---
type: "Bill"
title: "Georgia International and Maritime Trade Center; reconstitute and authorize Department of Economic Development to contract for certain projects"
description: "A BILL to be entitled an Act to amend Article 4 of Chapter 7 of Title 50 of the O.C.G.A., relating to the Georgia International and Maritime Trade Center, so as to reconstitute the Georgia International and Maritime Trade Center Authority; to provide for legislative findings; to provide for definitions; to provide for its membership, manner of appointment, terms of office, and powers and duties; to provide for exemption from taxation; to provide for venue; to provide for disposition of property; to exempt its property from levy and sale; to transfer certain assets and liabilities; to authorize the Department of Economic Development to contract with the authority for certain projects; to repeal certain laws; to provide for related matters; to provide for effective dates; to repeal conflicting laws; and for other purposes."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ga"
legislature: "Georgia General Assembly"
session: "2017_18"
identifier: "HB 354"
citation: "Georgia HB 354 (2017_18)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Carl Gilliard", "Jesse Petrea", "Ron Stephens"]
version_count: 0
action_count: 16
vote_count: 1
first_action: "2017-02-14"
last_action: "2018-05-08"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/440e4ce8-3304-429e-95da-65800d30966d"
source_url: "http://webservices.legis.ga.gov/GGAServices/Legislation/Service.svc?wsdl"
source_hash: "57fffa5defdbac8bf08faa2a37c247de2a47a7e16436a6015b0096b3e23bb1c2"
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 354 (2017_18) — Georgia International and Maritime Trade Center; reconstitute and authorize Department of Economic Development to contract for certain projects

A BILL to be entitled an Act to amend Article 4 of Chapter 7 of Title 50 of the O.C.G.A., relating to the Georgia International and Maritime Trade Center, so as to reconstitute the Georgia International and Maritime Trade Center Authority; to provide for legislative findings; to provide for definitions; to provide for its membership, manner of appointment, terms of office, and powers and duties; to provide for exemption from taxation; to provide for venue; to provide for disposition of property; to exempt its property from levy and sale; to transfer certain assets and liabilities; to authorize the Department of Economic Development to contract with the authority for certain projects; to repeal certain laws; to provide for related matters; to provide for effective dates; 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 — **157–11** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Carl Gilliard — primary (person)
- Jesse Petrea — primary (person)
- Ron Stephens — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2017-02-14** House Hopper
- **2017-02-15** House First Readers `reading-1`
- **2017-02-16** House Second Readers `reading-2`
- **2017-02-22** House Committee Favorably Reported `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2017-03-01** House Postponed
- **2017-03-03** House Third Readers `reading-3`
- **2017-03-03** House Passed/Adopted `passage`
- **2017-03-03** Senate Read and Referred `referral-committee`
- **2018-01-31** Senate Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2018-02-01** Senate Read Second Time `reading-2`
- **2018-03-07** Senate Third Read `reading-3`
- **2018-03-07** Senate Passed/Adopted By Substitute `passage`
- **2018-03-21** House Agreed Senate Amend or Sub
- **2018-04-02** House Sent to Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2018-05-08** House Date Signed by Governor `executive-signature`
- **2018-05-08** Veto V1 `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/440e4ce8-3304-429e-95da-65800d30966d`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Georgia legislature records).