Legislative Update Week 5: The Little Budget Crosses Over

From Ben Ross, PharmD
President, GPhA Board of Directors
 
Welcome to our fifth weekly Legislative Update Newsletter of the 2025-2026 Georgia General Assembly Legislative Session.

We'll start once again with a look at key events this week: 

Monday, February 10 is Legislative Day fourteen and the General Assembly will complete Legislative Day seventeen on Thursday, February 13th. Friday is expected to be quiet in order to give members time to go home and celebrate Valentine’s Day as well as President’s Day the following Monday. Expect spouse shout outs during Points of Personal Privilege before folks head home for the week. 

HB 196, GPhA’s SHBP Reimbursement bill, is expected to be heard in House Health Committee today after the House adjourns. The House comes to order at 1pm. Please take some time this morning to let the members of the Health Committee know the importance of this bill.  

The Senate Health and Human Services Committee is also scheduled to meet today at 2 pm. SB 91 introduced by Chairman Blake Tillery will be considered. 

The Senate Appropriations subcommittee on Health and Human Development is scheduled to meet at 7:15am on Wednesday, February 12th. The amended budgets for the Board of Pharmacy, the Department of Public Health and the Department of Behavior Health and Developmental Disabilities are on the agenda. 
 

From the Committees to the Floor   
 
SB 6, sponsored by Chairwoman Kay Kirkpatrick (R-Marietta), was heard in committee last week and is on the Rules Calendar for a full senate vote later today. SB 6 would allow for all drug alternation testing strips to be removed from the list of drug paraphernalia misdemeanor possession charge. Currently, only opioid test strips are given this exclusion. In committee, Chairwoman Kirkpatrick explained this bill would include testing strips for all drug alterations, including synthetic opioids, and remove the need to update the exclusion every year as new illicit drugs circulate, such as Xylazine.
 
SB 5, creating a pre-authorization program for medical providers and also sponsored by Chairwoman Kay Kirkpatrick, passed out of the Senate Insurance and Labor committee. SB 5 is currently waiting for action from the Senate Rules committee.
 
Over in the other chamber, the House passed out HB 67, the amended budget for FY 2024-2025 (AFY25) on Thursday, February 6th. Due to the snow days, House Committee action was quick – on Wednesday February 5th each appropriations subcommittee met for 15 minutes, and then the full budget committee met for 30 minutes. Appropriation Chairman Matt Hatchett (R -Dublin) reported to the body they expect $40.5 billion in state funds and to use $2.7 billion in reserve funds.  Reserve funds were mainly used to provide Hurricane Helene relief. HB 67 is headed over to the Senate for their consideration. The Senate has scheduled the Appropriations Subcommittees throughout the week to work on the AFY25 budget. Reminder the amended budget will cover funding for the last quarter of fiscal year 2025, which is April, May and June.

 
Along with GPhA’s HB 196, several other PBM reform bills have been introduced, including:
 
HB 100 Prescription Drug Consumer Financial Protection Act, sponsored by Rep. Demetrius Douglas (D-Stockbridge), would require health insurance plan providers to pass on to the patient drug rebates of at least 80% at the point of sale with an explanation of the calculation. There are civil penalties and revocation of an insurer’s license for noncompliance.  A patient’s co-pay and deductible would still apply.
 
HB 101, also sponsored by Rep. Demetrius Douglas (D-Stockbridge) would require an annual report on the impact prescription drug rebate programs have on the SHBP.
 
HB 139, sponsored by Chairman Todd Jones (R – Forsyth), to maintain the status quo of the current 340B arrangement with hospitals and contracted pharmacies. This bill would allow legal remedies if a pharmaceutical manufacturer or wholesaler tries to deny, restrict, prohibit, or prevent a licensed pharmacy from fulfilling their contractual arrangement.
 
SB 60, Sponsored by Chairman Chuck Hufstetler (R-Rome), would establish that a Pharmacy Benefit Manager (PBM) cannot operate or own a pharmacy. The Commissioner of Insurance will be responsible for enforcement of existing and new laws by creating regulations around utilization, steering, reimbursement, formulary, spread pricing and transparency in claims and pricing. While the bill will apply to relationships with all pharmacies, it is primarily focused on corporate pharmacies with shareholders or chain pharmacies.
 
SB 91, Sponsored by Chairman Blake Tillery (R-Vidalia), would prohibit Georgia’s state employees’ health insurance plan from contracting with pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) that own or have an ownership interest in any retail pharmacy or any legal entity that contracts or uses a PBM that owns or has ownership interest in a retail pharmacy.  This bill aims to prevent conflicts of interest and promote fair competition in prescription drug pricing and reimbursement.  The bill has nearly the entire senate signed on.