On February 10, 2025, the following four Georgia House of Representatives committees met to discuss bills to potentially advance:
- Regulated Industries voted on HB 34, HB 74, HB 148, HB 185, HB 187, and HB 232
- Budget and Fiscal Affairs heard HB 159
- Education voted on HB 81, HB 105, and HB 192
- Health voted on HB 196, HB 197, and HB 218 and heard HB 227
Select the associated links to read each bill in full.
Regulated Industries
HB 34
This bill creates a continuing-education tracking solution to monitor compliance of licensees with applicable continuing-education requirements, essentially modernizing the licensing process to make it smoother.
The bill passed committee.
HB 74
This bill concerns the Class A and Class B Coin Operated Amusement Machines (COAMs) industry in Georgia. Under the Administrative Procedures Act, any state agency or quasi agency must advertise if they are passing a new rule or regulation and open it for public comment. They must also report any changes to the Georgia House of Representatives and State Senate committees. A scrivener’s error removed the need to report changes to the General Assembly; this bill aims to correct that.
The bill passed committee.
HB 148
The Georgia Society of CPAs, the State Board of Accountancy, and other organizations that represent the Big Four have worked to make this bill—the Public Accountancy Act of 2025—possible. The certified public accountant (CPA) workforce is facing a severe shortage; almost 75% of licensed CPAs in Georgia are within 10 years of retirement. This bill aims to open additional pathways to allow qualified individuals to become CPAs. Right now, the current requirements include 150 semester hours (5-year degree) plus one year of experience. This bill adds two new pathways:
- Instead of 5 years of schooling and one year of experience, individuals may have four years of school and two years of experienced, signed off by a CPA
- Individuals may receive a master’s degree in the field
This bill also allows CPAs outside of Georgia to provide assurance services for clients in Georgia.
The bill passed committee.
HB 185
This bill modernizes the language in the current Georgia Dietetics Practice Act, which was enacted in 1994 and has not changed in 30 years. It provides a pathway to licensure for qualified nutrition professionals who specifically deal with treatment or management of a disease or medical condition; additionally, it also creates a multi-state compact that allows professionals relocating to Georgia to use their licenses here. Only licensed dietetics and nutritionists shall engage in medical nutrition therapy for the treatment of chronic disease.
The bill passed committee.
HB 187
This bill offers clean-up language dealing with electrical contractors, plumbers, air conditioning contractors, low voltage contractors, and utility contractors to fix grammar and refer to “consultants” as “professional engineers”.
The bill passed committee.
HB 232
This bill aims to increase public access to massage therapy services by providing a multi-state licensing pathway and joining an interstate compact with other states that have similar laws. Right now, massage therapists must have 500 hours in clinical work; this bill would increase this to 625. For the interstate compact, individuals must hold a single state license to practice in their home state, have completed 625 hours of massage therapy education, have passed the national licensing examination, and have no criminal convictions. This will particularly benefit military families moving from other states in the compact to Georgia.
The bill passed committee.
Budget and Fiscal Affairs
HB 159
This bill will increase the outstanding bond limit of the Georgia Housing and Finance Authority (GHFA). The limit is increased from $3 billion to $12 billion. The GHFA issues bonds to promote and fund several home loan programs, such as Georgia Dream. Increasing the bond limit will allow more people to participate in these home loan programs.
The bill will return to the committee at a later date.
Education
HB 81
This bill concerns an initiative developed by the Council of State Governments in collaboration with the Department of Defense and the National Association of School Psychologists. The bill will enter Georgia into a multi-state compact of school psychologists, reduce barriers to certification for school psychologists from member states, and ensure only qualified professionals are authorized to provide these services in Georgia schools. West Virginia and Colorado are part of this already, and Nebraska and New Jersey have similar bills before their legislatures this year.
The bill passed committee.
HB 105
This bill aims to recognize the risk and sacrifice many public service professionals, including public school teachers, often face. Georgia created an indemnification fund program with two primary indemnification funds: one for public school personnel and one for public officers. In 2017, the legislature raised the public officers’ fund to $150,000 but left the public school personnel fund at $75,000, which it has been since 2001. The bill aims to raise this limit to $150,000 as well. The fund currently has more than enough to cover the difference, and the legislation will not require an appropriations meeting. This fund can be used by the families of teachers at Appalachia High School who were killed during the shooting in 2024.
The bill passed committee.
HB 192
This bill is a part of the governor’s Top State for Talent Initiative, which streamlined the High-Demand Career Initiative and made the State Workforce Board the single entity to control the list and determine what careers need to be added, removed, or altered. A bill from last year created the Georgia Match—the largest direct-admissions program in the country.
HB 192 will reference this list of high-demand careers and update the previously passed bill. The list will now be used by the Georgia Department of Education and the Technical College System of Georgia for a grant program to assist schools in reorienting their Career, Technical, and Agricultural Education (CTAE) programs toward careers on the list.
The bill passed committee.
Health
HB 196
This bill aims to lower the cost of prescription medications for state employees on the state health insurance plan. It does this by creating a reasonable reimbursement rate for pharmacies when a prescription is filled. An insurer must reimburse a pharmacy for a drug dispensed to a covered person for self-administration in the state health plan; the sum will be based on the National Average Drug Acquisition Cost (NADAC) cost and the dispensing fee under the Social Security Act. This will help benefit local and independent pharmacies.
The bill passed committee.
HB 197
This bill concerns the issue of Georgians not receiving healthcare because third parties sometimes deny treatment if they cannot have a peer-to-peer discussion with the practitioner. This bill aims to negate that issue by requiring a callback telecommunication system or public website system through which the treating provider (or their designee) can choose to receive a scheduled communication at a later time if they are unavailable. When the practitioner is with another patient and cannot turn that patient away to receive the call, the third party will sometimes take days or weeks to call back; this bill will arrange a method so that the third party and the provider can speak at an agreed upon time to ensure faster treatment for Georgians.
The bill passed committee.
HB 218
This bill expands on previous legislation in which hospitals must offer the flu vaccine to patients 50 years of age and older prior to discharge; HB 218 seeks to lower that age to 18, broadening the range of patients who can be offered the vaccine without interfering with parental consent. Under the ACA and the federal IRA law, insurers cover the cost of the flu vaccine, so this will not incur a cost to the patient or the administering hospital.
The bill passed committee.
HB 227
This bill—Putting Georgia Patients First Act—renames low THC oil to medical cannabis. It will not interfere with any licenses, nor does it add, change, or remove any conditions from the THC oil program. However, it does remove severe and end-stage caveats from the qualifying conditions; for instance, multiple sclerosis, cancer, Parkinson’s, sickle cell, and Alzheimer’s conditions are currently allowed THC oil only at the end stage, which is very restrictive and only allows these patients access to this product while in hospice. The bill does not allow for smokable or flower products or change anything the Cannabis Commission currently allows. HB 227 also seeks to increase public awareness of this product and the program.
The bill will return to the committee with tighter language regarding whether cannabis products can be advertised to the public as well as language to include patients with lupus in the list of who can use these products.
