HB1430: HB1430 Community Health, Department of; license supportive senior housing communities; provide

Georgia currently licenses personal care homes and assisted living communities under the Department of Community Health, but has no license category for larger senior apartment complexes that combine independent apartments with supportive care services. This bill creates that new category: supportive senior housing communities, defined as facilities with 25 to 150 units where each resident leases their own apartment and more than half the residents receive Medicaid. The bill spells out staffing ratios, nurse aide training, medication aide duties (including limited liquid morphine administration for hospice patients), written care plans, and financial stability requirements such as advance notice before a bankruptcy or ownership change. It also directs the Department of Community Health to develop a Medicaid rate methodology and submit a federal waiver request by June 30, 2026. Beyond the new licensing article, the bill amends about two dozen other Georgia code sections across commerce, criminal, fire safety, pharmacy, health, and insurance law so this new facility type is treated consistently with existing senior care facilities. It would take effect immediately upon the Governor's signature.

• Creates a new Department of Community Health license for 'supportive senior housing communities,' defined as 25-to-150-unit senior apartment complexes where more than half the residents receive Medicaid.
• Sets minimum staffing ratios (one direct care staff person per 25 residents during waking hours, per 40 during nonwaking hours) and requires at least two staff on-site at all times.
• Allows certified medication aides to administer certain medications, including limited liquid morphine for hospice patients, under specific training, documentation, and supply-limit rules.
• Requires financial stability affidavits from a certified public accountant and advance written notice (60 days for bankruptcy or eviction risk, 14 days for ownership changes) to residents and the state.
• Directs the department to develop a Medicaid rate methodology and submit a federal waiver request to CMS by June 30, 2026 to fund this housing model.
• Amends roughly two dozen other Georgia laws (covering consumer protection, elder abuse, fire safety, pharmacy licensing, hospice care, and continuing care insurance rules) to add this new facility type alongside existing personal care homes and assisted living communities.

Low-income seniors who qualify for Medicaid and live in supportive housing, developers and operators of senior housing communities, certified medication aides and nurse aides, the Department of Community Health, the state long-term care ombudsman program, hospice providers, pharmacists, and fire safety regulators.

If enacted, developers could open a new type of licensed senior housing that blends independent apartments with on-site personal care and limited nursing services, primarily serving Medicaid-eligible seniors. Residents would gain specific staffing, training, and financial-notice protections, while the state would need to secure federal approval and set Medicaid payment rates before the model can operate at scale.

• Section 1-1 adds Code Section 31-7-12.6, defining 'supportive senior housing community' and 'supportive senior care,' and setting staffing, medication aide, care plan, and financial stability requirements.
• Subsection (d) allows certified medication aides to administer specified medications, including liquid morphine for hospice patients under strict dosage, training, and storage conditions, capped at 50 ml per hospice patient on-site.
• Subsection (h) requires the department to develop a Medicaid rate methodology and submit a federal Section 1115-style waiver request to CMS no later than June 30, 2026.
• Subsection (i) limits the eventual Medicaid waiver to seniors 65 or older, Georgia residents, with income up to 300% of SSI benefit rates, who meet nursing facility level-of-care criteria.
• Part II (Sections 2-1 through 2-24) amends about two dozen existing Georgia statutes in Titles 10, 16, 25, 26, 31, and 33 to insert 'supportive senior housing community' into existing definitions covering consumer protection, elder abuse, fire safety, pharmacy licensing, hospice and palliative care, background checks, the ombudsman program, and continuing care insurance rules.
• Section 3-1 states the law would take effect immediately upon the Governor's signature or upon becoming law without signature.

1. 2026-02-26House Second Readers (House)
2. 2026-02-25House First Readers (House)
3. 2026-02-24House Hopper (House)

• Darlene Taylor (R, HD-173)Primary sponsor
• Katie Dempsey (R, HD-013)
• James Burchett (R, HD-176)
• Mark Newton (R, HD-127)
• Sharon Cooper (R, HD-045)

• senior housing
• assisted living regulation
• Medicaid waiver
• elder care licensing
• hospice care