--- title: House Judiciary Committee, March 25, 2026 collection: meetings id: 2026-03-25/house-judiciary cite_as: House Judiciary Committee, March 25, 2026, video https://vimeo.com/1176593824 (machine transcript by Georgia Commons) canonical_url: https://georgiacommons.org/meetings/2026-03-25/house-judiciary md_url: https://georgiacommons.org/meetings/2026-03-25/house-judiciary.md text_url: https://georgiacommons.org/meetings/2026-03-25/house-judiciary/text source_url: https://vimeo.com/1176593824 date: 2026-03-25 status: machine transcript corpus_version: meetings-2026-10-23-8c15ead0f18d license: Machine transcript and summaries by Georgia Commons from the General Assembly's public video; the video stays on the General Assembly's Vimeo channel; see about.md publisher: Georgia Commons, an independent project of Georgia Civic Data. Not the State of Georgia. Not legal advice. up: https://georgiacommons.org/meetings/2026-03-25.md previous: https://georgiacommons.org/meetings/2026-03-25/house-floor-pm.md next: https://georgiacommons.org/meetings/2026-03-25/house-rules-2.md index: https://georgiacommons.org/meetings/index.md chamber: House body: House Judiciary Committee body_url: https://georgiacommons.org/meetings/house-judiciary.md meeting_kind: committee session: 2025-2026 Regular Session start_time: 2026-03-25T12:00:00-04:00 location: 132 CAP duration_seconds: 457.0 video_id: 1176593824 video_title: 03.25.26 Judiciary bills_discussed: - SB 111 summaries_model: gpt-6.1-sol transcript_turns: 35 --- # House Judiciary Committee, March 25, 2026 House Judiciary Committee; March 25, 2026; 2025-2026 Regular Session. Video, on the General Assembly's Vimeo channel: https://vimeo.com/1176593824. > This is a machine transcript of the General Assembly's video, made by a speech-recognition model. It is not an official record and can mishear words, names, and numbers. Speakers are not identified. The video is the record: every timestamp links to the moment it plays. ## Summary written by Georgia Commons Written by gpt-6.1-sol from the transcript below. It is not part of the record. Quote the transcript or the video, not the summary. The committee brought [SB 111](https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/sb111) off the table and considered a substitute concerning eligibility for the Rural Hospital Tax Credit. The presenter said the changes would add seven rural hospitals to the program and prevent federal funding from affecting eligibility. After brief supportive comments and no substantive questions, the committee approved the bill by voice vote, with no opposition heard, and adjourned. ## Bills discussed (1) Each account was written by gpt-6.1-sol from the stretch of the transcript it names. The bill's number is said in that stretch, unless it was the only bill on a committee's agenda. ### SB 111. "Georgia Consumer Privacy Protection Act"; enact [SB 111](https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/sb111) (2025-2026 Regular Session). From [0:03:47](https://vimeo.com/1176593824#t=227s), turns 3 to 33. The committee voted to bring the bill off the table and considered substitute LC492866. The presenter said the substitute would expand Rural Hospital Tax Credit eligibility to rural freestanding emergency departments recognized federally as rural emergency hospitals, as well as rural facilities licensed to provide labor and delivery services. The presenter said Irwin County Hospital was Georgia's only rural emergency hospital and that the change would help address its financial difficulties. The presenter also said the substitute would remove an eligibility calculation because incoming federal Rural Health Transformation funds might otherwise cause hospitals to lose eligibility. According to the presenter, the changes would add seven rural hospitals, and the program used $79 million the previous year against a $100 million cap. The chair and presenter identified the language as coming from a measure that had passed the House unanimously and was awaiting Senate action. One committee member praised the tax credit's support for a hospital in Americus and highlighted provisions mentioning maternal and newborn services, indigent care and charity care. No substantive questions or opposing comments followed. The committee approved the bill by voice vote, with no opposition heard. ## Transcript (35 turns) [0:03:01](https://vimeo.com/1176593824#t=181s) All right. [0:03:14](https://vimeo.com/1176593824#t=194s) Uh, yeah, we can pick it up right quick, so yeah, go ahead. Uh, and yeah, uh, letting, uh, house media know that we're getting ready to start our meeting. All right, I call on, uh, Vice Chair Reeves. [0:03:30](https://vimeo.com/1176593824#t=210s) Let us pray. Dear Lord, we thank you for our rural areas and rural hospitals across the state, pray for these proceedings, uh, and ask for your blessings upon it. In Christ's name, amen. [0:03:39](https://vimeo.com/1176593824#t=219s) Amen. All right, thank you. All right, uh, yeah. I need a motion