SB 111: "Georgia Consumer Privacy Protection Act"; enact

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.

• 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.

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.

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.

• 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.

1. 2026-05-11Effective Date 2026-07-01
2. 2026-05-11Act 462
3. 2026-05-11Senate Date Signed by Governor (Senate)
4. 2026-04-10Senate Sent to Governor (Senate)
5. 2026-04-02Senate Agreed House Amend or Sub (Senate)
6. 2026-03-31House Passed/Adopted By Substitute (House)
7. 2026-03-31House Third Readers (House)
8. 2026-03-25House Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute (House)

• John Albers (R, SD-056)Primary sponsor
• Max Burns (R, SD-023)
• Sheikh Rahman (D, SD-005)
• Shawn Still (R, SD-048)
• Ed Setzler (R, SD-037)
• Chuck Payne (R, SD-054)
• Randy Robertson (R, SD-029)
• Angie O'Steen (R, HD-169)

1. PassedSenate voteMarch 3, 2025

   53 yea, 2 nay (0 not voting, 1 absent)

   Passage: Senate Vote #129

2. PassedHouse voteMarch 31, 2026

   162 yea, 1 nay (1 not voting, 12 absent)

   Passage: House Vote #801

3. PassedSenate voteApril 2, 2026

   48 yea, 0 nay (5 not voting, 1 absent)

   Agree To House Substitute: Senate Vote #967

• rural hospitals
• hospital tax credits
• health care funding
• Medicaid and Medicare
• indigent care