---
type: "Bill"
title: "Veterinarians; veterinarian-client-patient relationship; clarify scope"
description: "A BILL to be entitled an Act to amend Code Section 43-50-3 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to definitions relative to veterinarians and veterinary technicians, so as to clarify the scope of the veterinarian-client-patient relationship; 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 800"
citation: "Georgia HB 800 (2015_16)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Emory Dunahoo", "John Meadows", "Mandi Ballinger", "Rick Jasperse", "Terry England", "Tom McCall"]
version_count: 2
action_count: 15
vote_count: 1
first_action: "2016-01-21"
last_action: "2016-07-01"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/c4ddec66-4e70-4db0-be82-3fa9528a9e21"
source_url: "http://webservices.legis.ga.gov/GGAServices/Legislation/Service.svc?wsdl"
source_hash: "f9a174e30bfbc98c41fe8045379fdd7b245edb585420e620fc4457c6bcfe9023"
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 800 (2015_16) — Veterinarians; veterinarian-client-patient relationship; clarify scope

A BILL to be entitled an Act to amend Code Section 43-50-3 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to definitions relative to veterinarians and veterinary technicians, so as to clarify the scope of the veterinarian-client-patient relationship; 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 800/AP*** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20152016/161093.pdf)
2. **LC 40 1016/a** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20152016/155073.pdf)

## Votes

- PASSAGE — **166–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Emory Dunahoo — primary (person)
- John Meadows — primary (person)
- Mandi Ballinger — primary (person)
- Rick Jasperse — primary (person)
- Terry England — primary (person)
- Tom McCall — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2016-01-21** House Hopper
- **2016-01-22** House First Readers `reading-1`
- **2016-01-25** House Second Readers `reading-2`
- **2016-01-28** House Committee Favorably Reported `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2016-02-04** House Third Readers `reading-3`
- **2016-02-04** House Passed/Adopted `passage`
- **2016-02-08** 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`
- **2016-03-16** 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 448 `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/c4ddec66-4e70-4db0-be82-3fa9528a9e21`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Georgia legislature records).