---
type: "Bill"
title: "Georgia Commission on Hearing Impaired and Deaf Persons; revise provisions"
description: "A BILL to be entitled an Act to amend Chapter 1 of Title 30 of the O.C.G.A., relating to handicapped persons generally, so as to revise provisions relating to the Georgia Commission on Hearing Impaired and Deaf Persons; to provide for definitions; to expand the membership of the commission; to establish a task force; to require use of existing assessments; to monitor individual children's language and literacy progress; to develop a state-wide coordinated longitudinal data management system for all children who are deaf or hard of hearing; to require information sharing and collaboration among state agencies; to provide integrated and seamless services from birth through literacy; to require public reporting mechanisms; 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 844"
citation: "Georgia HB 844 (2017_18)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Brooks Coleman", "Katie Dempsey", "Matt Hatchett", "Penny Houston", "Randy Nix"]
version_count: 0
action_count: 16
vote_count: 1
first_action: "2018-02-06"
last_action: "2018-05-08"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/5731f4b6-7d8f-4991-a80c-8c0beff26876"
source_url: "http://webservices.legis.ga.gov/GGAServices/Legislation/Service.svc?wsdl"
source_hash: "34e7c23b61352da378f24f10c13c24b65cff553305625976c9b2c20f797a4b02"
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 844 (2017_18) — Georgia Commission on Hearing Impaired and Deaf Persons; revise provisions

A BILL to be entitled an Act to amend Chapter 1 of Title 30 of the O.C.G.A., relating to handicapped persons generally, so as to revise provisions relating to the Georgia Commission on Hearing Impaired and Deaf Persons; to provide for definitions; to expand the membership of the commission; to establish a task force; to require use of existing assessments; to monitor individual children's language and literacy progress; to develop a state-wide coordinated longitudinal data management system for all children who are deaf or hard of hearing; to require information sharing and collaboration among state agencies; to provide integrated and seamless services from birth through literacy; to require public reporting mechanisms; 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 — **171–1** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Brooks Coleman — primary (person)
- Katie Dempsey — primary (person)
- Matt Hatchett — primary (person)
- Penny Houston — primary (person)
- Randy Nix — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2018-02-06** House Hopper
- **2018-02-07** House First Readers `reading-1`
- **2018-02-08** House Second Readers `reading-2`
- **2018-02-14** House Withdrawn, Recommitted `withdrawal, referral-committee`
- **2018-02-23** House Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2018-02-28** House Third Readers `reading-3`
- **2018-02-28** House Passed/Adopted By Substitute `passage`
- **2018-03-01** Senate Read and Referred `referral-committee`
- **2018-03-09** Senate Committee Favorably Reported `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2018-03-12** Senate Read Second Time `reading-2`
- **2018-03-15** Senate Third Read `reading-3`
- **2018-03-15** Senate Passed/Adopted `passage`
- **2018-04-03** House Sent to Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2018-05-08** House Date Signed by Governor `executive-signature`
- **2018-05-08** Act 462 `executive-signature`
- **2018-05-08** Effective Date

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/5731f4b6-7d8f-4991-a80c-8c0beff26876`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Georgia legislature records).