---
type: "Bill"
title: "Torts; payor guidelines and criteria under federal law shall not establish legal basis for negligence or standard of care for medical malpractice; provide"
description: "A BILL to be entitled an Act to amend Chapter 1 of Title 51 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to general provisions for torts, so as to provide that payor guidelines and criteria under federal law shall not establish a legal basis for negligence or a standard of care for medical malpractice; 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 499"
citation: "Georgia HB 499 (2013_14)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Andrew Welch", "Bruce Williamson", "Buzz Brockway", "Donna Sheldon", "Edward Lindsey", "Mike Jacobs"]
version_count: 4
action_count: 17
vote_count: 1
first_action: "2013-02-26"
last_action: "2013-07-01"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/ee3b8943-54cf-42d2-9cf6-a603fb950009"
source_url: "http://webservices.legis.ga.gov/GGAServices/Legislation/Service.svc?wsdl"
source_hash: "888ad760d4448bdafcde0c9c2f63233325c2c043c046312312b282317c1fb13b"
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 499 (2013_14) — Torts; payor guidelines and criteria under federal law shall not establish legal basis for negligence or standard of care for medical malpractice; provide

A BILL to be entitled an Act to amend Chapter 1 of Title 51 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to general provisions for torts, so as to provide that payor guidelines and criteria under federal law shall not establish a legal basis for negligence or a standard of care for medical malpractice; 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 499/AP*** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20132014/137102.pdf)
2. **LC 29 5606S/hcs** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20132014/134029.pdf)
3. **LC 29 5606S/hs** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20132014/133382.pdf)
4. **LC 33 5105/a** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20132014/132492.pdf)

## Votes

- PASSAGE — **134–35** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Andrew Welch — primary (person)
- Bruce Williamson — primary (person)
- Buzz Brockway — primary (person)
- Donna Sheldon — primary (person)
- Edward Lindsey — primary (person)
- Mike Jacobs — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2013-02-26** House Hopper
- **2013-02-27** House First Readers `reading-1`
- **2013-02-28** House Second Readers `reading-2`
- **2013-03-05** House Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2013-03-07** House Third Readers `reading-3`
- **2013-03-07** House Passed/Adopted By Substitute `passage`
- **2013-03-11** Senate Read and Referred `referral-committee`
- **2013-03-25** Senate Committee Favorably Reported `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2013-03-25** 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`
- **2013-05-06** House Date Signed by Governor `executive-signature`
- **2013-05-06** Act 193 `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/ee3b8943-54cf-42d2-9cf6-a603fb950009`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Georgia legislature records).