---
type: "Bill"
title: "Crimes and offenses; list of persons who may be present in courtroom when person under age of 16 testifies concerning a sex offense; add victim assistance personnel"
description: "A BILL to be entitled an Act to amend Code Section 17-8-54 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to persons allowed to be present in a courtroom when a person under the age of 16 testifies concerning a sex offense, so as to add victim assistance personnel to the list of persons who may be present in a courtroom when a person under the age of 16 testifies concerning a sex offense; to repeal conflicting laws; and for other purposes."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ga"
legislature: "Georgia General Assembly"
session: "2013_14"
identifier: "HB 480"
citation: "Georgia HB 480 (2013_14)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["B.J. Pak", "Donna Sheldon", "Johnnie Caldwell, Jr.", "Mandi Ballinger", "Rich Golick", "Stacey Abrams"]
version_count: 2
action_count: 17
vote_count: 1
first_action: "2013-02-25"
last_action: "2013-07-01"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/775d540a-9d88-458b-af54-a9fcaf45ccbb"
source_url: "http://webservices.legis.ga.gov/GGAServices/Legislation/Service.svc?wsdl"
source_hash: "b35af9b974f51b277afcf055de9f9907d14f10d9d1eef254453bdf984fdca266"
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 480 (2013_14) — Crimes and offenses; list of persons who may be present in courtroom when person under age of 16 testifies concerning a sex offense; add victim assistance personnel

A BILL to be entitled an Act to amend Code Section 17-8-54 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to persons allowed to be present in a courtroom when a person under the age of 16 testifies concerning a sex offense, so as to add victim assistance personnel to the list of persons who may be present in a courtroom when a person under the age of 16 testifies concerning a sex offense; 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 480/AP*** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20132014/137099.pdf)
2. **LC 41 0070/a** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20132014/132278.pdf)

## Votes

- PASSAGE — **168–4** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- B.J. Pak — primary (person)
- Donna Sheldon — primary (person)
- Johnnie Caldwell, Jr. — primary (person)
- Mandi Ballinger — primary (person)
- Rich Golick — primary (person)
- Stacey Abrams — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2013-02-25** House Hopper
- **2013-02-26** House First Readers `reading-1`
- **2013-02-27** House Second Readers `reading-2`
- **2013-03-04** House Committee Favorably Reported `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2013-03-05** House Third Readers `reading-3`
- **2013-03-05** House Passed/Adopted `passage`
- **2013-03-07** Senate Read and Referred `referral-committee`
- **2013-03-14** Senate Committee Favorably Reported `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2013-03-20** Senate Read Second Time `reading-2`
- **2013-03-26** Senate Third Read `reading-3`
- **2013-03-26** Senate Tabled
- **2013-03-28** Senate Taken from Table
- **2013-03-28** Senate Passed/Adopted `passage`
- **2013-04-04** House Sent to Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2013-05-07** House Date Signed by Governor `executive-signature`
- **2013-05-07** Act 291 `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/775d540a-9d88-458b-af54-a9fcaf45ccbb`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Georgia legislature records).