---
title: O.C.G.A. § 31-1-10. State health officer; duties; authorized state-wide prescriptions.
collection: code
id: 31-1-10
cite_as: O.C.G.A. § 31-1-10 (2025)
canonical_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/31-1-10
md_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/31-1-10.md
text_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/31-1-10/text
source_url: https://www.legis.ga.gov/api/document/docs/default-source/joint-features-document-library/t31-(v23)-2025-pdf.pdf?sfvrsn=da7ded69_0#page=31
date: 2025
status: active
corpus_version: 2025-supplement-89aa39ab3c68
license: CC0-1.0
publisher: Georgia Commons, an independent project of Georgia Civic Data. Not the State of Georgia. Not legal advice.
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version: the only printed version
in_force: true
current_through: Including Acts of the 2025 Session of the General Assembly of Georgia
heading_path: HEALTH / GENERAL PROVISIONS
---

# O.C.G.A. § 31-1-10. State health officer; duties; authorized state-wide prescriptions.

(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.

(b) The state health officer shall:

(1) Perform such health emergency preparedness and response duties as assigned by the Governor; and

(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:

(A) Opioid antagonists, as defined in Code Section 26-4-116.2; and

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

## 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.

## 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).

## 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).