A bill to certify community health workers in Georgia failed to pass after the state Senate abruptly adjourned much earlier than usual on Friday, ending the legislative session for the year.
The Senate had planned to take up the proposal along with others for final passage but adjourned about 9:15 p.m. instead.
It was the latest public health bill to stall out this session, including measures to distribute vaccination information to parents of seventh-graders, create a tax credit for the safe storage of guns, and make it easier for doctors who trained internationally to get certified to practice in Georgia.
“While there are some bright spots – including Medicaid rate increases for primary care and dental providers and increased funding for the state’s perinatal home visiting pilot – state health spending in the FY26 budget continues to be oriented downstream toward catching people when they are already sick or in crisis,” Leah Chan, director of health justice at the Georgia Budget & Policy Institute, told Healthbeat on Monday.
“Dedicating additional resources toward keeping people and communities healthy and addressing preventable health outcomes and conditions could ultimately save lives and state dollars,” she said.
Rep. Darlene Taylor, a Thomasville Republican, introduced the community health worker bill in February, and it gained support from the House and a Senate committee last month. It was added to the list of bills to be voted on by the full Senate last week, but did not get a vote by the Friday deadline.
Community health workers help people navigate health care and get needed services. They are not medical professionals — the bill would require the workers to have high school degrees or an equivalent — and have close ties to the communities they work with.
Georgia has training programs for them, but the bill would have created standards for training and certification, overseen by the state Department of Public Health.
“It is alive for next year. It will go back to the committee … and hopefully get to the floor,” Taylor said.
“A state-recognized certification is a critical step toward building and sustaining a strong community health worker workforce in Georgia. We remain committed to moving this important legislation forward next session,” said Natasha Taylor, the deputy director of Georgia Watch and an advocate for the bill.
State budget approved as federal cuts loom
The legislature approved about $922 billion in funding for the state Department of Public Health in fiscal 2026, which starts on July 1. About half of that comes from state sources and half from federal.
The budget includes nearly $3 million for the expansion of a program for perinatal home visits. The program currently operates in 50 counties, including Cobb and Douglas, and will expand to 75, including Henry and Fayette counties, state public health commissioner Kathleen Toomey said.
The home visitors screen pregnant women and new mothers and their babies for common but serious problems, like diabetes or mental health issues. The goal is to improve maternal and infant health.
Bills passed by the legislature – including the budget – now head to Gov. Brian Kemp’s desk. He must decide to sign or veto each bill, or allow the bill to go into effect without action, within 40 days. The governor can also line-item veto specific budget items.
The budget passed last week does not take into account federal funding cuts, including “clawbacks” to Covid supplemental funding to state health agencies announced in late March.
Those cuts would cost the state Department of Public Health $334.4 million across 11 grants originally slated to end between May 31, 2025 and July 31, 2027, according to talking points provided by department spokesperson Nancy Nydam.
A federal judge issued a temporary restraining order on the cuts last week in response to a lawsuit filed by Democratic-led states in the U.S. District Court of Rhode Island.
The House also created a study committee on evaluating funding for public health, approving a resolution from Darlene Taylor. That committee will meet in the legislative “off-season.” Typically study committees create reports with their findings and suggestions for bills, which must be completed by Dec. 1 in this case.
Another bill Darlene Taylor sponsored would have required schools to provide information about adolescent vaccinations to seventh-graders and their parents but never got a floor vote in the House.
Bill to ease certification for foreign doctors stalled
A measure to make it easier for foreign doctors to practice in Georgia foundered over disagreements with the Medical Composite Board, the state agency responsible for licensing medical professionals, said sponsor Sen. Kim Jackson, a Democrat from Stone Mountain.
“I look forward to working with the Medical Composite Board in the interim [before the legislature meets next year] to finalize the details,” Jackson said. “While I’m disappointed that we didn’t get the bill passed this season, I remain committed to creating a pathway to licensure for the internationally trained doctors already living in our midst.”
The legislature funded additional residency positions in Georgia, including 150 new positions for primary care residents throughout the state, as well as $4 million to expand residency programs in rural areas.
Maternal mortality records can be released to review committee
On maternal mortality, the legislature approved a bill sponsored by Rep. Sharon Cooper, a Marietta Republican, that clarifies medical providers can release records relating to women who die during or after pregnancy to the state’s Maternal Mortality Review Committee.
Cooper said this has been a problem for the committee in the past because some providers were reluctant to turn over those records, especially those related to mental health.
The bill also creates a Regional Perinatal Advisory Committee to make recommendations about where perinatal centers should be in Georgia every four years.
In other public health news from the session:
A proposal to provide a tax credit for gun safe storage tools and safety courses stalled out in the Senate. The bill was sponsored by Rep. Mark Newton, an Augusta Republican.
A bill requiring Medicaid to cover smoking cessation services stalled. Rep. Scott Hilton, a Republican from Peachtree Corners, sponsored the measure.
A proposal to allow pharmacists to dispense HIV prevention drugs failed. The bill was sponsored by Sen. Chuck Hufstetler, a Rome Republican.
A bill from Sen. Kay Kirkpatrick, a Marietta Republican, to ensure Georgians can test for non-opioid adulterants like Xyaline, a veterinary sedative found in illegal drugs, passed. A 2023 reform allowed testing for fentanyl – by clarifying that it does not fall under Georgia’s ban on drug paraphernalia – but not other some drugs.
