Original source: Georgia Legislative Update - MCO Group 

01. Georgia General Assembly Adjourns 2025 Legislative Session

The Georgia General Assembly's 2025 legislative session will adjourn today, April 4, 2025, which is known as "Sine Die.” The governor's 40-day bill review period begins tomorrow, April 5, 2025, and concludes on May 14, 2025. During this time, the governor can sign bills into law, veto them, or let them become law without a signature.

02. House & Senate Adopt CCR on FY26 Budget

The House and Senate voted today to adopt the Conference Committee Report (CCR) to adopt HB 68, the Fiscal Year 2026 (FY26) budget. The FY26 budget is set by a revenue estimate of $37.8 billion, an increase of $1.6 billion or 4.4 percent over the FY 2025 original budget. House and Senate conferees reconciled line-item differences including over $1.1 billion in state funds in the Capital Projects Fund as well as funding the Governor’s position on Promise Scholarship Grants CCR FY26 budget highlights:

• The CCR adopted the Senate position of $490,873 for positions to expand the Georgia Hemp Program pursuant to SB 494 (2024 Session).
  
• The final version of House Bill 68 cuts $6 million to improve homelessness initiatives including $2 million to leverage additional federal funding for the State Housing Trust Fund and $750k to expand the Accountable Housing Initiative.
  
• The CCR maintained $2.7 million in new funding provided in the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities (DBHDD) for various programs that address homelessness, including 100 new housing voucher slots, outreach services for those with severe mental illness, and a community action team.
  
• The House and Senate did not fund $7 million to the Georgia World Congress Center Authority to prepare for the execution of public safety and infrastructure costs related to the hosting of future major sporting events, including Super Bowl 62 and the 2031 NCAA Men’s Final Four.
  
• The CCR struck $200,000 of state funds to establish the Georgia Grown Wood Product program in the Georgia Forestry Commission.
  
• The joint committee failed to fund $25 million for the first-year cost of the statewide School and Student Safety (S3) Database to gather and investigate school-based threats across state and local law enforcement agencies. The funds also provide support for behavioral threat assessment management (BTAM) teams to resolve identified threats, ultimately improving the safety of Georgia’s students.
  
• The final version of the FY 2026 budget includes a new program under the Department of Education called “Student Support Services,” providing academic and mental health supports for students in and outside school. The program contains $19.6 million for mental health support grants to school systems. Structured like school security grants, systems will earn $20,000 for each middle and high school (979 statewide) for mental health services, to include contracting with mental health providers, tele-mental health contracts, or hiring staff for in-school counseling. The program also includes $5 million for social work services grants.  The Senate failed to fund or partially fund these initiatives.
  
• The Conference Committee Report fully funds the Quality Basic Education (QBE) program, totaling $14.7 billion in state funds. The House version of the FY 2026 budget includes $302.4 million to provide for enrollment growth and training and experience for an additional 1,291 students and 3,413 teachers.
  
• The budget also includes $21.5 million for growth in the State Commission Charter School supplements. Charter system grants receive $313,627 in additional funding and local charter schools receive an additional $48,477 in funding. Additionally, the conference report supports the governor’s recommendation of lowering the school psychologist ratio from 1:2,475 to 1:2,420, totaling $871,982.  The CCR increased the Charter School supplements to $25,374,042 and the ratios totaling $874,984.
  
• The FY26 budget provides $750,000 for college preparatory exams based on increased utilization. Currently, the state funds PSAT exams for all tenth-grade students and one AP/IB exam for free and reduced-price lunch students, and one AP/IB STEM exam for any student. In FY 2025, the state funded 99,960 PSAT exams and 80,000 AP exams for Georgia students.
  
• The Senate version of HB 68 cut almost half of the $16.9 million in reimbursement rate increases for providers treating Medicaid patients across the state. The services include: $8 million for emergency medical services (EMS) transports to provide payment for the first 10 miles of transportation, air ambulance transfers, and service increases; $1.9 million for an increase for speech therapy (CCR: $0) $1.9 million for neonatologists and maternal fetal medicine specialists; $6.3 million (CCR: $900,000) for applied behavior analysis; $7.5 (CCR: $3.75) million for primary care physicians; $3.1 million (CCR: $1.5m) for dental code increases; $1.7 million (CCR: $0) to increase durable medical equipment reimbursements; and $1.5 million to provide coverage for heart and lung transplants. The CCR struck $1 million earmarked for the Department of Community Health to conduct a comprehensive study of all Medicaid provider reimbursement rates and to make recommendations for improvements.
  
• The CCR fully funds the Governor’s recommendation for the Program for All-Inclusive Care (PACE) for the Elderly pursuant to HB 1078 in the 2024 Session.
  
• The final version of the budget includes $3.1 million to continue the $3 dispensing fee for independent pharmacists for an additional six months, and an additional $2.9 million for drugs dispensed to a covered person in an amount equal to the national average drug acquisition cost.
  
