---
type: "Bill"
title: "Courts; when a judge, judicial officer, grand juror; may be disqualified by being related by consanguinity/affinity to a party; provisions"
description: "A BILL to be entitled an Act to amend Title 15 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to courts, so as to change provisions relating to when a judge, judicial officer, grand juror, or trial juror may be disqualified from presiding or serving, as applicable, due to being related by consanguinity or affinity to a party; to provide for related matters; to repeal conflicting laws; and for other purposes."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ga"
legislature: "Georgia General Assembly"
session: "2015_16"
identifier: "SB 262"
citation: "Georgia SB 262 (2015_16)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Jesse Stone"]
version_count: 5
action_count: 16
vote_count: 1
first_action: "2016-01-11"
last_action: "2016-07-01"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/0a90e4a6-16e9-4729-8b3a-2185c84a0cef"
source_url: "http://webservices.legis.ga.gov/GGAServices/Legislation/Service.svc?wsdl"
source_hash: "0bb8bc03f2a723bf161bdf98b5eb17bc81c6abec5a5b0d3875f2b76e18ce9eba"
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 262 (2015_16) — Courts; when a judge, judicial officer, grand juror; may be disqualified by being related by consanguinity/affinity to a party; provisions

A BILL to be entitled an Act to amend Title 15 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to courts, so as to change provisions relating to when a judge, judicial officer, grand juror, or trial juror may be disqualified from presiding or serving, as applicable, due to being related by consanguinity or affinity to a party; to provide for related matters; 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 29 6704** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20152016/154308.pdf)
2. **As passed Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20152016/157129.pdf)
3. **Committee sub LC 41 0685S** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20152016/156703.pdf)
4. **LC 29 7081S/hss** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20152016/159820.pdf)
5. **SB 262/AP*** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20152016/162242.pdf)

## Votes

- PASSAGE BY SUBSTITUTE — **47–1** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Jesse Stone — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2016-01-11** Senate Hopper
- **2016-01-12** Senate Read and Referred `referral-committee`
- **2016-02-08** Senate Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2016-02-09** Senate Read Second Time `reading-2`
- **2016-02-10** Senate Third Read `reading-3`
- **2016-02-10** Senate Passed/Adopted By Substitute `passage`
- **2016-02-11** House First Readers `reading-1`
- **2016-02-16** House Second Readers `reading-2`
- **2016-03-10** House Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2016-03-14** House Third Readers `reading-3`
- **2016-03-14** House Passed/Adopted By Substitute `passage`
- **2016-03-24** Senate Agreed House Amend or Sub
- **2016-03-30** Senate Sent to Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2016-04-26** Senate Date Signed by Governor `executive-signature`
- **2016-04-26** Act 369 `executive-signature`
- **2016-07-01** Effective Date

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/0a90e4a6-16e9-4729-8b3a-2185c84a0cef`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Georgia legislature records).