---
type: "Bill"
title: "Paternity; parties beyond movants in a child support case request a genetic test; allow"
description: "A BILL to be entitled an Act to amend Code Section 19-7-54 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to motion to set aside determination of paternity, so as to allow parties beyond movants in a case concerning a child support order to request a genetic test from the Department of Human Services under certain circumstances; to provide for related matters; to repeal conflicting laws; and for other purposes."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ga"
legislature: "Georgia General Assembly"
session: "2017_18"
identifier: "HB 344"
citation: "Georgia HB 344 (2017_18)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Katie Dempsey", "Mandi Ballinger", "Mary Oliver", "Regina Quick", "Sharon Cooper", "Wendell Willard"]
version_count: 0
action_count: 20
vote_count: 1
first_action: "2017-02-10"
last_action: "2018-07-01"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/a6f201f6-f9a2-4088-b4f8-e40430e48886"
source_url: "http://webservices.legis.ga.gov/GGAServices/Legislation/Service.svc?wsdl"
source_hash: "462678d6659625c0af88dcc47f5a00c62a9c9fe713acb6292e29d52b30310712"
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 344 (2017_18) — Paternity; parties beyond movants in a child support case request a genetic test; allow

A BILL to be entitled an Act to amend Code Section 19-7-54 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to motion to set aside determination of paternity, so as to allow parties beyond movants in a case concerning a child support order to request a genetic test from the Department of Human Services under certain circumstances; 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.


## Votes

- PASSAGE — **173–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Katie Dempsey — primary (person)
- Mandi Ballinger — primary (person)
- Mary Oliver — primary (person)
- Regina Quick — primary (person)
- Sharon Cooper — primary (person)
- Wendell Willard — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2017-02-10** House Hopper
- **2017-02-14** House First Readers `reading-1`
- **2017-02-15** House Second Readers `reading-2`
- **2017-02-24** House Committee Favorably Reported `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2017-03-01** House Third Readers `reading-3`
- **2017-03-01** House Passed/Adopted `passage`
- **2017-03-03** Senate Read and Referred `referral-committee`
- **2017-03-24** Senate Committee Favorably Reported `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2017-03-24** Senate Read Second Time `reading-2`
- **2017-03-28** Senate Tabled
- **2018-01-08** Senate Taken from Table
- **2018-01-08** Senate Recommitted `referral-committee`
- **2018-01-25** Senate Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2018-03-15** Senate Third Read `reading-3`
- **2018-03-15** Senate Passed/Adopted By Substitute `passage`
- **2018-03-29** House Agreed Senate Amend or Sub
- **2018-04-05** House Sent to Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2018-05-03** House Date Signed by Governor `executive-signature`
- **2018-05-03** Act 308 `executive-signature`
- **2018-07-01** Effective Date

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/a6f201f6-f9a2-4088-b4f8-e40430e48886`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Georgia legislature records).