• The CCR funds over $7.4 million in funding for graduate medical education. The state will file a new State Plan Amendment similar to Florida’s recent filing that was approved in 60 days.  This includes $2.8 million for 150 new residency slots, $469,654 in new fellowships, and $5 million to establish a grant program to support new and expanding residency programs.
  
• House Bill 68 directs the Georgia Student Finance Commission to utilize existing funds to increase the Tuition Equalization Grant (TEG) award amount from $1,100 to $1,150 per year.  The CCR failed to fund this increase.
  
• House and Senate conferees agreed to fund an additional $33 million in formula funds for the Technical College System of Georgia (TCSG) to reflect a 10.6% increase in enrollment. The budget also includes $15.8 million in additional targeted funding, bringing the total appropriation to TCSG to offset the increased cost of providing high-demand and high-cost programming in aviation, commercial truck driving, and nursing to $31 million.
  
• The final version of the FY 2026 budget supports the governor’s recommendation for 100 NOW/COMP waivers.
  
• HB 68 provides $5.8 million to DBHDD to expand the availability of forensic services and adds $185,420 (CCR: $0) for a jail diversion program. Finally, the CCR agrees with the House position to add $9.4 million for a new behavioral health crisis center in North Fulton.
  
• The final version of HB 68 provides $19.2 million to address growth in foster care and the increased costs of care; $1.5 million to provide clothing and supplies for foster youth, keep foster children closer to their families, deter child welfare involvement, and support those aging out of care; and $6.1 million for a 2% provider rate increase for Child Caring Institutions, Child Placing Agencies, foster parents, and relative caregivers.
  
• The CCR provides $1 million for the Department of Public Safety for the protection of communities.
  
• The Conference Committee Report provides the Department of Corrections with a total increase of $199.6 million over the agency’s prior year budget. The budget includes $45 million to add more than 700 correctional officers to improve inmate to staff ratios. The state’s aging correctional facilities are in need of critical repairs to keep both correctional officers and inmates safe. In order to renovate facilities, the budget provides funds to move 667 prisoners out of state prison facilities to other housing units. With the addition of four 126-bed prefabricated housing units coming online in FY 2026, a total of 1,171 inmates will be moved from state prisons to empty housing units for widespread renovations.
  

03. Speaker Burns & Lt. Gov. Jones Praise School Safety Bill Passage

House Speaker Jon Burns (R-Newington) and Lieutenant Governor Burt Jones released statements this week praising the final passage of HB 268, a comprehensive school safety plan developed by the Georgia General Assembly in response to the tragic loss of four Georgians during a school shooting at Apalachee High School last September. Below are the specific policies established by the bill:

• Requires all relevant student records, including education and disciplinary records, to be shared with the receiving school in a given time frame when a student transfers between school districts.
  
• Allows for the Georgia Emergency Management and Homeland Security Agency to establish a statewide alert system to report and monitor incidents of safety threats made against schools.
  
• Requires schools to adopt threat assessment plans to provide a structured, multidisciplinary process to identify, assess and mitigate potential threats to schools while supporting the safety and well-being of students and school personnel.
  
• Requires all public schools to implement a mobile panic alert system, much like the system used at Apalachee, which we know saved countless lives and prevented a much larger tragedy.
  
• Creates “qualified student advocacy specialist” positions and grants to fund these positions for local school systems.
  
• Requires that students in sixth grade and above receive an hour of suicide awareness and prevention training, as well as one hour of youth violence prevention training annually.
  
• Requires all high-needs schools to implement positive behavioral interventions and supports (PBIS), which are proven to reduce disciplinary incidents, increase a school’s sense of safety and support improved academic outcomes.
  
• Increases penalties for terroristic acts and requires schools to suspend
  

04. New Chief Justice Sworn In

The Honorable Nels S.D. Peterson was sworn in as the 35th Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Georgia on Tuesday, April 1, 2025, at the State Capitol.  The ceremony drew a bipartisan audience of hundreds of lawmakers, jurists and state leaders. Peterson, who was twice appointed to court posts by then-Gov. Nathan Deal, a Republican, underscored the fragility of the legal system in an era of distrust.  He described with admiration a judicial system that requires popular majorities to accept outcomes in favor of small minority groups — and the “most powerful of all, the government, to accept and obey limits of government power.”

05. Child Tax Credit Bill Advances to Gov. Kemp’s Desk

Legislation creating a child tax credit and expands childcare tax programs, HB 136,  will now head to Gov. Kemp for consideration and signature. This legislation was recommended by the Senate Study Committee on Access to Affordable Childcare, which Lt. Governor Burt Jones appointed. The bill expands the current tax credit for child and dependent care expenses from a 30% match of the federal credit to a 50% match. It also creates a new Georgia Child Tax Credit, allowing taxpayers to claim an income tax credit of $250 for each child under 6 years old. Finally, the bill creates a new employer incentive to cover childcare expenses. This program will allow an employer to claim a $1,000 credit in the first year and $500 in subsequent years for any employee for which the employer covers at least $1,000 in childcare costs. The bill also preserves the existing tax credit program for employer-sponsored childcare centers.