---
type: "Bill"
title: "Soil Erosion and Sedimentation; provide for buffer against coastal marshlands within which certain land-disturbing activities are prohibited"
description: "A BILL to be entitled an Act to amend Chapter 7 of Title 12 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to the control of soil erosion and sedimentation, so as to provide for a buffer against coastal marshlands within which certain land-disturbing activities are prohibited; to provide for exceptions and variances; to provide for related matters; to provide for effective dates; to repeal conflicting laws; and for other purposes."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ga"
legislature: "Georgia General Assembly"
session: "2015_16"
identifier: "SB 101"
citation: "Georgia SB 101 (2015_16)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Ben Watson", "Bill Cowsert", "Jack Hill", "Jeff Mullis", "Lester Jackson", "Ross Tolleson", "Tommie Williams", "William Ligon, Jr."]
version_count: 5
action_count: 16
vote_count: 1
first_action: "2015-02-10"
last_action: "2015-05-06"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/02858607-dc2f-4a37-929b-78c55b4436b4"
source_url: "http://webservices.legis.ga.gov/GGAServices/Legislation/Service.svc?wsdl"
source_hash: "2ce7d29a14073bfeb1dd6168454494a3efe440eee9505af06cac42f7691ac2c6"
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 SB 101 (2015_16) — Soil Erosion and Sedimentation; provide for buffer against coastal marshlands within which certain land-disturbing activities are prohibited

A BILL to be entitled an Act to amend Chapter 7 of Title 12 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to the control of soil erosion and sedimentation, so as to provide for a buffer against coastal marshlands within which certain land-disturbing activities are prohibited; to provide for exceptions and variances; to provide for related matters; to provide for effective dates; 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. **As introduced LC 40 0799** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20152016/147466.pdf)
2. **As passed Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20152016/149606.pdf)
3. **Committee sub LC 40 0835S** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20152016/149238.pdf)
4. **Floor Amendment AM 40 0138** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20152016/152575.pdf)
5. **SB 101/AP*** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20152016/152997.pdf)

## Votes

- PASSAGE BY SUBSTITUTE — **46–4** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Ben Watson — primary (person)
- Bill Cowsert — primary (person)
- Jack Hill — primary (person)
- Jeff Mullis — primary (person)
- Lester Jackson — primary (person)
- Ross Tolleson — primary (person)
- Tommie Williams — primary (person)
- William Ligon, Jr. — primary (person)

## Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

- **2015-02-10** Senate Hopper
- **2015-02-11** Senate Read and Referred `referral-committee`
- **2015-02-25** Senate Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2015-02-26** Senate Read Second Time `reading-2`
- **2015-03-02** Senate Third Read `reading-3`
- **2015-03-02** Senate Passed/Adopted By Substitute `passage`
- **2015-03-03** House First Readers `reading-1`
- **2015-03-04** House Second Readers `reading-2`
- **2015-03-13** House Committee Favorably Reported `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2015-03-26** House Third Readers `reading-3`
- **2015-03-26** House Passed/Adopted As Amended `passage`
- **2015-03-27** Senate Agreed House Amend or Sub
- **2015-04-08** Senate Sent to Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2015-05-06** Senate Date Signed by Governor `executive-signature`
- **2015-05-06** Act 175 `executive-signature`
- **2015-05-06** Effective Date

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/02858607-dc2f-4a37-929b-78c55b4436b4`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Georgia legislature records).