Georgia House Speaker Talks About Georgia's Budget Crisis; and a Big Week Ahead in the Legislature

By Denis O'Hayer

Atlanta, GA – On Monday, April 12th, state lawmakers return to the Capitol, with just a handful of working days left in this year's session; and nearly all of their major work unfinished.

The biggest stalemate remains a solution to the state's budget crisis. To close a shortfall estimated at over a billion dollars, the House passed a bill to charge hospitals a fee on the revenue they get from patients. The money would go to shore up the state's Medicaid program and hospitals that serve the poor.

Some opponents have called it "the bed tax." And the Senate changed the bill; adding a conditional tax cut for insurance companies on the premiums they collect.

In a conversation with W-A-B-E's Denis O'Hayer Republican House Speaker David Ralston denied the proposed hospital fee is a tax. He called it a partnership worked out with hospitals to solve the budget crisis. And he said he won't even let the House consider the Senate plan, with its added insurance tax cut.