Here’s how public health measures fared in Georgia’s 2025 legislative session

A bill to certify region strength 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 p m instead It was the latest society strength 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 specific bright spots including Medicaid rate increases for primary care and dental providers and increased funding for the state s perinatal home visiting pilot state soundness spending in the FY budget continues to be oriented downstream toward catching people when they are already sick or in emergency Leah Chan director of fitness justice at the Georgia Budget Agenda Institute recounted Healthbeat on Monday Dedicating additional tools toward keeping people and communities healthy and addressing preventable vitality outcomes and conditions could ultimately save lives and state dollars she disclosed Rep Darlene Taylor a Thomasville Republican introduced the society vitality worker bill in February and it gained assistance 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 Locality fitness workers help people confront healthcare care and get needed services They are not medicinal 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 Constituents Medical It is alive for next year It will go back to the committee and hopefully get to the floor Taylor announced A state-recognized certification is a critical step toward building and sustaining a strong public healthcare worker workforce in Georgia We remain committed to moving this critical decree forward next session disclosed Natasha Taylor the deputy director of Georgia Watch and an advocate for the bill State budget approved as federal cuts loomThe legislature approved about billion in funding for the state Department of Constituents Soundness in fiscal which starts on July About half of that comes from state sources and half from federal The budget includes nearly million for the expansion of a operation for perinatal home visits The initiative at this time operates in counties including Cobb and Douglas and will expand to including Henry and Fayette counties state society healthcare commissioner Kathleen Toomey noted The home visitors screen pregnant women and new mothers and their babies for common but serious problems like diabetes or mental vitality issues The goal is to improve maternal and infant wellbeing 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 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 fitness agencies informed in late March Those cuts would cost the state Department of General Medical million across grants originally slated to end between May and July 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 investigation committee on evaluating funding for society wellness approving a resolution from Darlene Taylor That committee will meet in the legislative off-season Typically scrutiny committees create reports with their findings and suggestions for bills which must be completed by Dec in this affair 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 stalledA measure to make it easier for foreign doctors to practice in Georgia foundered over disagreements with the Healthcare Composite Board the state agency responsible for licensing clinical professionals disclosed sponsor Sen Kim Jackson a Democrat from Stone Mountain I look forward to working with the Medicinal Composite Board in the interim before the legislature meets next year to finalize the details Jackson revealed 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 new positions for primary care residents throughout the state as well as million to expand residency programs in rural areas Maternal mortality records can be circulated to review committeeOn maternal mortality the legislature approved a bill sponsored by Rep Sharon Cooper a Marietta Republican that clarifies curative providers can release records relating to women who die during or after pregnancy to the state s Maternal Mortality Review Committee Cooper announced this has been a challenge for the committee in the past because certain providers were reluctant to turn over those records especially those related to mental wellbeing 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 inhabitants healthcare 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 discovered in illegal drugs passed A revision allowed testing for fentanyl by clarifying that it does not fall under Georgia s ban on drug paraphernalia but not other several drugs Healthbeat is a nonprofit newsroom covering society fitness published by Civic News Company and KFF Fitness News Sign up for their newsletters here The post Here s how society strength measures fared in Georgia s legislative session appeared first on Rough Draft Atlanta