Stay ahead of the curve as a political insider with deep policy analysis, daily briefings and policy-shaping tools.
Request a DemoMental health legislation remains top of the agenda for Dems and Republicans
Update, April 26, 2023: HB 520 did not pass this session. While it sailed through the House with a 163-3 vote, an amended version of the bill did not receive a vote in the Senate Health and Human Services Committee. HB 520 is expected to be taken up again by the Senate next year.
The Gist
A wide-ranging mental health bill filed by a bipartisan group of legislators last week aims to address behavioral health professions’ workforce challenges, barriers for those seeking treatment, the flow of information about patients among agencies, and a host of issues not addressed in last year’s landmark Mental Health Parity Act.
What's Happening
In a debut reminiscent of the high regard paid by lawmakers to HB 1013, the bipartisan mental health parity bill championed by late Republican House Speaker David Ralston last year, the sequel to that bill, HB 520, was announced at a press conference by his successor, Republican House Speaker Jon Burns, flanked by the bill’s bipartisan co-sponsors.
“Today we begin the next chapter of our ongoing commitment to better mental health care in Georgia,” said Burns, who represents Newington.
The 51-page bill includes several provisions designed to address the longstanding behavioral health workforce shortage in the state, including recruitment and retention challenges.
HB 520 expands a student loan forgiveness program that was set up last year for people pursuing training in behavioral health professions to now include debt relief for current practitioners.
It also seeks to streamline and modernize the licensing process for many behavioral health professional licensing boards, which are currently backlogged. That would include putting more of the application and review process online, and waiving some experience requirements for providers who come to Georgia with licenses from other states and foreign countries.
“We know that workforce is the biggest challenge for mental health service providers and for families in crisis. This is true for businesses and all kinds of state, county and social service providers. The expansion of the loan forgiveness program and the need to address barriers in the licensing boards are very high priorities,” said Rep. Mary Margaret Oliver, D-Decatur, one of the bill’s co-sponsors, who also serves on the Behavioral Health Reform and Innovation Commission (BHRIC), which developed both bills.
Gaps in the ways that Medicaid covers behavioral health care (which includes mental health care and treatment for substance abuse and addiction recovery) have been problematic for many patients and providers in Georgia. The bill mandates that by Jan. 1, 2024, Medicaid coverage must include reimbursement for psychological diagnoses; care for justice-involved youth ages 18 to 21; psychiatric and behavioral therapy for foster youth to allow them to stay in a “flexible home setting”; and a look at how Medicaid covers the diagnosis of people on the autism spectrum.
The bill also requires the Department of Community Health (DCH) to submit a waiver request to the federal Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services to allow up to 2% of total Medicaid funds received by the state to provide housing, employment, food and education services to Medicaid recipients.
The bill does not address disparities in Medicaid reimbursement rates to providers. A study by DCH released in January showed that rates for some behavioral health providers in Georgia are lower than in some other states. But Oliver, who sits on the House Appropriations Committee, said the Legislature will address those issues.
“The mental health bill is going to be accompanied by appropriations in a variety of ways,” Oliver said. “The Medicaid rate package is flowing through the budget process and increases to service providers’ pay reimbursement will be happening partially in fiscal year 2024, which begins, as you know, July 1.”
Much of the mental health bill is forward-looking, setting up ways for government agencies, law enforcement, providers and the private sector to study existing challenges in access to care and to collaborate on solutions.
The bill directs the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities (DBHDD) to develop a single shared definition of key terms including “severe mental illness,” “homeless individual” and “recidivism” in collaboration with the BHRIC, the Department of Corrections, the Department of Juvenile Justice, the Department of Community Supervision, law enforcement and other local and state agencies, to ensure accurate data collection on patients and consistency in how they are assessed and evaluated.
“This is really important because the state wants to use data to inform where we need to fix the system,” says Kim Jones, executive director of the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) in Georgia. “For years, the state has been putting Band-Aids on the system, spending money and trying to fix it without really looking at the hardcore data. And if we’re going to use data, everybody needs to be working off the same definition of what a serious mental illness is, so it’s apples to apples.”
