Skip to content
Georgia Commons
Menu

House · Passed · 2025-2026 Regular Session

HB 1015: Self-insurers Guaranty Trust Fund; revise certain funded levels

Last action July 1, 2026 · Effective Date

House Bill 1015 raises the funding thresholds for Georgia's Self-insurers Guaranty Trust Fund, which backs workers' compensation claims when a self-insured employer can't pay.

Read the full bill text

These buttons carry the bill's own text, not the summaries below. Copy for LLM, View as markdown, and Send to AI use the Markdown version: the text as filed, then the summaries under a heading that names them as ours. View raw is the text alone.

The summaries below were written by an AI model (claude-sonnet-5) from the text of the bill and are not part of it. Quote the text, not the summary. The stored text is the Enrolled version, the latest the General Assembly's website lists.

In plain language

Georgia allows some employers to self-insure for workers' compensation instead of buying insurance. A trust fund exists to cover claims if a self-insured employer defaults, funded through assessments on participating employers. This bill amends O.C.G.A. § 34-9-386 to raise two dollar thresholds tied to the fund's balance. Annual assessments on participants stop once the fund reaches $25 million net of liabilities, up from the current $15 million. The threshold that triggers a special assessment when the fund drops too low is also raised, from $5 million to $10 million net of liabilities. The rest of the assessment formulas, including the $8,000 annual cap per participant and the 1.5 percent rate, stay the same.

What the bill does

  • Raises the fund balance level at which regular annual assessments on participants stop, from $15 million to $25 million net of all liabilities.
  • Raises the fund balance level that can trigger a special assessment on participants, from $5 million to $10 million net of all liabilities.
  • Leaves unchanged the existing assessment formulas, including the $8,000 annual cap and 1.5 percent rate on medical and indemnity benefits paid.
  • Repeals any conflicting laws, a standard housekeeping step to avoid legal conflicts with the new thresholds.

Who it affects

Employers in Georgia that are approved to self-insure for workers' compensation coverage, and the board of trustees that manages the Self-insurers Guaranty Trust Fund. Indirectly, injured workers who rely on the fund if a self-insured employer cannot pay their claims.

Why it matters

By raising the thresholds, the fund would need to hold more money before assessments on self-insured employers pause, and would allow it to drop further before a special assessment kicks in. This changes how much cushion the fund keeps to cover workers' compensation claims.

Key provisions

  • Section 1 amends O.C.G.A. § 34-9-386(a)(1) to raise the funded level that halts regular annual assessments from $15 million to $25 million net of all liabilities.
  • Section 1 amends paragraph (4) to raise the fund balance threshold triggering a possible special assessment from $5 million to $10 million net of all liabilities.
  • The bill leaves intact the $8,000 first-year assessment, the 1.5 percent or $2,000 minimum annual assessment formula, and the $8,000 annual assessment cap per participant.
  • Section 2 repeals any laws that conflict with the changes made by the Act.

Discussed in meetings (12)

The House and Senate meetings that took this bill up, from their machine transcripts. Each account was written by Georgia Commons with AI and is not part of the record; the video is what was said.

  1. House Industry and Labor Committee, January 28, 2026

    From 0:07:11 · Watch on the General Assembly's Vimeo channel

    Summary by Georgia Commons: In the closing remarks captured by the transcript, a speaker said the bill would help both employers and employees. No further questions or testimony followed. The committee approved the bill by voice vote and sent it to the Rules Committee. No numerical vote total was announced.

  2. House Rules Committee, February 2, 2026

    From 0:51:38 · Watch on the General Assembly's Vimeo channel

    Summary by Georgia Commons: The sponsor said HB 1015 would raise funding levels for the Self-insurers Guaranty Trust Fund, which backs workers’ compensation obligations if a self-insured business goes bankrupt. The sponsor said participating companies, not taxpayers, fund it and that the levels had not been raised in decades. No substantive questions or calendar action followed.

  3. House Rules Committee, February 9, 2026

    From 0:48:51 · Watch on the General Assembly's Vimeo channel · Confirmed by the 2026 House Journal, p. 501

    Summary by Georgia Commons: The committee placed HB 1015 on the February 10 floor calendar after a motion and second, with no opposition voiced. The bill's contents were not discussed.

