House Bill 404:

• Requires that rental properties are fit for human habitation.
• Includes cooling as a utility that cannot be shut off prior to an eviction action.
• Prohibits landlords from requiring a security deposit that exceeds two months’ rent.
• Allows a tenant three business days (following a written notice) to pay owed monies prior to an eviction proceeding being filed. (This is called a “right to cure.”)
• Requires that an eviction notice be posted conspicuously on the property door in a sealed envelope and delivered via any methods agreed to in the rental agreement.

Senate Bill 140 prohibits certain surgical procedures and/or hormone replacement therapies for the treatment of gender dysphoria in minors from being performed in hospitals and other licensed healthcare facilities.

Why Oppose It:

• The criminalization and civil liability for rendering treatment within the established standard of care would unduly restrict professional decisions of Georgia’s medical community and interfere in families’ private health care decisions.
• This legislation mandates providers to go against the existing professional guidelines for gender-affirming health care and disregards the expertise of major physician groups (such as the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Psychological Association, and the American Association of Clinical Endocrinology), who have endorsed existing guidelines for age-appropriate care for individuals who are exploring health needs and decisions, including transgender people.
• By criminalizing such care, this legislation would likely inhibit much needed discussion, education, and therapy for youth and their families, as fear or retribution and criminal prosecution would provide an unpredictable deterrent to care.

House Bill 462 creates a multi-agency implementation committee to explore changing the age of juvenile court jurisdiction to encompass non-violent 17-year-olds who are first-time offenders.

Why It Matters:

• In juvenile court, more so than in adult court, a 17-year-old is much more likely to be mandated to attend school, make restitution to victims, and attend community-based rehabilitative programs that focus on the causes of the problem behavior.
• The vast majority of offenses committed by 17-year-olds are misdemeanors.
• Raising the age will improve youth outcomes, save taxpayer dollars, and make our state safer by solving problems in an effective way.
• Studies about brain development support the idea of keeping youth who commit offenses in juvenile court until at least age 17.
• The juvenile justice system does a better job than the adult system of holding young people accountable when they commit minor offenses.
• Current law shuts out parents of 17-year-olds. These children – and their parents – deserve the opportunity to navigate the court system as a family, with full parental rights intact.
• Georgia is one of the last three states (along with Texas and Wisconsin) that processes all 17-year-olds as adults in the criminal justice system.
• If HB 462 passes, violent offenders 13 and older would continue to be processed in adult court.

Click here for our factsheet on RTA!

House Bill 520 is legislation encompassing many of the recommendations of the 2022 report by the Behavioral Health Reform and Innovation Commission. It is the next step in improving behavioral health protocols, services, and workforce for children and adults in the state.

(Scroll for summary of HB 520)

Summary:

