State Sen. Buddy Carter, R-Pooler, is co-sponsoring a trauma care funding proposal in an effort to maintain and expand Georgia’s trauma care center network. The amendment is also supported by area state representatives Ron Stephens, R-Savannah, and Al Williams, D-Midway, and Liberty Regional Medical Center CEO Scott Kroell.
If approved by the General Assembly, the senate resolution (SR 140) could appear on the November 2012 ballot, according to the Ballotpedia website. The resolution proposes setting aside $10 from each license tag fee collected into a trauma trust fund.
Along with Carter, state senators Greg Goggans, R-Douglas; Cecil Staton, R-Macon; Renee Unterman, R-Buford; Bill Jackson, R-Appling; and Bill Cowsert, R-Athens, are sponsoring the amendment.
Last year, Carter supported a similar measure, which called for an additional $10 fee on vehicle registrations to be dedicated solely to funding trauma care. According to Ballotpedia.org, the fee could have raised $80 million toward trauma care. The referendum failed to pass last November 53 percent to 47 percent.
“Based on the outcome it was evident many voters saw (last year’s funding proposal) as more of a tax increase and did not trust the government with more of their money which I can understand,” Goggans said in a news release. “But at the same time, many of those same voters recognize the urgent need of strengthening our trauma network and want an effective solution to address it. I’ve often said trauma care is expensive, but not having trauma care is more expensive because it costs lives. The $10 that will go solely to trauma funding equates to less than 3 cents a day for every person in the state. You cannot put a price on the value of a life, but 3 cents a day is a great deal for potentially life-saving trauma care.”
For more, pick up a copy of the March 5 edition of the News.