The 2026 Georgia General Assembly had its first day of session on January 12, 2026! They were in for five days from January 12 – January 16. Georgia’s Legislature operates on a biennial process, so 2026 is the second year of the process for 2025-2026. All bills that were not signed or vetoed by the Governor in 2025 are “alive” for passage and they begin in 2026 in the last committee from which they came in 2026.

The week of January 12 was very busy at the Capitol with meetings occurring all day, every day, and the Governor giving his State of the State address to both chambers on January 15. The week of January 5 – 9 was also extremely busy with fundraisers occurring January 6 – 9 in Atlanta and throughout the State for legislators and statewide elected officials. Legislators cannot accept contributions once session starts.

January 19 – 23 had no official legislative days because the House and Senate Appropriations Committees had joint budget hearings Tuesday – Friday, but there was a lot of action with informal meetings occurring with legislators the entire week. The Legislature came back for official session on January 26. Crossover Day deadline is March 6 (the day a bill has to be passed out of its original chamber), and the last day of session will be April 2!

Thrash-Haliburton has been in constant communication with GCA leadership about issues and legislation coming up for our industry in the 2026 session.

HB 170 was introduced by Rep. Karen Mathiak in the 2025 legislative session. It provides for transparency in medical billing for chiropractors, physicians, patients, and all stakeholders on procedures and billing.

It passed the House Insurance Committee in 2025, but it did not make it out of the House Rules Committee. It is back in the House Insurance Committee for the 2026 session.

Rep. Mathiak and Rep Anissa Jones, both chiropractors, and our government affairs team, Thrash-Haliburton, have already met on this legislation, strategy, and with the Insurance Commissioner’s Office (at the direction of the House Insurance Committee Chairman). We will hit the ground running with this legislation in the 2026 session!

We met again with the Chairman of the House Insurance Committee this past week, and we have been working with GCA leadership on communication to membership about the bill.

The Speaker of the House has said in the last few weeks he wants to attempt to pass Insurance Reform in the 2026 session, after the House had a study committee hold several study committee hearings throughout 2025 until December 2025 focused on looking at insurance carriers, how they set premiums, their profits, and how to better reduce insurance premiums and improves the claims process for all stakeholders in Georgia.

This past week saw the introduction of Senate Bill 411 from Senator Shawn Still. It provides for dry needling to be performed by certain licensed professionals, restricts certain representations and advertisements related to the performance of dry needling, provides for education and training requirements for occupational therapists to perform dry needling, provides for disciplinary action, and training requirements for acupuncturists. It’s in the Senate Health and Human Services Committee.

Our team is acting at the association’s direction on all legislation and issues such as these above, and we will provide further updates in the future.

Here’s to a great year for our industry in 2026 at the State Capitol!

2025 – 2026 Regular Session

We are monitoring the following legislation, and watchful for any bills that may impact our industry.