good. Okay. Uh, Senator-

  113. 0:31:46

    Yeah. Um, uh, thank you, Mr. Chairman.

  114. 0:31:49

    Josh-

  115. 0:31:49

    Just out, out of curiosity, just, um, have you had member bankruptcies?

  116. 0:31:55

    Oh, yeah. Um, we have, I would say we average one- Every couple of years.

  117. 0:32:01

    Okay.

  118. 0:32:02

    Uh, some years we've had more. The last one we had was, uh, collectively known as Yellow Freight, which was USF Holland-

  119. 0:32:09

    Okay

  120. 0:32:09

    ... and, uh, Roadways.

  121. 0:32:11

    What did that cost you?

  122. 0:32:14

    It hasn't cost us anything yet. They were properly secured.

  123. 0:32:17

    Okay.

  124. 0:32:17

    Um, you know-

  125. 0:32:18

    Just-

  126. 0:32:18

    ... the, the system works. Uh, it looks like we're gonna come in. We've got maybe eight to 10 claims left, and, you know, we're making sure they have their benefits. We're resolving them as we can. I think we'll be about what we had... We should be about what we had in security. Uh, we have been underwater, you know, years ago. There were some bad bankruptcies where we weren't given the proper information, and we ended up having to use it, uh, to pay those benefits. But of the bankruptcies on the claims we're administering right now, I think only 2 of maybe 10 or so that we have left, uh, are using the safety net money.

  127. 0:32:56

    Most of it is out of the security that we, we, uh, make them post.

  128. 0:33:01

    So your 15 million is way more than adequate.

  129. 0:33:04

    Well, no, not necessarily-

  130. 0:33:07

    Well-

  131. 0:33:07

    ... because we've got some very large self-insurers in the state. Um-

  132. 0:33:12

    Right

  133. 0:33:12

    ... I, I won't name names, but, uh, we're holding significant amount of security. If that is wrong or if we're under-secured in any event, there's a couple of those entities that could threaten, uh, this 15 million probably pretty quickly. It'd be some years because there'd be the, the paying of benefits-

  134. 0:33:31

    Mm-hmm

  135. 0:33:31

    ... as we go. But, uh, you know, we're holding 50-plus million for some of our, uh, state-

  136. 0:33:37

    So you have the adequacy of the fund examined by third party-

  137. 0:33:42

    Yes, sir

  138. 0:33:42

    ... annually?

  139. 0:33:43

    Mm-hmm.

  140. 0:33:43

    Okay. Thank you.

  141. 0:33:45

    Okay.

  142. 0:33:46

    Very good. All right. Everybody, questions? Will of the committee?

  143. 0:33:55

    Move to pass.

  144. 0:33:56

    Move to be pass from, uh, Senator Hodges. Got a second?

  145. 0:33:59

    Second.

  146. 0:34:00

    Second from, uh, Senator Cowsert. Any other questions? Move it up. All in favor raise your hand. All right. It's unanimous, and so there's no need for no. Thank y'all, appreciate that.

  147. 0:34:11

    Thank you.

  148. 0:34:11

    Thank you, Kay, for doing that portion. Thank you for being here.

  149. 0:34:13

    He will-

  150. 0:34:14

    Appreciate you

  151. 0:34:14

    ... carry it on the floor.

  152. 0:34:15

    Thank you so much, committee.

  153. 0:34:16

    Excuse me?

  154. 0:34:17

    And Senator Kirkpatrick will carry it on the floor.

  155. 0:34:21

    Okay. Very good.

  156. 0:34:22

    Thank you very much.

  157. 0:34:23

    Thank you. We appreciate that.

  158. 0:34:27

    Um, I don't know. I'll ask that question, uh, from that standpoint.

  159. 0:34:33

    You, you want to, you want to swap chairs or how you want to do it?

  160. 0:34:37

    Sure.

  161. 0:34:37

    Or I can do it from here any way y'all wanted it.

  162. 0:34:39

    Um, one of them. You want to copy this? Yeah.

  163. 0:34:43

    Okay. We'll do it that way.

  164. 0:34:51

    All right. Okay. Our last bill for the day is House Bill 87. And do you have LC 521097S, Mr. Chair?

  165. 0:35:09

    No, I picked up the last one we did that I had there. No, I had, um...

  166. 0:35:17

    There you go.

  167. 0:35:18

    Thank you.

  168. 0:35:22

    It's a sub.

