---
type: "Bill"
title: "Scotland, City of; nonbinding advisory referendum to select mayor and city council; provide"
description: "A BILL to be entitled an Act to provide for a nonbinding, advisory referendum for the purpose of ascertaining whether the General Assembly should enact legislation authorizing the City of Scotland to select its mayor and city councilmembers to serve for four-year terms; to provide for legislative purposes and findings; to provide for procedures and requirements relating thereto; to provide for preclearance; to provide for related matters; to provide for a referendum and effective dates; to repeal conflicting laws; and for other purposes."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ga"
legislature: "Georgia General Assembly"
session: "2013_14"
identifier: "HB 597"
citation: "Georgia HB 597 (2013_14)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Jimmy Pruett"]
version_count: 2
action_count: 13
vote_count: 1
first_action: "2013-03-12"
last_action: "2013-05-06"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/3a623851-627e-4323-a492-32809a0bf056"
source_url: "http://webservices.legis.ga.gov/GGAServices/Legislation/Service.svc?wsdl"
source_hash: "03f3dee9f54cb08c20bff3ec349ec7b694dac7f3ee681df380c51af28cebbacc"
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 597 (2013_14) — Scotland, City of; nonbinding advisory referendum to select mayor and city council; provide

A BILL to be entitled an Act to provide for a nonbinding, advisory referendum for the purpose of ascertaining whether the General Assembly should enact legislation authorizing the City of Scotland to select its mayor and city councilmembers to serve for four-year terms; to provide for legislative purposes and findings; to provide for procedures and requirements relating thereto; to provide for preclearance; to provide for related matters; to provide for a referendum and effective dates; 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 597/AP*** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20132014/136374.pdf)
2. **LC 35 2929/a** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20132014/134274.pdf)

## Votes

- Local Calendar — **144–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Jimmy Pruett — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2013-03-12** House Hopper
- **2013-03-13** House First Readers `reading-1`
- **2013-03-14** House Second Readers `reading-2`
- **2013-03-20** House Committee Favorably Reported `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2013-03-20** House Third Readers `reading-3`
- **2013-03-20** House Passed/Adopted `passage`
- **2013-03-21** Senate Read and Referred `referral-committee`
- **2013-03-25** Senate Committee Favorably Reported `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2013-03-25** Senate Passed/Adopted `passage`
- **2013-04-02** House Sent to Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2013-05-06** House Date Signed by Governor `executive-signature`
- **2013-05-06** Act 153 `executive-signature`
- **2013-05-06** Effective Date

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/3a623851-627e-4323-a492-32809a0bf056`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Georgia legislature records).