---
type: "Bill"
title: "Self-funded Healthcare Plan Opt-in to the Surprise Billing Consumer Protection Act; enact"
description: "A BILL to be entitled an Act to amend Title 33 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to insurance, so as to provide an option for self-funded healthcare plans, exempt from state regulation under federal law, to opt in to Georgia's Surprise Billing Consumer Protection Act; to provide for definitions; to provide for a short title; to provide for legislative findings; to provide for an effective date; to repeal conflicting laws; and for other purposes."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ga"
legislature: "Georgia General Assembly"
session: "2021_22"
identifier: "HB 234"
citation: "Georgia HB 234 (2021_22)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Calvin Smyre", "David Knight", "Jodi Lott", "Lee Hawkins", "Mark Newton", "Stan Gunter"]
version_count: 2
action_count: 17
vote_count: 1
first_action: "2021-02-01"
last_action: "2021-04-29"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/0204f5a2-d527-4adb-ab1b-0995b033b7de"
source_url: "http://webservices.legis.ga.gov/GGAServices/Legislation/Service.svc?wsdl"
source_hash: "b0e376b3e03c2513a38037987b4bf1451a36af11659cf629e0f63bff95c99ae3"
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 234 (2021_22) — Self-funded Healthcare Plan Opt-in to the Surprise Billing Consumer Protection Act; enact

A BILL to be entitled an Act to amend Title 33 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to insurance, so as to provide an option for self-funded healthcare plans, exempt from state regulation under federal law, to opt in to Georgia's Surprise Billing Consumer Protection Act; to provide for definitions; to provide for a short title; to provide for legislative findings; 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.

1. **HB 234/AP*** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20212022/201144.pdf)
2. **LC 46 0375/a** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20212022/196459.pdf)

## Votes

- PASSAGE — **165–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Calvin Smyre — primary (person)
- David Knight — primary (person)
- Jodi Lott — primary (person)
- Lee Hawkins — primary (person)
- Mark Newton — primary (person)
- Stan Gunter — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2021-02-01** House Hopper
- **2021-02-02** House First Readers `reading-1`
- **2021-02-03** House Second Readers `reading-2`
- **2021-02-11** House Committee Favorably Reported `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2021-02-22** House Third Readers `reading-3`
- **2021-02-22** House Passed/Adopted `passage`
- **2021-02-23** Senate Read and Referred `referral-committee`
- **2021-03-11** Senate Committee Favorably Reported `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2021-03-15** Senate Read Second Time `reading-2`
- **2021-03-18** Senate Tabled
- **2021-03-22** Senate Taken from Table
- **2021-03-22** Senate Third Read `reading-3`
- **2021-03-22** Senate Passed/Adopted `passage`
- **2021-04-05** House Sent to Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2021-04-29** House Date Signed by Governor `executive-signature`
- **2021-04-29** Act 36 `executive-signature`
- **2021-04-29** Effective Date

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/0204f5a2-d527-4adb-ab1b-0995b033b7de`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Georgia legislature records).