--- title: SB 267. State's Employee Benefit Plan Council; establish health savings accounts and to continually provide for education or salary reductions for such accounts; require collection: bills id: 2025-2026/sb267 cite_as: SB 267, 2025-2026 Regular Session (Ga.) canonical_url: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/sb267 md_url: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/sb267.md text_url: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/sb267/text source_url: https://www.legis.ga.gov/legislation/70837 date: 2025-02-27 status: introduced corpus_version: bills-2026-09-13 license: Public record of the Georgia General Assembly, via LegiScan; see about.md publisher: Georgia Commons, an independent project of Georgia Civic Data. Not the State of Georgia. Not legal advice. up: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026.md previous: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/sb266.md next: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/sb268.md index: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/index.md omitted: votes and history omitted_chars: 95 omitted_url: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/sb267.md?full=1 bill_number: SB 267 session: 2025-2026 Regular Session session_slug: 2025-2026 chamber: Senate bill_type: bill status_date: 2025-02-26 last_action: Senate Read and Referred sponsors: - Jason Esteves - Steve Gooch - John Kennedy - Matt Brass - Harold Jones - Shawn Still - Jason Anavitarte - Drew Echols - Chuck Hufstetler - Nikki Merritt - Russ Goodman - Blake Tillery - Kim Jackson - Elena Parent - Sonya Halpern - Ricky Williams - Kay Kirkpatrick - Josh McLaurin - Michael Rhett - Sam Watson - Derek Mallow - Gail Davenport - RaShaun Kemp - Donzella James - Ed Harbison - David Lucas text_version: Introduced has_text: true legiscan_url: https://legiscan.com/GA/bill/SB267/2025 upstream_id: 1985801 summaries_model: claude-sonnet-5 topic_tags: - health savings accounts - state employee benefits - public school employees - teacher benefits - health insurance --- # SB 267. State's Employee Benefit Plan Council; establish health savings accounts and to continually provide for education or salary reductions for such accounts; require ## Text Senate Bill 267 By: Senators Esteves of the 35th, Gooch of the 51st, Kennedy of the 18th, Brass of the 6th, Jones II of the 22nd and others A BILL TO BE ENTITLED AN ACT To amend Article 3 of Chapter 18 of Title 45 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to the state's Employee Benefit Plan Council, so as to require such council to establish health savings accounts and to continually provide for education or salary reductions for such accounts; to provide for related matters; to repeal conflicting laws; and for other purposes. BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF GEORGIA: SECTION 1. Article 3 of Chapter 18 of Title 45 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to the state's Employee Benefit Plan Council, is amended by revising Code Section 45-18-52, relating to establishment of flexible employee benefit plans, as follows: "45-18-52. (a)(1) The council is authorized to establish a flexible employee benefit plan for employees of the state, and public schoolteachers school teachers, and public school employees and to promulgate rules and regulations for its administration, subject to the limitations contained in this article and in Articles 1 and 2 of this chapter. (2) The council is authorized to provide a flexible employee benefit plan may provide that provides for deductions or salary reductions for group life insurance, group property and casualty insurance, disability insurance, supplemental health and accident insurance, health care or dependent care spending accounts as authorized under Section 125 of the United States Internal Revenue Code of 1986, health savings accounts as authorized under Section 223 of the United States Internal Revenue Code, as amended, other types of employee welfare benefits, or for salary reductions for health premiums under Article 1 of this chapter and Code Sections 20-2-880 and 20-2-910. (3) The council shall have discretion whether to provide deductions or salary reductions for the benefits identified in paragraph (1) of this subsection as part of the flexible employee benefit plan; provided, however, that beginning January 1, 2026, such flexible employee benefit plan shall continually provide for deductions or salary reductions relating to health saving accounts. (b) The council may establish rating categories for disability insurance based on eligibility for coverage by the disability program of the Social Security Administration. At the council's discretion, any of the insurance or other type of employee welfare benefits