ATLANTA — Sen. Dean Burke, R-Bainbridge, was recently named the Legislator of the Year by the Georgia Hospital Association (GHA).

The award recognizes an outstanding legislator who promotes legislation that helps ensure health care access for every Georgian, according to a press release from the state Senate.

Burke was honored for his work on several bills that came through the Senate Health and Human Services Committee as well as his work on multiple appropriations initiatives in his role as subcommittee chair of the Department of Community Health budget.

Burke is the vice chairman of the Senate Health and Human Services Committee. In addition to sponsoring legislation in 2017 to allow a tax credit of up to 90 percent on donations to rural hospitals, he carried House Bill 769. This bill establishes the rural Health System Innovation Center to serve as a research organization utilizing academic, public health policy, data and workforce resources to develop new approaches for financing and delivering health care. This bill also increased the rural hospital tax credit to 100 percent of the actual donated amount.

Burke represents all or part of eight counties, including all of Colquitt County, in the Georgia Senate.