Legislation: batch A — AK AL AR AZ CO CT DE GA HI IA ID

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 <noreply@anthropic.com>

legislation/us/states/ga/2023-24/hb-896.md

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+---
+type: "Bill"
+title: "Domestic relations; process by which individuals may change their married surname to previous surname following divorce; provide"
+description: "A BILL to be entitled an Act to amend Chapter 5 of Title 19 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to divorce, so as to provide for a process by which individuals may change their married surname to a prior surname or the given surname on their birth certificate following a divorce; to provide for applicability; 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: "2023_24"
+identifier: "HB 896"
+citation: "Georgia HB 896 (2023_24)"
+classification: ["bill"]
+subjects: []
+status: "enacted"
+primary_sponsors: ["Bethany Ballard", "Brent Cox", "David Huddleston", "Jodi Lott", "Joseph Gullett", "Kimberly New"]
+version_count: 4
+action_count: 17
+vote_count: 2
+first_action: "2024-01-10"
+last_action: "2024-04-22"
+source: "openstates"
+source_identifier: "ocd-bill/2d9a2570-a032-4a19-84b3-a258a81009ee"
+source_url: "http://webservices.legis.ga.gov/GGAServices/Legislation/Service.svc?wsdl"
+source_hash: "bea639a05f8fac36a38b077db319d9711e6d890d711c5f645ccc864576fe7ae3"
+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 HB 896 (2023_24) — Domestic relations; process by which individuals may change their married surname to previous surname following divorce; provide
+
+A BILL to be entitled an Act to amend Chapter 5 of Title 19 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to divorce, so as to provide for a process by which individuals may change their married surname to a prior surname or the given surname on their birth certificate following a divorce; to provide for applicability; 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. **HB 896/AP*** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20232024/228433.pdf)
+2. **LC 44 2464/a** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20232024/220981.pdf)
+3. **LC 57 0061S/hcs** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20232024/224915.pdf)
+4. **LC 57 0061S/hs** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20232024/224099.pdf)
+
+## Votes
+
+- Senate Vote #751 - 2023-2024 Regular Session — **49–0** (pass) · upper
+- House Vote #505 - 2023-2024 Regular Session — **167–0** (pass) · lower
+
+## Sponsors
+
+- Bethany Ballard — primary (person)
+- Brent Cox — primary (person)
+- David Huddleston — primary (person)
+- Jodi Lott — primary (person)
+- Joseph Gullett — primary (person)
+- Kimberly New — primary (person)
+
+## Timeline
+
+The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.
+
+- **2024-01-10** House Hopper `introduction`
+- **2024-01-11** House First Readers `reading-1`
+- **2024-01-12** House Second Readers `reading-2`
+- **2024-02-15** House Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute `committee-passage-favorable`
+- **2024-02-21** House Third Readers `reading-3`
+- **2024-02-21** House Passed/Adopted By Substitute `passage`
+- **2024-02-22** Senate Read and Referred `referral-committee`
+- **2024-03-08** Senate Committee Favorably Reported `committee-passage-favorable`
+- **2024-03-11** Senate Read Second Time `reading-2`
+- **2024-03-21** Senate Tabled
+- **2024-03-21** Senate Taken from Table
+- **2024-03-21** Senate Third Read `reading-3`
+- **2024-03-21** Senate Passed/Adopted `passage`
+- **2024-04-01** House Sent to Governor `executive-receipt`
+- **2024-04-22** House Date Signed by Governor `executive-signature`
+- **2024-04-22** Act 397 `executive-signature`
+- **2024-04-22** Effective Date
+
+## Source
+
+OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/2d9a2570-a032-4a19-84b3-a258a81009ee`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Georgia legislature records).
+