---
type: "Bill"
title: "Sentence and Punishment; any time after conviction; defendant convicted of an offense and sentenced as a direct result of being a victim of trafficking for labor or sexual servitude may petition the sentencing court to grant the relief of vacatur; provide"
description: "A BILL to be entitled an Act to amend Article 1 of Chapter 10 of Title 17 of the O.C.G.A., relating to procedure for sentencing and imposition of punishment, so as to provide that at any time after conviction for a misdemeanor or felony offense a defendant convicted of an offense and sentenced as a direct result of being a victim of trafficking for labor or sexual servitude may petition the sentencing court to grant the relief of vacatur; 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 565"
citation: "Georgia SB 565 (2021_22)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Brian Strickland", "Harold Jones II", "John Albers", "Kay Kirkpatrick", "Michael 'Doc' Rhett"]
version_count: 5
action_count: 18
vote_count: 1
first_action: "2022-02-24"
last_action: "2022-05-09"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/b9ed2228-4372-4e6e-b076-139ca00f5c7d"
source_url: "http://webservices.legis.ga.gov/GGAServices/Legislation/Service.svc?wsdl"
source_hash: "4ee65c0debad2114c5d684a12d367790dbf1d2940b328b5951ad22693835a0df"
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 565 (2021_22) — Sentence and Punishment; any time after conviction; defendant convicted of an offense and sentenced as a direct result of being a victim of trafficking for labor or sexual servitude may petition the sentencing court to grant the relief of vacatur; provide

A BILL to be entitled an Act to amend Article 1 of Chapter 10 of Title 17 of the O.C.G.A., relating to procedure for sentencing and imposition of punishment, so as to provide that at any time after conviction for a misdemeanor or felony offense a defendant convicted of an offense and sentenced as a direct result of being a victim of trafficking for labor or sexual servitude may petition the sentencing court to grant the relief of vacatur; 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 49 0839** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20212022/207678.pdf)
2. **As passed Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20212022/209370.pdf)
3. **Committee sub LC 49 0935S** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20212022/208782.pdf)
4. **LC 48 0600S/hss** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20212022/210028.pdf)
5. **SB 565/AP*** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20212022/211267.pdf)

## Votes

- PASSAGE BY SUBSTITUTE — **49–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Brian Strickland — primary (person)
- Harold Jones II — primary (person)
- John Albers — primary (person)
- Kay Kirkpatrick — primary (person)
- Michael 'Doc' Rhett — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2022-02-24** Senate Hopper
- **2022-02-28** Senate Read and Referred `referral-committee`
- **2022-03-09** Senate Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2022-03-11** Senate Read Second Time `reading-2`
- **2022-03-15** Senate Tabled
- **2022-03-15** Senate Taken from Table
- **2022-03-15** Senate Third Read `reading-3`
- **2022-03-15** Senate Passed/Adopted By Substitute `passage`
- **2022-03-16** House First Readers `reading-1`
- **2022-03-17** House Second Readers `reading-2`
- **2022-03-23** House Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2022-03-28** House Third Readers `reading-3`
- **2022-03-28** House Passed/Adopted By Substitute `passage`
- **2022-03-30** Senate Agreed House Amend or Sub
- **2022-04-07** Senate Sent to Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2022-05-09** Senate Date Signed by Governor `executive-signature`
- **2022-05-09** Act 834 `executive-signature`
- **2022-05-09** Effective Date

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/b9ed2228-4372-4e6e-b076-139ca00f5c7d`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Georgia legislature records).