SR 207: General Assembly; appropriate an additional $2 million annually to the Georgia Pregnancy and Early Childhood Home Visiting Program; urge

This resolution, named the "Fund Healthy Pregnancy and Parenting Resolution," does not change any law on its own. Instead, it formally urges the General Assembly to shift funding priorities in the state budget. It asks lawmakers to add $2 million annually to the Georgia Pregnancy and Early Childhood Home Visiting Program, a Department of Public Health program that sends home visitors to at-risk and rural families during pregnancy and early childhood to improve birth outcomes and reduce infant and maternal deaths. The resolution proposes taking that $2 million from money currently appropriated to crisis pregnancy centers, of which the text says there are about 89 in Georgia, rather than adding new taxpayer spending. Because it is a resolution rather than a bill, it carries no binding legal force; it simply expresses the Senate's position and directs that copies be shared with legislative leaders.

• Urges the General Assembly to add $2 million a year in state funding to the Georgia Pregnancy and Early Childhood Home Visiting Program.
• Urges that this new funding come in place of, not in addition to, roughly $2 million currently appropriated to crisis pregnancy centers.
• States a goal of improving birth outcomes, reducing preterm deliveries, and decreasing infant and maternal mortality rates through the home visiting program.
• Directs the Secretary of the Senate to distribute copies of the resolution to the General Assembly's legislative leaders.
• Does not itself appropriate money or amend any Georgia statute, since a resolution only expresses the Senate's position.

The Department of Public Health, which runs the home visiting program; pregnant people and families in at-risk and rural communities who could receive in-home visits; and the roughly 89 crisis pregnancy centers in Georgia that currently receive state funding, which the resolution proposes to redirect.

If the General Assembly follows this urging in the actual budget bill, funding would shift from crisis pregnancy centers to a state-run home visiting program aimed at reducing infant and maternal deaths, without adding new taxpayer costs, though the resolution itself does not force this change.

• The resolution's title names it the 'Fund Healthy Pregnancy and Parenting Resolution.'
• It notes the Governor's Fiscal Year 2026 budget already proposed adding $2.98 million to expand the pilot home visiting program.
• It states the most recent budget appropriated approximately $2 million to crisis pregnancy centers, which is the amount proposed for redirection.
• The resolving clause urges an additional $2 million annually for the home visiting program 'in lieu of' funding crisis pregnancy centers.
• The final clause directs the Secretary of the Senate to distribute copies of the resolution to legislative leaders.

1. 2025-02-20Senate Read and Referred (Senate)
2. 2025-02-19Senate Hopper (Senate)

• Nan Orrock (D, SD-036)Primary sponsor
• Harold Jones (D, SD-022)
• Elena Parent (D, SD-044)
• Sonya Halpern (D, SD-039)
• Kim Jackson (D, SD-041)
• Nikki Merritt (D, SD-009)
• Kenya Wicks (D, SD-034)
• Josh McLaurin (D, SD-014)
• Gail Davenport (D, SD-017)
• Tonya Anderson (D, SD-043)
• Michael Rhett (D, SD-033)
• Randal Mangham (D, SD-055)
• Nabilah Islam Parkes (D, SD-007)
• Sheikh Rahman (D, SD-005)
• Ed Harbison (D, SD-015)
• David Lucas (D, SD-026)
• Emanuel Jones (D, SD-010)

• maternal health
• crisis pregnancy centers
• state budget
• infant mortality
• reproductive health policy