The bill sets up two task forces: One is concerned with building “a continuum of care to ensure access and appropriate use of the behavioral health system and the criminal justice system”; the other task force will examine issues relating to the impact of behavioral health on the state’s homeless population.
The issues at the heart of both task forces are intertwined, said Jones, who also serves on the BHRIC.
“We know here in Georgia that people with mental health conditions often end up in jail, unfortunately, because of the lack of services at the community level,” she said. “Many of them get into severe mental health crises and then have interactions with police. At that point, they’re often taken to jail instead of getting taken to care. When they’re released, if they still don’t receive appropriate care or support, they end up homeless.”
Often referred to as “familiar faces” in the criminal justice community, these individuals are getting special attention in HB 520, which calls for a statewide public-private partnership to serve as a clearinghouse for best practices, information and resources to support them.
Rep. Todd Jones, R-South Forsyth, the co-sponsor of the bill, while speaking to behavioral health advocates and reporters in a video town hall last week, said, “That small part of the population with serious mental illness that is taking up so much of the state’s resources,” are people who are going from health crisis to incarceration to homelessness, and are caught in a “triangle” pattern that he hopes to break.
Jones said a study on current access to inpatient behavioral health beds and crisis services, included in the bill, will be an important step in helping the state figure out how to increase capacity in psychiatric facilities.
Jones said he is frequently approached by people distressed because no treatment facility will take their loved one. “There is not a week that goes by — and I can speak for Representative Oliver and myself — when we literally have at least one or two Georgians contact us personally and say, ‘My son, my daughter, my cousin, what am I supposed to do? They can’t find a bed,’” Jones said.
Securing more affordable housing and wraparound services for people who are in treatment, in recovery or reentering society after being incarcerated is also a priority in the bill.
It amends laws relating to housing authorities and low-income rental properties to make it illegal to refuse to rent to a person who has been convicted of one or more criminal offenses, unless their offenses are “related to their fitness as a tenant.”
The task force to be created around behavioral health and homelessness would identify all state and local agencies, nonprofit organizations, charities and others providing services and expending funds to help the homeless population. It would also make recommendations on how to better coordinate all the parties to share data on the people they serve, and to collaborate on funding strategies and services.
“What the bill does is outline a work plan for the new [DBHDD] commissioner [Kevin Tanner], that allows him, if it’s in the statute, to get specific money,” said Oliver. “There’s some private philanthropic interests that want to help us. Through this plan we can alert the philanthropic community that … we’re doing studies with a four- to six-month timetable, and we need their participation and their support financially.”
Oliver said the task force will also provide much-needed clarity around homeless relief funds.
“I’m asked all the time by colleagues, ‘Where’s the money coming from? How many different streams of finances are there?’ And because … much of the homeless relief money is federal money that goes through DCA [Department of Community Affairs], that’s a hard question to answer. So it’s feasible for us to do this short-term work plan, understand all the funding streams available, and have a six-month opportunity to implement a plan.”
Jeff Breedlove, communications and policy chief at the Georgia Council for Recovery, said, “This legislation includes a great combination of practical measures to build the behavioral health workforce today, as well as visionary elements that will carry us forward to make sure peers are getting the services we need and deserve.” He also noted that “peers” are people who are now experiencing “or have lived in addiction or a mental health condition, or are in recovery.” He counts himself among them.
Breedlove said that providing loan cancellation to current practitioners, for instance, “will have an immediate effect. Georgians who are dedicating their professional lives to serve others are going to get the ability to get some financial relief for themselves and their families. And that’s going to motivate them to want to stay in service to me and my community.”
He said he was happy to see that HB 520 adds two peer support specialists to the Behavioral Health Reform and Innovation Commission, bringing its membership up to 26. HB 520 also directs the BHRIC to develop a plan to expand the use of forensic peer monitors, people in long-term recovery who are certified to help others who are actively dealing with mental health and addiction issues.
