---
type: "Bill"
title: "Early care and learning; revise terminology relating to restrictions on persons with criminal records with regard to child, family or group-care facilities; provisions"
description: "A BILL to be entitled an Act to amend Chapter 1A of Title 20 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to early care and learning; to amend Code Section 16-12-1.1 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to restrictions on persons with criminal records with regard to child, family, or group-care facilities, so as to revise terminology; to amend Code Section 25-2-13 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to regulation of fire and other hazards in buildings presenting special hazards to persons or property, so as to revise terminology; to provide for related matters; to provide for an effective date; to repeal conflicting laws; and for other purposes."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ga"
legislature: "Georgia General Assembly"
session: "2015_16"
identifier: "HB 401"
citation: "Georgia HB 401 (2015_16)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Bruce Broadrick", "Chuck Efstration", "Katie Dempsey", "Mandi Ballinger"]
version_count: 2
action_count: 17
vote_count: 1
first_action: "2015-02-19"
last_action: "2016-01-01"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/6a4ec421-6db7-45ad-a381-2db1fdd4cd1c"
source_url: "http://webservices.legis.ga.gov/GGAServices/Legislation/Service.svc?wsdl"
source_hash: "ab7f3e586a7c20ec6afe9bd8ae0f780f3b32001651a4ba8ac82742e2dd71a252"
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 401 (2015_16) — Early care and learning; revise terminology relating to restrictions on persons with criminal records with regard to child, family or group-care facilities; provisions

A BILL to be entitled an Act to amend Chapter 1A of Title 20 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to early care and learning; to amend Code Section 16-12-1.1 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to restrictions on persons with criminal records with regard to child, family, or group-care facilities, so as to revise terminology; to amend Code Section 25-2-13 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to regulation of fire and other hazards in buildings presenting special hazards to persons or property, so as to revise terminology; to provide for related matters; to provide for an effective date; 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 401/AP*** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20152016/153842.pdf)
2. **LC 40 0825ER/a** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20152016/148503.pdf)

## Votes

- PASSAGE — **170–4** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Bruce Broadrick — primary (person)
- Chuck Efstration — primary (person)
- Katie Dempsey — primary (person)
- Mandi Ballinger — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2015-02-19** House Hopper
- **2015-02-20** House First Readers `reading-1`
- **2015-02-23** House Second Readers `reading-2`
- **2015-03-05** House Committee Favorably Reported `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2015-03-13** House Third Readers `reading-3`
- **2015-03-13** House Passed/Adopted `passage`
- **2015-03-18** Senate Read and Referred `referral-committee`
- **2015-03-24** Senate Committee Favorably Reported `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2015-03-25** Senate Read Second Time `reading-2`
- **2015-03-31** Senate Tabled
- **2015-04-02** Senate Taken from Table
- **2015-04-02** Senate Third Read `reading-3`
- **2015-04-02** Senate Passed/Adopted `passage`
- **2015-04-08** House Sent to Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2015-05-06** House Date Signed by Governor `executive-signature`
- **2015-05-06** Act 163 `executive-signature`
- **2016-01-01** Effective Date

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/6a4ec421-6db7-45ad-a381-2db1fdd4cd1c`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Georgia legislature records).