---
type: "Bill"
title: "State employees' health insurance plan; pilot program to provide coverage for bariatric surgical procedures for treatment and management of obesity; provide"
description: "A BILL to be entitled an Act to amend Article 1 of Chapter 18 of Title 45 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to the state employees' health insurance plan, so as to provide for a pilot program to provide coverage for bariatric surgical procedures for the treatment and management of obesity and related conditions; to provide for eligibility; to provide for requirements; to provide for a review panel; to provide for an evaluation report on the pilot program; to provide for automatic repeal; 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 511"
citation: "Georgia HB 511 (2013_14)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Barbara Sims", "Ben Watson", "Katie Dempsey", "Matt Dollar", "Sharon Cooper", "Valerie Clark"]
version_count: 10
action_count: 26
vote_count: 1
first_action: "2013-02-28"
last_action: "2014-07-01"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/8bf4f163-bebd-4bc5-b56a-b4a428487ed4"
source_url: "http://webservices.legis.ga.gov/GGAServices/Legislation/Service.svc?wsdl"
source_hash: "6e405e7dc69082f2174b216386ef0c29f984a8de8120953b958a9b28fdf18fa7"
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 511 (2013_14) — State employees' health insurance plan; pilot program to provide coverage for bariatric surgical procedures for treatment and management of obesity; provide

A BILL to be entitled an Act to amend Article 1 of Chapter 18 of Title 45 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to the state employees' health insurance plan, so as to provide for a pilot program to provide coverage for bariatric surgical procedures for the treatment and management of obesity and related conditions; to provide for eligibility; to provide for requirements; to provide for a review panel; to provide for an evaluation report on the pilot program; to provide for automatic repeal; 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 511/AP*** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20132014/144803.pdf)
2. **LC 33 5070/a** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20132014/132798.pdf)
3. **LC 33 5144S/hcs** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20132014/133883.pdf)
4. **LC 33 5144S/hs** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20132014/133364.pdf)
5. **Sen ctee sub LC 33 5440S** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20132014/139079.pdf)
6. **Sen ctee sub LC 37 1625S** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20132014/134792.pdf)
7. **Sen floor amend 1 AM 21 3889** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20132014/143555.pdf)
8. **Sen floor amend 2 AM 37 0248** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20132014/144163.pdf)
9. **Sen floor amend 2a** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20132014/144868.pdf)
10. **Sen floor amend 3 AM 33 1436** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20132014/144873.pdf)

## Votes

- PASSAGE — **152–16** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Barbara Sims — primary (person)
- Ben Watson — primary (person)
- Katie Dempsey — primary (person)
- Matt Dollar — primary (person)
- Sharon Cooper — primary (person)
- Valerie Clark — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2013-02-28** House Hopper
- **2013-03-01** House First Readers `reading-1`
- **2013-03-04** House Second Readers `reading-2`
- **2013-03-04** House Withdrawn, Recommitted `referral-committee, withdrawal`
- **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`
- **2013-03-20** Senate Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2013-03-21** Senate Read Second Time `reading-2`
- **2013-03-26** Senate Third Read `reading-3`
- **2013-03-26** Senate Tabled
- **2014-01-13** Senate Taken from Table
- **2014-01-13** Senate Recommitted `referral-committee`
- **2014-02-06** Senate Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2014-03-13** Senate Tabled
- **2014-03-18** Senate Taken from Table
- **2014-03-18** Senate Tabled
- **2014-03-20** Senate Taken from Table
- **2014-03-20** Senate Third Read `reading-3`
- **2014-03-20** Senate Passed/Adopted By Substitute `passage`
- **2014-03-20** House Agreed Senate Amend or Sub
- **2014-03-26** House Sent to Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2014-04-15** House Date Signed by Governor `executive-signature`
- **2014-04-15** Act 499 `executive-signature`
- **2014-07-01** Effective Date

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/8bf4f163-bebd-4bc5-b56a-b4a428487ed4`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Georgia legislature records).