---
type: "Bill"
title: "\"Georgia Right to Try Act\"; enact"
description: "A BILL to be entitled an Act to amend Title 31 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to health, so as to enact the \"Georgia Right to Try Act\"; to provide for investigational drugs, biological products, and devices for patients with advanced illnesses; to provide for a short title; to provide for legislative findings; to provide for definitions; to provide for eligibility criteria; to provide for written informed consent; to allow manufacturers to make such drugs available; to provide that health benefit coverage is not mandatory; to prohibit sanctions against a physician's license; to prohibit blocking access; to provide for statutory construction; 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 34"
citation: "Georgia HB 34 (2015_16)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Jason Spencer", "Margaret Kaiser", "Micah Gravley", "Mike Dudgeon", "Sam Teasley", "Scot Turner"]
version_count: 6
action_count: 18
vote_count: 1
first_action: "2015-01-05"
last_action: "2016-07-01"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/83dd40f9-4017-4f37-b637-9f28669b953c"
source_url: "http://webservices.legis.ga.gov/GGAServices/Legislation/Service.svc?wsdl"
source_hash: "0556a442fadf074acc6ab5a6cabf363d175cb4c67cdc2ed814e5d7796203f37b"
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 34 (2015_16) — "Georgia Right to Try Act"; enact

A BILL to be entitled an Act to amend Title 31 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to health, so as to enact the "Georgia Right to Try Act"; to provide for investigational drugs, biological products, and devices for patients with advanced illnesses; to provide for a short title; to provide for legislative findings; to provide for definitions; to provide for eligibility criteria; to provide for written informed consent; to allow manufacturers to make such drugs available; to provide that health benefit coverage is not mandatory; to prohibit sanctions against a physician's license; to prohibit blocking access; to provide for statutory construction; 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 34/AP*** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20152016/160399.pdf)
2. **LC 33 5678/a** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20152016/145559.pdf)
3. **LC 33 5678/pf** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20152016/145231.pdf)
4. **LC 33 6084S/hs** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20152016/149742.pdf)
5. **LC 33 6420S/hcs** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20152016/157583.pdf)
6. **LC 33 6420S/hs** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20152016/156302.pdf)

## Votes

- PASSAGE — **173–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Jason Spencer — primary (person)
- Margaret Kaiser — primary (person)
- Micah Gravley — primary (person)
- Mike Dudgeon — primary (person)
- Sam Teasley — primary (person)
- Scot Turner — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2015-01-05** House Prefiled `introduction`
- **2015-01-15** House Hopper
- **2015-01-26** House First Readers `reading-1`
- **2015-01-27** House Second Readers `reading-2`
- **2015-03-03** House Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2015-04-02** House Withdrawn, Recommitted `referral-committee, withdrawal`
- **2016-02-03** House Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2016-02-16** House Third Readers `reading-3`
- **2016-02-16** House Passed/Adopted By Substitute `passage`
- **2016-02-17** Senate Read and Referred `referral-committee`
- **2016-03-08** Senate Committee Favorably Reported `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2016-03-10** Senate Read Second Time `reading-2`
- **2016-03-11** Senate Third Read `reading-3`
- **2016-03-11** Senate Passed/Adopted `passage`
- **2016-03-28** House Sent to Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2016-04-26** House Date Signed by Governor `executive-signature`
- **2016-04-26** Act 422 `executive-signature`
- **2016-07-01** Effective Date

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/83dd40f9-4017-4f37-b637-9f28669b953c`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Georgia legislature records).