republic-os/legislation/us/states/ga/2025-26/sb-402.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Children and Youth; pilot program provision for screenings, clinical evaluations, training for autism spectrum disorder to children in foster care; establish"
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: "SB 402"
citation: "Georgia SB 402 (2025_26)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["SOCIAL SERVICES"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Billy Hickman", "Blake Tillery", "Brian Strickland", "Chuck Payne", "Clint Dixon", "Drew Echols", "Jason Anavitarte", "Jason T. Dickerson", "Kay Kirkpatrick", "Larry Walker, III", "Matt Brass", "Max Burns", "Mike Hodges", "Randy Robertson", "Rick Williams", "Russ Goodman", "Sam Watson", "Shawn Still", "Steve Gooch", "Timothy Bearden"]
version_count: 5
action_count: 16
vote_count: 3
first_action: "2026-01-15"
last_action: "2026-05-11"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/36bb173d-ca5f-40c4-90af-b00cee219563"
source_url: "http://webservices.legis.ga.gov/GGAServices/Legislation/Service.svc?wsdl"
source_hash: "b54de7b6ab1ca83678e4f0079c8562f682557d997a642da0b1fd6e7972e168aa"
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 SB 402 (2025_26) — Children and Youth; pilot program provision for screenings, clinical evaluations, training for autism spectrum disorder to children in foster care; establish

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. **As Passed Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20252026/241821.pdf)
2. **As introduced LC 52 0892** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20252026/239904.pdf)
3. **Committee Sub LC 48 1693S** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20252026/240500.pdf)
4. **LC 48 1826S/hss** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20252026/245718.pdf)
5. **SB 402/AP*** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20252026/249102.pdf)

## Votes

- Senate Vote #524 - 2025-2026 Regular Session — **48–0** (pass) · upper
- House Vote #795 - 2025-2026 Regular Session — **171–0** (pass) · lower
- Senate Vote #943 - 2025-2026 Regular Session — **52–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Billy Hickman — primary (person)
- Blake Tillery — primary (person)
- Brian Strickland — primary (person)
- Chuck Payne — primary (person)
- Clint Dixon — primary (person)
- Drew Echols — primary (person)
- Jason Anavitarte — primary (person)
- Jason T. Dickerson — primary (person)
- Kay Kirkpatrick — primary (person)
- Larry Walker, III — primary (person)
- Matt Brass — primary (person)
- Max Burns — primary (person)
- Mike Hodges — primary (person)
- Randy Robertson — primary (person)
- Rick Williams — primary (person)
- Russ Goodman — primary (person)
- Sam Watson — primary (person)
- Shawn Still — primary (person)
- Steve Gooch — primary (person)
- Timothy Bearden — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2026-01-15** Senate Hopper `introduction`
- **2026-01-16** Senate Read and Referred `referral-committee`
- **2026-01-28** Senate Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2026-01-29** Senate Read Second Time `reading-2`
- **2026-02-06** Senate Third Read `reading-3`
- **2026-02-06** Senate Passed/Adopted By Substitute `passage`
- **2026-02-09** House First Readers `reading-1`
- **2026-02-10** House Second Readers `reading-2`
- **2026-03-12** House Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2026-03-31** House Third Readers `reading-3`
- **2026-03-31** House Passed/Adopted By Substitute `passage`
- **2026-04-02** Senate Agreed House Amend or Sub
- **2026-04-10** Senate Sent to Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2026-05-11** Senate Date Signed by Governor `executive-signature`
- **2026-05-11** Act 491 `executive-signature`
- **2026-05-11** Effective Date

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/36bb173d-ca5f-40c4-90af-b00cee219563`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Georgia legislature records).