Georgia CommonsSenate · Passed · 2025-2026 Regular Session
SB 111: "Georgia Consumer Privacy Protection Act"; enact
Last action July 1, 2026 · Effective Date
A Georgia Senate bill would change which hospitals qualify as "rural hospital organizations" for the state's rural hospital tax credit program, despite being titled the "Georgia Consumer Privacy Protection Act."
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
This bill's text does not match its title. Although labeled the "Georgia Consumer Privacy Protection Act," the actual content amends Georgia's rural hospital tax credit law (O.C.G.A. § 31-8-9.1), which lets taxpayers get a state tax credit for donating to qualifying rural hospitals. The bill broadens the definition of a qualifying "rural hospital organization" to include rural freestanding emergency departments, not just acute care hospitals. It changes the location test so a hospital qualifies if its primary campus, not necessarily where it provides inpatient services, is in a rural county or if it is a critical access hospital. It lowers the required share of indigent, charity, or bad debt revenue from 10 percent to 5 percent, or lets a hospital qualify instead by being licensed for maternal and newborn services. It also removes a requirement that hospitals keep their three-year average patient margin below a certain statewide benchmark.
What the bill does
- Expands the tax credit program to cover rural freestanding emergency departments in addition to acute care hospitals.
- Changes the rural-location requirement so it depends on where a hospital's primary campus sits, rather than where it delivers inpatient services.
- Lowers the indigent/charity/bad-debt revenue threshold from 10 percent to 5 percent of annual net revenue, or allows qualification via maternal and newborn service licensing instead.
- Removes the prior requirement that a hospital's three-year average patient margin stay below a statewide benchmark to remain eligible.
Who it affects
Rural hospitals and rural freestanding emergency departments in Georgia that want to qualify for donor tax credits, taxpayers who donate to these facilities to claim the credit, the Georgia Department of Community Health, which certifies eligibility, and patients served by these rural facilities.
Why it matters
By loosening eligibility rules, more rural hospitals and emergency departments could qualify for the tax credit program, potentially drawing more donor tax credit contributions to rural health care in Georgia. Some facilities that previously failed the patient margin or revenue thresholds could now qualify.
Key provisions
- Section 1 revises paragraph (3) of subsection (a) in O.C.G.A. § 31-8-9.1, the definition section for 'rural hospital organization.'
- Adds rural freestanding emergency departments as an eligible facility type alongside acute care hospitals.
- Subparagraph (A) shifts the rural-location test to the hospital's primary campus location rather than where inpatient services are provided.
- Subparagraph (D) reduces the indigent/charity/bad-debt revenue threshold from 10 percent to 5 percent, or allows qualification through maternal and newborn service licensure.
- Removes former subparagraph (H), which had required a hospital's three-year average patient margin to stay below a statewide benchmark.
- Section 2 repeals conflicting laws, a standard closing provision.
From the bill
“'Rural hospital organization' means an acute care hospital or rural freestanding emergency department licensed by the department pursuant to Article 1 of Chapter 7 of this title”
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 Judiciary Committee, March 25, 2026
From 0:03:47 · Watch on the General Assembly's Vimeo channel
Summary by Georgia Commons: The committee voted to bring the bill off the table and considered substitute LC492866. The presenter said the substitute would expand Rural Hospital Tax Credit eligibility to rural freestanding emergency departments recognized federally as rural emergency hospitals, as well as rural facilities licensed to provide labor and delivery services. The presenter said Irwin County Hospital was Georgia's only rural emergency hospital and that the change would help address its financial difficulties. The presenter also said the substitute would remove an eligibility calculation because incoming federal Rural Health Transformation funds might otherwise cause hospitals to lose eligibility. According to the presenter, the changes would add seven rural hospitals, and the program used $79 million the previous year against a $100 million cap. The chair and presenter identified the language as coming from a measure that had passed the House unanimously and was awaiting Senate action. One committee member praised the tax credit's support for a hospital in Americus and highlighted provisions mentioning maternal and newborn services, indigent care and charity care. No substantive questions or opposing comments followed. The committee approved the bill by voice vote, with no opposition heard.
House Rules Committee, March 27, 2026
From 1:06:29 · Watch on the General Assembly's Vimeo channel · Confirmed by the 2026 House Journal, p. 3839
Summary by Georgia Commons: The presenter said a substitute for SB 111 carried previously House-approved Georgia HEART tax credit language that had stalled in the Senate. The presenter described adding a rural freestanding emergency department with a primary campus in a rural county to the relevant definition and referred to licensing to provide maternal and newborn services. The presenter said 51 Georgia hospitals relied on the tax credit and warned that two hospitals, not identified during the presentation, would not survive without passage. There were no questions or further action shown.
House Rules Committee, March 31, 2026
From 1:32:02 · Watch on the General Assembly's Vimeo channel
Summary by Georgia Commons: The committee placed SB 111 on the day's floor calendar, with no opposition stated. There was no substantive presentation or debate.
House floor session, March 31, 2026 (legislative day 39, part 2)
From 0:38:42 · Watch on the General Assembly's Vimeo channel · Confirmed by the 2026 House Journal, p. 3913
Summary by Georgia Commons: Although the clerk read a consumer privacy title, the presenter described the substitute as a rural hospital and maternal care measure combining access to the Georgia HEART program with care for mothers and babies. A member asked how including freestanding emergency departments would reduce rural residents' travel for care. The presenter said the measure would open access to a service line and identified Irwin County Hospital as the one affected facility in the presenter's district. The House adopted the committee substitute and passed the bill, 162 to 1.
Senate floor session, April 2, 2026 (legislative day 40, part 2)
From 2:58:40 · Watch on the General Assembly's Vimeo channel · Confirmed by the bill's status history (Senate Agreed House Amend or Sub)
Summary by Georgia Commons: The sponsor explained that the House substitute for SB 111 no longer concerned consumer privacy. Instead, the sponsor said it would help a rural hospital in Irwin County qualify for the rural-hospital tax-credit program because the hospital did not meet the existing criteria. The Senate agreed to the House substitute, 48–0.
Status timeline
- Effective Date
- Act 462
- Senate Date Signed by Governor (Senate)
- Senate Sent to Governor (Senate)
- Senate Agreed House Amend or Sub (Senate)
- House Passed/Adopted By Substitute (House)
- House Third Readers (House)
- House Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute (House)
Show full history (18 actions)
- House Withdrawn, Recommitted (House)
- House Committee Favorably Reported (House)
- House Second Readers (House)
- House First Readers (House)
- Senate Passed/Adopted (Senate)
- Senate Third Read (Senate)
- Senate Read Second Time (Senate)
- Senate Committee Favorably Reported (Senate)
- Senate Read and Referred (Senate)
- Senate Hopper (Senate)
Sponsors
- John Albers (R, SD-56)
- Max Burns (R, SD-23)
- Sheikh Rahman (D, SD-5)
- Shawn Still (R, SD-48)
- Ed Setzler (R, SD-37)
- Chuck Payne (R, SD-54)
- Randy Robertson (R, SD-29)
- Angie O'Steen (R, HD-169)
Votes
- Senate voteMarch 3, 2025
53 yea, 2 nay (0 not voting, 1 excused)
- House voteMarch 31, 2026
162 yea, 1 nay (1 not voting, 12 excused)
- Senate voteApril 2, 2026
48 yea, 0 nay (5 not voting, 1 excused)
Topics
- rural hospitals
- hospital tax credits
- health care funding
- Medicaid and Medicare
- indigent care