Georgia’s 2025 Legislative Session Has Officially Begun
On Monday, January 13th, the Georgia General Assembly convened to kick off the first year of the state’s two-year legislative cycle. During this period, lawmakers will introduce and consider bills that have two years (this session and next) to become law. The legislative session gives state lawmakers a chance to address key issues affecting Georgians, including health and health care.
The following day GHF hosted Health Care Unscrambled 2025 (our 15th annual HCU!), where we unveiled our 2025-2026 policy priorities. A heartfelt thank you to everyone who attended! If you missed the event or would like to revisit the discussions, you can find a full recap on our event page here, including a recording and presentation slides.
On Thursday, Governor Kemp delivered his State of the State address and unveiled his budget proposals for the remainder of the current fiscal year and the next state fiscal year. Below, we’ve highlighted key health-related components of the Governor’s budget for your review.
This Week: Budget Week House and Senate Appropriations Committee members are holding joint hearings to review state agency budget requests and spending this week. These hearings provide important insights into agency priorities and funding needs for the year ahead.
For more information, you can access the legislative session schedule here.
Health Highlights in Governor’s State of the State Address and Announced Budgets
When Governor Kemp delivered his State of the State address, he laid out his legislative and budgetary priorities for 2025. Health care was not a central focus, but he addressed several key areas.
Following September’s shooting at Appalachee High School in Winder, the Governor proposed increased funding for campus security in Georgia schools. While enhancing security is an important step, this proposal overlooks the critical need to increase funding for school-based youth behavioral health services, which play a key role in addressing the root causes of student safety concerns.
Governor Kemp stated that tort reform would be one of his top priorities during the two-year session, citing high liability insurance costs as a cause of hospital closures and physician shortages in rural areas. However, these shortages and hospital instability are heavily influenced by uncompensated care, the outdated or inadequate ways in which health care is paid for in the U.S., and general economic and demographic changes in rural areas. Expanding Medicaid would help to address these factors, provide hospitals with reliable reimbursements, and stabilize Georgia’s health care system more effectively than tort reform.
During his remarks, Governor Kemp referenced the Pathways to Coverage program, stating it could serve as a model for the nation. He also announced an expansion of eligibility, allowing parents of children aged zero to six to qualify for Pathways once they provide proof of caregiving. While this adjustment aims to increase access, it does not address the program’s fundamental shortcomings. When Pathways launched on July 1, 2023, it was expected to enroll 30,000 Georgians in its first year. More than eighteen months later, enrollment barely exceeds 6,500 people.
Pathways places heavy administrative burdens on participants, making it difficult for Georgians to enroll and maintain coverage. These unnecessary barriers keep people out of the program who would otherwise qualify. Additionally, Pathways is costlier than a full Medicaid expansion. During his address, Governor Kemp argued that full Medicaid expansion would be too expensive for Georgia. Yet, his program costs 5 times more per person than full Medicaid expansion would.
Governor Kemp’s budget report details his recommended changes to the current state budget, known as the amended fiscal year 2025 (or AFY25 budget), and his proposal for the fiscal year 2026 budget (or FY26 or the “big budget”), which begins on July 1, 2025. Check out the next section for more details. The specifics of these proposals will be presented by state agency leaders this week, and we will detail them in next week’s legislative update.
Highlights from the Governor’s Budget Proposal
Amended 2025 Budget (runs through 6/30/25)
Department of Human Services
$7.2 M to integrate Georgia Access with the Georgia Gateway eligibility system. This integration would allow Medicaid-eligible individuals to apply through Georgia Access
Fully integrating Georgia Access, the state’s new state-based marketplace, and Georgia’s Medicaid eligibility systems would allow Georgians who apply for health coverage through Georgia Access to enroll themselves or any eligible family members in Medicaid, if applicable.
Fiscal Year 2026 Budget (7/1/25 – 6/20/26)
Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities
$39.2 M to increase the provider rate as recommended by the provider rate study for NOW/COMP waivers and CBHRS (Community Behavioral Health Rehabilitation Services) providers
$2.3 M for 100 new NOW/COMP waiver slots
NOW & COMP waivers allow people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) to receive support and health services that help them live in their communities rather than hospitals or long-term care facilities. Even with these new slots, 7,300 Georgians with IDD are still on the waiting list for a NOW/COMP waiver.
Department of Community Health
$324.3M increase for Medicaid and PeachCare for Kids spending in 2026
Including $36M for new high-cost drugs and $22.8M for the new 12-month continuous eligibility requirement for children under 19, established by the Biden administration.
Department of Public Health
$3.8M to expand the maternal health home visiting program to 75 counties (from 61 counties) to increase access to maternal and pediatric health care in rural communities.
