Effort To Change Georgia’s CON Laws Gains More Momentum

The Senate Transportation Committee voted Monday to allow trucks moving agricultural and forestry commodities to carry up to 88,000 pounds.

Jason Getz / Associated Press file

Following a similar move by a House panel, a Georgia Senate study committee has proposed some major changes in the state’s health care regulatory structure known as certificate of need (CON).

The panel, chaired by state Sen. Ben Watson, R-Savannah, a physician, has formulated draft legislation that could ease restrictions involving Cancer Treatment Centers of America, which has a hospital in Newnan, and clear a path for a planned sports medicine center in Alpharetta.

The proposed Senate revisions take ‘‘a more moderate approach’’ to CON reform than the House plan, Watson said at a committee hearing Friday. The goal, he said, is deregulation – to inject more competition into health care services.