  169. 0:35:23

    Yes. And I wanna, I wanna put some clarity on it. The bill that we took, uh, as HB 87 was a, a prosthetic, uh, bill that, uh, is a, is a good bill, and we are gonna fund that in a different way. I've worked with the lieutenant governor's office, and they said they did not want it to go through the insurance commi-, uh, the committee, that they were gonna handle that in another way because I was supportive of that. And I said I would not strip a bill like that anyhow from that standpoint, so I want to make that clear, uh, from that standpoint. Um, this is a bill that I, I had worked on last year, and it's a pretty simple bill.

  170. 0:35:57

    Uh, any of you that get your insurance premiums, it does not break out the state income ta- or the state premium tax nor the county tax that you pay. So when you get your homeowner's premium for $1,000, it does not say, "This much goes to the state," or, "This much goes to the county." And I really think from a transparency standpoint as we look at things, we ought to know what's being paid through that, that my premiums are X, but my taxes, which are going to the state, are there, plus my county is also receiving a portion of that.

  171. 0:36:30

    The second part of the bill has to do with deductibles, and you will look at a policy, and it will say the deductible is, let's say, $5,000. But what's happening along the coast, which, uh, Senator Hodges and s- some others live, is that there it will be a separate deductible for wind and hail. And what I, I, the bill, uh, r- request is that in lieu of a percentage, it shows the dollar amount that's present. So for instance, I have a, a, a situation where it, both p- both carriers had a $5,000 deductible.

  172. 0:37:02

    But one carrier had a 1% wind and hail deductible, which meant on a $2 million home, that was a $20,000 deductible. And so the, and the, and the policyholder was not aware of that. And so I think to put that into a dollar amount, his first comment to me was, "Well, that's just 1% of the claim." And I said, "No, that's not. That's 1% of the total value that's there." So I think just from a consumer standpoint, that makes good sense. If you're on the coast or in places, usually you have three policies.

  173. 0:37:33

    You'll have a flood, you'll have a wind, and you'll have a, a stand- the standard homeowner's policy. But what's happening is it, they're taking the standard policies even and putting a separate wind and hail deductible, it can be, as a percentage. And I just think in the, in the, um, benefits to the clien- to the clientele is they need to be able to know what's gonna be out of pocket when they spend that money, when they have a claim, especially if it's wind and hail, that that needs to be a dollar amount rather than the percentage as far as that portion.

  174. 0:38:03

    So that's really the only two things. This is really a transparency bill. As we see, insurance is a major... Discussion of everything that we do, um, you know, m- my hopes, and I'll just, I'll, I'll, I'll, I'll state my hopes is that maybe one day we will get rid of the, uh, state tax that goes on here, and that'd be a r- way that we could reduce insurance premiums, uh, from that standpoint, 'cause we're giving back some money. That would benefit anybody that had insurance. I don't know. But I think, first of all, our policyholders need to know what that money is as I know that I'm paying a tax on my premium.

  175. 0:38:36

    'Cause I'll be honest with you, I've talked to many, many clients, and they go, "What tax are you talking about?" Because it's not revealed, and I think that's something that's beneficial.

  176. 0:38:47

    Thank you very much. Any questions from the committee? I don't think there's anyone signed up to speak.

  177. 0:38:56

    There's me.

  178. 0:38:58

    Oh.

  179. 0:38:58

    May I? I apologize. I've not seen the sub, but we did talk about this earlier.

  180. 0:39:01

    Come on in.

  181. 0:39:02

    Come on up.

  182. 0:39:04

    If you disagree with me, w- we'll deal with it. Okay.

  183. 0:39:11

    Madam Chair, members of the committee, I'm Todd Edwards with the Association of County Commissioners of Georgia. Uh, we did speak briefly in the hallway this morning. I appreciate you stating that. Uh, I have not seen the sub. I... The counties were only mentioned in the testimony. I did wanna note that the, uh, both counties and cities collect insurance premium taxes, uh, for 1%. Up to 1% on insurance, uh, life insurance policies, up to 2.5% on others. So I would just ask for y'all's consideration if it were to apply to counties. And we love our cities. I'm not trying to get 'em back, but just wanna make y'all aware that they, too, collect it along with the state.

  184. 0:39:45

    We are restricted on what we spend as counties. The, uh, premium tax is on, uh, police, fire, solid waste collection, s- street, sidewalks, flood protection, and property tax relief. We do report this each and every year to the state. We do as counties. Cities do not, but they do, uh, they are included in collecting this tax. I would just ask for y'all's consideration, uh, there.

  185. 0:40:06

    Can you tell them where they can find that? We talked about that today, uh, 'cause we didn't deal with that section that we had looked at previously. But you said that that could be pulled from the county minutes. Is that what I, I remember?

