Other Major Bills of Interest from 2019 Session

House Bill 31: Another key issue for AGC Georgia during this session was to get more funding for construction-related workforce development needs in the 2020 Georgia budget. We successfully lobbied for $500,000 for capital equipment needs in high school construction classrooms and another $220,000 to help fund CTAE construction teacher “Extended Day” stipends in the 2020 State Budget. CTAE teachers are critical to helping students within our schools' work-based learning programs. These funds were part of the 2020 State Appropriations Budget bill.

House Bill 186: A bill focusing on Certificate of Need was signed in to law with an effective date of July 1, 2019. Certificate of Need is an endorsement required by Georgia, and numerous other states, before approval of construction for new health-care facilities can take place. The bill’s original language was amended to include the final compromise provisions:

• Raising the capital expenditure requirement threshold from $2.5 million to $10 million and allowing “destination cancer hospitals” to apply to be a “general cancer hospital,” which would change the requirements for in-state and out-of-state patient numbers.

• Updates provisions in the Rural Hospital Organization Tax Credit regarding annual reporting and ranking hospitals in order of financial need.

• Establishes the Office of Health Strategy and Coordination to help state officials and experts to share information and develop innovative approaches to accessible care.

Senate Bill 131: This bill sought to give the state authority over Georgia’s “major airports,” which is any airport used for public commercial aviation and conducts more than 400,000 takeoffs and landings in a calendar year. The bill passed the Senate and House Rules amended it late in the session to create an oversight committee rather than plan a “takeover.” The House amendment also would have applied to more major airports in Georgia not having thresholds that only apply to HJAIA. An agreement wasn’t reached in the final hours of the session by the House and Senate on the amended bill. Instead, it is teed up for consideration during the 2020 session and could have impact on how companies do business with airports.

If the local government determines they cannot provide the regulatory functions within the new time frames, the applicant may then retain, at its own expense, a private provider to perform the plan review or inspection services. The local government regulatory fees will be reduced by 50 percent . The private provider cannot be an employee of, or otherwise affiliated with the business engaged in the construction project to be reviewed or inspected.

HB 493 also contains language allowing permit and inspection applicants of a project to immediately contract with licensed professional engineers or architects to conduct a plan review or inspection without having to wait on the governing authority, even if the government entity can provide the service within the 30-day time frame. Under this provision the applicant is obligated to pay a 100 percent convenience fee to the governmental entity.

IN ADDITION, HB 493:

• Allows local governments to pre-qualify companies that choose to provide permit reviews. (Prequalifications must be related to Plan Review and Inspections);

• Requires a local government finding a deficiency in a permit review to provide a written notice of the deficiency within 30 days to allow the private plan review professional to either correct the deficiency or dispute it;

• Requires a local government finding a deficiency in any inspection to provide a written notice of the deficiency within 2 days to allow the private plan review professional to either correct the deficiency or dispute it;

• Retains the ability of local governments to issue stop-work orders (when problems arise – such as life safety issues); and

• Keeps the granting of a certificate of occupancy with the local government, not the private provider. Participants involved in passing this bill, from both the private sector and local government, hope to begin working together over the next few months to develop industry best practices for implementation of this new law. ■