---
type: "Bill"
title: "Social services; establish a pilot program for autism spectrum disorder to children in foster care; provide"
description: "A BILL to be entitled an Act to amend Chapter 5 of Title 49 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to programs and protection for children and youth, so as to establish a pilot program relating to the provision of screenings, clinical evaluations, training, services, and resources for autism spectrum disorder to children in foster care; to provide for definitions; to provide for the Division of Family and Children Services of the Department of Human Services to develop and implement such pilot program; to provide for a final report and recommendations; to provide for rules and regulations; to provide for automatic repeal; to provide for related matters; to provide for an effective date; to repeal conflicting laws; and for other purposes."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ga"
legislature: "Georgia General Assembly"
session: "2025_26"
identifier: "HB 943"
citation: "Georgia HB 943 (2025_26)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["HEALTH", "SOCIAL SERVICES"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Deborah Silcox", "Kim Schofield", "Lee Hawkins", "Lehman Franklin", "Sharon Cooper"]
version_count: 4
action_count: 14
vote_count: 2
first_action: "2026-01-12"
last_action: "2026-05-11"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/bbd2d451-f08a-4e48-b844-474fbd085df9"
source_url: "http://webservices.legis.ga.gov/GGAServices/Legislation/Service.svc?wsdl"
source_hash: "897a9bb54615d3b370ba8f69bf78c2ca34048df2b3998fd496eb107864a0b12f"
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 943 (2025_26) — Social services; establish a pilot program for autism spectrum disorder to children in foster care; provide

A BILL to be entitled an Act to amend Chapter 5 of Title 49 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to programs and protection for children and youth, so as to establish a pilot program relating to the provision of screenings, clinical evaluations, training, services, and resources for autism spectrum disorder to children in foster care; to provide for definitions; to provide for the Division of Family and Children Services of the Department of Human Services to develop and implement such pilot program; to provide for a final report and recommendations; to provide for rules and regulations; to provide for automatic repeal; to provide for related matters; to provide for an effective date; 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 943/AP*** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20252026/248540.pdf)
2. **LC 48 1741S/hcs** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20252026/243102.pdf)
3. **LC 48 1741S/hs** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20252026/242461.pdf)
4. **LC 52 0936/a** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20252026/239644.pdf)

## Votes

- Senate Vote #896 - 2025-2026 Regular Session — **46–0** (pass) · upper
- House Vote #528 - 2025-2026 Regular Session — **165–2** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Deborah Silcox — primary (person)
- Kim Schofield — primary (person)
- Lee Hawkins — primary (person)
- Lehman Franklin — primary (person)
- Sharon Cooper — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2026-01-12** House Hopper `introduction`
- **2026-01-13** House First Readers `reading-1`
- **2026-01-14** House Second Readers `reading-2`
- **2026-02-12** House Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2026-02-18** House Third Readers `reading-3`
- **2026-02-18** House Passed/Adopted By Substitute `passage`
- **2026-02-19** Senate Read and Referred `referral-committee`
- **2026-03-25** Senate Committee Favorably Reported `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2026-03-25** Senate Read Second Time `reading-2`
- **2026-03-31** Senate Third Read `reading-3`
- **2026-03-31** Senate Passed/Adopted `passage`
- **2026-04-07** House Sent to Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2026-05-11** House Date Signed by Governor `executive-signature`
- **2026-05-11** Act 477 `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/bbd2d451-f08a-4e48-b844-474fbd085df9`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Georgia legislature records).