---
type: "Bill"
title: "Community Health, Department of; submit state plan amendment to implement express lane enrollment in Medicaid; direct"
description: "A BILL to be entitled an Act to amend Article 7 of Chapter 4 of Title 49 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to medical assistance generally, so as to direct the Department of Community Health to submit a state plan amendment to implement express lane enrollment in Medicaid; to direct the Department of Human Services to automatically enroll and renew eligible children in Medicaid, based on application data received for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program; to provide for related matters; to repeal conflicting laws; and for other purposes."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ga"
legislature: "Georgia General Assembly"
session: "2021_22"
identifier: "HB 163"
citation: "Georgia HB 163 (2021_22)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Eddie Lumsden", "Houston Gaines", "Katie Dempsey", "Mesha Mainor", "Sharon Cooper", "Spencer Frye"]
version_count: 4
action_count: 15
vote_count: 1
first_action: "2021-01-28"
last_action: "2021-07-01"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/0b7b9df8-ae02-4036-9f7b-e2c3475ef7f1"
source_url: "http://webservices.legis.ga.gov/GGAServices/Legislation/Service.svc?wsdl"
source_hash: "ed28d57d0a63fe3d1096df1a4a64edbf36bccc265836f6ebb17998ad8e5c883b"
vintage: "2026-07-01"
source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
confidence: "reported"
tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-ga"]
---

# Georgia HB 163 (2021_22) — Community Health, Department of; submit state plan amendment to implement express lane enrollment in Medicaid; direct

A BILL to be entitled an Act to amend Article 7 of Chapter 4 of Title 49 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to medical assistance generally, so as to direct the Department of Community Health to submit a state plan amendment to implement express lane enrollment in Medicaid; to direct the Department of Human Services to automatically enroll and renew eligible children in Medicaid, based on application data received for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program; to provide for related matters; to repeal conflicting laws; and for other purposes.

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **HB 163/AP*** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20212022/200268.pdf)
2. **LC 33 8546/a** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20212022/196230.pdf)
3. **LC 33 8562S/hcs** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20212022/197725.pdf)
4. **LC 33 8562S/hs** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20212022/197281.pdf)

## Votes

- PASSAGE — **166–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Eddie Lumsden — primary (person)
- Houston Gaines — primary (person)
- Katie Dempsey — primary (person)
- Mesha Mainor — primary (person)
- Sharon Cooper — primary (person)
- Spencer Frye — primary (person)

## Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

- **2021-01-28** House Hopper
- **2021-01-29** House First Readers `reading-1`
- **2021-02-01** House Second Readers `reading-2`
- **2021-02-10** House Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2021-02-16** House Third Readers `reading-3`
- **2021-02-16** House Passed/Adopted By Substitute `passage`
- **2021-02-17** Senate Read and Referred `referral-committee`
- **2021-02-25** Senate Committee Favorably Reported `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2021-02-26** Senate Read Second Time `reading-2`
- **2021-03-10** Senate Third Read `reading-3`
- **2021-03-10** Senate Passed/Adopted `passage`
- **2021-04-05** House Sent to Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2021-05-04** House Date Signed by Governor `executive-signature`
- **2021-05-04** Act 178 `executive-signature`
- **2021-07-01** Effective Date

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/0b7b9df8-ae02-4036-9f7b-e2c3475ef7f1`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Georgia legislature records).