---
type: "Bill"
title: "Financial institutions; clarify and remove superfluous language; provisions"
description: "A BILL to be entitled an Act to amend Chapter 1 of Title 7 of the O.C.G.A., relating to financial institutions, so as to clarify and remove superfluous language; to reduce the number of days for certain cease and desist orders to become final; to repeal Code Section 7-1-1003.1, relating to physical place of business; to eliminate the notification requirement for a change in ultimate equitable owner of mortgage brokers or mortgage lenders; to change advertising content requirements for mortgage lenders and mortgage brokers; to reduce the number of days for the process related to bond cancellation notice; to amend Chapter 6A of Title 7 of the O.C.G.A., relating to the Georgia Fair Lending Act, so as to update citations to federal regulations; to provide for related matters; to repeal conflicting laws; and for other purposes."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ga"
legislature: "Georgia General Assembly"
session: "2019_20"
identifier: "HB 781"
citation: "Georgia HB 781 (2019_20)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Bruce Williamson", "Gloria Frazier", "Jason Ridley", "Penny Houston"]
version_count: 5
action_count: 17
vote_count: 1
first_action: "2020-01-15"
last_action: "2021-01-01"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/d4a54c77-7bfd-4e43-9fd6-02e15a9fffef"
source_url: "http://webservices.legis.ga.gov/GGAServices/Legislation/Service.svc?wsdl"
source_hash: "e8610bdd9db2e7136170f89601838fa68d87c367b4e46e66262a37b18536f09d"
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 781 (2019_20) — Financial institutions; clarify and remove superfluous language; provisions

A BILL to be entitled an Act to amend Chapter 1 of Title 7 of the O.C.G.A., relating to financial institutions, so as to clarify and remove superfluous language; to reduce the number of days for certain cease and desist orders to become final; to repeal Code Section 7-1-1003.1, relating to physical place of business; to eliminate the notification requirement for a change in ultimate equitable owner of mortgage brokers or mortgage lenders; to change advertising content requirements for mortgage lenders and mortgage brokers; to reduce the number of days for the process related to bond cancellation notice; to amend Chapter 6A of Title 7 of the O.C.G.A., relating to the Georgia Fair Lending Act, so as to update citations to federal regulations; 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.

1. **HB 781/AP*** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20192020/195221.pdf)
2. **LC 50 0019/a** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20192020/188013.pdf)
3. **LC 50 0035S/hcs** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20192020/189926.pdf)
4. **LC 50 0035S/hs** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20192020/188802.pdf)
5. **Sen ctee sub LC 50 0066S** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20192020/192051.pdf)

## Votes

- PASSAGE — **167–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Bruce Williamson — primary (person)
- Gloria Frazier — primary (person)
- Jason Ridley — primary (person)
- Penny Houston — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2020-01-15** House Hopper
- **2020-01-16** House First Readers `reading-1`
- **2020-01-27** House Second Readers `reading-2`
- **2020-01-29** House Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2020-02-18** House Third Readers `reading-3`
- **2020-02-18** House Passed/Adopted By Substitute `passage`
- **2020-02-19** Senate Read and Referred `referral-committee`
- **2020-03-04** Senate Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2020-03-05** Senate Read Second Time `reading-2`
- **2020-06-15** Senate Third Read `reading-3`
- **2020-06-15** Senate Passed/Adopted By Substitute `passage`
- **2020-06-15** Senate Transmitted House
- **2020-06-25** House Agreed Senate Amend or Sub
- **2020-07-02** House Sent to Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2020-07-29** House Date Signed by Governor `executive-signature`
- **2020-07-29** Act 492 `executive-signature`
- **2021-01-01** Effective Date

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/d4a54c77-7bfd-4e43-9fd6-02e15a9fffef`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Georgia legislature records).