---
type: "Bill"
title: "\"Child Abuse Records Protection Act\"; enact"
description: "A BILL to be entitled an Act to amend Article 2 of Chapter 5 of Title 49 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to child abuse and deprivation records, so as to provide for greater confidentiality of child abuse records; to provide for and revise definitions; to change provisions relating to persons and agencies permitted access to records of child abuse; to provide for contents of a protective order; to provide for immunity for child advocacy centers in releasing child abuse records under certain circumstances; to provide for a short title; 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 725"
citation: "Georgia HB 725 (2015_16)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Earl Ehrhart", "Jason Spencer", "Mandi Ballinger", "Stacey Evans", "Tom Weldon", "Wes Cantrell"]
version_count: 5
action_count: 16
vote_count: 1
first_action: "2016-01-07"
last_action: "2016-07-01"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/38be2b10-e94f-4f2a-81ac-81ac28b10a57"
source_url: "http://webservices.legis.ga.gov/GGAServices/Legislation/Service.svc?wsdl"
source_hash: "f1b6c8dcc4456eecffec01b7ae64dc3ac1e91322073cf6073c1ca029b4f713b0"
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 725 (2015_16) — "Child Abuse Records Protection Act"; enact

A BILL to be entitled an Act to amend Article 2 of Chapter 5 of Title 49 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to child abuse and deprivation records, so as to provide for greater confidentiality of child abuse records; to provide for and revise definitions; to change provisions relating to persons and agencies permitted access to records of child abuse; to provide for contents of a protective order; to provide for immunity for child advocacy centers in releasing child abuse records under certain circumstances; to provide for a short title; 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 725/AP*** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20152016/160502.pdf)
2. **LC 29 6774/a** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20152016/154448.pdf)
3. **LC 29 6774/pf** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20152016/154196.pdf)
4. **LC 29 7025S/hcs** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20152016/159262.pdf)
5. **LC 29 7025S/hs** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20152016/158576.pdf)

## Votes

- PASSAGE — **170–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Earl Ehrhart — primary (person)
- Jason Spencer — primary (person)
- Mandi Ballinger — primary (person)
- Stacey Evans — primary (person)
- Tom Weldon — primary (person)
- Wes Cantrell — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2016-01-07** House Prefiled `introduction`
- **2016-01-13** House Hopper
- **2016-01-14** House First Readers `reading-1`
- **2016-01-15** House Second Readers `reading-2`
- **2016-02-24** House Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2016-02-29** House Third Readers `reading-3`
- **2016-02-29** House Passed/Adopted By Substitute `passage`
- **2016-03-02** 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`
- **2016-03-14** Senate Third Read `reading-3`
- **2016-03-14** 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 344 `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/38be2b10-e94f-4f2a-81ac-81ac28b10a57`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Georgia legislature records).