Advocacy
Homefront Initiative—Georgia
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- Georgia Brain and Spinal Injury Trust Fund
- Senate Bill 110 created the Georgia Brain and Spinal Injury Trust Fund during the 1998 General Assembly. Senator Charles Walker of Augusta was the author of the law. The purpose of the legislation was to help offset the high costs of needed services for persons with traumatic brain injuries or spinal cord injuries through the addition of a 10% surcharge on all DUI fines beginning January 1, 1999. The Trust Fund began receiving funds from the various courts throughout the state in April 1999. Funds are collected on monthly basis and deposited with the Treasury Department in a separate Brain and Spinal Injury Trust Fund account.
A fifteen-member Commission appointed by the Governor is charged with administering the Trust Fund. The Commission is made up of four individuals or family members with traumatic brain injury, four individuals or family members with spinal cord injury, as well as representatives of the medical professions and relevant state agencies. The Commission is charged with establishing rules and regulations for the fund, overseeing its operation and disbursement of the funds. The fines are assessed and collected by the clerk or court officer charged with collecting moneys arising from violations for driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol.
- Updates and Revises TBI Registry
- The Senate has introduced S.B. 208 to amend the statutes relating to treatment and rehabilitation of individuals with brain and spinal cord injuries, so as to create a state-wide central registry for traumatic brain and spinal cord injuries; to change certain definitions; and to require that certain information relating to brain or spinal cord injuries be reported to the Brain and Spinal Injury Trust Fund Commission. The bill replaces the term head injury with brain injury or traumatic brain injury.
- Medicaid Waiver Resolution
- Legislators have introduced H.R. 217 and S.R. 78 urging the Federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to approve the waivers requested by Georgia for the Mental Retardation Waiver Program and the Community Care Service Program to further expand Georgia's self-directed care initiative.
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