HB 471: Health; licensed general hospitals and birthing centers make available a water safety education video to parents or guardians of newborn infants; require

Currently, Georgia hospitals and birthing centers are not required to provide water safety information to new parents. House Bill 471 would change that by adding a new section to Georgia's hospital regulation law (O.C.G.A. § 31-7-24). It would require licensed general hospitals and birthing centers to show parents or guardians of newborn infants a water safety education video onsite before the baby is discharged. The bill also requires these facilities to give parents a water safety education form, which the Department of Community Health would develop. The bill directs the department to write rules and regulations to carry out these requirements, and it borrows the definition of 'water safety education' from an existing section of Georgia's education code (O.C.G.A. § 20-2-779.4).

• Requires licensed general hospitals and birthing centers to show new parents or guardians a water safety education video onsite before their newborn is discharged.
• Requires those facilities to hand parents a water safety education form that the Department of Community Health must develop.
• Directs the Department of Community Health to create rules and regulations to implement the video and form requirements.
• Defines 'water safety education' by pointing to the meaning already used in Georgia's school water safety law (O.C.G.A. § 20-2-779.4).

Parents and guardians of newborn infants in Georgia, and the licensed general hospitals and birthing centers that must show the video and provide the form. The Department of Community Health is also affected, since it must create the form and write implementing rules.

New parents leaving the hospital would receive standardized water safety information before taking their newborn home, something not currently required. Hospitals and birthing centers would face a new operational step, and the state health department would take on responsibility for developing the required materials.

• Adds new Code Section 31-7-24 to Georgia's hospital regulation law (Title 31, Chapter 7, Article 1).
• Subsection (a) defines 'water safety education' by referencing the definition already used in O.C.G.A. § 20-2-779.4.
• Subsection (b)(1) requires hospitals and birthing centers to make a water safety video available for onsite viewing before a newborn's discharge.
• Subsection (b)(2) requires the facility to give the parent or guardian a water safety education form developed by the Department of Community Health.
• Subsection (c) directs the department to promulgate rules and regulations needed to implement the section.
• Section 2 repeals any conflicting laws, a standard closing provision.

1. 2026-03-19Senate Committee Favorably Reported (Senate)
2. 2026-01-12Senate Recommitted (Senate)
3. 2026-01-12Senate Taken from Table (Senate)
4. 2025-04-02Senate Tabled (Senate)
5. 2025-03-25Senate Read Second Time (Senate)
6. 2025-03-21Senate Committee Favorably Reported (Senate)
7. 2025-03-10Senate Read and Referred (Senate)
8. 2025-03-06House Passed/Adopted By Substitute (House)

• Mike Cheokas (R, HD-151)Primary sponsor
• Matt Dubnik (R, HD-029)
• Gerald Greene (R, HD-154)
• Lee Hawkins (R, HD-027)
• Carter Barrett (R, HD-024)
• Matthew Gambill (R, HD-015)
• Shawn Still (R, SD-048)

1. PassedHouse voteMarch 6, 2025

   169 yea, 0 nay (4 not voting, 7 absent)

   Passage: House Vote #262

• water safety
• newborn care
• hospital regulations
• public health education