---
type: "Bill"
title: "Courts; civil action for damages; provide"
description: "A BILL to be entitled an Act to amend Article 3 of Chapter 19 of Title 15 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to the regulation of the practice of law, so as to provide for a civil action for damages; to provide for related matters; to repeal conflicting laws; and for other purposes."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ga"
legislature: "Georgia General Assembly"
session: "2015_16"
identifier: "HB 153"
citation: "Georgia HB 153 (2015_16)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Andrew Welch", "Bert Reeves", "Mary Oliver", "Tom Weldon", "Trey Kelley", "Wendell Willard"]
version_count: 7
action_count: 17
vote_count: 1
first_action: "2015-01-28"
last_action: "2015-07-01"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/10a576a6-1dce-4253-aa2c-53f6a93b35bd"
source_url: "http://webservices.legis.ga.gov/GGAServices/Legislation/Service.svc?wsdl"
source_hash: "0e7c4716fff53817dd42ee7a150756740c27fb32e9c904598df3c5e163d81b14"
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 153 (2015_16) — Courts; civil action for damages; provide

A BILL to be entitled an Act to amend Article 3 of Chapter 19 of Title 15 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to the regulation of the practice of law, so as to provide for a civil action for damages; 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 153/AP*** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20152016/153551.pdf)
2. **LC 29 6235/a** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20152016/146234.pdf)
3. **LC 36 2777S/hcs** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20152016/151240.pdf)
4. **LC 36 2777S/hs** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20152016/150730.pdf)
5. **SCSFA to HB 153** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20152016/152799.pdf)
6. **Sen ctee sub LC 29 6631S** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20152016/152299.pdf)
7. **Sen floor amend 1** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20152016/152757.pdf)

## Votes

- PASSAGE — **164–5** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Andrew Welch — primary (person)
- Bert Reeves — primary (person)
- Mary Oliver — primary (person)
- Tom Weldon — primary (person)
- Trey Kelley — primary (person)
- Wendell Willard — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2015-01-28** House Hopper
- **2015-01-29** House First Readers `reading-1`
- **2015-02-02** House Second Readers `reading-2`
- **2015-02-11** House Withdrawn, Recommitted `referral-committee, withdrawal`
- **2015-03-11** House Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2015-03-13** House Third Readers `reading-3`
- **2015-03-13** House Passed/Adopted By Substitute `passage`
- **2015-03-18** Senate Read and Referred `referral-committee`
- **2015-03-25** Senate Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2015-03-25** Senate Read Second Time `reading-2`
- **2015-03-27** Senate Third Read `reading-3`
- **2015-03-27** Senate Passed/Adopted By Substitute `passage`
- **2015-03-31** House Agreed Senate Amend or Sub
- **2015-04-07** House Sent to Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2015-05-05** House Date Signed by Governor `executive-signature`
- **2015-05-05** Act 76 `executive-signature`
- **2015-07-01** Effective Date

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/10a576a6-1dce-4253-aa2c-53f6a93b35bd`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Georgia legislature records).