Georgia Composite Board of Professional Counselors, Social Workers, and Marriage and Family Therapists; establish a professional health program; authorize
SB 113 authorizes two Georgia licensing boards—the Georgia Composite Board of Professional Counselors, Social Workers, and Marriage and Family Therapists, and the Georgia Board of Nursing—to establish professional health programs for impaired healthcare professionals. The bill defines key terms such as “impaired,” “healthcare professional,” “entity,” and “professional health program,” and allows each board to contract with an outside organization or medical professional association to run monitoring and rehabilitation services.
The programs are intended to help impaired licensees safely return to, or continue in, practice while protecting public safety. The bill also permits the boards to share pertinent information with the contracted entity, creates confidentiality protections for records and related materials, bars those materials from open records requests and discovery/subpoena use, and requires participating professionals to pay all costs associated with their participation. It further grants immunity from civil or criminal liability to entities acting under the contract, and allows the boards to seek private funding, grants, in-kind gifts, and donations, subject to legislative appropriation.
The bill would amend Title 43 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated by adding new provisions for counselor/social worker/marriage and family therapist licensing and for nursing. It creates statutory authority for both boards to operate or contract for professional health programs, establishes confidentiality and liability protections for program records and contractors, and clarifies that the programs are subject to appropriation and may be supported by outside funding. The practical effect is to formalize a diversion-style monitoring and rehabilitation framework for impaired licensees in these professions.
The available record shows no committee transcript, vote tally, or recorded opposition, so there is no documented floor or committee sentiment to assess. Based on the bill text alone, the measure appears generally supportive of professional rehabilitation and public safety, with a regulatory rather than punitive approach to impairment among licensed healthcare professionals.
The main policy issues embedded in the bill are confidentiality, access to information, and liability. The bill expressly shields program records from open records laws and from subpoena/discovery, which may raise transparency concerns, while also allowing boards to share information with a contracted entity in their sole discretion. Another possible point of discussion is cost allocation, since impaired professionals must bear all participation costs, and the bill relies in part on private funding and donations. No specific objections or supporters are identified in the provided materials.