ATLANTA – A Senate proposal would target fraud in the addiction treatment world, penalize costly and unnecessary drug tests and set up a new state commission on substance abuse, but the measure provides no immediate boost to addiction treatment in Georgia.

There’s no new money for treatment services in next year’s proposed budget, but Sen. Renee Unterman, who chairs the Senate Health and Human Services Committee, said Monday that she plans to push for more funding this legislative session.

“When you’re looking at the epidemic, you see the need,” said Unterman, R-Buford. “We prioritize our needs in the budget process, and obviously, if you’re in the middle of an epidemic, that prioritization is going to float to the top.”

Unterman’s bill was touted at a press conference at the Statehouse led by Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle, who spent the last year overseeing a task force on health care reform.

Casey, who is a Republican candidate for governor, was asked why the task force didn’t propose a more ambitious plan for this year and whether the upcoming election was a factor.

“These are very complex issues, and it’s going to take buy-in from all stakeholders,” Cagle said in response. “You have to be very methodical and diligent in this effort and (have) a very thoughtful process that gives us the outcomes in which we’re looking for.”

Rather, Cagle said the Senate’s plan will chart a course toward solutions.

Sen. Dean Burke, R-Bainbridge, has introduced a bill that would create legislative council and a separate think tank that would vet ideas for fixes, particularly for rural Georgia. Burke compared the plan to what was done with criminal justice reform under Gov. Nathan Deal.

Cagle said funding solutions, such as potentially a Medicaid waiver for addiction treatment, may be considered.

“The reality is that we know this is a crisis,” Cagle said. “And to solve this issue, we need to have far more community resource centers than we do right now.

Cagle said, though, that it’s “not just simply that government needs to be the one to shoulder all the burden or the cost associated with it.”

Unterman said the new commission on substance abuse – led by a governor-appointed executive director – would explore a “targeted waiver” that would bring federal dollars to Georgia for adult drug treatment.

That commission would also look at creating block grants for community projects where locals are willing to pitch in.

But neither would immediately boost treatment services in Georgia, where 996 people died from an opioid drug overdose in 2016 – a 64 percent jump from just five years earlier.

“We don’t have treatment in this state,” Gwinnett County Drug Court Judge Kathryn Schrader said at the press conference. “We can have all the policies and procedures that we want, but until we provide quality, affordable treatment, we are going to fail in our war against this epidemic.”

Unterman’s bill would also target a practice known as “patient brokering,” where treatment facilities offer financial incentives for referrals or offer perks such as free transportation to a center. It’s aimed at fraudulent providers that take advantage of those seeking treatment.

It’s been an issue in Florida, where Unterman said 75 percent of patients come from outside the Sunshine State for treatment – only to be defrauded.

“Rogue providers make sure drugs are accessible in those ‘sober homes’ to ensure relapse and continued profits,” she said.

Jill Nolin covers the Georgia Statehouse for CNHI’s newspapers and websites. Reach her at jnolin@cnhi.com.