The Georgia House of Representatives on Wednesday passed its local calendar and approved a series of bills and Senate substitutes affecting insurance procedures, court motion processing, school safety mapping, health-care workforce parity and other matters.

House members approved the local calendar (excluding three pulled bills) by voice and a recorded vote, with the clerk announcing 168 yeas, 0 nays. Earlier the House removed three local bills from the calendar and recommitted them to committee: Senate Bill 336, Senate Bill 355 and House Bill 825 (referred back to Intergovernmental Coordination).

Several measures received recorded roll-call votes on final passage: Senate Bill 5 (health-insurance private review agent/certification) passed 169-2; Senate Bill 173 (procedures for uncontested motions in superior and state courts) passed 168-0; Senate Bill 17 (school panic-alert and mapping provisions, known in the debate as Ricky’s and Alyssa’s Law) passed 171-0; and Senate Bill 131 (creation of the Georgia Healthcare Professional Status System and parity compliance measures) passed 166-3. The House also agreed to Senate substitutes on multiple House bills, including HB575 (authorizing electronic notice for certain Georgia Department of Transportation public hearings), HB94 (fertility preservation insurance coverage for private plans after the Senate removed state plans), and HB182 (Department of Insurance technical/cleanup provisions); those motions to agree passed on recorded votes.

Key procedural actions and outcomes
- Local calendar passed with a recorded vote: 168 yeas, 0 nays. This vote excluded Senate Bills 3-36, 3-55 and House Bill 8-25, which were recommitted to committee.
- Senate Bill 5 (rules committee substitute) — Passed, yeas 169, nays 2. Representative Lee Hawkins presented the rules substitute on the floor.
- Senate Bill 173 (committee substitute) — Passed, yeas 168, nays 0. Representative Stan Gunther presented the bill.
- Senate Bill 17 (rules committee substitute; school mapping/panic alert) — Passed, yeas 171, nays 0. Representative Holt Persinger presented the measure and answered several floor questions before final passage.
- Senate Bill 131 (rules committee substitute; parity compliance and workforce data) — Passed, yeas 166, nays 3. Chair Katie Dempsey presented the rules substitute; members discussed the panel’s lack of authority to impose financial penalties.
- House agreed to the Senate substitute for HB575 — House agreed, yeas 167, nays 1. Representative McCollum moved the agreement.
- House agreed to the Senate substitute for HB94 (fertility-preservation coverage) — House agreed, yeas 162, nays 3. Representative Lumsden explained the Senate removed state plans from coverage.
- House agreed to the Senate substitute for HB182 (insurance cleanup technical changes) — House agreed, yeas 166, nays 2.

What the bills do (as read on the floor)
- Senate Bill 5: Amends provisions in the Official Code of Georgia Annotated related to private review agents and to insurer prior-authorization practices; the rules substitute also contains coverage language for PANS/PANDAS for children as discussed on the floor.
- Senate Bill 173: Authorizes a process for filing notices of uncontested motions in superior and state courts, including a 60-day window to object and a mechanism that deems motions granted if a judge does not rule within seven days; provides tolling and chief-judge oversight when needed.
- Senate Bill 17: Amends provisions related to public school facilities and first-responder mapping to require school systems to implement a mobile panic-alert system and to integrate facility mapping with public-safety systems (the bill sets a July 21, 2026 implementation reference for certain elements as discussed on the floor).
- Senate Bill 131: Establishes the Georgia Healthcare Professional Status System under the Georgia Board of Healthcare Workforce, adds the insurance commissioner to the Behavioral Health Coordinating Council and creates a parity compliance review panel to improve reporting and data collection on parity compliance.
- HB575 (as agreed to by the House): Allows the Georgia Department of Transportation to provide certain public-hearing notices electronically; the Senate substitute included language requested by public-safety agencies about traffic flow and responder determinations.
- HB94 (as amended by the Senate substitute): Requires coverage for standard fertility-preservation services but, per the Senate substitute, excludes state health plans from the mandate; the change was described on the floor as a cost/implementation issue for state plans.
- HB182 (as agreed to by the House): Technical amendments and confidentiality language consistent with NAIC guidance for Department of Insurance matters.

Floor questions and concerns
- Members asked about privacy, data security, and immunity language while SB17 was discussed. Representative Holt Persinger said the bill clarifies who may sign off on mapping accuracy annually and that the mapping provisions were an amendment and cleanup tied to prior school-safety legislation. Representatives pressed for assurances that mapping data are protected, and Persinger referred members to protections already in the school-safety law passed in 2023.
- On parity reporting (SB131), members asked about enforcement mechanisms because the new panel will not have authority to impose financial penalties. Chair Katie Dempsey said the panel’s purpose is to gather and present data to identify noncompliance and improve reporting.

Procedural notes
- Multiple bills were read at first and second reading earlier in the day; the House adopted the order of business and dispensed with the journal reading.
- Several ceremonial items and recognitions occurred during morning orders and are not reflected as legislative actions here.

Votes at a glance (selected final actions)
- Local calendar (excluding specific pulled bills): Passed 168-0
- SB5: Passed 169-2
- SB173: Passed 168-0
- SB17: Passed 171-0
- SB131: Passed 166-3
- House agreed to Senate substitute HB575: 167-1
- House agreed to Senate substitute HB94: 162-3
- House agreed to Senate substitute HB182: 166-2

Ending
Lawmakers recessed the House until 2 p.m. after the final votes and floor agreements. Several bills that the House passed or agreed to will now move toward enrollment and transmission to the governor or return to committee where they were recommitted.