SB80: SB80 Tax Credits; the definition of "rural hospital organization"; revise

Georgia law (O.C.G.A. § 31-8-9.1) lets donors get state tax credits for contributing to qualifying rural hospitals. To qualify, a hospital must meet several conditions, including being located in a rural county, treating Medicaid and Medicare patients, serving indigent patients, and meeting financial and reporting standards. This bill rewrites one part of that definition. Currently a hospital qualifies only if its primary campus is located in a rural county. Under the bill, a hospital would instead qualify if it provides inpatient hospital services at a facility located in a rural county, or if it is a critical access hospital, a federal designation for certain small rural hospitals. The bill keeps the other requirements, such as treating Medicaid and Medicare patients and meeting financial and audit standards, unchanged. The bill's title mentions an effective date and applicability provision, but the supplied text does not include a separate section spelling out that date.

• Rewrites the definition of "rural hospital organization" in Georgia's tax credit law (O.C.G.A. § 31-8-9.1) to expand which hospitals can qualify for donor tax credits.
• Allows a hospital to qualify if it provides inpatient hospital services at a facility located in a rural county, rather than requiring its primary campus to be there.
• Adds critical access hospital status, a federal designation for certain small rural hospitals, as an alternative way to meet the rural-location requirement.
• Corrects capitalization of "Medicare" in the participation requirement without changing its substance.
• Repeals any existing state laws that conflict with the revised definition.

Rural hospitals and rural freestanding emergency departments seeking tax-credit-eligible donor status, hospital systems that operate multiple campuses, taxpayers and businesses who donate to rural hospitals for state tax credits, and the Georgia Department of Community Health, which certifies eligibility.

By loosening the location test, more hospitals, including those whose main campus is not technically in a rural county but that still provide inpatient services there or hold critical access status, could become eligible to receive tax-credit-funded donations, potentially expanding the pool of hospitals competing for that donor funding.

• Section 1 amends subparagraph (a)(3)(A) of O.C.G.A. § 31-8-9.1, replacing the requirement that a hospital's "primary campus" be in a rural county with a broader test: providing inpatient hospital services at a rural facility or being a critical access hospital.
• The bill leaves unchanged the other qualifying criteria: participation in Medicaid and Medicare, service to indigent patients, at least 10 percent of net revenue as indigent care, charity care, or bad debt, annual IRS Form 990 filing, tax-exempt or public authority status, current audits, and a patient margin test.
• Section 2 repeals any conflicting state laws.

1. 2025-02-04Senate Read and Referred (Senate)
2. 2025-02-03Senate Hopper (Senate)

• Carden Summers (R, SD-013)Primary sponsor
• John Kennedy (R, SD-018)
• Jason Anavitarte (R, SD-031)
• Ed Harbison (D, SD-015)
• Larry Walker (R, SD-020)
• Marty Harbin (R, SD-016)
• David Lucas (D, SD-026)
• Ricky Williams (R, SD-025)
• Lee Anderson (R, SD-024)
• Freddie Sims (D, SD-012)
• Derek Mallow (D, SD-002)
• Sam Watson (R, SD-011)
• Billy Hickman (R, SD-004)
• Kenya Wicks (D, SD-034)
• Nikki Merritt (D, SD-009)

• rural hospitals
• tax credits
• healthcare funding
• Medicaid and Medicare