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What’s next for mental health in Georgia after key bill’s passage?
Credit: Jeff Breedlove
Key Points
- 1 in 6 Georgians have mental-health needs while the state ranks 48th in access to care.
- Newly passed mental-health legislation seeks expanding care access and keeping more people in crisis out of jail and emergency rooms.
- Questions remain on how much state funding key mental-health programs will receive.
The Gist
State lawmakers moved not only to expand mental-health care coverage for hundreds of thousands of Georgians who struggle with accessing it, but also to keep people with severe conditions from winding up in jail or the emergency room instead of local treatment centers.
What’s Happening
The Mental Health Parity Act, sponsored by Georgia House Speaker David Ralston, R-Blue Ridge, proposes requiring Georgia’s insurance providers to guarantee coverage for mental health needs – a move patients and advocates say would help lift Georgia from the bottom ranks of states offering mental-health care access.
“It’s not just affecting one individual,” said Corinne Cherry, a Fulton County resident struggling with mental health and substance abuse issues. “It’s affecting everyone as human beings.”
“Now is the time for us to have parity and for us to have these services. I see people in my community that need this, now more than ever,” added Hank Arnold, a Coweta County resident recovering from substance abuse.
Ralston’s bill and related legislation also aim to bolster programs focused on keeping people with mental health issues out of jails and hospitals, such as “co-response” teams that send trained clinicians out with police officers to assess what to do with people experiencing psychotic episodes.
The bill passed both chambers of the General Assembly Wednesday and now heads to Gov. Brian Kemp’s desk for his signature.
LaGrange Police Chief Louis Dekmar stressed the need for more non-law enforcement help to address mental-health calls. He noted one person with a mental condition in LaGrange who’s been the subject of 176 calls and arrested 31 times over the past decade – a situation Dekmar says is costly and ineffective.
“The largest mental-health facility in each county is the county jail,” Dekmar told State Affairs. “We should not be in the mental-health business.”
Why It Matters
Georgia ranks 48th among all states in residents’ ability to access timely and effective mental health services and have insurance coverage for treatment, according to the nonprofit group Mental Health America (MHA).
The Peach State also ranks 50th in the number of adults with mental health needs who do not receive treatment, as well as 47th in the number of children with depression who don’t receive care, MHA’s findings show.
More than 1 in 6 adults had a mental health condition in Georgia in 2021, including around 336,000 who face serious mental illnesses such as bipolar disorder, severe anxiety or schizophrenia, according to State Affairs’ analysis of data from National Alliance on Mental Illness’ (NAMI) Georgia chapter.
Additionally, more than 44% of Georgia adults reported symptoms of anxiety or depression in February 2021, up about 10% from when the COVID-19 pandemic started in March 2020, according to data from the nonprofit Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF). And 104,000 of the state’s children aged 12 to 17 also suffered from depression in early 2021, according to NAMI data.
As of December 2021, roughly one-third of Georgia adults who need professional mental-health care reported not receiving it, largely due to high costs, NAMI and KFF report.
Nearly half of Georgia’s 159 counties don’t have a full-time psychiatrist, and in counties where there is a psychiatrist, only 53% accept Medicaid, making it tough for many low-income residents to secure mental-health treatment, according to recent findings from the state Behavioral Health Reform and Innovation Commission.
Advocates agree the lack of care access for people with mental health issues drives up costs far beyond what it takes to treat their conditions through larger jail populations, burdening hospitals and lost productivity at work.
“We have a system that people agree is dangerously broken,” said Jeff Breedlove, spokesman for the nonprofit Georgia Council on Substance Abuse.
The Money Question
Last December, state officials tallied up around $51 million likely needed to bolster several mental-health programs in the bill, including more than $28 million to spread co-response teams across the state, which send out mental-health workers on calls with police, according to a report from the state Office of Health Strategy and Coordination.
