---
type: "Bill"
title: "Fair Employment Practices Act of 1978; provide hearing before an administrative law judge; change provisions"
description: "A BILL to be entitled an Act to amend Article 2 of Chapter 19 of Title 45 of the O.C.G.A., the \"Fair Employment Practices Act of 1978,\" so as to provide for hearing before an administrative law judge; to change provisions relating to the appointment of hearing officers; to provide for a definition; to provide the administrator of the Commission on Equal Opportunity with the power to order discovery; to change certain provisions relating to the filing, amending, and investigation of a complaint regarding an unlawful practice; to change provisions relating to an appeal seeking a review of a final order by a hearing officer and a review of a dismissal of a complaint by the administrator; to provide penalty for willful failure; to provide testimony or discovery; to provide for related matters; to repeal conflicting laws; and for other purposes."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ga"
legislature: "Georgia General Assembly"
session: "2023_24"
identifier: "HB 563"
citation: "Georgia HB 563 (2023_24)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Matt Reeves", "Reynaldo Martinez", "Rob Leverett", "Scott Holcomb", "Stacey Evans", "Stan Gunter"]
version_count: 3
action_count: 19
vote_count: 3
first_action: "2023-02-22"
last_action: "2024-07-01"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/b6378570-b0d5-4890-b341-79e0590e1d13"
source_url: "http://webservices.legis.ga.gov/GGAServices/Legislation/Service.svc?wsdl"
source_hash: "40797778499f44d7fbacd61f3bb0c3de47dfd4e5ea30c4409d99fcdf5793b75b"
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 563 (2023_24) — Fair Employment Practices Act of 1978; provide hearing before an administrative law judge; change provisions

A BILL to be entitled an Act to amend Article 2 of Chapter 19 of Title 45 of the O.C.G.A., the "Fair Employment Practices Act of 1978," so as to provide for hearing before an administrative law judge; to change provisions relating to the appointment of hearing officers; to provide for a definition; to provide the administrator of the Commission on Equal Opportunity with the power to order discovery; to change certain provisions relating to the filing, amending, and investigation of a complaint regarding an unlawful practice; to change provisions relating to an appeal seeking a review of a final order by a hearing officer and a review of a dismissal of a complaint by the administrator; to provide penalty for willful failure; to provide testimony or discovery; 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. **HB 563/AP*** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20232024/228435.pdf)
2. **LC 44 2294/a** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20232024/215643.pdf)
3. **Sen Ctee sub LC 49 1882S** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20232024/226379.pdf)

## Votes

- House Vote #207 - 2023-2024 Regular Session — **175–0** (pass) · lower
- Senate Vote #643 - 2023-2024 Regular Session — **46–0** (pass) · upper
- House Vote #741 - 2023-2024 Regular Session — **158–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Matt Reeves — primary (person)
- Reynaldo Martinez — primary (person)
- Rob Leverett — primary (person)
- Scott Holcomb — primary (person)
- Stacey Evans — primary (person)
- Stan Gunter — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2023-02-22** House Hopper `introduction`
- **2023-02-23** House First Readers `reading-1`
- **2023-02-27** House Second Readers `reading-2`
- **2023-03-01** House Committee Favorably Reported `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2023-03-06** House Third Readers `reading-3`
- **2023-03-06** House Passed/Adopted `passage`
- **2023-03-07** Senate Read and Referred `referral-committee`
- **2023-03-13** Senate Withdrawn & Recommitted `referral-committee, withdrawal`
- **2023-03-21** Senate Committee Favorably Reported `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2023-03-21** Senate Read Second Time `reading-2`
- **2024-01-08** Senate Recommitted `referral-committee`
- **2024-03-05** Senate Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2024-03-11** Senate Third Read `reading-3`
- **2024-03-11** Senate Passed/Adopted By Substitute `passage`
- **2024-03-21** House Agreed Senate Amend or Sub
- **2024-04-01** House Sent to Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2024-04-22** House Date Signed by Governor `executive-signature`
- **2024-04-22** Act 395 `executive-signature`
- **2024-07-01** Effective Date

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/b6378570-b0d5-4890-b341-79e0590e1d13`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Georgia legislature records).