SR393: SR393 Senate Study Committee on Improving Family Caregiver Services; create

Georgia has more than a million family caregivers who provide over a billion hours of unpaid care each year, often while also working jobs and managing complex medical, insurance, and transportation challenges for their loved ones. This resolution responds to that by setting up a temporary study committee in the Senate. The committee would have five members appointed by the President of the Senate, one of whom would chair it. It can hold meetings as needed, and its legislative members would receive standard daily allowances under Georgia law (O.C.G.A. § 28-1-8) for up to five days unless more are approved, paid from Senate funds. If the committee approves findings or recommendations, the chairperson must file a report with the Secretary of the Senate before the committee is abolished on December 1, 2025.

• Creates the Senate Study Committee on Improving Family Caregiver Services, made up of five senators appointed by the President of the Senate.
• Directs the committee to study the needs and problems of family caregivers and recommend action or legislation.
• Allows the committee to meet at times and places it decides are needed to carry out its work.
• Sets pay for legislative members using existing daily allowance rules (O.C.G.A. § 28-1-8), capped at five days unless more are approved.
• Requires a report with any approved findings or recommendations to be filed with the Secretary of the Senate before the committee ends.
• Abolishes the committee automatically on December 1, 2025.

This resolution directly affects the five senators appointed to serve on the study committee. Indirectly, it affects Georgia's family caregivers, the seniors and loved ones they care for, and employers who may be affected by caregivers' work and care obligations, since the committee's findings could shape future caregiver-related legislation.

The committee itself does not change any law or provide direct help to caregivers, but its work could lead to future legislation addressing caregiver support, workplace impacts, or healthcare coordination. Any real-world effect on Georgians depends on what the committee recommends and whether lawmakers later act on it.

• Paragraph (1) creates the Senate Study Committee on Improving Family Caregiver Services.
• Paragraph (2) sets committee membership at five senators appointed by the President of the Senate, who also names the chairperson.
• Paragraph (3) charges the committee with studying caregiver conditions, needs, and problems and recommending action or legislation.
• Paragraph (5) ties member pay to the allowances in O.C.G.A. § 28-1-8, limited to five days unless additional days are authorized, funded from Senate appropriations.
• Paragraph (6) requires any approved report with recommendations to be filed with the Secretary of the Senate before abolishment, or minutes filed if no report is approved.
• Paragraph (7) sets the committee's abolishment date as December 1, 2025.

1. 2025-04-02Senate Passed/Adopted (Senate)
2. 2025-03-28Senate Read Second Time (Senate)
3. 2025-03-28Senate Committee Favorably Reported (Senate)
4. 2025-03-25Senate Withdrawn & Recommitted (Senate)
5. 2025-03-18Senate Read and Referred (Senate)
6. 2025-03-13Senate Hopper (Senate)

• Harold Jones (D, SD-022)Primary sponsor
• Kenya Wicks (D, SD-034)
• Gail Davenport (D, SD-017)
• Tonya Anderson (D, SD-043)
• Donzella James (D, SD-028)

1. PassedSenate voteApril 2, 2025

   52 yea, 0 nay (3 not voting, 1 absent)

   Consent Calendar For Senate Study Committees: Senate Vote #380

• family caregivers
• senior care
• Senate study committee
• caregiver support
• healthcare policy