G-CAPP Policy and Advocacy News


2008 Georgia General Assembly Update
This is the final week of the 2008 session of the Georgia General Assembly, and the House and Senate must agree on the FY 2009 budget.

Budget Highlights

The House and Senate versions of the 2009 budget include $1.1 million to allow foster youth to receive Medicaid until the age of 21, even if they do not opt to stay under the state’s supervision. Currently at age 18, foster youth are automatically dropped from Medicaid coverage, and in Georgia approximately 400 youth aging out of foster care each year are without basic health insurance.

The Senate version of the budget includes $560,000 for a Regional Assessment Center, to be used instead of detention facilities, where the child victims of commercial sexual exploitation can undergo a thorough assessment of their needs before being referred to longer-term placement for treatment. The House version of the 2009 budget does not contain new funding for the center.

The Senate version also adds $17.2 million in TANF funds to be used for child care subsidies for low-income families. The original proposed FY 2009 budget eliminated $29.7 million in child care services dollars.

The two chambers continue to debate tax reform proposals, including elimination of the car tag tax and reduction of state income tax rates. For full analysis of how these bills would impact the state’s budget in the future see the Georgia Budget and Policy Institute’s web site.

TAKE ACTION TODAY
Contact your legislators to voice your opinion about these and other issues before the Georgia General Assembly. For more information on the bills and issues G-CAPP is tracking during the current session of the Georgia General Assembly, click here.

Teens and Older Partners
A new study from Child Trends finds that teenage girls who have sex with older partners are at greater risk of both acquiring an STD and having a non-marital birth by the time they are young adults, when compared to females with similar-age partners. In addition, the combination of having sex at a young age with an older partner is linked to an especially high risk of acquiring an STD for girls. Teenage girls who have sex before the age of 16 with a partner who is at least three years older than them are twice as likely as other females to test positive for an STD in young adulthood. When young teen girls have an older sexual partner the unequal power dynamic may lead to more risky sexual behavior. The researchers recommend that adolescents, parents, and program providers be made more aware of the risks associated with girls and older partners.

G-CAPP Fast Fact
Among middle and high school students, one in five girls reports having had a sexual relationship with a partner who was three or more years older than them.

Source: Child Trends.