republic-os/legislation/us/states/ga/2025-26/hb-659.md

type, title, description, jurisdiction, legislature, session, identifier, citation, classification, subjects, status, primary_sponsors, version_count, action_count, vote_count, first_action, last_action, source, source_identifier, source_url, source_hash, vintage, source_snapshot, retrieved_at, confidence, tags

type	title	description	jurisdiction	legislature	session	identifier	citation	classification	subjects	status	primary_sponsors	version_count	action_count	vote_count	first_action	last_action	source	source_identifier	source_url	source_hash	vintage	source_snapshot	retrieved_at	confidence	tags
Bill	Health; rural assistance; expand medical education funding and the service cancelable loan program to include optometrists	A BILL to be entitled an Act to amend Chapter 34 of Title 31 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to medical professionals for rural assistance, so as to expand medical education funding and the service cancelable loan program to include optometrists; to provide for related matters; to repeal conflicting laws; and for other purposes.	us/states/ga	Georgia General Assembly	2025_26	HB 659	Georgia HB 659 (2025_26)	bill	HEALTH LOCAL GOVERNMENT PROFESSIONS AND BUSINESSES	enacted	Darlene Taylor Gerald Greene Lee Hawkins Leesa Hagan Rick Jasperse	3	15	3	2025-02-27	2026-05-05	openstates	ocd-bill/9423b485-5d12-42fc-851b-28d52ae26627	http://webservices.legis.ga.gov/GGAServices/Legislation/Service.svc?wsdl	335d4c57ef090ef5052bcba62502e6658bdb790bec4d954dc7609621cb6bd19e	2026-07-01	https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump	2026-07-06	reported	legislation bill us-ga

Georgia HB 659 (2025_26) — Health; rural assistance; expand medical education funding and the service cancelable loan program to include optometrists

A BILL to be entitled an Act to amend Chapter 34 of Title 31 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to medical professionals for rural assistance, so as to expand medical education funding and the service cancelable loan program to include optometrists; 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 659/AP* (committee substitute) — source
2. LC 52 0789/a (committee substitute) — source
3. Sen Floor Amend 1 AM 60 0028 (committee substitute) — source

Votes

• House Vote #840 - 2025-2026 Regular Session — 164–8 (pass) · lower
• House Vote #469 - 2025-2026 Regular Session — 168–2 (pass) · lower
• Senate Vote #900 - 2025-2026 Regular Session — 46–0 (pass) · upper

Sponsors

• Darlene Taylor — primary (person)
• Gerald Greene — primary (person)
• Lee Hawkins — primary (person)
• Leesa Hagan — primary (person)
• Rick Jasperse — primary (person)

Timeline

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

• 2025-02-27 House Hopper introduction
• 2025-02-28 House First Readers reading-1
• 2025-03-03 House Second Readers reading-2
• 2026-01-29 House Committee Favorably Reported committee-passage-favorable
• 2026-02-02 House Third Readers reading-3
• 2026-02-02 House Passed/Adopted passage
• 2026-02-03 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 As Amended passage
• 2026-04-02 House Agreed Senate Amend or Sub
• 2026-04-10 House Sent to Governor executive-receipt
• 2026-05-05 House Date Signed by Governor executive-signature
• 2026-05-05 Act 385 executive-signature

Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot 2026-07-01; origin ocd-bill/9423b485-5d12-42fc-851b-28d52ae26627. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Georgia legislature records).