---
type: "Bill"
title: "Health; COVID-19 testing of staff members in long term-care facilities; repeal certain provisions"
description: "A BILL to be entitled an Act to amend Article 1 of Chapter 7 of Title 31 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to regulation of hospitals and related institutions, so as to repeal certain provisions requiring COVID-19 testing of staff members in long term-care facilities; to provide for related matters; to repeal conflicting laws; and for other purposes."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ga"
legislature: "Georgia General Assembly"
session: "2025_26"
identifier: "HB 645"
citation: "Georgia HB 645 (2025_26)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["HEALTH"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["John Corbett", "John LaHood", "Kasey Carpenter", "Noel Williams, Jr.", "Sharon Cooper"]
version_count: 3
action_count: 16
vote_count: 4
first_action: "2025-02-26"
last_action: "2025-07-01"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/23bc6bed-3e67-47be-9439-5f04cbc13950"
source_url: "http://webservices.legis.ga.gov/GGAServices/Legislation/Service.svc?wsdl"
source_hash: "82e6e8848a066e9eeae83faa9078b6ad3a8a4558e3fdc2baacdacbd99b20f87e"
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 645 (2025_26) — Health; COVID-19 testing of staff members in long term-care facilities; repeal certain provisions

A BILL to be entitled an Act to amend Article 1 of Chapter 7 of Title 31 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to regulation of hospitals and related institutions, so as to repeal certain provisions requiring COVID-19 testing of staff members in long term-care facilities; 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 645/AP*** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20252026/239324.pdf)
2. **LC 46 1108/a** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20252026/234031.pdf)
3. **Sen Floor Amend 1 AM 52 0079** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20252026/238725.pdf)

## Votes

- Senate Vote #406 - 2025-2026 Regular Session — **52–2** (pass) · upper
- House Vote #259 - 2025-2026 Regular Session — **123–49** (pass) · lower
- House Vote #441 - 2025-2026 Regular Session — **166–0** (pass) · lower
- Senate Vote #405 - 2025-2026 Regular Session — **50–3** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- John Corbett — primary (person)
- John LaHood — primary (person)
- Kasey Carpenter — primary (person)
- Noel Williams, Jr. — primary (person)
- Sharon Cooper — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2025-02-26** House Hopper `introduction`
- **2025-02-27** House First Readers `reading-1`
- **2025-02-28** House Second Readers `reading-2`
- **2025-03-04** House Committee Favorably Reported `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2025-03-06** House Third Readers `reading-3`
- **2025-03-06** House Passed/Adopted `passage`
- **2025-03-10** Senate Read and Referred `referral-committee`
- **2025-03-13** Senate Committee Favorably Reported `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2025-03-18** Senate Read Second Time `reading-2`
- **2025-04-02** Senate Third Read `reading-3`
- **2025-04-02** Senate Passed/Adopted As Amended `passage`
- **2025-04-04** House Agreed Senate Amend or Sub
- **2025-04-10** House Sent to Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2025-05-14** House Date Signed by Governor `executive-signature`
- **2025-05-14** Act 275 `executive-signature`
- **2025-07-01** Effective Date

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/23bc6bed-3e67-47be-9439-5f04cbc13950`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Georgia legislature records).