---
type: "Bill"
title: "Crimes and offenses; trafficking of persons for labor or sexual servitude; provisions"
description: "A BILL to be entitled an Act to amend Code Section 16-5-46 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to trafficking of persons for labor or sexual servitude, so as to provide for and revise defined terms; to change penalty provisions; to remove a potential defense to a charge of trafficking of persons for labor or sexual servitude; 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 770"
citation: "Georgia HB 770 (2015_16)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Alex Atwood", "Andrew Welch", "Chuck Efstration", "Penny Houston", "Regina Quick", "Stacey Evans"]
version_count: 4
action_count: 16
vote_count: 1
first_action: "2016-01-14"
last_action: "2016-07-01"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/22a5a9e4-0fbf-4603-8c59-c7328a0dd123"
source_url: "http://webservices.legis.ga.gov/GGAServices/Legislation/Service.svc?wsdl"
source_hash: "91d26ccdef60f77d2a2e24d1917ddb583058918e45e244660085e05c9c4a6d51"
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 770 (2015_16) — Crimes and offenses; trafficking of persons for labor or sexual servitude; provisions

A BILL to be entitled an Act to amend Code Section 16-5-46 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to trafficking of persons for labor or sexual servitude, so as to provide for and revise defined terms; to change penalty provisions; to remove a potential defense to a charge of trafficking of persons for labor or sexual servitude; 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 770/AP*** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20152016/161092.pdf)
2. **LC 29 6799/a** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20152016/154628.pdf)
3. **LC 29 6908S/hcs** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20152016/158829.pdf)
4. **LC 29 6908S/hs** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20152016/157845.pdf)

## Votes

- PASSAGE — **167–3** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Alex Atwood — primary (person)
- Andrew Welch — primary (person)
- Chuck Efstration — primary (person)
- Penny Houston — primary (person)
- Regina Quick — primary (person)
- Stacey Evans — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2016-01-14** House Hopper
- **2016-01-15** House First Readers `reading-1`
- **2016-01-20** House Second Readers `reading-2`
- **2016-02-18** House Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2016-02-25** House Third Readers `reading-3`
- **2016-02-25** House Passed/Adopted By Substitute `passage`
- **2016-02-26** Senate Read and Referred `referral-committee`
- **2016-02-26** Senate Withdrawn & Recommitted `referral-committee, withdrawal`
- **2016-03-07** Senate Committee Favorably Reported `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2016-03-08** Senate Read Second Time `reading-2`
- **2016-03-16** Senate Third Read `reading-3`
- **2016-03-16** 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 441 `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/22a5a9e4-0fbf-4603-8c59-c7328a0dd123`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Georgia legislature records).