---
type: "Bill"
title: "School buses; drivers use cellular telephones in similar manner as a two-way radio; allow"
description: "A BILL to be entitled an Act to amend Code Section 40-6-165 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to operation of school buses, so as to allow school bus drivers to use cellular telephones in a similar manner as a two-way radio; 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 777"
citation: "Georgia HB 777 (2015_16)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Brooks Coleman", "Don Parsons", "Mike Dudgeon"]
version_count: 4
action_count: 15
vote_count: 1
first_action: "2016-01-15"
last_action: "2016-07-01"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/0868cbf2-a2af-4ea1-a3ae-27297381745a"
source_url: "http://webservices.legis.ga.gov/GGAServices/Legislation/Service.svc?wsdl"
source_hash: "7e5a2faebfb26b23034bf8001f728f39f80b021e3459367dfd8001db1ce3a53b"
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 777 (2015_16) — School buses; drivers use cellular telephones in similar manner as a two-way radio; allow

A BILL to be entitled an Act to amend Code Section 40-6-165 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to operation of school buses, so as to allow school bus drivers to use cellular telephones in a similar manner as a two-way radio; 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 777/AP*** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20152016/160791.pdf)
2. **LC 33 6307/a** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20152016/154747.pdf)
3. **LC 33 6391S/hcs** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20152016/157866.pdf)
4. **LC 33 6391S/hs** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20152016/157039.pdf)

## Votes

- PASSAGE — **166–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Brooks Coleman — primary (person)
- Don Parsons — primary (person)
- Mike Dudgeon — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2016-01-15** House Hopper
- **2016-01-20** House First Readers `reading-1`
- **2016-01-21** House Second Readers `reading-2`
- **2016-02-10** House Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2016-02-18** House Third Readers `reading-3`
- **2016-02-18** House Passed/Adopted By Substitute `passage`
- **2016-02-19** Senate Read and Referred `referral-committee`
- **2016-03-10** Senate Committee Favorably Reported `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2016-03-11** Senate Read Second Time `reading-2`
- **2016-03-15** Senate Third Read `reading-3`
- **2016-03-15** 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 443 `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/0868cbf2-a2af-4ea1-a3ae-27297381745a`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Georgia legislature records).