---
type: "Bill"
title: "Trial juries; oath of bailiffs; change provisions"
description: "A BILL to be entitled an Act to amend Part 1 of Article 5 of Chapter 12 of Title 15 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to trial juries in general, so as to change provisions relating to the oath of bailiffs; to provide for related matters; to repeal conflicting laws; and for other purposes."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ga"
legislature: "Georgia General Assembly"
session: "2013_14"
identifier: "HB 161"
citation: "Georgia HB 161 (2013_14)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Alex Atwood", "B.J. Pak", "Barry Fleming", "Dustin Hightower", "Mary Oliver", "Wendell Willard"]
version_count: 2
action_count: 15
vote_count: 1
first_action: "2013-01-30"
last_action: "2013-07-01"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/fd838917-1ad7-417f-ae9c-0a0c3d9f3b76"
source_url: "http://webservices.legis.ga.gov/GGAServices/Legislation/Service.svc?wsdl"
source_hash: "e5434e719fddb3020cfff1211b4ef9f66b08889154736f4bd7a318f20dc18265"
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 161 (2013_14) — Trial juries; oath of bailiffs; change provisions

A BILL to be entitled an Act to amend Part 1 of Article 5 of Chapter 12 of Title 15 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to trial juries in general, so as to change provisions relating to the oath of bailiffs; 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. **HB 161/AP*** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20132014/136346.pdf)
2. **LC 29 5383/a** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20132014/129233.pdf)

## Votes

- PASSAGE — **159–3** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Alex Atwood — primary (person)
- B.J. Pak — primary (person)
- Barry Fleming — primary (person)
- Dustin Hightower — primary (person)
- Mary Oliver — primary (person)
- Wendell Willard — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2013-01-30** House Hopper
- **2013-01-31** House First Readers `reading-1`
- **2013-02-01** House Second Readers `reading-2`
- **2013-02-19** House Committee Favorably Reported `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2013-02-22** House Third Readers `reading-3`
- **2013-02-22** House Passed/Adopted `passage`
- **2013-02-25** Senate Read and Referred `referral-committee`
- **2013-03-20** Senate Committee Favorably Reported `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2013-03-21** Senate Read Second Time `reading-2`
- **2013-03-25** Senate Third Read `reading-3`
- **2013-03-25** Senate Passed/Adopted `passage`
- **2013-04-01** House Sent to Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2013-05-06** House Date Signed by Governor `executive-signature`
- **2013-05-06** Act 248 `executive-signature`
- **2013-07-01** Effective Date

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/fd838917-1ad7-417f-ae9c-0a0c3d9f3b76`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Georgia legislature records).