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Official Code of Georgia Annotated

Title 31. HEALTH · Chapter 1. GENERAL PROVISIONS

31-1-10. State health officer; duties; authorized state-wide prescriptions.

Active

Current through: Including Acts of the 2025 Session of the General Assembly of Georgia.

  1. (a)

    The position of state health officer is created. The Governor may appoint the commissioner of public health to serve simultaneously as the state health officer or may appoint another individual to serve as state health officer. Such officer shall serve at the pleasure of the Governor. An individual appointed to serve as state health officer shall be licensed to practice medicine in this state.#

  2. (b)

    The state health officer shall:#

    1. (1)

      Perform such health emergency preparedness and response duties as assigned by the Governor; and#

    2. (2)

      Be authorized to issue a standing order prescribing any of the following on a state-wide basis under conditions that he or she determines to be in the best interest of this state:#

      1. (A)

        Opioid antagonists, as defined in Code Section 26-4-116.2; and#

      2. (B)

        Post-exposure prophylaxis drugs for the prevention of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).#

The notes below are printed with the section but are not enacted law (O.C.G.A. § 1-1-1(c)). They are shown apart from the text.

History

Code 1981, § 31-1-10, enacted by Ga. L. 2009, p. 453, § 1-3/HB 228; Ga. L. 2011, p. 705, § 3-6/HB 214; Ga. L. 2017, p. 22, § 5/SB 121; Ga. L. 2017, p. 319, § 3-2/HB 249; Ga. L. 2024, p. 143, § 1/HB 1028, effective July 1, 2024.

Amendments

The 2024 amendment, effective July 1, 2024, in paragraph (b)(2), substituted “any of the following” for “an opioid antagonist, as such term is defined in Code Section 26-4-116.2,” and added subparagraphs (b)(2)(A) and (b)(2)(B).

Editor's notes

Ga. L. 2017, p. 22, § 1/SB 121, not codified by the General Assembly, provides: “This Act shall be known and may be cited as the ‘Jeffrey Dallas Gay, Jr., Act.’”

Law reviews

For article on the 2011 amendment of this Code section, see 28 Ga. St. U.L. Rev. 147 (2011). For article on the 2017 amendment of this Code section, see 34 Ga. St. U.L. Rev. 143 (2017).

Read the official page (the state's PDF, opened at the page this text was read from).

Current through: Including Acts of the 2025 Session of the General Assembly of Georgia.

Text read from t31-(v23)-2025-pdf.pdf, Volume V23, 2025 edition, page 31; merge action: bound only; file SHA-256 ba5a57f85d04.