---
type: "Bill"
title: "Atlanta Judicial Circuit; provide for selection of chief judge"
description: "A BILL to be entitled an Act to provide for the selection of the chief judge of the Atlanta Judicial Circuit; to provide for terms; to provide for powers and duties; to repeal conflicting laws; and for other purposes."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ga"
legislature: "Georgia General Assembly"
session: "2013_14"
identifier: "HB 437"
citation: "Georgia HB 437 (2013_14)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Charles Martin", "Harry Geisinger", "Jan Jones", "Lynne Riley", "Tom Rice", "Wendell Willard"]
version_count: 2
action_count: 15
vote_count: 1
first_action: "2013-02-21"
last_action: "2013-07-01"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/72b30000-b17e-49bf-9fac-c021bedb8a78"
source_url: "http://webservices.legis.ga.gov/GGAServices/Legislation/Service.svc?wsdl"
source_hash: "8970b89e90d8323fc2eeec718ea5222ecc5c90834566cf1ea56510bd69ac75bc"
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 437 (2013_14) — Atlanta Judicial Circuit; provide for selection of chief judge

A BILL to be entitled an Act to provide for the selection of the chief judge of the Atlanta Judicial Circuit; to provide for terms; to provide for powers and duties; 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 437/AP*** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20132014/136597.pdf)
2. **LC 21 2120/a** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20132014/131806.pdf)

## Votes

- PASSAGE — **163–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Charles Martin — primary (person)
- Harry Geisinger — primary (person)
- Jan Jones — primary (person)
- Lynne Riley — primary (person)
- Tom Rice — primary (person)
- Wendell Willard — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2013-02-21** House Hopper
- **2013-02-22** House First Readers `reading-1`
- **2013-02-25** House Second Readers `reading-2`
- **2013-02-26** House Committee Favorably Reported `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2013-03-01** House Third Readers `reading-3`
- **2013-03-01** House Passed/Adopted `passage`
- **2013-03-04** Senate Read and Referred `referral-committee`
- **2013-03-21** Senate Committee Favorably Reported `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2013-03-21** Senate Read Second Time `reading-2`
- **2013-03-26** Senate Third Read `reading-3`
- **2013-03-26** Senate Passed/Adopted `passage`
- **2013-04-02** House Sent to Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2013-05-07** House Date Signed by Governor `executive-signature`
- **2013-05-07** Act 282 `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/72b30000-b17e-49bf-9fac-c021bedb8a78`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Georgia legislature records).