---
type: "Bill"
title: "Dog Ownership; allow local governments to confer dog control authority upon multiple individuals"
description: "A BILL to be entitled an Act to amend Article 2 of Chapter 8 of Title 4 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to responsible dog ownership, so as to allow local governments to confer dog control authority upon multiple individuals; to provide for the hearing of contested cases by superior courts; to require dog owners to pay for reasonable confinement and housing expenses in certain cases; to provide for an effective date and applicability; to repeal conflicting laws; and for other purposes."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ga"
legislature: "Georgia General Assembly"
session: "2013_14"
identifier: "SB 290"
citation: "Georgia SB 290 (2013_14)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Dean Burke", "John Crosby"]
version_count: 5
action_count: 16
vote_count: 1
first_action: "2014-01-15"
last_action: "2014-07-01"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/63302dba-6444-4d51-bac4-f2692194d8bc"
source_url: "http://webservices.legis.ga.gov/GGAServices/Legislation/Service.svc?wsdl"
source_hash: "981b47b6f442d204ce5db6f788dc02d04fab86025d74a07ec3b1c43efcc04e85"
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 SB 290 (2013_14) — Dog Ownership; allow local governments to confer dog control authority upon multiple individuals

A BILL to be entitled an Act to amend Article 2 of Chapter 8 of Title 4 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to responsible dog ownership, so as to allow local governments to confer dog control authority upon multiple individuals; to provide for the hearing of contested cases by superior courts; to require dog owners to pay for reasonable confinement and housing expenses in certain cases; to provide for an effective date and applicability; 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. **As introduced LC 40 0415** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20132014/138063.pdf)
2. **As passed Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20132014/139399.pdf)
3. **Committee sub LC 29 5841S** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20132014/139092.pdf)
4. **LC 29 6045S/hss** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20132014/143815.pdf)
5. **SB 290/AP*** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20132014/145058.pdf)

## Votes

- PASSAGE BY SUBSTITUTE — **50–3** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Dean Burke — primary (person)
- John Crosby — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2014-01-15** Senate Hopper
- **2014-01-16** Senate Read and Referred `referral-committee`
- **2014-02-06** Senate Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2014-02-07** Senate Read Second Time `reading-2`
- **2014-02-10** Senate Third Read `reading-3`
- **2014-02-10** Senate Passed/Adopted By Substitute `passage`
- **2014-02-11** House First Readers `reading-1`
- **2014-02-17** House Second Readers `reading-2`
- **2014-03-18** House Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2014-03-18** House Third Readers `reading-3`
- **2014-03-18** House Passed/Adopted By Substitute `passage`
- **2014-03-20** Senate Agreed House Amend or Sub
- **2014-03-27** Senate Sent to Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2014-04-21** Senate Date Signed by Governor `executive-signature`
- **2014-04-21** Act 554 `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/63302dba-6444-4d51-bac4-f2692194d8bc`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Georgia legislature records).