SB 185: Correctional Institutions of State and Counties; use of state funds or resources for certain treatments for state inmates; prohibit

Georgia law currently spells out who pays for an inmate's medical care and how hospitals get reimbursed for treating inmates. This bill amends that law (O.C.G.A. § 42-5-2) to add a new rule: state money or resources cannot be spent on sex reassignment surgery, other surgeries meant to change primary or secondary sexual characteristics, hormone replacement therapy, or cosmetic procedures or prosthetics meant to alter those characteristics for people in state custody. The bill directs the Board of Corrections to write rules describing limited exceptions, such as treatment for a medically necessary condition that is not gender dysphoria, treatment for people born with a verified disorder of sex development or ambiguous genitalia, treatment for partial androgen insensitivity syndrome, and hormone therapy for inmates already receiving it before the law takes effect, but only to taper them off it. The bill also clarifies who counts as a 'state inmate' for cost purposes. It would take effect as soon as the Governor signs it or it otherwise becomes law.

• Prohibits the use of state funds or resources to pay for sex reassignment surgery or other surgeries altering primary or secondary sexual characteristics for state inmates.
• Prohibits state-funded hormone replacement therapy and cosmetic procedures or prosthetics meant to alter sexual characteristics for state inmates.
• Requires the Board of Corrections to adopt rules defining narrow exceptions, including medically necessary treatment unrelated to gender dysphoria and treatment for verified disorders of sex development.
• Allows inmates already on hormone replacement therapy before the law's effective date to continue it only for the purpose of transitioning off the therapy.
• Adds a formal definition of 'state inmate' to clarify which inmates trigger the department's responsibility for medical costs.
• Sets the effective date as the date the Governor signs the bill or it otherwise becomes law without a signature.

State inmates in the custody of the Georgia Department of Corrections, especially transgender inmates seeking hormone therapy or related surgeries, along with the Board of Corrections, which must write the implementing rules, and hospitals or health care providers that treat state inmates.

Inmates who would otherwise receive state-funded hormone therapy or related surgical or cosmetic treatments would no longer have those paid for with state funds or resources, except in the specific medical circumstances the Board of Corrections carves out, changing what health care is available to transgender inmates in Georgia's prisons.

• Section 1 rewrites O.C.G.A. § 42-5-2 to add a definition of 'state inmate' as any inmate the department is responsible for paying medical care for.
• New subsection (e)(1) bars state funds or resources from paying for sex reassignment surgeries, other sex-characteristic-altering surgeries, hormone replacement therapy, and related cosmetic procedures or prosthetics for state inmates.
• New subsection (e)(2) requires the Board of Corrections to adopt rules setting exceptions for medically necessary treatment not related to gender dysphoria, disorders of sex development, and partial androgen insensitivity syndrome.
• Allows inmates already receiving hormone replacement therapy before the law's effective date to keep receiving it solely to transition off the therapy.
• Retains existing rules on which government unit pays for an inmate's emergency and follow-up medical care and how hospitals are reimbursed under Georgia Medicaid rates.
• Section 2 sets the effective date as the date of the Governor's approval or the date the bill otherwise becomes law.
• Section 3 repeals any conflicting laws.

1. 2025-05-08Effective Date
2. 2025-05-08Act 69
3. 2025-05-08Senate Date Signed by Governor (Senate)
4. 2025-04-10Senate Sent to Governor (Senate)
5. 2025-04-02House Passed/Adopted (House)
6. 2025-04-02House Third Readers (House)
7. 2025-04-02House Committee Favorably Reported (House)
8. 2025-03-06House Second Readers (House)

• Randy Robertson (R, SD-29)Primary sponsor
• Steve Gooch (R, SD-51)
• John Albers (R, SD-56)
• Carden Summers (R, SD-13)
• Max Burns (R, SD-23)
• Chuck Hufstetler (R, SD-52)
• Chuck Payne (R, SD-54)
• Rick Williams (R, SD-25)
• Mike Hodges (R, SD-3)
• Frank Ginn (R, SD-47)
• Russ Goodman (R, SD-8)
• Blake Tillery (R, SD-19)
• Drew Echols (R, SD-49)
• Brian Strickland (R, SD-42)
• Marty Harbin (R, SD-16)
• Lee Anderson (R, SD-24)
• Bo Hatchett (R, SD-50)
• Brandon Beach (R, SD-21)
• Jason Anavitarte (R, SD-31)
• Matt Brass (R, SD-6)
• Ben Watson (R, SD-1)
• Scott Hilton (R, HD-48)

1. FailedSenate voteMarch 3, 2025

   19 yea, 34 nay (2 not voting, 1 excused)

   ADOPTION OF AMENDMENT #1 BY THE SENATOR FROM THE 44TH: Senate Vote #127

2. PassedSenate voteMarch 3, 2025

   37 yea, 15 nay (3 not voting, 1 excused)

   PASSAGE: Senate Vote #128

3. PassedHouse voteApril 2, 2025

   100 yea, 2 nay (7 not voting, 71 excused)

   PASSAGE: House Vote #391

• prison healthcare
• transgender inmates
• Georgia Department of Corrections
• state funding restrictions
• inmate medical care