authorized by this Code section may be operated as a self-insured plan in whole or in part or by contract with any company authorized to transact such business in this state. Except as provided in Code Section 45-18-30, Code Sections 20-2-880 and 20-2-910, and as implemented prior to January 1, 1986, the council is authorized to establish the plan or plans in connection with plans authorized by the United States Internal Revenue Code for the purpose of income tax advantage. (b)(c) The council is authorized to promulgate rules and regulations to require local school boards that elect coverage under the plan as provided in subsection (b) of Code Section 45-18-54 to enroll and maintain a minimum participation percentage when offering the plan to its employees." SECTION 2. All laws and parts of laws in conflict with this Act are repealed. ## Summaries written by Georgia Commons The following was written by claude-sonnet-5 from the text above and is not part of the bill. Quote the text, not the summary. Senate Bill 267 would require the state's Employee Benefit Plan Council to offer health savings accounts to state employees, teachers, and public school staff starting January 1, 2026. ### Plain-language summary Georgia's Employee Benefit Plan Council currently has discretion over which benefits, such as insurance and spending accounts, it offers through payroll deductions or salary reductions in the state's flexible employee benefit plan. This bill changes that discretion for one specific benefit: health savings accounts. The bill rewrites part of the law governing the council (O.C.G.A. § 45-18-52) to explicitly authorize health savings accounts as authorized under Section 223 of the federal Internal Revenue Code, alongside existing benefits like group life insurance and health care spending accounts. It then adds a new requirement that, starting January 1, 2026, the flexible employee benefit plan must continually offer deductions or salary reductions for health savings accounts, removing the council's discretion on that particular benefit. The bill also repeals any conflicting laws. ### What it does - Adds health savings accounts under Section 223 of the federal tax code as an explicitly authorized benefit option in the state's flexible employee benefit plan. - Removes the council's discretion over whether to offer health savings account deductions, requiring it to continually provide them starting January 1, 2026. - Keeps the council's existing discretion over whether to offer other benefits like life insurance, disability insurance, and spending accounts. - Updates outdated wording in the law, changing 'public schoolteachers' to 'public school teachers' as a technical correction. - Repeals any existing state laws that conflict with the new requirement. ### Who it affects State employees, public school teachers, and public school employees who participate in the state's flexible employee benefit plan; the Employee Benefit Plan Council, which administers the plan; and local school boards that opt into the plan for their staff. ### Why it matters State and school employees who want to set aside pretax money for medical expenses through a health savings account would be guaranteed that option starting in 2026, rather than depending on the council's discretion, giving them a consistent way to save for health costs alongside their existing insurance benefits. ### Key provisions - Section 1 revises O.C.G.A. § 45-18-52 to explicitly list health savings accounts under Section 223 of the federal Internal Revenue Code as an authorized benefit. - Section 1 adds a new rule that beginning January 1, 2026, the flexible employee benefit plan must continually provide deductions or salary reductions for health savings accounts. - Section 1 preserves the council's discretion over other benefits, such as disability and life insurance, which remain optional parts of the plan. - Section 1 retains the council's authority to set minimum participation requirements for local school boards that join the plan. - Section 2 repeals any laws or parts of laws that conflict with the bill. ## Status - Status: Introduced (2025-02-26) - Last action: Senate Read and Referred (2025-02-27) - Sponsors: Jason Esteves, Steve Gooch, John Kennedy, Matt Brass, Harold Jones, Shawn Still, Jason Anavitarte, Drew Echols, Chuck Hufstetler, Nikki Merritt, Russ Goodman, Blake Tillery, Kim Jackson, Elena Parent, Sonya Halpern, Ricky Williams, Kay Kirkpatrick, Josh McLaurin, Michael Rhett, Sam Watson, Derek Mallow, Gail Davenport, RaShaun Kemp, Donzella James, Ed Harbison, David Lucas - Official page: https://www.legis.ga.gov/legislation/70837 > The history, votes, and amendments (95 characters) are at https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/sb267.md?full=1