---
type: "Bill"
title: "Labor and industrial relations; workers' compensation benefits; change certain provisions"
description: "A BILL to be entitled an Act to amend Chapter 9 of Title 34 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to workers' compensation, so as to change certain provisions related to workers' compensation benefits; to increase the compensation benefits for total disability and temporary partial disability; to increase the total compensation payable to a surviving spouse as a sole dependent at the time of death; to provide for related matters; to repeal conflicting laws; and for other purposes."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ga"
legislature: "Georgia General Assembly"
session: "2021_22"
identifier: "HB 1409"
citation: "Georgia HB 1409 (2021_22)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Bill Werkheiser"]
version_count: 2
action_count: 17
vote_count: 1
first_action: "2022-02-22"
last_action: "2022-07-01"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/462f28bd-c816-4163-a9f7-23ef87ef220a"
source_url: "http://webservices.legis.ga.gov/GGAServices/Legislation/Service.svc?wsdl"
source_hash: "e398f8db4caef756499f22abc02ee7276a79fd9d647e8646d14253021773422a"
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 1409 (2021_22) — Labor and industrial relations; workers' compensation benefits; change certain provisions

A BILL to be entitled an Act to amend Chapter 9 of Title 34 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to workers' compensation, so as to change certain provisions related to workers' compensation benefits; to increase the compensation benefits for total disability and temporary partial disability; to increase the total compensation payable to a surviving spouse as a sole dependent at the time of death; 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 1409/AP*** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20212022/212185.pdf)
2. **LC 36 5168/a** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20212022/207188.pdf)

## Votes

- PASSAGE — **158–1** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Bill Werkheiser — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2022-02-22** House Hopper
- **2022-02-24** House First Readers `reading-1`
- **2022-02-28** House Second Readers `reading-2`
- **2022-03-03** House Committee Favorably Reported `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2022-03-11** House Third Readers `reading-3`
- **2022-03-11** House Passed/Adopted `passage`
- **2022-03-15** Senate Read and Referred `referral-committee`
- **2022-03-23** Senate Committee Favorably Reported `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2022-03-25** Senate Read Second Time `reading-2`
- **2022-04-01** Senate Tabled
- **2022-04-04** Senate Taken from Table
- **2022-04-04** Senate Third Read `reading-3`
- **2022-04-04** Senate Passed/Adopted `passage`
- **2022-04-06** House Sent to Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2022-05-02** House Date Signed by Governor `executive-signature`
- **2022-05-02** Act 781 `executive-signature`
- **2022-07-01** Effective Date

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/462f28bd-c816-4163-a9f7-23ef87ef220a`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Georgia legislature records).