Why It Matters
Georgia is ranked 48th in the U.S. for access to mental health care, according to Mental Health America, a nonprofit advocacy and research organization. Reasons for the low ranking include a deficit of behavioral workforce professionals to meet demand, and a lack of available beds in psychiatric hospitals and other facilities for people experiencing mental and behavioral health crises.
Earlier this month, DBHDD Commissioner Kevin Tanner reported to the House Appropriations Human Resources Subcommittee that 15% of adult crisis beds and 28% of children and adolescent beds managed by the state were “offline” in January due to “severe staffing shortages.” Tanner said behavioral health crisis centers are experiencing high turnover rates among doctors, psychologists and nurses, who remain difficult to recruit and retain, due to current compensation levels.
And getting newly trained therapists and other behavioral health professionals into service is hindered by inefficiencies at some of the state licensing boards within the secretary of state’s office. Many of the licensing boards are understaffed and using outdated technology and practices, including handwritten application forms, said Oliver. This has resulted in a backlog of hundreds or thousands of applications at some licensing boards.
The Georgia Composite Board of Professional Counselors, Social Workers, Marriage & Family Therapists had a backlog of 2,554 applications as of the end of January. Among members of the Licensed Professional Counselors Association seeking credentials, about 400 people were still waiting for their applications to be processed by the composite board, said Jones. According to the Association, most applicants in 2022 waited from two months to more than a year to receive their licenses.
“So with that backlog, we have 400 [qualified] people ready to go, waiting to meet with people who need their help, but they can’t because of the licensing issue,” said Jones.
What's Next
HB 520 is expected to go to the House Public Health Committee for consideration this week, and then to receive a floor vote in the House. It must pass out of the House by “Crossover Day,” March 6, to be considered by the Senate.
If you or someone you know is in crisis, please call the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, which has trained listeners standing by and ready to help. Visit 988lifeline.org for crisis chat services or for more information.
Related:
Have questions, comments or tips about Georgia’s behavioral health system? Contact Jill Jordan Sieder on Twitter @JOURNALISTAJILL or at [email protected].
Twitter @STATEAFFAIRSGA
Facebook @STATEAFFAIRSUS
Instagram @STATEAFFAIRSGA
LinkedIn @STATEAFFAIRS
Header photo: House Speaker Jon Burns announces the new mental health bill, HB 520, along with its bipartisan sponsors and supporters Todd Jones, Mary Margaret Oliver, James Beverly, Sharon Cooper, Kim Schofield and Gregg Kennard. (Credit: Office of the House of Representatives)
Read this story for free.
Create AccountRead this story for free
By submitting your information, you agree to the Terms of Service and acknowledge our Privacy Policy.
Democratic incumbents vie for redrawn House district seat
ATLANTA — Democratic incumbents running in south DeKalb County’s newly drawn District 90 are in a political predicament: Longtime comrades, they now find themselves pitted against each other.
Reps. Saira Draper and Becky Evans met Wednesday on the debate stage at St. John’s Lutheran Church to make the case for why voters should choose them for the newly drawn district in the upcoming May primary.
Mike St. Louis, chair of the Druid Hills Civic Association and moderator of the hourlong debate, lamented the“gratuitous” pairing of two Democratic incumbents in the same district drawn by Republicans who controlled the special legislative session on redistricting last year. The process was an effort to comply with a judge’s order to add more majority-Black districts.
House District 90, which Draper represents, will still include the part of Atlanta that is in DeKalb County, as well as six new precincts in southwest DeKalb that were in District 89, where Evans serves. Each was elected in districts that were and remain majority-Black, solid-blue districts.
No Republican or independent candidates qualified for the 2024 election for the new District 90.
Draper and Evans began and ended Wednesday’s debate acknowledging their respect for each other, and their chagrin over their political predicament, while trying to draw distinctions on their legislative records and strengths.