State lawmakers have offered up around half that amount so far, proposing between $22 million and $26 million amid negotiations that kicked off this week between top House and Senate lawmakers over next year’s $30 billion budget.
Lawmakers are also poised to budget between $3.2 million and $2.2 million for court-ordered involuntary treatment programs – less than the roughly $9.2 million to $11.4 million state fiscal analysts estimated would be needed to start bolstering those programs.
Some $18 million of the amount proposed by lawmakers in this latest bill are for “value-based payments” to local mental-health groups, with few details as to how that funding would be distributed. Both chambers’ lawmakers have proposed less than $1 million for co-response teams.
With less than a week left in this year’s legislative session, budget-writing lawmakers have only settled on approving $10 million to fund cancellable student loans for primary-care physicians and behavioral-health specialists who stay in Georgia and practice in underserved areas.
What’s Next?
Whatever happens this week, lawmakers expect to continue pumping more money into mental health in the years to come based on the blueprint from Ralston’s bill, said the speaker’s communications director, Kaleb McMichen.
“As for future funding, Speaker Ralston and the House have committed to addressing mental health care access and quality over the course of several years,” McMichen said. “We expect this issue will be part of the policy and budget discussions in 2023 and on into the future.”
It’s a sigh of relief for Breedlove, of the substance-abuse council, said other local advocates.
“We are operating with trust and confidence that they have been crunching the numbers for this,” Breedlove told State Affairs. “And we believe they have,” he said, adding that mental health advocates are confident funding will happen this year or next.
Kevin Tanner, the county manager for Forsyth County who heads the mental-health reform commission, also said he expects money to keep rolling in for mental health down the road.
“I’m very confident that we’re going to see the funding continue and that we’re going to see good decisions made,” said Tanner, a former state lawmaker.
That confidence is shared by Melanie Dallas, chief executive officer of the Highland Rivers Behavioral Health community service board. Her group, which covers counties in North Georgia from Fannin down to Cobb, said its co-responder teams and case workers have managed to keep 97% of people out of jail and 60% from ER visits since 2019.
“There is so much that we need to do,” Dallas said. “I am not going to shrug my shoulders at any amount of money.”
Join the Conversation
What do you want to know about mental health and state government in Georgia? Share your thoughts/tips by emailing: [email protected].
Want to contact your local state legislator about this issue? Find your legislator here.
Follow key players for this story:
Georgia Crisis and Access Line: 1-800-715-4225
National Suicide Prevention Line: 1-800-273-TALK (8255)
Georgia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities: @GeorgiaDBHDD on Facebook, @DBHDD on Twitter
National Alliance on Mental Illness (Georgia chapter): @NAMIGeorgia on Facebook, @namigeorgia on Twitter
Georgia Council on Substance Abuse: @GeorgiaRecovers on Facebook, @Recovery_GCSA on Twitter
Georgia Association of Community Service Boards: @GACSB on Facebook, @GACSB on Twitter
Highland Rivers Behavioral Health: @HighlandRiversHealth on Facebook, @HighlandRivers on Twitter
Mental Health America (Georgia chapter): @mhaofgeorgia on Facebook, @MHAofGeorgia on Twitter
Behavioral Health Link: @BehavioralHealthLink on Facebook, @BehavioralLink on Twitter
Kaiser Family Foundation: @KaiserFamilyFoundation on Facebook, @KFF on Twitter
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration: @SAMHSA on Facebook, @samhsagov on Twitter
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House speaker Jon Burns hires new communications director
House speaker Jon Burns, R-Newington, announced today that he has hired a new communications director. Kayla Roberson, who has served as press secretary at the Georgia Chamber for the past year or so, will now oversee all external communications, media relations and strategic messaging for Burns.
“I’m excited to welcome Kayla to our team,” Burns said in a statement. “Kayla has an excellent background, deep skill set and strong work ethic, and we’re excited to have her on board to continue getting our message out and sharing the House’s priorities ahead of and into the next session.”
