---
type: "Bill"
title: "Judicial Legal Defense Fund Commission; establish"
description: "A BILL to be entitled an Act to amend Article 4 of Chapter 15 of Title 45 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to counsel for public officials and agencies, so as to provide for a process for state-funded representation of certain judges in legal actions resulting from performance or nonperformance of their official duties; to provide for a definition; to establish the Judicial Legal Defense Fund; to establish the Judicial Legal Defense Fund Commission; to provide for appointments and duties; to provide for requirements; 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 409"
citation: "Georgia HB 409 (2021_22)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Barry Fleming", "Bert Reeves", "Chuck Efstration", "Mary Oliver", "Stan Gunter", "Trey Kelley"]
version_count: 7
action_count: 24
vote_count: 1
first_action: "2021-02-10"
last_action: "2022-07-01"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/2a9b1662-6ac0-485d-bc83-168df607d8a5"
source_url: "http://webservices.legis.ga.gov/GGAServices/Legislation/Service.svc?wsdl"
source_hash: "b18250ec6f4b7ca84458f50f1d7823c1755e87f34e45b6670cd14cc3822ffb1f"
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 409 (2021_22) — Judicial Legal Defense Fund Commission; establish

A BILL to be entitled an Act to amend Article 4 of Chapter 15 of Title 45 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to counsel for public officials and agencies, so as to provide for a process for state-funded representation of certain judges in legal actions resulting from performance or nonperformance of their official duties; to provide for a definition; to establish the Judicial Legal Defense Fund; to establish the Judicial Legal Defense Fund Commission; to provide for appointments and duties; to provide for requirements; 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. **Floor Amendment AM 41 0547** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20212022/202157.pdf)
2. **HB 409/AP*** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20212022/211738.pdf)
3. **LC 41 2893/a** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20212022/197375.pdf)
4. **LC 41 2952S/hcs** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20212022/199052.pdf)
5. **LC 41 2952S/hs** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20212022/198578.pdf)
6. **LC 44 2102S/CCR** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20212022/211076.pdf)
7. **Sen ctee sub LC 41 3152S** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20212022/201347.pdf)

## Votes

- PASSAGE — **134–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Barry Fleming — primary (person)
- Bert Reeves — primary (person)
- Chuck Efstration — primary (person)
- Mary Oliver — primary (person)
- Stan Gunter — primary (person)
- Trey Kelley — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2021-02-10** House Hopper
- **2021-02-11** House First Readers `reading-1`
- **2021-02-16** House Second Readers `reading-2`
- **2021-02-24** House Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2021-02-26** House Third Readers `reading-3`
- **2021-02-26** House Passed/Adopted By Substitute `passage`
- **2021-03-01** Senate Read and Referred `referral-committee`
- **2021-03-25** Senate Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2021-03-25** Senate Read Second Time `reading-2`
- **2021-03-29** Senate Tabled
- **2021-03-29** Senate Taken from Table
- **2021-03-29** Senate Third Read `reading-3`
- **2021-03-29** Senate Passed/Adopted By Substitute `passage`
- **2021-03-31** House Agreed Senate Amend or Sub As Amended
- **2021-03-31** Senate Insisted
- **2021-03-31** House Insisted
- **2021-03-31** House Conference Committee Appointed 8th, 121st, 104th
- **2021-03-31** Senate Conference Committee Appointed 50th, 17th, 18th
- **2022-04-01** Senate Conference Committee Report Adopted
- **2022-04-01** House Conference Committee Report Adopted
- **2022-04-07** House Sent to Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2022-05-02** House Date Signed by Governor `executive-signature`
- **2022-05-02** Act 810 `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/2a9b1662-6ac0-485d-bc83-168df607d8a5`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Georgia legislature records).