---
type: "Bill"
title: "Natural Resources, Department of; certain notice upon registration of a vessel; provide"
description: "A BILL to be entitled an Act to amend Chapter 7 of Title 52 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to registration, operation, and sale of watercraft, so as to provide for certain notice upon registration of a vessel with the Department of Natural Resources; to provide for performance of unattended vessel checks; to authorize restitution to the Department of Natural Resources for the cost of removal, storage, and disposal of abandoned vessels; to provide for definitions; to provide for related matters; to repeal conflicting laws; and for other purposes."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ga"
legislature: "Georgia General Assembly"
session: "2025_26"
identifier: "HB 115"
citation: "Georgia HB 115 (2025_26)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["WATERS", "PORTS", "AND WATERCRAFT"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Bill Hitchens", "Buddy DeLoach", "Jesse Petrea", "Lehman Franklin", "Rick Townsend", "Ron Stephens"]
version_count: 4
action_count: 19
vote_count: 2
first_action: "2025-01-17"
last_action: "2026-07-01"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/244d9dbd-703e-4eff-891e-85166b940d59"
source_url: "http://webservices.legis.ga.gov/GGAServices/Legislation/Service.svc?wsdl"
source_hash: "aff1ad9ee40f380f0fd31b1e008f6229b0a5bb598f8b8048a3fe37460f49ea06"
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 115 (2025_26) — Natural Resources, Department of; certain notice upon registration of a vessel; provide

A BILL to be entitled an Act to amend Chapter 7 of Title 52 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to registration, operation, and sale of watercraft, so as to provide for certain notice upon registration of a vessel with the Department of Natural Resources; to provide for performance of unattended vessel checks; to authorize restitution to the Department of Natural Resources for the cost of removal, storage, and disposal of abandoned vessels; to provide for definitions; 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 115/AP*** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20252026/245689.pdf)
2. **LC 39 4491/a** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20252026/230213.pdf)
3. **LC 39 4617S/hcs** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20252026/233921.pdf)
4. **LC 39 4617S/hs** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20252026/232845.pdf)

## Votes

- Senate Vote #704 - 2025-2026 Regular Session — **51–0** (pass) · upper
- House Vote #80 - 2025-2026 Regular Session — **164–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Bill Hitchens — primary (person)
- Buddy DeLoach — primary (person)
- Jesse Petrea — primary (person)
- Lehman Franklin — primary (person)
- Rick Townsend — primary (person)
- Ron Stephens — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2025-01-17** House Hopper `introduction`
- **2025-01-27** House First Readers `reading-1`
- **2025-01-28** House Second Readers `reading-2`
- **2025-02-19** House Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2025-02-26** House Third Readers `reading-3`
- **2025-02-26** House Passed/Adopted By Substitute `passage`
- **2025-02-27** Senate Read and Referred `referral-committee`
- **2025-03-20** Senate Committee Favorably Reported `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2025-03-21** Senate Read Second Time `reading-2`
- **2025-04-02** Senate Tabled
- **2026-01-12** Senate Taken from Table
- **2026-01-12** Senate Recommitted `referral-committee`
- **2026-02-24** Senate Committee Favorably Reported `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2026-03-10** Senate Third Read `reading-3`
- **2026-03-10** Senate Passed/Adopted `passage`
- **2026-04-06** House Sent to Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2026-05-11** House Date Signed by Governor `executive-signature`
- **2026-05-11** Act 434 `executive-signature`
- **2026-07-01** Effective Date

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/244d9dbd-703e-4eff-891e-85166b940d59`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Georgia legislature records).