to, uh, bring off the table Senate Bill 111. [0:03:48](https://vimeo.com/1176593824#t=228s) Motion to move Senate Bill 111 off the table. [0:03:52](https://vimeo.com/1176593824#t=232s) Got a motion and a second. Uh, all those in favor say aye. [0:03:56](https://vimeo.com/1176593824#t=236s) Aye. [0:03:56](https://vimeo.com/1176593824#t=236s) Any opposed? All right, thank you. It's off the table. Uh, what you have before you is a, uh, substitute LC492866, uh, to Senate Bill 111, and, uh, I don't... Oh, Anna, you wanna come up and, and present it, or if you don't have a copy of it, there it is. [0:04:24](https://vimeo.com/1176593824#t=264s) Thank you. [0:04:24](https://vimeo.com/1176593824#t=264s) So. Okay. [0:04:25](https://vimeo.com/1176593824#t=265s) Mr. Chairman, um, this is a piece of legislation that we have been working on over the last two years related to the Rural Hospital Tax Credit. That program has been really, really important for many of our rural hospitals in ensuring that they can stay open, ensuring they can offer new services, et cetera. And so while Georgia was the first state to do a Rural Hospital Tax Credit Program, we knew we were gonna have to kind of make changes over the years as the program evolved. This is a cleanup bill that adds rural freestanding emergency departments, which are technically rural emergency hospitals, as recognized by the federal government, to the Rural Hospital Tax Credit. [0:05:04](https://vimeo.com/1176593824#t=304s) Right now we only have one in Georgia. Um, it's Irwin County Hospital, and I'm sure you've all seen the challenges that they've been having financially, and so having this option would be really beneficial to them. But it also adds in rural facilities that are licensed to provide labor and delivery services. We wanna make sure that those rural areas that are putting a lot of investment into labor and delivery can keep it there and don't have to close those service lines. And then finally, the change at the end strikes Section H, which talks about the, um, calculation that's used to determine whether or not a facility is eligible. [0:05:40](https://vimeo.com/1176593824#t=340s) The reason this is struck is because we do have Rural Health Transformation funds coming down from the federal government, and the way that those are calculated in a hospital's financial sheet, we are concerned that those dollars might kick hospitals out of the program because of that. And so this just puts everyone on a level playing field. This bill adds seven additional rural hospitals to the program. Last year, the program was at $79 million. The cap is $100 million, so we do have some room for these additional facilities to be able to participate. [0:06:11](https://vimeo.com/1176593824#t=371s) Okay, and, uh, if you would, this was Angie O'Steen's bill that's sitting over in the Senate now being held hostage, I guess, over there. Is that right? [0:06:19](https://vimeo.com/1176593824#t=379s) House Bill 662, yes. [0:06:21](https://vimeo.com/1176593824#t=381s) Yeah. And th- and that one passed out of the House. [0:06:24](https://vimeo.com/1176593824#t=384s) It did pass out of the House unanimously. [0:06:26](https://vimeo.com/1176593824#t=386s) Unanimously. [0:06:27](https://vimeo.com/1176593824#t=387s) Yes. [0:06:27](https://vimeo.com/1176593824#t=387s) Okay. Thank you. All right, uh, Vice Chair Reeves. [0:06:32](https://vimeo.com/1176593824#t=392s) I'm, uh, I have a motion in a minute, but I did wanna say Georgia Heart Tax Credit, Phoebe Sumpter in Americus is one of 'em. Uh, I was born at the predecessor to that, Sumpter Regional. They do good work with the money they get from this, um, tax credit. And I see on line 18 it mentions maternal and newborn services. [0:06:50](https://vimeo.com/1176593824#t=410s) Mm-hmm. [0:06:50](https://vimeo.com/1176593824#t=410s) Line 19, indigent care and charity care. [0:06:53](https://vimeo.com/1176593824#t=413s) Mm-hmm. [0:06:53](https://vimeo.com/1176593824#t=413s) I know a lot of people in the House have worked on all those things. Appreciate you, Representative O'Steen, and I've got a motion when you're ready, Mr. Chairman. [0:07:00](https://vimeo.com/1176593824#t=420s) Okay. All right. Just hang on. We got, uh, Chairman Smith. [0:07:03](https://vimeo.com/1176593824#t=423s) I'm gonna second his motion. [0:07:05](https://vimeo.com/1176593824#t=425s) Oh, okay. All right. Go ahead and make your motion. [0:07:07](https://vimeo.com/1176593824#t=427s) Move do pass. [0:07:08](https://vimeo.com/1176593824#t=428s) Second. [0:07:09](https://vimeo.com/1176593824#t=429s) Second. All right, I got a motion and a second. Any further discussion on this bill? All right. All those in favor say aye. [0:07:16](https://vimeo.com/1176593824#t=436s) Aye. [0:07:16](https://vimeo.com/1176593824#t=436s) Any opposed? Bill's passed. [0:07:19](https://vimeo.com/1176593824#t=439s) Thank you. Very much appreciate it. [0:07:20](https://vimeo.com/1176593824#t=440s) Well, take care. That's it. We're adjourned.