Georgia CommonsHouse · Passed · 2025-2026 Regular Session
HB 144: Income tax; certain medical preceptor rotations; revise tax credit
Last action July 1, 2025 · Effective Date
House Bill 144 expands Georgia's tax credit for medical preceptors who train students without pay, adding dentists, raising credit amounts, capping the total credits statewide, and extending the program through 2030.
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 already gives a tax credit to physicians, advanced practice nurses, and physician assistants who volunteer to train students in real-world settings, known as preceptorship rotations. This bill rewrites that credit under O.C.G.A. § 48-7-29.22. It adds licensed dentists to the list of professionals who can earn the credit and to the list of students who can be trained, along with dental training programs approved by the Georgia Board of Dentistry. The bill also simplifies and increases the payment amounts: physicians and dentists would earn a flat $1,000 per rotation (replacing a tiered $500/$1,000 structure), and nurse practitioners and physician assistants would earn a flat $750 per rotation (replacing a tiered $375/$750 structure). It adds a new statewide cap of $6 million in total credits per calendar year. The current repeal date of December 31, 2026 is pushed back to December 31, 2030. The changes take effect July 1, 2025, and apply to tax years starting on or after January 1, 2026.
What the bill does
- Adds licensed dentists and dental students as eligible participants in the preceptor tax credit program, alongside doctors, nurse practitioners, and physician assistants.
- Replaces the tiered credit amounts with a flat $1,000 per rotation for physicians and dentists, and a flat $750 per rotation for nurse practitioners and physician assistants.
- Creates a new statewide cap limiting total tax credits under this program to $6 million per calendar year.
- Extends the program's repeal date from December 31, 2026 to December 31, 2030.
- Keeps the existing limit of ten preceptorship rotations per person per calendar year and the requirement that preceptors register with the Area Health Education Centers Program Office at Augusta University.
Who it affects
Georgia physicians, licensed dentists, advanced practice registered nurses, and physician assistants who volunteer as community based training preceptors; medical, dental, nursing, and physician assistant students in Georgia training programs; the Augusta University AHEC Program Office, which administers the credit; and the state Department of Revenue.
Why it matters
Dentists could newly claim a state tax credit for hosting unpaid student training rotations, and all eligible preceptors would see larger per-rotation credits. The new $6 million annual cap means the total benefit statewide is now capped, which could affect how much individual preceptors ultimately receive if demand is high.
Key provisions
- Section 1 amends O.C.G.A. § 48-7-29.22 to add 'licensed dentist' to the definition of community based faculty preceptor and add dentistry training approved by the Georgia Board of Dentistry to the definition of medical student.
- Section 1 sets the credit at $1,000 per rotation for physicians and dentists and $750 per rotation for nurse practitioners and physician assistants, replacing the prior tiered rates.
- Section 1 caps total credits allowed under this program at $6 million for any calendar year.
- Section 1 keeps the ten-rotation-per-year limit per preceptor and the AHEC registration and annual reporting requirements.
- Section 1 extends the sunset (automatic repeal) date for the credit from December 31, 2026 to December 31, 2030.
- Section 2 sets the effective date as July 1, 2025, applying to tax years beginning on or after January 1, 2026.
From the bill
“The aggregate amount of tax credits allowed pursuant to this Code section shall not exceed $6 million for any calendar year.”
Status timeline
- Effective Date
- Act 24
- House Date Signed by Governor (House)
- House Sent to Governor (House)
- Senate Passed/Adopted (Senate)
- Senate Third Read (Senate)
- Senate Engrossed (Senate)
- Senate Read Second Time (Senate)
Show full history (16 actions)
- Senate Committee Favorably Reported (Senate)
- Senate Read and Referred (Senate)
- House Passed/Adopted (House)
- House Third Readers (House)
- House Committee Favorably Reported (House)
- House Second Readers (House)
- House First Readers (House)
- House Hopper (House)
Sponsors
- Mark Newton (R, HD-127)
- Lee Hawkins (R, HD-27)
- Darlene Taylor (R, HD-173)
- Ron Stephens (R, HD-164)
- Anne Allen Westbrook (D, HD-163)
- Edna Jackson (D, HD-165)
- Chuck Hufstetler (R, SD-52)
Votes
- House voteMarch 4, 2025
171 yea, 2 nay (4 not voting, 3 excused)
- Senate voteMarch 31, 2025
30 yea, 20 nay (5 not voting, 1 excused)
- Senate voteMarch 31, 2025
48 yea, 5 nay (1 not voting, 2 excused)
Topics
- income tax credits
- medical education
- dentistry
- health care workforce
- tax law