SB 136: Health; licensure and regulation of community midwives; provide

Georgia currently regulates midwifery under a chapter of Title 31. This bill repeals that chapter entirely and instead creates a brand-new licensing category called the 'certified community midwife' (CCM) under Title 43, governed by a newly created Certified Community Midwife Board within the Secretary of State's licensing division. The bill spells out in detail what a CCM can and cannot do: providing care during low-risk pregnancy, labor, delivery, and postpartum periods, administering a specific short list of medications, and handling emergencies like hemorrhage or newborn resuscitation. It sets licensing requirements including apprenticeship experience, CPR certification, background checks, and passing a certification exam, and requires midwives to get written informed consent from clients before care. The board can fine, suspend, or revoke licenses for misconduct, and practicing without a license becomes a misdemeanor. The bill does not include a stated effective date beyond standard enactment.

• Repeals Chapter 26 of Title 31, Georgia's current midwifery practice law, and marks that chapter as reserved (empty).
• Creates a new Title 43 licensing chapter for 'certified community midwives' (CCMs), replacing the old midwifery framework.
• Establishes the five-member Certified Community Midwife Board, appointed by the Governor, to issue licenses and set rules.
• Sets licensing requirements including apprenticeship experience, CPR certification, background checks, and passing a certification exam.
• Requires midwives to obtain written informed consent from clients covering credentials, practice philosophy, and a medical backup plan.
• Makes practicing certified community midwifery without a license a misdemeanor and lets the board fine violators $100 to $500 per violation.

Practicing and aspiring midwives who must now seek a new state license, pregnant women and families choosing out-of-hospital or midwife-assisted births, physicians and certified nurse midwives who may supervise apprenticeships or receive patient transfers, and the state licensing board created to oversee the new profession.

Families who use midwives for home or birth-center deliveries would interact with a newly defined, licensed profession with clear rules on which medications and procedures a midwife may use, and clearer consent and emergency-transfer requirements, while midwives face new licensing costs, training standards, and discipline procedures.

• Section 1 repeals Chapter 26 of Title 31, Georgia's existing midwifery law, leaving that chapter reserved for future use.
• Section 3 creates new Code Sections 43-24B-1 through 43-24B-14, defining terms like 'certified community midwife,' 'low risk,' and 'client.'
• Code Section 43-24B-3 creates a five-member Certified Community Midwife Board, with four CCMs and one public member appointed by the Governor for two-year terms.
• Code Section 43-24B-5 lists licensing requirements: application, fee, background check, three years of apprenticeship, CPR certification, and required coursework.
• Code Section 43-24B-7 authorizes the board to fine, suspend, revoke, or restrict licenses and sets fines of $100 to $500 per violation.
• Code Section 43-24B-8 makes unlicensed practice of certified community midwifery a misdemeanor.
• Code Section 43-24B-9 requires detailed written informed consent from clients before care begins, retained for at least four years.
• Code Section 43-24B-12 lists acts CCMs may not perform, including surgical delivery, epidurals, forceps use, and manual placenta removal except in emergencies.

1. 2025-02-11Senate Read and Referred (Senate)
2. 2025-02-10Senate Hopper (Senate)

• Donzella James (D, SD-028)Primary sponsor

• midwifery
• maternal health care
• professional licensing
• childbirth
• health regulation