SB427: SB427 Physicians; limited provisional licenses and a pathway to licensure for certain internationally trained physicians; provide

Georgia currently has no separate licensing track for doctors trained and licensed in other countries; they must meet the same requirements as U.S.-trained physicians. This bill creates a new category called a limited provisional license for internationally trained physicians who take full-time jobs under a supervising physician at a rural medical practice, a licensed hospital, a federally qualified health center, or an accredited medical school in Georgia. To qualify, applicants must show years of foreign licensure and practice, pass board-approved exams and an English proficiency test, clear background checks, and have work authorization. After four years of supervised practice, they can apply for a full medical license, followed by two more years working in an underserved area. The Georgia Composite Medical Board would hire medical directors to oversee the program and must report yearly on its results starting December 1, 2027. The whole law only takes effect once the General Assembly specifically funds it in an appropriations act, and it automatically repeals if that funding lapses in a later budget.

• Creates a new limited provisional medical license for internationally trained physicians who work full time under a supervising physician in a rural county, hospital, federally qualified health center, or accredited medical school.
• Sets detailed eligibility rules covering foreign licensure history, years of medical education and practice, exam results, English proficiency, background checks, and work authorization.
• Makes it a misdemeanor, punishable by up to a $500 fine per offense, for a limited provisional licensee to practice medicine outside the approved rural or institutional setting.
• Establishes a four-year pathway to a full Georgia medical license, followed by two additional years of required practice in an underserved area.
• Requires the medical board to hire one or more medical directors to oversee the program and to submit annual reports to legislative health committees starting in 2027.
• Ties the entire law's effect and continued existence to specific state budget funding, automatically repealing it if that funding is not renewed.

Internationally trained physicians seeking to practice in Georgia, the physicians who agree to supervise them, rural medical practices, licensed hospitals, federally qualified health centers, accredited medical schools, and the Georgia Composite Medical Board, which administers licensing and enforcement under the new program.

The bill offers a new route into Georgia's physician workforce for foreign-trained doctors, aimed largely at rural and underserved areas that often struggle to recruit doctors. Because the law only activates with dedicated state funding, whether it actually changes anything in practice depends on future budget decisions.

• Adds new Code Section 43-34-34.1 defining terms like internationally trained physician, limited provisional license, pathway to licensure, rural county (population under 50,000), and supervising physician.
• Subsection (b) lists ten qualification requirements, including foreign licensure history, at least five to ten years of practice depending on training path, passing board-approved and internationally recognized exams, English proficiency, clean disciplinary and criminal record, and legal work authorization.
• Subsection (d) restricts practice to the approved rural or institutional setting and makes violations a misdemeanor with fines up to $500 per offense.
• Subsection (g) allows a limited provisional licensee to apply for a full license after four years of active practice, followed by two more years in an underserved area as a licensing condition.
• Subsection (h) requires the board to hire medical directors and additional staff to run the program, including site readiness evaluations and rule-making advice.
• Subsection (i) requires an annual report to the House Health Committee and Senate Health and Human Services Committee starting no later than December 1, 2027, detailing applicant numbers, locations, and outcomes.
• Subsection (k) and Section 2 make the entire Code section contingent on a specific line-item appropriation, with automatic repeal if funding is later omitted from a budget act.

1. 2026-05-11Act 509
2. 2026-05-11Senate Date Signed by Governor (Senate)
3. 2026-04-10Senate Sent to Governor (Senate)
4. 2026-03-23Senate Agreed House Amend or Sub (Senate)
5. 2026-03-18House Passed/Adopted By Substitute (House)
6. 2026-03-18House Third Readers (House)
7. 2026-03-10House Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute (House)
8. 2026-02-25House Second Readers (House)

• Ben Watson (R, SD-001)Primary sponsor
• Kay Kirkpatrick (R, SD-032)
• Chuck Hufstetler (R, SD-052)
• Kim Jackson (D, SD-041)
• Jason Anavitarte (R, SD-031)
• Chuck Payne (R, SD-054)
• Randy Robertson (R, SD-029)
• Bo Hatchett (R, SD-050)
• Sally Harrell (D, SD-040)
• Sonya Halpern (D, SD-039)
• Marty Harbin (R, SD-016)
• Matt Brass (R, SD-006)
• Nan Orrock (D, SD-036)
• Ed Setzler (R, SD-037)
• Mark Newton (R, HD-127)

1. PassedSenate voteFebruary 20, 2026

   45 yea, 3 nay (2 not voting, 4 absent)

   Passage By Substitute: Senate Vote #565

2. PassedHouse voteMarch 18, 2026

   165 yea, 2 nay (2 not voting, 7 absent)

   Passage: House Vote #720

3. PassedSenate voteMarch 23, 2026

   46 yea, 4 nay (1 not voting, 3 absent)

   Agree To House Substitute: Senate Vote #797

• physician licensing
• rural health care
• medical board regulation
• internationally trained doctors
• health workforce