---
type: "Bill"
title: "Surprise Billing Consumer Protection Act; enact"
description: "A BILL to be entitled an Act to amend Title 33 of the O.C.G.A., relating to insurance, so as to provide for certain consumer protections against surprise billing; to provide for a short title; to provide for applicability; to provide for definitions; to provide mechanisms to resolve payment disputes between insurers and out-of-network providers regarding the provision of healthcare services; to require the department to provide for the maintenance of an all-payer health claims data base; to provide for in-network cost-sharing amounts in healthcare plan contracts; to establish an arbitration process; to require the Commissioner of Insurance to contract with one or more resolution organizations; to require the promulgation of department rules; to repeal conflicting laws; and for other purposes."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ga"
legislature: "Georgia General Assembly"
session: "2019_20"
identifier: "HB 888"
citation: "Georgia HB 888 (2019_20)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Calvin Smyre", "Eddie Lumsden", "Gerald Greene", "Jodi Lott", "Lee Hawkins", "Terry Rogers"]
version_count: 5
action_count: 17
vote_count: 1
first_action: "2020-02-04"
last_action: "2021-01-01"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/e948a12d-1f05-4ab6-a978-70de61d3b87d"
source_url: "http://webservices.legis.ga.gov/GGAServices/Legislation/Service.svc?wsdl"
source_hash: "4252ac00dde53e8ed953deb8eff2169cdcb1fdfbcc534775d76bdd28676a890a"
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 888 (2019_20) — Surprise Billing Consumer Protection Act; enact

A BILL to be entitled an Act to amend Title 33 of the O.C.G.A., relating to insurance, so as to provide for certain consumer protections against surprise billing; to provide for a short title; to provide for applicability; to provide for definitions; to provide mechanisms to resolve payment disputes between insurers and out-of-network providers regarding the provision of healthcare services; to require the department to provide for the maintenance of an all-payer health claims data base; to provide for in-network cost-sharing amounts in healthcare plan contracts; to establish an arbitration process; to require the Commissioner of Insurance to contract with one or more resolution organizations; to require the promulgation of department rules; 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 888/AP*** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20192020/194379.pdf)
2. **LC 46 0246/a** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20192020/189358.pdf)
3. **LC 46 0275S/hs** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20192020/190084.pdf)
4. **LC 46 0302S/hcs** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20192020/191890.pdf)
5. **LC 46 0302S/hs** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20192020/191461.pdf)

## Votes

- PASSAGE — **164–4** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Calvin Smyre — primary (person)
- Eddie Lumsden — primary (person)
- Gerald Greene — primary (person)
- Jodi Lott — primary (person)
- Lee Hawkins — primary (person)
- Terry Rogers — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2020-02-04** House Hopper
- **2020-02-05** House First Readers `reading-1`
- **2020-02-18** House Second Readers `reading-2`
- **2020-02-19** House Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2020-02-19** House Withdrawn, Recommitted `withdrawal, referral-committee`
- **2020-02-28** House Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2020-03-03** House Third Readers `reading-3`
- **2020-03-03** House Passed/Adopted By Substitute `passage`
- **2020-03-04** Senate Read and Referred `referral-committee`
- **2020-06-15** Senate Committee Favorably Reported `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2020-06-16** Senate Read Second Time `reading-2`
- **2020-06-17** Senate Third Read `reading-3`
- **2020-06-17** Senate Passed/Adopted `passage`
- **2020-06-29** House Sent to Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2020-07-16** House Date Signed by Governor `executive-signature`
- **2020-07-16** Act 470 `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/e948a12d-1f05-4ab6-a978-70de61d3b87d`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Georgia legislature records).