ATTENTION GEORGIA: Kill the Mental Health Parity law before session is over, GA is family first!
Our Stand: At-A-Glance
- HB1013 is a huge 69-page bill that makes overreaching changes to law relating to “courts, education, health, insurance, mental health, public officers and employees, and social services.”
- There is no way for Georgians and their state representatives to fully assess and appreciate what this bill will do with the rapid way it is moving through the legislature.
- Please ask Senate leadership to either vote NO on HB1013 or insist it goes to conference committee for further public input and accountability.
- The bill massively and dangerously expands collection and sharing of data among state agencies and the federal government.
- It calls for a “statewide repository of information on persons residing in this state with behavioral health issues.”
- The bill calls for streamlined data sharing regarding “care and protection” of children among the following agencies: Division of Family and Children Services, Georgia Crime Information Center, and the Departments of Education, Early Care and Learning, Community Health, Public Health, Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities, and Juvenile Justice.
- It calls for an evaluation of the state’s “ability to share mental health data between state and local agencies…to assist in identifying, tracking, and treating those under community supervision.”
- Notably, the bill does not call for additional privacy protections for Georgians and their children.
- Sweeping disclaimers in the bill that data collection and transfer will comply “with all federal and state privacy laws” does not actually protect privacy because many federal privacy laws allow sharing of individually identified health data in many circumstances, as when it is “required by law.”
- HB1013 requires Georgians to follow federal Mental Health Parity law, which includes sharing of data and making reports to federal agencies. This bill will increase government control over your family’s mental health.

