2024 Legislative Update Days 1-5
By Melissa Reybold, VP of Public Policy
Georgia’s 2024 legislative session convened on Monday, January 8, and GPhA was there. While no pharmacy specific bills were introduced, legislative days 1 through 5 were busy nonetheless with GPhA engaging in many discussions with legislators and stakeholders. Typically, the first week will highlight the Governor’s initiatives and other target bills from lawmakers so these first few days were light in terms of pharmacy legislation.
The yearly Georgia Chamber’s Eggs & Issues breakfast was Wednesday morning. Governor Kemp announced plans to appropriate funding towards transportation, infrastructure, housing, a medical school at UGA, and dental school at Georgia Southern. He also put the brakes on tort reform deciding that rewriting Georgia’s litigation rules will likely take longer than one legislative session.
While Eggs & Issues was going on, I attended the Georgia Board of Pharmacy meeting over at the Mercer School of Pharmacy. AIP’s VP, Jonathan Marquess, and Tuxedo Pharmacy owner and GPhA member, Dawn Sasine, were all in attendance with me front and center. Chuck Page gaveled in his first meeting as the president of the board. The open session consisted of rule waiver petitions, approval of minutes and the GDNA report. Ideas on outreach for the Board of Pharmacy’s newsletter were batted around with GPhA volunteering to help. Once the Board of Pharmacy resumes their newsletter, we will gladly help distribute it to our members to keep them in the loop. And just an FYI, the Board of Pharmacy posts events, public hearings, and important information on their page so keep it on your lists of websites to check every so often. For now, click here to view previous Board of Pharmacy newsletters.
As previously mentioned, pharmacy movement was light last week, but one bill did advance with a unanimous vote on Thursday afternoon. At the Senate Regulated Industries and Utilities committee meeting, Representative John LaHood presented HB 455 which would provide that professional programs relating to career fatigue and wellness in healthcare professionals are not obligated to report to licensing boards except in certain circumstances. Representative LaHood introduced this bill in 2023 and GPhA offered input on the language relating to pharmacists. This bill will now head to Rules with Senator John Albers as the sponsor on the Senate side.
This week there is no session as lawmakers work on the state budget, but the work continues as we have numerous meetings with stakeholders and legislators to advance our initiatives.
