On Friday, Gov. Brian Kemp signed into law HB 1175 which was also known as the Raw Dairy Act bill. The primary content of the bill surrounds the legalization and regulation of raw milk sales.
An additional provision, that inherently makes test strips legal, was added onto the bill by Sen. Jen Jordan after unsucessful attempts before when she noticed that parts of the bill included provisions to ensure raw milk was tested to be unadulturated with drugs. The admendment reads::
"any testing equipment used to determine whether a controlled substance has been adulterated and contains a synthetic opioid" no longer a drug-related object.
While the bill passed both chambers of the Georgia Legislature on April 8th, Gov. Kemp elected to wait the entire 40 days allowed by law to sign the bill before it would have been automatically become law, a strategy often used when wanting to distance from certain controversial issues.
The full text of the bill can be read here.
The action by Georgia follows other bordering states like Alabama and Tennesse. Alabama has passed a law in March and will likley be signed or enacted into law this month. Tennessee's governor signed their legislation in March pioneering action in the Southeast, while states like Flordia and Texas holdout.