# Georgia HB 175: Education; employee comprehensive background checks for early care and education programs and Head Start programs; revise provisions

Georgia HB 175, Education; employee comprehensive background checks for early care and education programs and Head Start programs; revise provisions, is a 2025-2026 Regular Session House bill sponsored by Katie Dempsey (Republican), Matt Dubnik (Republican), Chris Erwin (Republican) and 2 others; status signed, last action 2025-07-01 (Effective Date) (as of 2026-10-19).

- Canonical: https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/GA-HB175-2025-2026
- 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 175
- State: Georgia
- Session: 2025-2026 Regular Session
- Title: Education; employee comprehensive background checks for early care and education programs and Head Start programs; revise provisions
- Status: signed
- Chamber: House
- Introduced: 2025-01-29
- Last action: 2025-07-01, Effective Date
- Sponsors: Katie Dempsey (Republican), Matt Dubnik (Republican), Chris Erwin (Republican), Todd Jones (Republican), David Wilkerson (Democrat)
- Cosponsors: 1
- Subjects: Education, Children and Families, General Bill
- Touches household money: no
- Roll calls: 2 (224 yes, 0 no in all)
- Economic provisions PRIA read: 3

## Summary

No summary available.

## Bill overview: provisions PRIA read

- Child-Care Providers Face Funding And Penalties: cost, medium. Beginning July 1, 2025, covered people with unsatisfactory fingerprint results cannot stay where children receive care or live until cleared or reversed. Programs must keep staff work histories and satisfactory check results—or proof of reversal—on file before allowing work or access. Georgia must…
- Child-Care Workers Face Hiring And Rechecks: mixed, medium. Beginning July 1, 2025, licensed or commissioned child-care programs must obtain satisfactory checks for potential employees before hiring. Existing clearances can be up to 12 months old, or 24 months for students currently studying early education at accredited colleges. Employees and directors ne…
- Broader Child-Care Screening Includes Head Start: mixed, low. Beginning July 1, 2025, Georgia expands screening for covered child-care staff and affiliates, including Head Start personnel. Checks include FBI fingerprint records and criminal, sex offender, and child abuse and neglect records from current and past states. The state lookback covers five years; f…

## Sponsors and cosponsors

- Sponsor: Katie Dempsey (Republican), House
- Sponsor: Matt Dubnik (Republican), House
- Sponsor: Chris Erwin (Republican), House
- Sponsor: Todd Jones (Republican), House
- Sponsor: David Wilkerson (Democrat), House
- Cosponsor: Chuck Payne (Republican), Senate

## Roll call votes

| Date | Chamber | Motion | Result | Yes | No | Other |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 2025-03-27 | Senate | PASSAGE | pass | 54 | 0 | 2 |
| 2025-03-04 | House | PASSAGE | pass | 170 | 0 | 5 |

## Actions (15)

- 2025-07-01: Effective Date
- 2025-05-13: House Date Signed by Governor (House)
- 2025-05-13: Act 175
- 2025-04-07: House Sent to Governor (House)
- 2025-03-27: Senate Third Read (Senate)
- 2025-03-27: Senate Passed/Adopted (Senate)
- 2025-03-18: Senate Read Second Time (Senate)
- 2025-03-13: Senate Committee Favorably Reported (Senate)
- 2025-03-06: Senate Read and Referred (Senate)
- 2025-03-04: House Third Readers (House)
- 2025-03-04: House Passed/Adopted (House)
- 2025-02-28: House Committee Favorably Reported (House)
- 2025-02-03: House Second Readers (House)
- 2025-01-30: House First Readers (House)
- 2025-01-29: House Hopper (House)

## Bill text

- HB 175/AP* (v3): [PDF](https://www.legis.ga.gov/api/legislation/document/20252026/237741)

## 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 175/AP* (v3) (PDF)](https://www.legis.ga.gov/api/legislation/document/20252026/237741)

## 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)
- [Georgia bills](https://policyrisk.com/states/georgia/bills)
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Source: PRIA, https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/GA-HB175-2025-2026 (as of 2026-10-19).