---
type: "Bill"
title: "Elementary and secondary education; seal of biliteracy for high school graduates with a high level of proficiency in one or more languages in addition to English; provide"
description: "A BILL to be entitled an Act to amend Part 3 of Article 6 of Chapter 2 of Title 20 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to elementary and secondary educational programs, so as to provide for the issuance of a seal of biliteracy for high school graduates who have achieved a high level of proficiency in speaking, reading, and writing one or more languages in addition to English; to provide for criteria; to provide for participation; 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 879"
citation: "Georgia HB 879 (2015_16)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Bert Reeves", "Beth Beskin", "Pedro Marin", "Ron Stephens", "Tom Taylor"]
version_count: 6
action_count: 19
vote_count: 1
first_action: "2016-02-01"
last_action: "2016-07-01"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/cac68d02-5d29-45c2-b1a4-e89d14509ba6"
source_url: "http://webservices.legis.ga.gov/GGAServices/Legislation/Service.svc?wsdl"
source_hash: "6bb9a3faa874878af470008f4c4107a2f94a8f865d3eb3cba97caafd16f556f0"
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 879 (2015_16) — Elementary and secondary education; seal of biliteracy for high school graduates with a high level of proficiency in one or more languages in addition to English; provide

A BILL to be entitled an Act to amend Part 3 of Article 6 of Chapter 2 of Title 20 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to elementary and secondary educational programs, so as to provide for the issuance of a seal of biliteracy for high school graduates who have achieved a high level of proficiency in speaking, reading, and writing one or more languages in addition to English; to provide for criteria; to provide for participation; 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. **Floor Amendment AM 40 0153** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20152016/157824.pdf)
2. **Floor Amendment AM 40 0169** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20152016/161727.pdf)
3. **HB 879/AP*** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20152016/162411.pdf)
4. **HB 879/FA** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20152016/157860.pdf)
5. **LC 40 1020/a** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20152016/156090.pdf)
6. **Sen floor amend 1** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20152016/161529.pdf)

## Votes

- PASSAGE — **168–3** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Bert Reeves — primary (person)
- Beth Beskin — primary (person)
- Pedro Marin — primary (person)
- Ron Stephens — primary (person)
- Tom Taylor — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2016-02-01** House Hopper
- **2016-02-02** House First Readers `reading-1`
- **2016-02-03** House Second Readers `reading-2`
- **2016-02-09** House Committee Favorably Reported `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2016-02-18** House Third Readers `reading-3`
- **2016-02-18** House Passed/Adopted As Amended `passage`
- **2016-02-19** 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
- **2016-03-22** Senate Taken from Table
- **2016-03-22** Senate Third Read `reading-3`
- **2016-03-22** Senate Passed/Adopted As Amended `passage`
- **2016-03-24** House Agreed Senate Amend or Sub As Amended
- **2016-03-24** Senate Agreed House Amend or Sub
- **2016-04-05** House Sent to Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2016-05-03** House Date Signed by Governor `executive-signature`
- **2016-05-03** Act 618 `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/cac68d02-5d29-45c2-b1a4-e89d14509ba6`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Georgia legislature records).