---
type: "Bill"
title: "Distilled spirits; referendum election be held prior to issuance of licenses to manufacture; remove requirement"
description: "A BILL to be entitled an Act to amend Chapter 4 of Title 3 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to distilled spirits, so as to remove the requirement that a referendum election be held prior to the issuance of licenses for the manufacture of distilled spirits; to change certain provisions relating to the procedures for calling and conducting certain referendum elections and nullifications thereof; 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: "2017_18"
identifier: "HB 485"
citation: "Georgia HB 485 (2017_18)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Alan Powell", "Howard Maxwell", "Mike Glanton"]
version_count: 0
action_count: 16
vote_count: 1
first_action: "2017-02-23"
last_action: "2017-05-09"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/5d22f071-974b-4232-9cb6-bce4744aa6ae"
source_url: "http://webservices.legis.ga.gov/GGAServices/Legislation/Service.svc?wsdl"
source_hash: "d075a132f417aafdfd5dd9a30f46a9d88bee1870037b9023d8200931d042b297"
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 485 (2017_18) — Distilled spirits; referendum election be held prior to issuance of licenses to manufacture; remove requirement

A BILL to be entitled an Act to amend Chapter 4 of Title 3 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to distilled spirits, so as to remove the requirement that a referendum election be held prior to the issuance of licenses for the manufacture of distilled spirits; to change certain provisions relating to the procedures for calling and conducting certain referendum elections and nullifications thereof; 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.


## Votes

- PASSAGE — **147–23** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Alan Powell — primary (person)
- Howard Maxwell — primary (person)
- Mike Glanton — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2017-02-23** House Hopper
- **2017-02-23** House First Readers `reading-1`
- **2017-02-24** House Second Readers `reading-2`
- **2017-03-01** House Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2017-03-03** House Third Readers `reading-3`
- **2017-03-03** House Passed/Adopted By Substitute `passage`
- **2017-03-06** Senate Read and Referred `referral-committee`
- **2017-03-22** Senate Committee Favorably Reported `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2017-03-22** Senate Read Second Time `reading-2`
- **2017-03-28** Senate Tabled
- **2017-03-30** Senate Taken from Table
- **2017-03-30** Senate Passed/Adopted `passage`
- **2017-04-05** House Sent to Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2017-05-09** House Date Signed by Governor `executive-signature`
- **2017-05-09** Act 277 `executive-signature`
- **2017-05-09** Effective Date

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/5d22f071-974b-4232-9cb6-bce4744aa6ae`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Georgia legislature records).