  186. 0:40:18

    Yeah. On the, the budget, uh, each year, and I don't have that document, uh, we had the... Counties are required to report, and give me just one moment, in their annual budgets how they are spending their insurance pr-, uh, premium tax proceeds under the, one of those areas. And a lot of them that have fire or provide fire service, it would pretty much consume the entire amount.

  187. 0:40:38

    Right.

  188. 0:40:38

    But they do have to report that. So there, there are a lot of, unlike other taxes, there are a lot of conditions on counties with insurance premium taxes, uh, unlike our, our city partners.

  189. 0:40:51

    Okay. Questions from the committee? Senator Robertson.

  190. 0:40:55

    Thank you, Madam Chair. Um, so Todd, why aren't our cities required to report if our counties are?

  191. 0:41:04

    I do not know the answer to that. That was, uh, put into statute before my tenure with ACCG.

  192. 0:41:10

    Okay. And what, what is the purpose behind the counties reporting, do you, do you believe, besides it being in statute?

  193. 0:41:20

    I imagine th- th- that when the law was written, and again, this is purely speculative, they wanted to, uh, ensure that the, uh, transparency. I've heard that mentioned at least five or six times different, at different times today throughout testimony by others, um, to know where that money was going for. I mean, I, I think maybe perhaps, I, I don't believe there's, uh, income, sales, or other taxes put on them, so they, the insurance premium tax. And to a lot of extent we could explain police and fire. You know, perhaps that could, uh, street, sidewalks, lower insurance, uh, rates.

  194. 0:41:53

    There's some connection there I, I think, or property tax relief. Just, uh, I, I'm guessing transparency, accountability for counties, sir.

  195. 0:42:03

    Thank you. And yeah, I'm just a little concerned that we're asking the counties to be transparent and we're not asking the municipalities for the same transparency. Uh, because if the citizens have the ability to get a copy of the budget and see where the county's spending this money, then I think the, in a, in, in a municipality, they should have the same ability to look at the city budget to see where that fund, those funds are going also. So, um, that's something we may need to, uh, address, um, at some point.

  196. 0:42:38

    But that is very concerning. But I do appreciate your, uh, bringing this to-

  197. 0:42:42

    And that wasn't my in- intent, obviously, to come up here. But I mean, with the, with the bill that's in front of you, it would... I was just bringing it to y'all's attention in case you were not aware.

  198. 0:42:50

    Yeah, no, I didn't see that as your intent.

  199. 0:42:51

    Yes, sir.

  200. 0:42:52

    I just, it's something that came out of the testimony that has piqued my curiosity.

  201. 0:42:56

    Yes, sir.

  202. 0:42:57

    And that was my only reason for asking. I do appreciate that.

  203. 0:42:59

    Good observation. And really what I say is that this is, this is really transparency where we know it, and it would give somebody the, what you, just what you said. Uh, what's, what's my county doing with it or what's my city doing with it? And it's, uh, something we, we can look at.

  204. 0:43:15

    Other questions from the committee? Thank you, Mr. Edwards.

  205. 0:43:20

    Thank you, Madam Chair.

  206. 0:43:21

    Thank you.

  207. 0:43:23

    I can't remember how to log. Okay.

  208. 0:43:31

    Okay, what's the will of the committee?

  209. 0:43:37

    Do pass.

  210. 0:43:39

    Do pass. Second. Okay, any further discussion? Any amendments needed? Okay, all in favor raise your hand. You can vote for your bill since you're not chairing. Yeah. Okay. It's unanimous. Thank you.

  211. 0:43:56

    Okay.

  212. 0:43:56

    You can have your seat back.

  213. 0:43:57

    I'll keep it.

  214. 0:43:58

    Unless, um, as far as I'm concerned, we're adjourned.

  215. 0:44:02

    Oh, I'm sorry. You're the chair, so we can-

  216. 0:44:04

    Yeah. I'll see you later.

  217. 0:44:11

    Thank you, Ms. Kay. The, uh, we'll, we'll dismiss. Our next meeting is, uh, set up for Tuesday, 3:00. And, uh, we'll see how that... There's a lot of things- Don't pay attention to the time. What's that? So- Don't pay attention to the time. Don't, don't pay any attention to the ti- time. That's right.

  218. 0:44:27

    Yeah. I do want to point out that, that, that the meeting will start at 6:00 AM. I'll let, uh, Chairman Harbison know. And, um, House Bill 250 is what we will start with, with the parties there to tell us the good, the bad, and the ugly.

  219. 0:44:44

    Okay. Very good. Thank you, and you're dismissed.

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