A double major in political science and journalism at the University of Georgia, where she graduated in 2022, Roberson interned for U.S. Rep. Andrew Clyde, a Republican in north Georgia’s 9th Congressional District, and worked as a consultant for GOP political candidates before joining the Georgia Chamber.
“I’m beyond grateful for the opportunity to work under the leadership of speaker Burns,” Roberson told State Affairs. “Whether it’s improving education opportunities, putting money back in the pockets of hardworking Georgians, creating jobs or supporting our rural communities, speaker Burns always prioritizes doing what is best, and what is right, for Georgia.”
Political strategist Stephen Lawson, who has held the top communications role for the speaker since last December, announced he’s joining Dentons, where starting today he’ll lead the global law firm’s public affairs efforts.
Have questions or comments? Contact Jill Jordan Sieder on X @journalistajill or at [email protected].
Global bird flu disrupts Georgia exports, costing chicken producers millions
ATLANTA — A global bird flu that has rapidly spread from birds to dairy cows, milk supplies and humans has cost untold millions of dollars in lost export business in Georgia, the nation’s leading poultry producer, officials with the state Department of Agriculture and poultry industry said.
Georgia has had only three reported cases of H5N1 avian influenza since it reemerged in 2022. The last of those cases was resolved in November 2023 but ramifications of those outbreaks continue to have a big effect on the state’s ability to export chicken and chicken parts, such as chicken feet, to different countries, including China, one of Georgia’s biggest export markets for chicken feet.
In 2022, frozen chicken feet, for example, accounted for more than 85% of all U.S. poultry exported to China, according to Farm Progress, publisher of 22 farming and ranching magazines.
The $30 billion poultry industry is Georgia’s largest segment in its No. 1 industry — agriculture.
China has also placed a ban on the import of chicken products from 41 other American states. The ban on Georgia products went into effect Nov. 21, 2023. Efforts to reach the Chinese Embassy in Washington, D.C. were unsuccessful.
Georgia Poultry Federation President Mike Giles estimates the state’s loss at “well into the millions of dollars.”
“It’s a significant amount in a significant export market for us,” he said. “Poultry paws [feet] immediately lose value because of the loss of demand.”
The ban has forced Georgia poultry producers to find alternative markets for their products that would normally be headed to China.
“Some are sold domestically, some are frozen and stored, hopefully to find markets later on, and some go to other countries,” Giles said.
This isn’t the first time China has banned U.S.-produced poultry products due to a bird flu outbreak. The country instituted a ban in January 2015 which lasted until November 2019 — even though U.S. poultry products were deemed free of the disease by August 2017.
After that ban was lifted, China’s appetite for American-produced chicken products became voracious.
In 2022, U.S. producers shipped nearly $6 billion in poultry meat and related products (excluding eggs) to over 130 countries. China has emerged as the second largest destination for U.S. poultry exports, increasing from $10 million in 2019 to a record $1.1 billion in 2022, according to Southern Ag Today.
Chicken paws, for instance, are eaten in many Asian countries, including the Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia and Korea.They can also be found on Chinese dim sum menus throughout the U.S. and are also popular in Jamaica, Trinidad, Russia and Ukraine in everything from soups and curries to fried snacks.
Three Georgia counties have reported H5N1 outbreaks since 2022. The most recent case was late last year. Henry, Sumter and Toombs counties each reported one case of H5N1 bird flu. Those outbreaks are resolved, poultry and state agriculture officials say.
“When HPAI cases are found in any state, that state is given a designation that could lead to foreign countries halting trade on poultry products from that state,” Georgia Department of Agriculture spokesman Matthew Agvent told State Affairs.
Not since 2016 has the United States experienced such a fast-moving case of the H5N1 avian influenza. In the last two months, the virus has spread in parts of the United States from birds to dairy cows, some milk supplies and humans. Two people — a Texas dairy worker and a prison inmate in Colorado who was killing infected birds at a poultry farm — are reported to have caught the virus, according to news reports. The outbreak is the largest in recent history, impacting both domestic poultry and livestock as well as wild birds and some mammal species.