“This was not something that either of us asked for. It’s not something that either of us wanted,” Draper said. “And to me, it really underscores the fact that we have to get the majority in Georgia.”
Draper, a civil rights attorney serving in the House since 2023, said what makes her “the best person for the job … really boils down to democracy and diversity.” She described herself as an elections and voting rights expert who helped to “flip Georgia blue for the first time in 30 years” during the 2020 presidential election and the 2022 midterms, when she said she “led the voting rights efforts” in Georgia for President Joe Biden and U.S. Sens. Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff, for whom she oversaw campaign staff and thousands of volunteers.
Draper said she’s now fighting to bring Democratic majorities back to the state House and Senate, which she estimated will likely take four to six years.
In the meantime, she said she has worked to push through what legislation she can in the Republican-controlled House and cited as a small victory House Bill 1207, a bill she crafted that requires advanced proofing of ballots by candidates and election supervisors. Draper sought out five Republicans as co-signers to gain majority support for the bill, which passed in both chambers and awaits Gov. Brian Kemp’s signature.
Noting that “diversity is a central tenet to the Democratic Party,” Draper said, “as a woman of color and as an immigrant, I bring perspectives to the table that are underrepresented at the Capitol.”
Draper immigrated to the U.S. when she was 6 years old from England, where her Spanish mother and Pakistani father met. “That makes me Spakistani,” she said, eliciting laughter from the audience. “But it also makes me the only member of the Georgia General Assembly who is a member of the Hispanic caucus and the Asian American Pacific [Islander] caucus.”
Evans, a community organizer and political operative who has served in the House since 2019, emphasized her six years of experience building relationships with fellow legislators and delivering on measures to support education, the environment, gun safety and housing.
“And I’m 100% pro-choice, 100% pro-LGBTQ and 100% pro-health care expansion,” Evans said, adding she is proud of her work developing legislation to promote literacy among school children over the past two years, including writing a bill last year to create the Georgia Council on Literacy and another bill to ensure that children are screened for dyslexia and other reading challenges and that teachers are trained in evidence-based reading and writing instruction.
When her bills didn’t pass from the House to the Senate by the Crossover Day deadline in 2023, Evans said she persuaded Republican lawmakers in the Senate to adopt her legislation, which then passed. She now serves on the 30-member literacy council, which she said is working “to make sure that all of our children will have the broadest possible futures and that they can all learn how to read.”
Evans also said she was “proud to deliver this session $7.4 million in [federal] gun violence prevention awareness funds that will go out to community groups” and to support the passage of a bipartisan Senate bill that will give “[sales] tax breaks [on gun safety devices] where people are using their guns responsibly.” She said she also advocated for adding new funding for school security grants to the education budget, which was approved.
The candidates took similar positions on many issues, both decrying the private school voucher bill they said would drain funds from public schools, and the need for the state to better fund impoverished school districts. They described their individual efforts to curtail gun violence and promote voting rights, as well as detailed their years of experience in ground-level get-out-the-vote efforts in DeKalb County and metro Atlanta. Draper and Evans also expressed measured support of the Atlanta Public Safety Training Center, which they said is needed to train police and first responders.
Among the 40 or so people in the audience, Lora Wuennenberg, 68, a Kirkwood resident and program manager at the humanitarian nonprofit CARE, said she emerged from the debate torn between the two candidates. Noting they have similar positions on the major issues she cares about, including public education, she said Draper, her current representative, impressed her as an “an activist who can mobilize people and is willing to stand up and stand out on some of the issues that may not be getting enough attention.”
“Becky seemed more of a practical, behind-the-scenes organizer, someone who understands the bureaucracy of government and has a lot of established contacts,” Wuennenberg said, noting Evans has worked across the aisle and “found entry points” to get legislation passed. “In the Republican-controlled House, maybe she can be more effective than Saira.”
Wuennenberg said over the next few weeks she’ll follow the candidates and look to see “how Saira thinks she can mobilize support for the bread-and-butter issues that have an impact on people’s lives” in the next legislative session.