  4. House floor session, February 10, 2026 (legislative day 16)

    From 1:38:56 · Watch on the General Assembly's Vimeo channel · Confirmed by the 2026 House Journal, p. 508

    Summary by Georgia Commons: The sponsor explained that employers that fund their own workers’ compensation coverage pay assessments into a backup fund for situations such as bankruptcy, depleted funds or catastrophic events. The sponsor said the fund’s limits had not been updated in decades and proposed raising its minimum from $5 million to $10 million and its maximum from $15 million to $25 million. According to the sponsor, employers stop paying assessments once the maximum is reached. The only question concerned whether this was the sponsor’s first bill, rather than the proposal’s substance. The House passed the bill 165-3.

  5. Senate Insurance and Labor Committee, March 19, 2026

    From 0:23:53 · Watch on the General Assembly's Vimeo channel

    Summary by Georgia Commons: The Senate presenter said the bill would raise the Georgia Self-Insurers Guaranty Trust Fund’s cap from $15 million to $25 million and raise the threshold allowing member assessments from $5 million to $10 million. The presenter described the fund as protection for workers whose self-insured employers become bankrupt. A fund representative emphasized that the money comes from self-insured employers, not the state. The fund’s executive director said it had about 100 active members and roughly $15 million. Asked whether members would immediately have to supply another $10 million, the executive director said annual assessments would remain unchanged and the higher cap would allow continued collections and investment growth. In response to questions about bankruptcies and reserve adequacy, the executive director said employer security covers most current claims, but a large employer’s failure could threaten the reserve if its security proved insufficient. The executive director also confirmed annual outside review of the fund’s adequacy. The committee unanimously approved the bill.

  6. Senate Rules Committee, March 30, 2026

    From 1:32:55 · Watch on the General Assembly's Vimeo channel

    Summary by Georgia Commons: The chair added HB 1015 to the floor calendar selections. No substantive explanation or debate followed. The committee unanimously approved the calendar containing it.

  7. Senate floor session, March 31, 2026 (legislative day 39, part 1)

    From 7:30:06 · Watch on the General Assembly's Vimeo channel · Confirmed by the bill's status history (Senate Third Read)

    Summary by Georgia Commons: The sponsor said HB 1015 was brought on behalf of the Self-insurers Guaranty Trust Fund and would raise its funding cap. The sponsor said the fund had reached its cap and needed the change to avoid assessments on members while protecting against bankruptcy. No dollar amounts were stated. No questions or opposing speeches followed, and the Senate passed the bill 46-1.

Status timeline

  1. 2026-07-01Effective Date
  2. 2026-05-05Act 386
  3. 2026-05-05House Date Signed by Governor (House)
  4. 2026-04-07House Sent to Governor (House)
  5. 2026-03-31Senate Passed/Adopted (Senate)
  6. 2026-03-31Senate Third Read (Senate)
  7. 2026-03-23Senate Read Second Time (Senate)
  8. 2026-03-20Senate Committee Favorably Reported (Senate)
Show full history (15 actions)
  1. 2026-02-11Senate Read and Referred (Senate)
  2. 2026-02-10House Passed/Adopted (House)
  3. 2026-02-10House Third Readers (House)
  4. 2026-01-29House Committee Favorably Reported (House)
  5. 2026-01-29House Second Readers (House)
  6. 2026-01-28House First Readers (House)
  7. 2026-01-27House Hopper (House)

Sponsors

  • Bill Werkheiser (R, HD-157)Primary sponsor
  • Kay Kirkpatrick (R, SD-32)

Votes

  1. PassedHouse voteFebruary 10, 2026

    165 yea, 3 nay (1 not voting, 8 excused)

    PASSAGE: House Vote #495

  2. PassedSenate voteMarch 31, 2026

    46 yea, 1 nay (1 not voting, 6 excused)

    PASSAGE: Senate Vote #897

Topics

  • workers' compensation
  • self-insurance
  • state trust funds
  • insurance regulation

Ask about this bill

Answers come from this document. Not legal advice.

Machine-readable https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/hb1015.md · https://georgiacommons.org/bills/index.md · MCP https://mcp.georgiacommons.org/mcp