HB262: HB262 Community Health, Department of; grant program for purpose of acquiring and installing backup generators; provide

Georgia law does not currently include a dedicated grant program to help rural hospitals pay for backup power. This bill adds a new section to the Department of Community Health's chapter of Georgia law (O.C.G.A. Title 31, Chapter 2) creating one. The grant program would target 'affected rural hospitals,' defined as acute care hospitals with fewer than 100 beds located in counties under 50,000 people (excluding military personnel from that count) that sit in a region where the Governor declared a state of emergency after July 1, 2024. The Department of Community Health, working with the director of the Georgia Emergency Management and Homeland Security Agency, would set the criteria for awarding grants and would prioritize hospitals that currently lack backup generators or the means to install them. Grant amounts would be decided case by case, and the whole program depends on the General Assembly actually funding it. The law would take effect as soon as the Governor signs it or it becomes law without his signature.

• Creates a new grant program inside the Department of Community Health to fund backup generators for qualifying rural hospitals.
• Defines which hospitals qualify: acute care hospitals with fewer than 100 beds in rural counties under 50,000 people that were in a state-of-emergency region declared after July 1, 2024.
• Requires the department to consult with the Georgia Emergency Management and Homeland Security Agency when setting grant rules and deciding awards.
• Directs the department to prioritize hospitals that currently have no backup generators or no way to install them.
• Gives the department authority to set grant amounts individually for each hospital rather than a fixed statewide amount.
• Makes the whole program dependent on the General Assembly actually appropriating money or other funding becoming available.

Small rural hospitals with fewer than 100 beds in low-population Georgia counties, especially those in areas the Governor has declared a state of emergency since mid-2024, along with the Department of Community Health and the Georgia Emergency Management and Homeland Security Agency, which would jointly run the program.

Rural hospitals often struggle to fund infrastructure like backup generators, and losing power during storms or other emergencies can force them to shut down or transfer patients. This program could help those hospitals stay open, though it only takes effect if lawmakers actually provide funding.

• Section 1 adds new Code section 31-2-20 to Title 31, Chapter 2, establishing the grant program and its definitions.
• Defines 'affected rural hospital' by bed count, county population, and location in a region with a post-July 2024 emergency declaration.
• Defines 'rural county' as under 50,000 residents per the 2020 census, excluding military personnel and dependents from the count in counties with a base.
• Requires the department, in consultation with the state's emergency management director, to set grant criteria and prioritize hospitals lacking generators.
• States the program is 'subject to appropriations by the General Assembly or other available funding,' meaning it isn't automatically funded.
• Section 2 sets the effective date as upon the Governor's approval or the bill becoming law without his signature.
• Section 3 repeals any conflicting laws.

1. 2025-03-04Senate Read and Referred (Senate)
2. 2025-03-03House Passed/Adopted By Substitute (House)
3. 2025-03-03House Third Readers (House)
4. 2025-02-27House Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute (House)
5. 2025-02-21House Withdrawn, Recommitted (House)
6. 2025-02-20House Postponed (House)
7. 2025-02-13House Committee Favorably Reported (House)
8. 2025-02-06House Second Readers (House)

• Angie O'Steen (R, HD-169)Primary sponsor
• James Burchett (R, HD-176)
• Joe Campbell (R, HD-171)
• John Corbett (R, HD-174)
• John LaHood (R, HD-175)

1. PassedHouse voteMarch 3, 2025

   173 yea, 0 nay (2 not voting, 5 absent)

   Passage: House Vote #146

• rural hospitals
• emergency preparedness
• backup generators
• state grants
• health care funding