Arica Schuett, 36, a Ph.D. candidate in political science at Emory who lives in Druid Hills, said she also needs to spend more time studying the candidates.
She said Draper’s focus “on mobilizing voters and removing barriers to election participation resonated” with her, while Evans’ “experience and her ability to to work with constituencies that include Republicans is important. So getting a better understanding of how each candidate would manage their position in a really Republican Legislature is what’s important to me.”
Schuett said she plans to dive deeper into their proposed legislation and voting records. “I kind of want to look a little bit more at what they’ve done, right?”
The primary election will take place May 21.
Have questions or comments? Contact Jill Jordan Sieder on X @journalistajill or at [email protected]
And subscribe to State Affairs so you do not miss an update.
X @StateAffairsGA
Instagram @StateAffairsGA
Facebook @StateAffairsGA
LinkedIn @StateAffairs
Barbershop talks and hip-hop summits: Georgia Black legislators’ group has big plans to build coalitions, boost voter rolls
The nation’s largest gathering of Black lawmakers is slated to meet in Atlanta this summer to discuss ways to boost voter participation nationwide ahead of the upcoming fall elections.
The Aug. 2-4 conference theme is “Testing 1, 2, 3.” The meeting will be the precursor to a series of events the Georgia Legislative Black Caucus plans to hold heading into the November presidential election.
“Because we’re the largest Black caucus in the nation, we’re reaching out to all of the caucuses from across the nation,” Rep. Carl Gilliard, D-Savannah, chairman of the 74-member Georgia caucus, told State Affairs. “This is the first time that I think we’re doing a total reach-out to all of the Black caucuses. We share a lot of similarities. Whether it’s voter suppression in Georgia, the same laws are going to be tried in Tennessee and the same laws are going to be tried in Florida. We share a lot of commonalities.”
Next week, for instance, the Georgia caucus is scheduled to issue a statement supporting efforts to pass a hate crimes bill in South Carolina. The bill passed in the House but stalled in the Senate, Gilliard noted.
Over 700 Black legislators represent about 60 million Americans, according to the National Black Caucus of State Legislators. In addition to the Georgia caucus, Black caucuses exist in nearly three dozen states.
Shortly after the August convention, the Georgia Legislative Black Caucus will embark on a 14-city tour throughout Georgia to focus on “getting out the vote.”
“We’re not going to tell them who to vote for,” Gilliard said of voters. “But what is happening right now is no one is talking to the people. And if the election were held today, we all would be in trouble because no one is talking or meeting the people where they’re at.”
The tour is a continuation of various actions the Georgia Legislative Black Caucus has taken this year to align with other organizations of people of color on common causes.
In March, the caucus joined forces with the Asian American Pacific Islander and Hispanic caucuses for a tri-caucus town hall. It was the first time the three groups have aligned. The Black caucus also has “reached out to partner with the Hindus of North America population and the diaspora,” Gilliard said.
“What we’re trying to do is form a coalition to get to as many diverse groups of people as we can,” he said.
Gilliard said the lack of individual and collective involvement in communities he’s seeing concerns him. It’s a far cry from four years ago.
In 2020, the deaths of Ahmaud Arbery, an unarmed Black man murdered while jogging in Glynn County, and Breonna Taylor, a Black woman killed by Louisville, Kentucky police serving a no-knock warrant for drug suspicion, led to more than 450 protests nationwide and on three continents.
That same year, former Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams led an effort to increase the voter rolls for the 2020 presidential election. Fair Fight and the New Georgia Projects, two groups Abrams founded, registered more than 800,000 new voters.
That level of community and political engagement has since subsided, Gilliard said.
“People don’t know what’s going on,” Gilliard said. “No one is really talking to the people. You’ve got a presidential election. I’m talking about on both [political] sides. There are rallies and different events being held, but nobody has gone to the barbershop. No one has gone to the community centers or the neighborhoods. We’re going to be empowering those communities by going and taking those townhall meetings right where they’re at, not in a big municipality but in community centers and neighborhoods.”
