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Senate · Passed · 2025-2026 Regular Session

SR 927: Senate Pharmacy Benefits Managers and Consumer Access to Prescription Medications Study Committee; create

Last action March 31, 2026 · Senate Passed/Adopted

A Georgia Senate resolution creates a study committee to examine how pharmacy benefits managers affect drug pricing and patients' access to pharmacies and prescription medications across the state.

Read the full resolution text

These buttons carry the resolution's own text, not the summaries below. Copy for LLM, View as markdown, and Send to AI use the Markdown version: the text as filed, then the summaries under a heading that names them as ours. View raw is the text alone.

The summaries below were written by an AI model (claude-sonnet-5) from the text of the resolution and are not part of it. Quote the text, not the summary. The stored text is the Enrolled version, the latest the General Assembly's website lists.

In plain language

Pharmacy benefits managers (PBMs) are companies that administer prescription drug insurance benefits, negotiate with drug makers and pharmacies, and decide which drugs are covered and which pharmacies patients can use. This resolution creates the Senate Pharmacy Benefits Managers and Consumer Access to Prescription Medications Study Committee to look into PBM practices in Georgia, including concerns that PBMs steer patients to pharmacies they own, mark up drug prices, and squeeze independent pharmacies out of business, especially in rural counties. The committee will have five members: the chairs of the Senate Appropriations and Health and Human Services committees, plus three more senators or outside experts appointed by the President of the Senate. It can hold meetings, study the issues, and recommend legislation. Legislative members get standard travel and expense allowances, and any report must be filed before the committee is abolished on December 1, 2026.

What the bill does

  • Creates the Senate Pharmacy Benefits Managers and Consumer Access to Prescription Medications Study Committee to investigate PBM practices in Georgia.
  • Sets the committee's membership at five people: two Senate committee chairs and three additional senators or experts appointed by the President of the Senate.
  • Authorizes the committee to study drug pricing, pharmacy access, and related problems and to recommend legislation.
  • Provides standard legislative travel and expense allowances to committee members, capped at five days unless additional days are approved.
  • Requires any approved findings or recommendations to be filed as a report with the Secretary of the Senate before the committee ends.
  • Abolishes the committee automatically on December 1, 2026.

Who it affects

Georgia senators and the President of the Senate, who will appoint and serve on the committee; pharmacy benefits managers and the insurance and pharmacy industries whose practices will be studied; independent and rural pharmacies; and patients who rely on prescription drug coverage, especially in counties with few or no pharmacies.

Why it matters

The committee itself changes no law, but its recommendations could shape future legislation on drug pricing, pharmacy reimbursement, and patient access, particularly in rural Georgia counties where pharmacy closures have become more common.

Key provisions

  • Paragraph (1) formally creates the Senate Pharmacy Benefits Managers and Consumer Access to Prescription Medications Study Committee.
  • Paragraph (2) sets membership: the Senate Appropriations Committee chair, the Senate Health and Human Services Committee chair, three additional senators or experts appointed by the President of the Senate, and a chairperson chosen by the President.
  • Paragraph (3) directs the committee to study PBM-related issues and recommend action or legislation it finds necessary.
  • Paragraph (5) sets allowances for legislative members under O.C.G.A. § 28-1-8 and for non-legislator members under O.C.G.A. § 45-7-21, capped at five days absent further authorization.
  • Paragraph (6) requires any approved report or recommended legislation to be filed with the Secretary of the Senate before the committee is abolished.
  • Paragraph (7) abolishes the committee on December 1, 2026.

From the bill

“pharmacy benefits managers administer prescription drug insurance benefits, negotiate with drug manufacturers and pharmacies, and establish drug formularies and pharmacy networks”

The resolution's description of what pharmacy benefits managers do in the drug pricing system.

“markups of thousands of percent above the national average drug acquisition costs for medications used to treat multiple sclerosis, cancer, and kidney disease”

A finding cited by the resolution about drug price markups reported under Georgia's pricing transparency law.

Discussed in meetings (7)

The House and Senate meetings that took this bill up, from their machine transcripts. Each account was written by Georgia Commons with AI and is not part of the record; the video is what was said.

  1. Senate Health and Human Services Committee, March 18, 2026

    From 0:24:05 · Watch on the General Assembly's Vimeo channel

    Summary by Georgia Commons: The sponsor said SR 927 would create a Senate study committee on pharmacy benefit managers and consumer access to prescription medications, with funding for five meetings. The sponsor cited calls from independent pharmacies, particularly in rural districts, and said the issue needed further examination from both sides. The sponsor also noted a House study committee on the same subject. There were no questions, and the committee approved the resolution unanimously.

  2. Senate Rules Committee, March 20, 2026

    From 0:33:22 · Watch on the General Assembly's Vimeo channel

    Summary by Georgia Commons: The presenter said the resolution would create a study of pharmacy benefit managers. The chair clarified where it appeared on the consideration list. No substantive questions or calendar decision followed.

  3. Senate Rules Committee, March 23, 2026

    From 0:08:47 · Watch on the General Assembly's Vimeo channel

    Summary by Georgia Commons: The chair identified SR 927 as creating a study committee on pharmacy benefit managers. No further discussion or vote was shown.

  4. Senate Rules Committee, March 30, 2026

    From 0:27:58 · Watch on the General Assembly's Vimeo channel

    Summary by Georgia Commons: The chair included SR 927 in a group of 12 study committee resolutions. The chair said Capitol study committee meetings during the interim would need to use the legislative office building because other meeting rooms would be under renovation. The committee unanimously moved the group to the consent calendar.

Status timeline

  1. 2026-03-31Senate Passed/Adopted (Senate)
  2. 2026-03-31Senate Third Read (Senate)
  3. 2026-03-20Senate Read Second Time (Senate)
  4. 2026-03-19Senate Committee Favorably Reported (Senate)
  5. 2026-03-09Senate Read and Referred (Senate)
  6. 2026-03-06Senate Hopper (Senate)

Sponsors

  • Bo Hatchett (R, SD-50)Primary sponsor
  • Blake Tillery (R, SD-19)
  • Brian Strickland (R, SD-42)
  • Randy Robertson (R, SD-29)
  • Russ Goodman (R, SD-8)
  • John Albers (R, SD-56)
  • Sam Watson (R, SD-11)
  • Ben Watson (R, SD-1)
  • Timothy Bearden (R, SD-30)
  • Billy Hickman (R, SD-4)
  • Rick Williams (R, SD-25)
  • Freddie Powell Sims (D, SD-12)
  • Carden Summers (R, SD-13)
  • Nikki Merritt (D, SD-9)
  • Chuck Hufstetler (R, SD-52)
  • Mike Hodges (R, SD-3)
  • Larry Walker, III (R, SD-20)
  • Sonya Halpern (D, SD-39)
  • Sally Harrell (D, SD-40)
  • RaShaun Kemp (D, SD-38)
  • Max Burns (R, SD-23)
  • Kenya Wicks (D, SD-34)
  • Chuck Payne (R, SD-54)
  • Drew Echols (R, SD-49)
  • Steven McNeel (R, SD-18)
  • Nan Orrock (D, SD-36)
  • Marty Harbin (R, SD-16)
  • Jason T. Dickerson (R, SD-21)

Votes

  1. PassedSenate voteMarch 31, 2026

    48 yea, 0 nay (3 not voting, 3 excused)

    CONSENT CALENDAR FOR SENATE STUDY COMMITTEES: Senate Vote #875

Topics

  • prescription drug prices
  • pharmacy benefits managers
  • rural pharmacy access
  • health care policy
  • Georgia Senate study committee

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