A new year began Saturday, and as we usher in 2022, we also usher in new laws. One new law means a tax break for Georgians, another means a tax break for teachers who will be working in underperforming schools, and still others will have an impact in the court system – including a pay raise for some judges.
House Bill 593 raises the amount of income a person needs to make before they have to pay state taxes. The standard for individuals will go from $4,600 to $5,400, and for couples filing jointly, it’s going from $6,000 to $7,100.
According to reports from the Associated Press, the tax cut will save individual tax filers up to $43 a year, and married couples filing jointly up to $63. However, Georgians may not notice it until 2023, when they file income tax returns for 2022. AP also reported that the tax cut will reduce Georgia’s overall income tax collections by an estimated $140 million.
House Bill 32 creates incentives for teachers who are committed to work in underperforming and rural schools across the state, or those who teach in high-need areas. The bill provides a $3,000 tax credit that can be carried forward into future years if their state income tax liability is less than $3,000. This tax credit will be effective for five years.
However, there are certain qualifications for eligibility. The state Department of Education is expected to create a list of qualifying schools, and each chosen school has to agree to participate and include their teachers.
House Bill 458 will require doctors, the state medical board, and medical students to learn more about boundaries and sexual assault. Under this new law, medical providers will be required to undergo training and education which is designed to support a greater understanding of sexual misconduct, sexual boundaries, and impacts of trauma and implicit bias.
The legislation also allows the State Medical Board to refuse a license or to discipline an individual who has “pleaded guilty to committing a sexual assault on a patient” or “been found guilty by a court of law of committing a sexual assault on a patient.”
Senate Bill 28 will allow juvenile courts to consider more evidence, including hearsay witnesses, to determine the best interest of a child, and requires juvenile court intake officers to get annual training.
Senate Bill 80, called the “Ensuring Transparency in Prior Authorization Act,” will set new standards for how health insurers decide in advance on whether to pay for medical procedures and says prior authorization isn’t allowed for emergency services or emergency ambulance transport. Insurers must decide on authorizing urgent services within 72 hours after a claim is submitted. For other services, they will have 15 days to decide on claims in 2022, and in 2023 that falls to seven days. The law also requires insurers to publish their prior authorization requirements and to give the clinical reason a service is being denied.
House Bill 488 raises pay for chief magistrates, judges in each county who handle evictions, county ordinance violations, bad check cases, warrants and some preliminary hearings. According to the new law, the chief magistrate in the state’s least populous counties will make at least $36,288 up from $29,832 depending on the county’s population. In four counties with more than 500,000 people, judges will make at least $133,107, up from $109,426. The bill also provides pay raises for part-time judges and probate judges who also handle magistrate judge duties.
