---
type: "Bill"
title: "Child Custody Intrastate Jurisdiction Act; party may bring a counterclaim for contempt in response to a complaint seeking a change of legal or physical custody; provide"
description: "A BILL to be entitled an Act to amend Article 2 of Chapter 9 of Title 19 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to the Child Custody Intrastate Jurisdiction Act, so as to provide that a party may bring a counterclaim for contempt or enforcement of a child custody order or for modification of legal or physical custody in response to a complaint seeking a change of legal or physical custody; to revise definitions; to provide that a party may make a cross-motion or counterclaim for contempt or enforcement of a child custody order in response to a motion for contempt or enforcement of a custody order; 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: "SB 190"
citation: "Georgia SB 190 (2019_20)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Bill Cowsert", "Jeff Mullis", "Jesse Stone", "John Albers", "John Kennedy", "William Ligon, Jr."]
version_count: 5
action_count: 18
vote_count: 1
first_action: "2019-02-25"
last_action: "2019-07-01"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/f26ed038-2381-4903-af83-f3997fa2db16"
source_url: "http://webservices.legis.ga.gov/GGAServices/Legislation/Service.svc?wsdl"
source_hash: "75c07911d098f9c52c977565255b21fd42be1cb6fed62e32b6afcdc84b66b95d"
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 SB 190 (2019_20) — Child Custody Intrastate Jurisdiction Act; party may bring a counterclaim for contempt in response to a complaint seeking a change of legal or physical custody; provide

A BILL to be entitled an Act to amend Article 2 of Chapter 9 of Title 19 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to the Child Custody Intrastate Jurisdiction Act, so as to provide that a party may bring a counterclaim for contempt or enforcement of a child custody order or for modification of legal or physical custody in response to a complaint seeking a change of legal or physical custody; to revise definitions; to provide that a party may make a cross-motion or counterclaim for contempt or enforcement of a child custody order in response to a motion for contempt or enforcement of a custody order; 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. **As Introduced LC 41 1839** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20192020/182779.pdf)
2. **As passed Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20192020/183966.pdf)
3. **LC 41 2024S/hss** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20192020/186465.pdf)
4. **LC 48 0135S/hrs** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20192020/187151.pdf)
5. **SB 190/AP*** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20192020/187423.pdf)

## Votes

- PASSAGE — **52–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Bill Cowsert — primary (person)
- Jeff Mullis — primary (person)
- Jesse Stone — primary (person)
- John Albers — primary (person)
- John Kennedy — primary (person)
- William Ligon, Jr. — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2019-02-25** Senate Hopper
- **2019-02-26** Senate Read and Referred `referral-committee`
- **2019-02-28** Senate Committee Favorably Reported `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2019-03-01** Senate Read Second Time `reading-2`
- **2019-03-07** Senate Third Read `reading-3`
- **2019-03-07** Senate Passed/Adopted `passage`
- **2019-03-08** House First Readers `reading-1`
- **2019-03-11** House Second Readers `reading-2`
- **2019-03-28** House Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2019-03-29** House Postponed
- **2019-04-02** House Withdrawn, Recommitted `withdrawal, referral-committee`
- **2019-04-02** House Third Readers `reading-3`
- **2019-04-02** House Passed/Adopted By Substitute `passage`
- **2019-04-02** Senate Agreed House Amend or Sub
- **2019-04-09** Senate Sent to Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2019-05-07** Senate Date Signed by Governor `executive-signature`
- **2019-05-07** Act 281 `executive-signature`
- **2019-07-01** Effective Date

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/f26ed038-2381-4903-af83-f3997fa2db16`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Georgia legislature records).