PDF: Resolution passed by the Senate Judiciary Committee: sr795
Senate Resolution 795
No law shall be passed:
* Restricts a person's freedom of choice of private health care systems or private plans of any type;
* Interferes with a person's or entity's right to pay directly for lawful medical services
* Imposes a penalty or fine, of any type, for choosing to obtain or decline health care coverage or for participation in any particular health care system or plan
Source: Georgia Legislature
By Ashley Speagle, Correspondent
ATLANTA -- Some Georgia Republicans want to take legal action against possible federal legislation on health care reform.
The state Senate Judiciary Committee passed three resolutions Monday that would question the constitutionality of federal health care legislation. The resolutions now go to the Senate floor for discussion.
Sen. Seth Harp, R-Midland, Ga., proposed an amendment to the state constitution that specifies federal health care mandates as unconstitutional.
"Obviously, this is in response to what's going on in Washington," said Sen. Harp, vice chairman of the Judiciary Committee.
If the entire Senate passes his resolution, voters will cast their ballots in November's general elections.
Some Georgia Democrats said the resolutions address federal laws that don't exist.
"The wording doesn't reflect the content currently in the health care bill in Congress," said Sen. Vincent Fort, D-Atlanta.
If federal health care reform now being debated in the U.S. House and Senate is passed, the Georgia Senate Budget Office estimates, expanded Medicaid coverage would cost Georgia an additional $1 billion per year.
Sen. Judson Hill, R-Marietta, Ga., proposed that the Georgia attorney general investigate federal health care legislation on terms of unconstitutionality.
Federal health care legislation may require everyone to pay for health insurance, and Sen. Hill suggested that Georgia collaborate with other states to take legal action against it.
He also wants the attorney general to investigate the so-called Nebraska Compromise, a deal made with Nebraska Sen. Ben Nelson that would exempt his state from paying for expanded Medicaid. Senate legislators believed the deal was necessary to get Sen. Nelson to vote in favor of health care reform.
Sen. Ronald Ramsey, D-Decatur, Ga., said investigating a bill that hasn't even passed spends unnecessary time and state resources, especially when the state is looking at a $1.5 to $3 billion budget deficit.
"It is a gross waste of time and resources to entertain this," Sen. Ramsey said.
Sen. Fort said that, even if federal health care does materialize, the value of greater health care access outweighs the costs. Besides, he said, federal mandates are not new.
"We require citizens to do a whole lot of things," Sen. Fort said. "We require people who drive to have insurance."
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