# Georgia HB 1097: Mental health; criminal background, license status, and registry checks for owners, applicants, and employees of certain mental health facilities; provide

Georgia HB 1097, Mental health; criminal background, license status, and registry checks for owners, applicants, and employees of certain mental health facilities; provide, is a 2025-2026 Regular Session House bill sponsored by Mike Cameron (Republican), Katie Dempsey (Republican), Scott Hilton (Republican) and 2 others; status signed, last action 2026-07-01 (Effective Date) (as of 2026-10-19).

- Canonical: https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/GA-HB1097-2025-2026
- As of: 2026-10-19
- Plain-text twin of the page above; the HTML and this file carry the same facts.

## Facts
- Bill: Georgia HB 1097
- State: Georgia
- Session: 2025-2026 Regular Session
- Title: Mental health; criminal background, license status, and registry checks for owners, applicants, and employees of certain mental health facilities; provide
- Status: signed
- Chamber: House
- Introduced: 2026-01-29
- Last action: 2026-07-01, Effective Date
- Sponsors: Mike Cameron (Republican), Katie Dempsey (Republican), Scott Hilton (Republican), Jesse Petrea (Republican), Steven Sainz (Republican)
- Cosponsors: 1
- Subjects: Public and Community Health, Health and Human Services, General Bill
- Touches household money: no
- Roll calls: 3 (368 yes, 4 no in all)
- Economic provisions PRIA read: 7

## Summary

No summary available.

## Bill overview: provisions PRIA read

- Workers can challenge failed screening decisions: benefit, low. Facility job applications must clearly state that state and national background checks are required for employment. Applicants and employees can ask about record accuracy and challenge mistaken registry identity matches. Affected people can appeal under Georgia's administrative procedure law after…
- Facilities gain limited hiring lawsuit protections: benefit, low. Mental health facilities gain protection from negligent-hiring claims based on covered criminal records after a favorable screening or final review decision. This protection does not cover other information the facility knew or should have known. An eligible determination also creates a presumption…
- Required checks for care facility roles: cost, medium. Georgia requires registry and criminal checks for each covered facility owner, applicant, and employee before license approval, with repeat checks scheduled by rule. Registry checks come first; applicants living in Georgia less than two years need checks in each state where they lived during those…
- Care facilities face employee screening penalties: cost, medium. Covered mental health facilities must terminate employees found ineligible or who fail a registry check. A facility owes $500 per liable day after it knew or should have known about the employee's criminal record. The total civil penalty is capped at $10,000. No penalty applies during an administra…
- Background check fees follow actual costs: mixed, low. Georgia bases national care-provider background-check fees on the cost of conducting each check. This replaces the prior reference to reasonable costs allowed under federal law. Cost-based fees can be higher or lower than fees under the prior standard. The law sets no dollar amount and does not spe…
- More screening oversight with privacy rules: mixed, low. Georgia's behavioral health department can obtain conviction records for its employees and job finalists, including those of contractors. This covers client-care roles and jobs accessing financial, health, criminal-history, or other legally protected information. Mental health facilities must keep…
- Wider screening for care workers: mixed, low. Georgia expands national criminal-history screening for people working, contracting, or volunteering with covered agencies and care providers. It also covers owners, operators, and people who have or seek supervised or unsupervised access to care recipients. The broader checks help protect care rec…

## Sponsors and cosponsors

- Sponsor: Mike Cameron (Republican), House
- Sponsor: Katie Dempsey (Republican), House
- Sponsor: Scott Hilton (Republican), House
- Sponsor: Jesse Petrea (Republican), House
- Sponsor: Steven Sainz (Republican), House
- Cosponsor: Matt Brass (Republican), Senate

## Roll call votes

| Date | Chamber | Motion | Result | Yes | No | Other |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 2026-03-27 | House | Agree to Senate Substitute | pass | 160 | 2 | 7 |
| 2026-03-20 | Senate | PASSAGE BY SUBSTITUTE | pass | 44 | 0 | 5 |
| 2026-02-26 | House | PASSAGE | pass | 164 | 2 | 6 |

## Actions (16)

- 2026-07-01: Effective Date
- 2026-05-11: House Date Signed by Governor (House)
- 2026-05-11: Act 444
- 2026-04-10: House Sent to Governor (House)
- 2026-03-27: House Agreed Senate Amend or Sub (House)
- 2026-03-20: Senate Third Read (Senate)
- 2026-03-20: Senate Passed/Adopted By Substitute (Senate)
- 2026-03-19: Senate Read Second Time (Senate)
- 2026-03-18: Senate Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute (Senate)
- 2026-03-03: Senate Read and Referred (Senate)
- 2026-02-26: House Third Readers (House)
- 2026-02-26: House Passed/Adopted By Substitute (House)
- 2026-02-18: House Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute (House)
- 2026-02-03: House Second Readers (House)
- 2026-02-02: House First Readers (House)
- 2026-01-29: House Hopper (House)

## Bill text

- HB 1097/AP* (v8): [PDF](https://www.legis.ga.gov/api/legislation/document/20252026/247872)

## Related bills

- SB 160: Reckless Stunt Driving; a motor vehicle involved in a second offense of reckless stunt driving; replace the forfeiture penalty (signed)
- SB 384: Motor Vehicle; optional five-year motor vehicle registration and revalidation for certain motor vehicles; provide (signed)
- SB 76: License Plates; specialty license plate benefitting the Georgia Veterans Service Foundation; establish (signed)
- SB 406: "Georgia Property Owners' Bill of Rights Act"; enact (signed)
- HB 1391: Specialty license plates; honor public safety officers; establish (signed)
- HB 1344: Georgia Insurance Affordability and Claims Integrity Act; enact (signed)

## Sources
- [HB 1097/AP* (v8) (PDF)](https://www.legis.ga.gov/api/legislation/document/20252026/247872)

## Related
- [SB 160: Reckless Stunt Driving; a motor vehicle involved in a second offense of reckles…](https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/GA-SB160-2025-2026)
- [SB 384: Motor Vehicle; optional five-year motor vehicle registration and revalidation f…](https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/GA-SB384-2025-2026)
- [SB 76: License Plates; specialty license plate benefitting the Georgia Veterans Servic…](https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/GA-SB76-2025-2026)
- [SB 406: "Georgia Property Owners' Bill of Rights Act"; enact](https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/GA-SB406-2025-2026)
- [HB 1391: Specialty license plates; honor public safety officers; establish](https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/GA-HB1391-2025-2026)
- [HB 1344: Georgia Insurance Affordability and Claims Integrity Act; enact](https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/GA-HB1344-2025-2026)
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Source: PRIA, https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/GA-HB1097-2025-2026 (as of 2026-10-19).