---
type: "Bill"
title: "Bonds and Recognizances; appointed judges who are fulfilling a vacancy of an elected judge to issue an unsecured judicial release under certain circumstances; authorize"
description: "A BILL to be entitled an Act to amend Article 1 of Chapter 6 of Title 17 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to general provisions regarding bonds and recognizances, so as to authorize appointed judges who are fulfilling a vacancy of an elected judge to issue an unsecured judicial release under certain circumstances; to provide for related matters; 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: "SB 174"
citation: "Georgia SB 174 (2021_22)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Bill Cowsert", "Jeff Mullis", "Larry Walker, III", "Matt Brass", "Steve Gooch"]
version_count: 4
action_count: 16
vote_count: 1
first_action: "2021-02-11"
last_action: "2021-05-04"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/4e0c6c96-7fcf-43f2-ba02-71d03a40339d"
source_url: "http://webservices.legis.ga.gov/GGAServices/Legislation/Service.svc?wsdl"
source_hash: "a57ce92531bc2c375ec87bd934c2f6f5b8b87af4cebddc0169e08f3e16865e07"
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 174 (2021_22) — Bonds and Recognizances; appointed judges who are fulfilling a vacancy of an elected judge to issue an unsecured judicial release under certain circumstances; authorize

A BILL to be entitled an Act to amend Article 1 of Chapter 6 of Title 17 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to general provisions regarding bonds and recognizances, so as to authorize appointed judges who are fulfilling a vacancy of an elected judge to issue an unsecured judicial release under certain circumstances; to provide for related matters; 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. **As introduced LC 41 2894** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20212022/197607.pdf)
2. **As passed Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20212022/198981.pdf)
3. **LC 41 3177S/hss** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20212022/201645.pdf)
4. **SB 174/AP*** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20212022/202543.pdf)

## Votes

- PASSAGE — **50–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Bill Cowsert — primary (person)
- Jeff Mullis — primary (person)
- Larry Walker, III — primary (person)
- Matt Brass — primary (person)
- Steve Gooch — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2021-02-11** Senate Hopper
- **2021-02-16** Senate Read and Referred `referral-committee`
- **2021-02-24** Senate Committee Favorably Reported `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2021-02-25** Senate Read Second Time `reading-2`
- **2021-02-26** Senate Third Read `reading-3`
- **2021-02-26** Senate Passed/Adopted `passage`
- **2021-03-01** House First Readers `reading-1`
- **2021-03-03** House Second Readers `reading-2`
- **2021-03-25** House Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2021-03-31** House Third Readers `reading-3`
- **2021-03-31** House Passed/Adopted By Substitute `passage`
- **2021-03-31** Senate Agreed House Amend or Sub
- **2021-04-07** Senate Sent to Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2021-05-04** Senate Date Signed by Governor `executive-signature`
- **2021-05-04** Act 216 `executive-signature`
- **2021-05-04** Effective Date

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/4e0c6c96-7fcf-43f2-ba02-71d03a40339d`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Georgia legislature records).