This program connects families with trained professionals, like nurses, who provide support during pregnancy and early childhood, helping parents stay healthy, care for their children, and access vital community resources.
Legislation on Our Radar
Senate Bills
SB 1: ‘Fair and Safe Athletic Opportunities Act’ Ban on transgender student participation in gender-aligned sports and shared spaces GHF’s Position: Oppose Status: Referred to Senate Education and Youth Committee (as of January 14, 2025) Sponsor: Sen. Dolezal Summary: SB 1 mandates that students participate in school sports and use facilities based on their biological sex at birth, as documented on their birth certificate. The bill explicitly excludes transgender students from joining teams or using shared spaces aligning with their gender identity and outlines financial penalties for schools that violate the transgender athlete ban. Why It Matters: Exclusion of transgender students: Discriminates against transgender youth, harming their mental health and well-being. Simplistic framing: Focus on biological sex ignores the complexity of gender identity Inadequate accommodations: Limited accommodations risk creating segregation and further harm. Funding Risks: Schools face financial penalties for policies that may unintentionally conflict with the bill.
SB 5: Private Review Agents; health insurers to implement and maintain a program that allows for the selective application of reductions in prior authorization requirements Streamlines prior authorization processes for providers meeting specific criteria or standards GHF’s Position: Support Status: Referred to Senate Insurance and Labor Committee (as of January 14, 2025) Sponsors: Sen. Kirkpatrick Summary: SB 5 requires health insurers to implement a program allowing selective reductions in prior authorization requirements for providers who meet specific criteria. Providers can avoid or reduce future prior authorization requests from insurers by adhering to evidence-based medicine and performance benchmarks set by insurers.This type of program is sometimes called “gold carding.” Prior authorization is a process used by health insurance companies to decide whether they will cover a specific medical service, medication, or procedure before a patient receives it. Insurance companies use prior authorization to control costs and ensure that treatments are medically necessary. However, it can sometimes delay care and create extra work for doctors and patients. Why It Matters: This bill would reduce administrative burdens for health care providers and allow more timely care for patients by eliminating some prior authorization processes for doctors providing evidence-based care or meeting specific standards.
House Bills
HB 19: Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities, Department of; create and maintain electronic inpatient psychiatric bed registry Creates a registry to track available psychiatric beds across the state. GHF’s position: Monitoring Status: House Second Readers (as of January 15, 2025) Sponsors: Rep. S. Scott Summary: HB 19 establishes an electronic registry of inpatient psychiatric beds to improve access to mental health care. The registry will be accessible to authorized users, including the Georgia Crisis and Access Line. Why It Matters: Centralized data helps health care providers locate available psychiatric beds quickly, reducing delays in critical mental health treatment for people in crisis
HB 24: School Behavioral Health Support Act Creates a grant program to support school-based mental health interventions Position: Monitoring Status: House Second Readers (as of January 15, 2025) Sponsors: Rep. S. Scott Summary: HB 24 creates a grant program to expand mental health and substance use supports in schools. Grantees must serve all students regardless of insurance coverage or ability to pay, but are required to seek insurance reimbursements for services when available. Why It Matters: This bill focuses on increasing access to early mental health interventions, ensuring students receive critical support before mental health issues become serious or move towards crisis. The program described in the bill mirrors the Georgia Apex Program closely.
HB 46: Public Health, Department of; Maternal Mortality Review Committee Updates the state law that authorizes the Maternal Mortality Review Committee Position: Monitoring Status: House Second Readers (as of January 16, 2025) Sponsors: Rep. V. Davis Summary: The bill updates the law authorizing the Maternal Mortality Review Committee in three ways: 1) Gives the Department of Public Health the power to define the length of the terms that members of the MMRC serve; 2) Limits the reasons that MMRC committee members can be removed to Inability or neglect to perform the duties, incompetence, or dishonest conduct; and 3) specifies that MMRC members must comply with the federal Health Insurance Portability & Accountability Act (HIPPA). Why It Matters: Georgia has the highest maternal mortality rate in the U.S. This bill aims to reduce maternal deaths through structured reviews to inform data-driven prevention efforts.
Advocate with us at the Capitol!
Join These Advocacy Events During the Legislative Session
Each week during the legislative session, we’ll highlight legislative advocacy days hosted by partner organizations. These events are excellent opportunities to engage in the lawmaking process by meeting your legislators and advocating for critical health issues.
Please contact Anthony Hill at ahill@healthyfuturega.org if you have an advocacy event you’d like included in GHF’s legislative update.
We hope to see you at one or more of these impactful events!
GHF has you covered!
Stay up-to-date with the legislative session
GHF will be monitoring legislative activity on a number of critical consumer health care topics. Along with our weekly legislative updates and timely analysis of bills, here are tools to help you stay in touch with health policy under the Gold Dome.
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