2021 Georgia Code
Title 43 - Professions and Businesses
Chapter 1C - Georgia Professional Regulation Reform
- Ga. L. 2016, p. 561, ยง 1/HB 952, not codified by the General Assembly, provides that: "The General Assembly finds, determines, and declares that:
"(1) In N.C. State Bd. of Dental Exam'rs v. FTC , 135 S. Ct. 1101 (2015), the Supreme Court of the United States established a new standard for determining whether state professional licensing boards and board members are entitled to immunity for federal antitrust violations. Pursuant to N.C. State Bd. of Dental Exam'rs , state professional licensing boards and board members are entitled to antitrust immunity only if:
"(A) Their anticompetitive conduct is consistent with 'clearly articulated' state policy; and
"(B) The state provides 'active supervision' of their conduct.
"(2) It is the policy of the State of Georgia to increase economic opportunities for all of its citizens by promoting competition and thereby encouraging innovation and job growth. It is therefore also the policy of the State of Georgia to displace competition only when necessary to protect consumers from present, significant, and substantiated harms that threaten public health and safety.
"(3) By establishing the policies and procedures of this chapter, the General Assembly intends to ensure that the state's professional licensing boards and board members are entitled to antitrust immunity and that state laws relating to professions and businesses are interpreted and enforced in a manner consistent with clearly articulated state policy."