State officials are continuing to monitor the national outbreak and its impact on Georgia.
Georgia’s poultry & egg industry: At A Glance
Annual economic impact: $30.2 billion
Percentage of the Agriculture industry: 58% *
Jobs: 87,900
Counties involved in poultry & egg production: 3 out of 4
National ranking in chicken broiler production: No. 1
Daily production of table eggs: 7.8 million
Daily production of hatching eggs: 6.5 million
Pounds of chicken produced daily: 30.2 million
Pounds of chicken produced annually: 8 billion
Number of chicken broilers processed each day: 5 million
Counties involved in poultry & egg production: 3 out of 4
Source: Georgia Poultry Federation; The Center for Agribusiness & Economic Development, University of Georgia, Ag Snapshots 2024; Georgia Poultry Federation.
Have questions? Contact Tammy Joyner on X @lvjoyner or at [email protected].
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Kemp signs bills on education, health care, taxes
Gov. Brian Kemp signed a slew of bills over the past week or so, including the private school voucher bill long sought by Republicans and a bill that will ease regulations over the construction and expansion of medical facilities in rural areas.
His bill-signing events were clustered into themes: education, health care, military members, human trafficking and Georgia’s coastal communities.
Education
Among the education-related bills Kemp signed was Senate Bill 233, also known as the Georgia Promise Scholarship Act, which provides the families of Georgia students enrolled in underperforming school districts with $6,500 scholarships that can be used toward private school or homeschooling expenses, including tuition, fees, textbooks and tutoring.
“Georgia is affording greater choice to families as to how and where they receive their education, while also continuing our efforts to strengthen public schools, support teachers, and secure our classrooms,” Kemp said, and thanked leadership in the House and Senate for prioritizing passage of the bill, which had failed in a close vote in 2023.
Democrats and many public education advocates who opposed the bill argued it will drain resources from public schools and primarily benefit students from wealthy families.
Kemp also signed Senate Bill 351, sponsored by nine Republican senators, which will require social media companies, as of July 1, 2025, to verify their users are at least 16 years old unless they receive approval from a parent.
House Bill 409, sponsored by Rep. Lauren Daniel, R-Locust Grove, directs school systems to consider not having bus stops where a student would have to cross a roadway with a speed limit of 40 mph or greater. The bill also increases the penalty for passing a stopped school bus to $1,000 from $250.
Kemp noted that Ashley Pierce, the mother of Addy Pierce, an 8-year-old who was fatally struck by a motorist as she boarded her school bus, “passionately advocated for and was instrumental in the passage of this legislation.”
Senate Bill 395, sponsored by Sen. Clint Dixon, R-Gwinnett, states that no school visitor or personnel can be prohibited from possessing an opioid reversal drug such as Narcan and directs schools to maintain a supply. It also allows opioid antagonists to be sold in vending machines and directs certain government buildings to maintain a supply of at least three doses.
Senate Bill 464, also sponsored by Dixon, creates the School Supplies for Teachers Program to financially and technically support teachers purchasing school supplies online. It also creates an executive committee of five voting members within the Georgia Council on Literacy and limits the number of approved literacy screeners to five, one of whom must be available to schools for free.
Health care
The governor chose his hometown of Athens as the venue to sign several bills aimed at improving health care in rural and underserved communities.
Among them was House Bill 1339, sponsored by Rep. Butch Parrish, R-Swainsboro, which revises the Certificate of Need process by which the state determines if and how new medical facilities can be built or expanded. The bill provides for several new exemptions, including psychiatric or substance abuse inpatient programs, basic perinatal services in rural counties, birthing centers and new general acute hospitals in rural counties. It also raises the total limit on tax credits for donations to rural hospital organizations to $100 million from $75 million.
