---
type: "Bill"
title: "Superior courts; fifth judge of the Northeastern Judicial Circuit; provide"
description: "A BILL to be entitled an Act to amend Code Section 15-6-2 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to the number of judges of superior courts, so as to provide for a fifth judge of the superior courts of the Northeastern Judicial Circuit; to provide for the appointment of such additional judge by the Governor; to provide for the election of successors to the judge initially appointed; to prescribe the powers of such judge; to declare inherent authority; to provide for related matters; to provide an effective date; to repeal conflicting laws; and for other purposes."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ga"
legislature: "Georgia General Assembly"
session: "2017_18"
identifier: "HB 138"
citation: "Georgia HB 138 (2017_18)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Emory Dunahoo", "Kevin Tanner", "Lee Hawkins", "Matt Dubnik", "Timothy Barr"]
version_count: 0
action_count: 16
vote_count: 1
first_action: "2017-01-25"
last_action: "2018-01-01"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/60ef311b-8041-4a47-8d11-e3526d5ad2c6"
source_url: "http://webservices.legis.ga.gov/GGAServices/Legislation/Service.svc?wsdl"
source_hash: "79f7c871d1b5588d7e6cedca2739e9a1bcdf956499562480f23fe25e46083069"
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 138 (2017_18) — Superior courts; fifth judge of the Northeastern Judicial Circuit; provide

A BILL to be entitled an Act to amend Code Section 15-6-2 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to the number of judges of superior courts, so as to provide for a fifth judge of the superior courts of the Northeastern Judicial Circuit; to provide for the appointment of such additional judge by the Governor; to provide for the election of successors to the judge initially appointed; to prescribe the powers of such judge; to declare inherent authority; to provide for related matters; to provide 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.


## Votes

- PASSAGE — **158–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Emory Dunahoo — primary (person)
- Kevin Tanner — primary (person)
- Lee Hawkins — primary (person)
- Matt Dubnik — primary (person)
- Timothy Barr — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2017-01-25** House Hopper
- **2017-01-26** House First Readers `reading-1`
- **2017-01-30** House Second Readers `reading-2`
- **2017-02-09** House Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2017-02-17** House Third Readers `reading-3`
- **2017-02-17** House Passed/Adopted By Substitute `passage`
- **2017-02-21** Senate Read and Referred `referral-committee`
- **2017-03-20** Senate Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2017-03-20** Senate Read Second Time `reading-2`
- **2017-03-28** Senate Third Read `reading-3`
- **2017-03-28** Senate Passed/Adopted By Substitute `passage`
- **2017-03-30** House Agreed Senate Amend or Sub
- **2017-04-05** House Sent to Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2017-05-01** House Date Signed by Governor `executive-signature`
- **2017-05-01** Act 56 `executive-signature`
- **2018-01-01** Effective Date

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/60ef311b-8041-4a47-8d11-e3526d5ad2c6`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Georgia legislature records).