• HB 520 authorizes the Department of Community Health (DCH) to collaborate with the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities (DBHDD) to study the Psychiatric Residential Treatment Facilities referral processes with the Department of Juvenile Justice (DJJ) and Department of Human Services (DHS).
• The bill prohibits health benefit plans from implementing step therapy protocol for medications prescribed to treat severe mental illness.
• DBHDD is authorized to work with certain other agencies to create guidance for standardized terminology such as the definition of serious mental illness. Definitions for homeless individuals, recidivism, and other terms may also be developed.
• DBHDD will also work with individuals to provide county-based coordinators to work with criminal justice and behavioral health providers to reduce jail admission of those in a mental health crisis that do not pose a public safety risk.
• A state-wide public-private partnership will be established by DBHDD to serve as a clearinghouse for best practices, information, and resources to support “familiar faces.” These are individuals with serious mental illness that have frequent contact with criminal justice, homeless, and behavioral health systems.
• Subject to appropriations, DBHDD will develop a pilot program to assist jails in implementing behavioral health screening programs and protocols and create a grant program to create or expand jail in-reach and reentry programs which will focus on “familiar faces” and connect individuals with community resources.
• A comprehensive study on the public behavioral health workforce will be conducted by DBHDD to understand recruitment and retention issues, and target solutions to help with shortages.
• The bill adds certain members to the Behavioral Health Reform and Innovation Commission (BHRIC).
• BHRIC and DBHDD are required to develop a common definition of “serious mental illness.”
• BHRIC is tasked with creating a multi-year plan to expand the use of forensic peer mentors.
• BHRIC is required to establish a task force to build a continuum of care. The task force will comprehensively study access to inpatient behavioral health beds, and make recommendations on needed capacity building, youth specific care, and autism spectrum-related care. The task force will also formally review competency evaluation and restoration challenges, and forensic laws and regulations that affect those interacting with the behavioral health and criminal justice systems. This task force will study increased capacity of child and adolescent substance outpatient treatment programs.
• BHRIC will convene a task force to review the effect of behavioral health on homeless populations across the state.
• A physician’s certificate or affidavit is required to be attached to a court order for involuntary treatment. (Personal identifying information will be removed from such document.)
• The Office of Health Strategy and Coordination (OHSC) is required to study behavioral health provider licensing requirements to identify barriers to entry or licensure. Professional boards to be included in the study are Georgia Composite Board of Professional Counselors, Social Workers, and Marriage and Family Therapists; State Board of Examiners of Psychologists; and the Georgia Board of Nursing. The study will update licensing application and renewal systems, create pathways for foreign-trained practitioners, and update practicum and supervision requirements.
• The Georgia Composite Board of Professional Counselors, Social Workers, and Marriage and Family Therapists is authorized to waive experience requirements for applicants licensed under another state that have maintained good standing in that jurisdiction for at least two years.
• The Georgia Composite Board of Professional Counselors, Social Workers, and Marriage and Family Therapists and the Georgia Board of Nursing are authorized to manage a professional health program for impaired health care professionals across the state.
• The Governor’s Office of Planning and Budget (OPB) will hire a director as the executive head of the Georgia Data Analytic Center (GDAC). GDAC will serve as the central repository for Georgia from which data can be released to requesting agencies. The director will have the authority to review data sharing disputes between executive state agencies when a data request made by one agency is denied by another with the reasoning that it would violate state or federal law. If the director determines such a request does not break the law, the agency is compelled to cooperate with such request.
• The DCH will ensure that the Medicaid program includes reimbursement for psychological diagnostic assessments and treatment and family therapy services; reimbursement for licensed professional counselors, licensed marriage and family therapists, and certified peer specialists; psychiatric hospitals as eligible for inpatient care for those under the age of 21 years enrolled in fee-for-service Medicaid; updates of reimbursement rates for the assessment and treatment of autism spectrum disorder in collaboration with relevant agencies and organizations; and therapeutic foster care for those under the age of 21 years. Necessary requests for Medicaid state plan amendments or waivers will be made to the United States Department of Health and Human Services by December 1, 2023.
• DCH is also required to take necessary steps to ensure the receipt of relevant federal funds to provide services, such as housing and employment supports and case management, for recipients and their caregivers if they are under the age of 19 years.
• The Georgia Board of Health Care Workforce is required to work with state licensing boards to establish the Georgia Health Care Professionals Data System to collect and share de-identified descriptive data about licensed health care professionals in Georgia. Such information will be stored in a publicly accessible repository on the board’s website. Information will include demographics and geographical distribution of licensed health care professionals across the state. Licensing boards must provide such data upon request or up to two times annually as required. Information provided by licensing boards will include age, race, gender, ethnicity, language spoken at home, practice location, and license type.
• Subject to appropriations, the Georgia Board of Health Care Workforce is authorized to provide student loan repayment for recipients delivering services as mental health and substance use professionals under certain capacities.
• The DCA will increase supportive housing for the “familiar faces” population. The department will provide guidance on the implementation of tenant selection plans that do not pose a barrier due to a criminal record that is unrelated to one’s fitness as a tenant by December 1, 2023.
• An assessment into the feasibility of reserved housing for the “familiar faces” population and inventory of such existing programs will take place.
• Incentives will be included in DCA’s annual Qualified Allocation Plan to increase supportive housing options for the “familiar faces” population, and a landlord incentive fund will be explored.

House Bill 129 will support families’ overall well-being in the following ways:

• Expand family’s access to Temporary Assistance for Needy Families by expanding eligibility to include pregnant women who do not currently have other children

• Eliminates language that caps a family’s benefit amount if their family size increases

Why It Matters:

• Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) is a cash support program, with an employment component, for families with low-income
• Currently, TANF is available for families with low=income with children under 18 years old and youth ages 18 years old and attending school full time. The inclusion of pregnant women without children would further support Georgia’s working families.
• Check out the income requirements here.