HB605: HB605 Public Health, Department of; continue operation of Georgia Tobacco Quit Line, subject to appropriations of funds; require

Georgia currently runs a Tobacco Quit Line, but this bill would put that program into state law for the first time. The Department of Public Health would be required to continue operating, maintaining, and making available the Quit Line, though only subject to state funding or other available money. The Quit Line would have to be available around the clock, offer phone, text, and internet based help, serve users 13 and older, support pregnant and postpartum tobacco users, provide multiple languages, give free nicotine replacement supplies to qualified residents 18 and older, and follow national treatment guidelines. The bill also adds a new function: the Quit Line must give callers information about lung cancer screening, evaluate their eligibility, and refer them to screening services. The department must design signage and handout materials about the Quit Line and lung cancer screening, and any business selling cigarettes, tobacco, vapor, or nicotine products must post that signage and hand out the materials to customers.

• Requires the Department of Public Health to continue running the Georgia Tobacco Quit Line, but only if state funding or other money is available.
• Adds a requirement that the Quit Line provide information, eligibility evaluation, and referrals for lung cancer screening.
• Sets specific service standards for the Quit Line, including 24/7 availability, multilingual support, free nicotine replacement supplies for adults 18 and up, and services for pregnant and postpartum tobacco users.
• Requires the department to create signage and handout materials about the Quit Line and lung cancer screening.
• Requires any business that sells cigarettes, tobacco, vapor, or nicotine products to post that signage and distribute the materials to customers.
• Requires the Quit Line to follow privacy laws and use de-identified data to track outcomes and trends.

The Department of Public Health, which must operate and fund the Quit Line and design materials; Georgians who use tobacco, vapor, or nicotine products, including pregnant and postpartum women and callers as young as 13; and any retailer that sells cigarettes, tobacco products, vapor products, or alternative nicotine products.

Tobacco users seeking help would have a legally guaranteed, though funding-dependent, quit line offering free nicotine replacement supplies and lung cancer screening referrals. Retailers would face a new, ongoing obligation to post signage and hand out written materials to every customer buying these products.

• Adds new Code Section 31-2A-21 to Title 31, defining terms like tobacco product and vapor product by reference to O.C.G.A. § 16-12-170.
• Subsection (b) requires the department to keep operating the Quit Line but only subject to appropriations or other available funds, and allows contracting out its design and operation.
• Subsection (c) lists eleven required services and standards for the Quit Line, including 24/7 access, multilingual support, free nicotine replacement therapy for those 18 and older, and lung cancer screening referrals.
• Subsection (d) requires the department to design signage and distribution materials covering Quit Line services and lung cancer screening information.
• Subsection (e) requires any business selling cigarettes, tobacco products, tobacco related objects, vapor products, or alternative nicotine products to post the signage and distribute the materials to purchasers.
• Section 2 repeals conflicting laws.

1. 2025-02-27House Second Readers (House)
2. 2025-02-26House First Readers (House)
3. 2025-02-24House Hopper (House)

• Marvin Lim (D, HD-098)Primary sponsor
• Shea Roberts (D, HD-052)
• Karen Lupton (D, HD-083)

• tobacco cessation
• public health
• lung cancer screening
• vaping regulation
• retailer requirements