HB 1368: Mental health; re-creation of community service boards; provide

Community service boards are the local public agencies that provide mental health, developmental disability, and addictive disease services across Georgia's counties. This bill re-creates all existing community service boards effective July 1, 2026, and changes how they are run. Each board's governing board, made up of members appointed by county governments, will now include an executive director as a formal member. Going forward, that executive director will generally be appointed and can be removed by the commissioner of the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities, making the director a state employee rather than someone hired directly by the local board, though current directors get options to stay with the local board under a three-way contract. The bill gives the executive director significant new authority, including hiring and firing staff, signing contracts, approving budgets before the governing board acts, and managing daily operations, while still allowing the governing board to delegate additional duties to the director. It also updates rules for converting a board into a nonprofit, county unit, or hospital authority, requiring the commissioner's approval, and revises when boards can hold teleconference meetings. The Department must create unified bylaws for all boards by December 31, 2026.

• Re-creates all community service boards in Georgia effective July 1, 2026, and adds an executive director as a member of each governing board.
• Shifts appointment and removal authority for most executive directors from the local governing board to the commissioner of the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities, making them department employees.
• Lets current executive directors choose by August 1, 2026 whether to stay employed by the local board under a three-way contract or become a state employee.
• Gives executive directors new powers to hire, discipline, and fire staff, sign and terminate contracts, and set operational, clinical, and employment policies for the board.
• Requires the executive director's approval before a governing board can adopt bylaws, approve budgets, borrow money, or approve certain other actions.
• Requires county government and commissioner approval before a board can convert into a nonprofit, a county government unit, or part of a hospital authority.

Georgia's community service boards and their governing board members, current and future executive directors, county governments that appoint board members, employees of community service boards, the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities and its commissioner, and Georgians who rely on local mental health, developmental disability, and addiction services.

The bill shifts day-to-day control of local mental health and disability service providers away from locally appointed boards and toward a state-appointed executive director accountable to the commissioner. This changes who makes hiring, contracting, and budget decisions for agencies that deliver care to people with mental illness, developmental disabilities, and addiction across Georgia's counties.

• Section 1 and 2 rewrite definitions in O.C.G.A. §§ 37-1-1 and 37-2-2, adding terms like 'executive director' and clarifying 'community service board' and its service area.
• Section 3 revises O.C.G.A. § 37-2-6 to re-create all community service boards on July 1, 2026, add the executive director to the governing board, and require the department to issue unified bylaws by December 31, 2026.
• Section 4 rewrites O.C.G.A. § 37-2-6.1 so the commissioner appoints and can remove most executive directors, who gain power to hire/fire staff, sign contracts, and manage daily operations, subject to governing board bylaw and budget approval requirements.
• Section 4 also requires executive director approval before a board can adopt bylaws or approve its budget, and requires executive director sign-off on contracts and borrowing on and after July 1, 2026.
• Section 5 amends O.C.G.A. § 37-2-6.4 to require the commissioner's approval, in addition to county and board approval, before a board converts to a nonprofit, county unit, or hospital authority.
• Section 6 amends O.C.G.A. § 37-2-6.5 to require the Governor's approval before a board can cease operations and updates procedures for reconstituting boards.
• Section 8 amends O.C.G.A. § 50-14-1 to remove the requirement that at least half of a community service board's members be physically present for teleconference meetings.

1. 2026-03-06Senate Read and Referred (Senate)
2. 2026-03-04House Passed/Adopted By Substitute (House)
3. 2026-03-04House Third Readers (House)
4. 2026-02-25House Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute (House)
5. 2026-02-20House Second Readers (House)
6. 2026-02-19House First Readers (House)
7. 2026-02-18House Hopper (House)

• Sharon Cooper (R, HD-045)Primary sponsor
• James Hatchett (R, HD-155)
• Ron Stephens (R, HD-164)
• Katie Dempsey (R, HD-013)
• Teddy Reese (D, HD-140)

1. PassedHouse voteMarch 4, 2026

   156 yea, 2 nay (2 not voting, 17 absent)

   Passage: House Vote #643

• mental health services
• developmental disabilities
• community service boards
• local government boards
• behavioral health agencies