---
type: "Bill"
title: "\"Coverdell-Murphy Act\"; update current system of levels of certified stroke centers to reflect advances in stroke treatments and therapy; provisions"
description: "A BILL to be entitled an Act to amend Article 6 of Chapter 11 of Title 31 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to the \"Coverdell-Murphy Act,\" so as to update the current system of levels of certified stroke centers to reflect advances in stroke treatment and therapy; to authorize the Department of Public Health to establish additional levels; to provide for national certification; to provide for rules and regulations to implement the provisions of this Act; 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 853"
citation: "Georgia HB 853 (2015_16)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Howard Maxwell", "James Beverly", "Lee Hawkins", "Nikki Randall", "Sharon Cooper", "Tom Weldon"]
version_count: 4
action_count: 17
vote_count: 1
first_action: "2016-01-26"
last_action: "2016-04-26"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/b427a7d2-099d-4a8c-b9bb-9625b0c0bab4"
source_url: "http://webservices.legis.ga.gov/GGAServices/Legislation/Service.svc?wsdl"
source_hash: "31294dc0c2d816eb77c56ffe5ea778e619a6d49b40760ac06c6eff1053382b74"
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 853 (2015_16) — "Coverdell-Murphy Act"; update current system of levels of certified stroke centers to reflect advances in stroke treatments and therapy; provisions

A BILL to be entitled an Act to amend Article 6 of Chapter 11 of Title 31 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to the "Coverdell-Murphy Act," so as to update the current system of levels of certified stroke centers to reflect advances in stroke treatment and therapy; to authorize the Department of Public Health to establish additional levels; to provide for national certification; to provide for rules and regulations to implement the provisions of this Act; 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 853/AP*** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20152016/162453.pdf)
2. **LC 33 6358/a** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20152016/155657.pdf)
3. **LC 33 6422S/hcs** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20152016/157500.pdf)
4. **LC 33 6422S/hs** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20152016/156303.pdf)

## Votes

- PASSAGE — **170–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Howard Maxwell — primary (person)
- James Beverly — primary (person)
- Lee Hawkins — primary (person)
- Nikki Randall — primary (person)
- Sharon Cooper — primary (person)
- Tom Weldon — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2016-01-26** House Hopper
- **2016-01-27** House First Readers `reading-1`
- **2016-01-28** House Second Readers `reading-2`
- **2016-02-03** House Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2016-02-16** House Third Readers `reading-3`
- **2016-02-16** House Passed/Adopted By Substitute `passage`
- **2016-02-17** Senate Read and Referred `referral-committee`
- **2016-03-14** Senate Committee Favorably Reported `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2016-03-14** Senate Read Second Time `reading-2`
- **2016-03-22** Senate Tabled
- **2016-03-24** Senate Taken from Table
- **2016-03-24** Senate Third Read `reading-3`
- **2016-03-24** Senate Passed/Adopted `passage`
- **2016-04-05** House Sent to Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2016-04-26** House Date Signed by Governor `executive-signature`
- **2016-04-26** Act 459 `executive-signature`
- **2016-04-26** Effective Date

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/b427a7d2-099d-4a8c-b9bb-9625b0c0bab4`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Georgia legislature records).