Georgia CommonsHouse · Introduced · 2025-2026 Regular Session
HR 1473: House Study Committee on Lupus; create
Last action March 27, 2026 · House Committee Favorably Reported
A Georgia House resolution would create a study committee to examine how lupus affects patients in Georgia, including delays in getting disability benefits, and to recommend possible legislation.
The summaries below were written by an AI model (claude-sonnet-5) from the text of the resolution and are not part of it. Quote the text, not the summary. The stored text is the Introduced version, the latest the General Assembly's website lists.
In plain language
This resolution creates the House Study Committee on Lupus, a temporary panel of the Georgia House of Representatives. The committee would look into how lupus, a chronic autoimmune disease, affects people's health and ability to work, and would examine problems Georgians with lupus face in getting Social Security disability benefits due to delays and denied claims. The committee would have seven members: four state representatives from the House Committee on Health, plus the commissioner of public health (or a designee), a representative from the Georgia Council on Lupus Education and Awareness, and a representative from the Georgia Chapter of the Lupus Foundation of America. The Speaker of the House would appoint all members and name the chairperson. The committee can meet as needed, gets limited state funding for member expenses, and must file any findings or recommended legislation before it is abolished on December 1, 2026.
What the bill does
- Creates a seven-member House Study Committee on Lupus, made up of four legislators and three nonlegislative experts appointed by the Speaker.
- Directs the committee to study problems Georgians with lupus face, including access to disability benefits, and to recommend legislation if needed.
- Authorizes legislative members to receive standard legislative expense allowances under O.C.G.A. § 28-1-8, and sets expense rules for other members.
- Limits paid allowances to five meeting days unless additional days are approved.
- Requires any adopted findings or legislative recommendations to be filed as a report with the Clerk of the House before the committee ends.
- Abolishes the committee automatically on December 1, 2026.
Who it affects
Georgians living with lupus, four members of the Georgia House Committee on Health, the state commissioner of public health, and representatives of the Georgia Council on Lupus Education and Awareness and the Georgia Chapter of the Lupus Foundation of America, who would serve on the committee.
Why it matters
If created, the committee would give lawmakers a formal way to gather information on lupus and disability benefit delays, potentially leading to future legislation, but it does not itself change any law, benefit, or funding for lupus patients.
Key provisions
- Paragraph (1) creates the House Study Committee on Lupus within the Georgia House of Representatives.
- Paragraph (2) sets the committee's composition at seven members: four legislators from the House Committee on Health and three nonlegislative experts, with the Speaker naming the chairperson.
- Paragraph (3) charges the committee with studying lupus-related issues, including disability benefit access, and recommending legislation.
- Paragraph (5) sets expense and mileage allowances for members and caps paid allowance days at five unless extended.
- Paragraph (6) requires committee approval by majority vote before any report or legislative recommendation can be filed with the Clerk of the House.
- Paragraph (7) abolishes the committee on December 1, 2026.
From the bill
“WHEREAS, the current Social Security Disability Insurance and Supplemental Security Income approval processes often involve significant delays, exacerbating the financial and emotional strain on individuals living with lupus”
“There is created the House Study Committee on Lupus.”
Discussed in meetings (5)
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.
House Special Rules Committee, March 27, 2026
From 0:34:31 · Watch on the General Assembly's Vimeo channel
Summary by Georgia Commons: The sponsor said HR 1473 would create a House study committee to examine lupus's medical, economic and public health effects and ways to improve access to care. Describing 26 years of living with lupus, the sponsor explained that an overactive immune system can attack organs and cause fatigue, pain and other symptoms that are not always visible. The sponsor said lupus has no cure or single diagnostic test and affects women, men and children. The sponsor emphasized gaps in rural access to specialists, effects on employment and disability, and difficulty finding resources. The sponsor cited treatment costs of about $35,000 per person, rising above $50,000 when a person loses employment, and said Dougherty County has one of the highest rates of lupus cases. The sponsor described earlier work educating school nurses and said the study should examine needs statewide, beyond metro areas. No substantive questions or opposing testimony followed. The committee approved the resolution by voice vote, with no opposition heard, and the chair indicated it would advance.
House Rules Committee, March 31, 2026
From 0:34:27 · Watch on the General Assembly's Vimeo channel
Summary by Georgia Commons: The sponsor said HR 1473 would create a study committee on lupus. The sponsor said Georgia established a council on lupus education in 2014 but had never had a lupus study committee. There were no questions or recorded decisions.
Status timeline
- House Committee Favorably Reported (House)
- House Second Readers (House)
- House First Readers (House)
- House Hopper (House)
Sponsors
- Kim Schofield (D, HD-63)
- Lee Hawkins (R, HD-27)
- Chris Erwin (R, HD-32)
- Sandra Scott (D, HD-76)
- Viola Davis (D, HD-87)
Topics
- lupus
- disability benefits
- public health
- legislative study committee
- chronic illness