Judiciary Civil
HB 36
This bill aims to expand the list of professionals who can evaluate an individual to determine the need of a guardianship or conservatorship. The list currently includes physicians licensed to practice medicine, psychologists, and licensed clinical social workers (LCSWs). The expansion includes physician’s assistants, nurse practitioners, and clinical nurse specialists in psychiatric and mental health who are licensed under Georgia law, as well as marriage and family therapists or professional counselors.
The bill passed committee.
HB 55
This bill will add a third judge to the Alapaha judicial circuit, which includes Atkinson, Berry, Clinch, Cook, and Lanier Counties. This judicial circuit ranked number one on judicial casework study and has the highest need in the state for another judge.
The bill passed committee.
Public and Community Health
HB 89
This bill seeks to improve maternal health in Georgia by adding three provisions to previously passed legislation.
Legislation in 2022 required autopsies of maternal deaths and included a requirement that those autopsies be referred to a regional perinatal center, but regional perinatal centers do not want to do autopsies, citing liability concerns.
The first provision for this bill still requires an autopsy but does not require the bodies to go to a specialized process.
The second provision pertains to the Maternal Mortality Review Committee (MMRC), which is established in statute and is tasked with reviewing maternal deaths in the state to make recommendations designed to improve outcomes for mothers. The most recent review of data shows that mental health issues have become the leading cause of maternal death. The second provision aims to allow the MMRC access to mental health records that are currently barred by strong confidentiality laws. This provision also dictates that the mental health records will remain confidential to the MMRC.
The third provision provides more structure around the regional perinatal centers. These centers have been in place for decades but have not been established by statute or regulation. There has never been a review of the perinatal system to decide whether these regions should stay in place or be split and expanded. The provision creates a committee that reviews the perinatal system to give recommendations every four years regarding whether new centers should be established or changes should be implemented to current centers.
The bill passed committee.