The caucus also plans to hold a hip-hop summit to reach young people, many of whom are skeptical of both political parties.
“They’re forming their own opinions,” Gilliard said. “They’re saying, ‘Forget about Trump. We need to hear something different.’ That’s just their perception. That’s why I’m really quietly championing the young candidates behind the scenes who are running right now because we need young leaders.
“We have to get as many people together, but we also have to get them ready to work.”
Have questions, comments or tips? Contact Tammy Joyner on X @lvjoyner or at [email protected].
And subscribe to State Affairs so you do not miss any news you need to know.
X @StateAffairsGA
Instagram@StateAffairsGA
Facebook @StateAffairsGA
LinkedIn @StateAffairs
Special prosecutor to decide if Lt. Gov. Jones should face criminal charges in 2020 election-meddling case
Lt. Gov. Burt Jones will face scrutiny over whether he should be criminally charged for alleged meddling in the 2020 presidential election in Georgia.
The Prosecuting Attorneys’ Council of Georgia said Thursday it has assigned Executive Director Pete Skandalakis as the special prosecutor to handle the case because Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis is barred from investigating Jones. The council is a nonpartisan state advocacy agency for district attorneys.
In July 2022, Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney blocked Willis from investigating Jones because her actions were an “actual and untenable” conflict of interest. At the time, Willis had hosted a campaign fundraiser for Jones’ Democratic rival, Charlie Bailey, and donated to his campaign when both men were running for lieutenant governor. Willis is currently involved in an election interference case she brought against former President Donald Trump and 18 others.
McBurney’s ruling left it up to the council to decide whether Jones should be criminally charged.
“I’m happy to see this process move forward and look forward to the opportunity to get this charade behind me,” Jones said in a statement issued Thursday. “Fani Willis has made a mockery of this legal process, as she tends to do. I look forward to a quick resolution and moving forward with the business of the state of Georgia.”
The council cited state bar rules in its news release and said there would be no further comments.
Skandalakis’ appointment marks another step in the ongoing political odyssey for Jones and other lawmakers over charges that they served as “false” electors to help Trump overturn the 2020 presidential election in Georgia.
Jones is one of 16 alleged “false” electors in Georgia who gathered at the state capitol on Dec. 14, 2020, to cast ballots for Trump and then sent their false certification of his victory to the National Archives and the governor’s office.
Jones has denied any wrongdoing, saying he and other electors were acting on the advice of lawyers to preserve Trump’s chances in Georgia in case the former president won a court challenge that was pending at the time. Jones was a state senator during the 2020 election.
Trump’s campaign enlisted an alternate slate of electors in 2020 in a number of swing states where Trump was defeated, as part of an effort to circumvent the outcome of the voting, The New York Times reported Thursday.
Have questions? Contact Tammy Joyner on X @lvjoyner or at [email protected].
And subscribe to State Affairs so you do not miss any news you need to know.
X @StateAffairsGA
Facebook @StateAffairsGA
Instagram @StateAffairsGA
LinkedIn @StateAffairs
Georgia taxpayers get a tax credit for helping young adults leaving foster care
The Gist
Georgia lawmakers in 2022 laid the groundwork to help young adults leaving the foster care system get a good start in life while giving taxpayers another tax relief option.
At that time, the Georgia General Assembly passed House Bill 424, also known as the Fostering Success Act. This law created the Qualified Foster Child Donation Credit program. It’s a tax credit plan that allows taxpayers to redirect their state income tax dollars to qualified organizations providing support services to young adults transitioning out of foster care.
Capped at $20 million a year, the money is used to help young adults ages 18 to 25 once they leave foster care.
What’s Happening
The tax credit took effect in 2023. The number of qualified organizations participating in the program has nearly doubled to 39 this year from 20 last year.
