---
type: "Bill"
title: "Courts; the Columbia Judicial Circuit and to be composed of Columbia County; create a new judicial circuit for the State of Georgia"
description: "A BILL to be entitled an Act to create a new judicial circuit for the State of Georgia, to be known as the Columbia Judicial Circuit and to be composed of Columbia County; to provide for the transfer of certain funds from the Augusta Judicial Circuit to the Columbia Judicial Circuit; to provide for and allocate circuit-wide costs and expenditures; to conform the county salary supplements for the judges of the Augusta Judicial Circuit; to amend Article 1 of Chapter 6 of Title 15 of the O.C.G.A., relating to general provisions regarding the superior courts, so as to revise the composition and terms of court of the Augusta Judicial Circuit; 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: "SB 9"
citation: "Georgia SB 9 (2021_22)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Bill Cowsert", "Brian Strickland", "Butch Miller", "Jeff Mullis", "John Kennedy", "Lee Anderson", "Max Burns"]
version_count: 7
action_count: 19
vote_count: 1
first_action: "2021-01-13"
last_action: "2021-07-01"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/4019c78b-488b-4def-9034-d118f0a4d019"
source_url: "http://webservices.legis.ga.gov/GGAServices/Legislation/Service.svc?wsdl"
source_hash: "73346be2dd6aa3e5b2a71cb603d2926dc559b33775f7545dfd271d43bcd93b14"
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 9 (2021_22) — Courts; the Columbia Judicial Circuit and to be composed of Columbia County; create a new judicial circuit for the State of Georgia

A BILL to be entitled an Act to create a new judicial circuit for the State of Georgia, to be known as the Columbia Judicial Circuit and to be composed of Columbia County; to provide for the transfer of certain funds from the Augusta Judicial Circuit to the Columbia Judicial Circuit; to provide for and allocate circuit-wide costs and expenditures; to conform the county salary supplements for the judges of the Augusta Judicial Circuit; to amend Article 1 of Chapter 6 of Title 15 of the O.C.G.A., relating to general provisions regarding the superior courts, so as to revise the composition and terms of court of the Augusta Judicial Circuit; 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. **As introduced LC 41 2749** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20212022/195752.pdf)
2. **As passed Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20212022/196462.pdf)
3. **Committee sub LC 41 2802S** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20212022/196141.pdf)
4. **Floor amend 1** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20212022/196415.pdf)
5. **Floor amend 2** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20212022/196424.pdf)
6. **LC 41 3086S/hss** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20212022/200452.pdf)
7. **SB 9/AP*** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20212022/201002.pdf)

## Votes

- PASSAGE BY SUBSTITUTE — **51–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Bill Cowsert — primary (person)
- Brian Strickland — primary (person)
- Butch Miller — primary (person)
- Jeff Mullis — primary (person)
- John Kennedy — primary (person)
- Lee Anderson — primary (person)
- Max Burns — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2021-01-13** Senate Hopper
- **2021-01-14** Senate Read and Referred `referral-committee`
- **2021-01-28** Senate Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2021-01-29** Senate Read Second Time `reading-2`
- **2021-02-01** Senate Third Read `reading-3`
- **2021-02-01** Senate Passed/Adopted By Substitute `passage`
- **2021-02-02** House First Readers `reading-1`
- **2021-02-03** House Second Readers `reading-2`
- **2021-02-04** House Committee Favorably Reported `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2021-03-11** House Withdrawn, Recommitted `referral-committee, withdrawal`
- **2021-03-16** House Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2021-03-22** House Third Readers `reading-3`
- **2021-03-22** House Passed/Adopted By Substitute `passage`
- **2021-03-22** House Immediately Transmitted to Senate
- **2021-03-22** Senate Agreed House Amend or Sub
- **2021-03-24** Senate Sent to Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2021-03-25** Senate Date Signed by Governor `executive-signature`
- **2021-03-25** Act 7 `executive-signature`
- **2021-07-01** Effective Date

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/4019c78b-488b-4def-9034-d118f0a4d019`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Georgia legislature records).