HB 925: The Georgia Maternal Health Momnibus Act; enact

Georgia currently has one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the country, and dozens of rural counties lack hospitals with labor and delivery units. This bill responds with a package of changes spread across several parts of state law. It creates pilot programs for telemedicine prenatal visits, mobile postpartum health clinics, and group prenatal and postpartum classes in counties with little or no obstetric care. It requires implicit bias training for healthcare workers who provide perinatal care, sets up a Regional Perinatal Center Advisory Committee, and requires health insurance plans to cover maternal mental health screening starting January 1, 2026. The bill also creates a one-year Medicaid pilot paying for doula care, expands the WIC nutrition program to cover children up to age six if funded, establishes a maternal health grant program, and creates new workplace accommodation rights for pregnant employees enforceable through a lawsuit. It exempts diapers from sales tax, gives maternal death review committees access to psychiatric records, and creates a Severe Maternal Morbidity Review Committee to track near-death complications. Many provisions depend on future state funding and several pilot programs automatically expire by December 2029.

• Creates pilot programs for telemedicine prenatal care and mobile postpartum health clinics in Georgia counties with few or no obstetric providers, contingent on state funding and repealed by December 1, 2029.
• Requires health insurance plans sold in Georgia to cover maternal mental health screening and follow-up treatment during pregnancy and for 12 months postpartum, starting January 1, 2026.
• Creates a one-year Medicaid pilot program starting July 1, 2026 that pays for up to five doula care visits for pregnant Medicaid recipients, expiring December 31, 2027.
• Establishes a new labor law (new Chapter 5B) requiring employers to provide reasonable workplace accommodations for pregnancy and childbirth, enforceable through a civil lawsuit for back pay and attorney's fees.
• Exempts the sale of diapers from Georgia's sales and use tax.
• Creates a Severe Maternal Morbidity Review Committee to collect data on near-fatal pregnancy complications and requires hospitals and pharmacies to give maternal death review committees access to psychiatric records.

Pregnant and postpartum women, especially in rural counties without obstetric care; hospitals, clinics, and healthcare professionals involved in perinatal care; Medicaid recipients and doulas; health insurers; pregnant employees and their employers statewide; and state agencies including the Department of Public Health, Department of Community Health, and Department of Labor.

If enacted, women in Georgia's maternity care deserts could gain access to remote prenatal visits and mobile clinics, insured patients would get covered mental health screenings after birth, pregnant workers would gain legal accommodation rights, and diapers would cost less at checkout, though several programs only take effect if lawmakers later provide funding.

• Part 2, Section 2-2 creates a three-year telemedicine prenatal care pilot beginning July 1, 2026 for counties classified as 'limited maternity care counties' or 'maternity care deserts,' offering up to five virtual visits per pregnant woman.
• Section 2-3 creates a similar three-year mobile clinic pilot for postpartum care and a program for group prenatal and postpartum classes for low-income women, plus mandatory implicit bias training for perinatal healthcare professionals.
• Section 2-4 establishes the Regional Perinatal Center Advisory Committee (11 to 21 members) to review and recommend changes to Georgia's regional perinatal hospital system every four years.
• Section 2-6 requires universal perinatal mood and anxiety disorder screening at specified points from the first prenatal visit through one year postpartum and sets up a three-year remote mental health screening pilot by January 1, 2026.
• Section 2-6 also creates a one-year Medicaid doula care pilot beginning July 1, 2026, contingent on funding and set to expire December 31, 2027.
• Part 3 conditionally expands the Georgia WIC program to cover children up to age six (Section 3-1) and creates the Supporting Healthy Moms Grant Program for nonprofits addressing maternal health and social needs (Section 3-2).
• Part 3, Section 3-4 creates new Code Chapter 34-5B requiring employers to provide reasonable pregnancy-related workplace accommodations, with a civil right of action for violations.
• Part 3, Section 3-5 exempts diaper sales from state sales and use tax; Part 4 creates the Severe Maternal Morbidity Review Committee and expands psychiatric record access for maternal death reviews.

1. 2026-01-12House Second Readers (House)
2. 2025-04-04House First Readers (House)
3. 2025-04-04House Hopper (House)

• Park Cannon (D, HD-058)Primary sponsor
• Tanya Miller (D, HD-062)
• Sandra Scott (D, HD-076)
• Debra Bazemore (D, HD-069)
• Carolyn Hugley (D, HD-141)
• Mekyah McQueen (D, HD-061)

• maternal health
• Medicaid
• pregnancy discrimination
• health insurance coverage
• rural healthcare access