A bill to increase the cap on the tax credit to $30 million a year failed during this year’s legislative session because the House and Senate couldn’t agree on whether to expand the annual cap. It remains at $20 million a year.
As of March 28, $153,000 of the $20 million fund has been approved for the 2024 tax year. Roughly $19.8 million remains.
“With this being the second year of the tax credit, this tax credit opportunity is still relatively new and unknown,” Heidi Carr, executive director of Fostering Success Act Inc., told State Affairs. “It takes a while to get the awareness around it up.”
Carr’s group is one of the qualified organizations participating in the tax credit program. The nonprofit is not connected to the government program.
Georgia taxpayers get a dollar credit for every dollar they donate to a qualified organization, up to a certain amount. Here’s how it works:
- An individual or business applies through the Georgia Department of Revenue to qualify for the tax credit. The taxpayer specifies how much to donate and which organization will get the donation.
- Once approved, the taxpayer makes a payment directly to the organization.
- When the organization receives the payment, it sends the taxpayer the documents required when filing their state tax return so they can get their tax credit. The organization also notifies the state of the transaction.
Why It Matters
Each year, more than 700 young adults leave the foster care system in Georgia. They are some of the most underserved and overlooked people in the foster care system. Many never return to their biological families or get adopted. Once they leave the system, they often have little to no guidance as they enter college or the workforce.
The fostering success funds will help those young people with education, housing, counseling, medical care and transportation services.
Money generated from the tax credit has enabled Connections Homes to help 20 young people so far this year, Founder and Chief Executive Officer Pam Parish told State Affairs.
The Alpharetta-based nonprofit’s main goal is matching young people who have left or are leaving foster care with mentoring families. However, the $20,000 received through the tax credit program allows the organization to do much more, Parish said.
In one instance, they helped a young mother of two in her early 20s who is attending college and dealing with cancer. The organization paid the former foster care youth’s rent and car note and was able to “do the things that we could worry about and let her worry about getting better and staying in school,” Parish said.
Without the money generated through the Fostering Success Act’s tax credit program, such help would have been a “funding struggle,” Parish added.
“Our main program is our mentorship, which is immensely helpful to our kids,” she said. “But really to get into these practical needs and [having] funding available to do that is really helpful for our organization but most importantly for these kids.”
The organization has helped some 350 foster youth in its 10-year existence, Parish said. She and her husband have eight daughters, seven of them adopted. Five became part of the family after the age of 18 due to various circumstances, including surviving trafficking, homelessness and aging out of foster care, she said.
Similarly, Wellroot Family Services has been able to help foster youth pursuing college degrees.
“The Fostering Success Tax Credit bolsters the housing and wraparound services we provide for those youth pursuing postsecondary education and has enabled us to provide scholarships to former foster youth,” Wellroot CEO Allison Ashe said. “Because of the tax credit and the generosity of donors, we were able to provide additional funds to some of the youth pursuing college degrees to use for books and other academic supplies.”
What’s Next?
It’s not too late to participate in the 2024 tax credit program. To qualify, taxpayers must get the state’s approval and make their payments within 60 days of being approved or by Dec. 31, whichever comes first.
Between January 1 and June 30, the following yearly contribution limits are based on the taxpayer’s filing status:
- Single individual or head of household: Up to $2,500
- Married filing jointly: Up to $5,000
- Individual owner of an S corporation, member of an LLC or partner in a partnership: Up to $5,000
- C corporation, trust, or pass-through entity electing to pay tax at entity level: Up to 10% of Georgia income tax liability
Learn more about the Fostering Success Tax Credit here. As with any tax matter, consult your tax adviser. You can find a list of certified foster child support organizations on the Department of Revenue website.
Read these related stories:
Have questions? Contact Tammy Joyner on X @lvjoyner or at [email protected].
And subscribe to State Affairs so you do not miss any news you need to know.
X @StateAffairsGA
Facebook @StateAffairsGA
Instagram @StateAffairsGA
LinkedIn @StateAffairs