Georgia General Assembly Passes Bills Concerning Public Safety and Health

It was a busy day today at the Capitol as the General Assembly deliberated over a number of different bills. Various subcommittees came together to discuss new bills concerning public safety, health, and human services. 

The Senate Public Safety Committee met today to discuss House Bill (HB) 423 which seeks to set in motion an update for current 911 communications technology. HB 423 doesn’t seek to mandate the update, but instead offers the update as an option. That being said, there is already a waitlist with over a hundred counties opting in to receive it.

HB 423 faced little backlash and was positively regarded as a step forward for Georgia. It passed to the Rules Committee.

The Senate Public Safety Committee also met to discuss HB 296. This bill would allow for a person to present their driver’s license in an electronic format if they are stopped by an officer. This would make it so that if a person doesn’t have a physical copy on hand, they can present a digital copy instead.

This bill was met with little pushback as well, given that police officers already have the technology to scan digital copies. HB 296 was passed to the Rules Committee.

The Senate Health Committee met to discuss several different bills. HB 89 was the first. It seeks to require healthcare providers, facilities, and pharmacies to provide the Maternal Mortality Review Committee with psychiatric or other clinical records.

HB 89 also proposes to set up a new regional perinatal advisory committee. This new committee would serve an advisory role and would monitor other perinatal committees. The bill passed to the Rules Committee.

The Senate Health Committee also considered HB 352 which is also known as the Georgia Gestational Diabetes Management Act. The bill seeks to amend a previous law by ensuring that gestational glucose monitors are covered by Medicaid.

HB 352 is important because diabetes can be dangerous for the mother and the unborn child if not properly monitored. The bill passed to the Rules Committee without any kind of pushback.

For more on the Assembly's recent activity, see this article.

For more on the General Assembly's upcoming activity, see this page.