Senate Bill 480, sponsored by Sen. Mike Hodges, R-Brunswick, establishes student loan repayments for mental health and substance use professionals serving underserved youth in the state or in unserved geographic areas disproportionately impacted by social determinants of health.
House Bill 872, sponsored by Rep. Lee Hawkins, R-Gainesville, chair of the House Health and Human Services Committee, expands cancelable loans for certain health care professionals to dental students who agree to practice in rural areas.
Senate Bill 293, sponsored by Sen. Ben Watson, R-Savannah, chair of the Senate Health and Human Services Committee, reorganizes county boards of public health and opens the qualifications for the CEO of each county board of health to include either licensed physicians or people with a master’s degree in public health or a related field.
Military members and veterans
Kemp on Wednesday focused on bills to improve military recruitment and provide more work opportunities for veterans and military family members.
House Bill 880, sponsored by Rep. Bethany Ballard, R-Warner Robins, allows spouses of military service members to work under a license they hold in good standing in another state while under the supervision of an existing Georgia medical facility or provider.
Senate Bill 449, sponsored by Sen. Larry Walker, allows military medical personnel to practice for 12 months while a license application is pending, including working as a certified nursing aide, certified emergency medical technician, paramedic or licensed practical nurse. The bill also creates a new advanced practice registered nurse license and makes it a misdemeanor to practice advanced nursing without a license.
Human trafficking
The governor on Wednesday was accompanied by first lady Marty Kemp and other members of the GRACE Commission for the signing of an anti-human trafficking package. It includes Senate Bill 370, which adds certain businesses to the list of organizations that must post human trafficking notices, including convenience stores, body art studios, businesses that employ licensed massage therapists and manufacturing facilities.
Sponsored by Sen. Mike Hodges, R-Brunswick, the bill also allows the Georgia Board of Massage Therapy to initiate inspections of massage therapy businesses and educational programs without notice and requires massage therapy board members to complete yearly human trafficking awareness training.
House Bill 993, sponsored by Rep. Alan Powell, R-Hartwell, creates the felony offense of grooming of a minor and creates new penalties for offenses relating to visual mediums depicting minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct.
House Bill 1201, sponsored by Rep. Houston Gaines, R-Athens, allows human trafficking survivors who received first offender or conditional discharge status to vacate that status for certain crimes, as long as the crime was a direct result of being a victim of human trafficking.
Coastal communities
Earlier today in Brunswick, Kemp signed legislation impacting Georgia coastal communities, including House Bill 244, which amends the laws around how wild game can be hunted and how seafood dealers operate, and House Bill 1341, which designates white shrimp as the state’s official crustacean.
Taxes
Earlier this month Kemp signed several bills related to taxation, including House Bill 1015, sponsored by Rep. Lauren McDonald, R-Cumming, which lowers the state income tax for tax year 2024 to 5.39%, accelerating a multiyear drop in state income taxes that started at 5.75% in 2023 and will continue through 2029.
The Governor’s Office of Planning and Budget estimates the tax cut acceleration will save Georgia taxpayers approximately $1.1 billion in calendar year 2024 and about $3 billion over the next 10 years.
Kemp also signed House Bill 1021, sponsored by Rep. Lauren Daniel, R-Locust Grove, which increases the state’s income tax dependent exemption to $4,000 from $3,000.
House Bill 581, sponsored by Reps. Shaw Blackmon, R-Bonaire, and Clint Crowe, R-Jackson, enables a constitutional amendment (House Resolution 1022) to let voters decide whether counties can provide a statewide homestead valuation freeze, which limits the increase in property values to the inflation rate.
The governor has until May 7 to sign or veto bills passed during the legislative session that ended on March 28. Those he takes no action on will automatically become law.
Legislation signed by Kemp is posted on the governor’s website.
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Have questions, comments or tips on education in Georgia? Contact Jill Jordan Sieder on X @journalistajill or at [email protected].
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