HB489: HB489 End Public Funding of Misinformation Act; enact

Georgia law currently includes a grant program, known as the Positive Alternatives for Pregnancy and Parenting Grant Program, run through the Department of Public Health (O.C.G.A. Chapter 2A of Title 31). This program provides state funding to certain organizations that offer services related to pregnancy and parenting alternatives. This bill would repeal that entire program, referred to in the bill text as Article 2 of that chapter, removing it from Georgia law and reserving the space for possible future use. The bill gives itself the short title 'End Public Funding of Misinformation Act.' It also repeals any other Georgia laws that conflict with this change. The bill does not create any new program, funding stream, or requirement in its place; it simply removes the existing one.

• Repeals Article 2 of Chapter 2A of Title 31 of Georgia law, which established the Positive Alternatives for Pregnancy and Parenting Grant Program.
• Reserves the repealed article's place in the law, meaning the section is emptied out rather than reused for something new right away.
• Gives the Act the short title 'End Public Funding of Misinformation Act.'
• Repeals any other Georgia laws or parts of laws that conflict with this change.

Organizations that currently receive state grant money through the Positive Alternatives for Pregnancy and Parenting Grant Program, the Georgia Department of Public Health, which administers the program, and Georgians who may rely on services funded through that program.

If enacted, the organizations currently receiving state grants under this program would lose that funding source, and the Department of Public Health would no longer administer the program. People who used services funded through the program would need to find other resources.

• Section 1 gives the Act its short title, the 'End Public Funding of Misinformation Act.'
• Section 2 repeals and reserves Article 2 of Chapter 2A of Title 31, eliminating the Positive Alternatives for Pregnancy and Parenting Grant Program entirely.
• Section 3 repeals any other Georgia laws that conflict with this Act.

1. 2025-02-20House Second Readers (House)
2. 2025-02-19House First Readers (House)
3. 2025-02-18House Hopper (House)

• Anne Westbrook (D, HD-163)Primary sponsor
• Tanya Miller (D, HD-062)
• Mary Oliver (D, HD-084)
• Marvin Lim (D, HD-098)
• Samuel Park (D, HD-107)
• Shea Roberts (D, HD-052)

• pregnancy support programs
• state funding
• public health policy
• grant programs