---
type: "Bill"
title: "Domestic relations; protection for household pets in both family violence and dating violence protective orders; provide"
description: "A BILL to be entitled an Act to amend Title 19 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to domestic relations, so as to provide protection for household pets in both family violence and dating violence protective orders; to provide for a definition and an exclusion; 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 177"
citation: "Georgia HB 177 (2025_26)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["ANIMALS", "DOMESTIC RELATIONS"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Deborah Silcox", "Kasey Carpenter", "Kimberly New", "Matt Reeves", "Sharon Cooper"]
version_count: 2
action_count: 17
vote_count: 2
first_action: "2025-01-29"
last_action: "2025-07-01"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/b2e39786-65ae-4172-af1c-ae32c3c2c7d5"
source_url: "http://webservices.legis.ga.gov/GGAServices/Legislation/Service.svc?wsdl"
source_hash: "9e6809969816fddf4161940f6e61bd4822a4e846dd441a34edbe98eb7716f7a6"
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 177 (2025_26) — Domestic relations; protection for household pets in both family violence and dating violence protective orders; provide

A BILL to be entitled an Act to amend Title 19 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to domestic relations, so as to provide protection for household pets in both family violence and dating violence protective orders; to provide for a definition and an exclusion; 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 177/AP*** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20252026/239059.pdf)
2. **LC 57 0200/a** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20252026/230689.pdf)

## Votes

- House Vote #46 - 2025-2026 Regular Session — **164–3** (pass) · lower
- Senate Vote #431 - 2025-2026 Regular Session — **52–1** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Deborah Silcox — primary (person)
- Kasey Carpenter — primary (person)
- Kimberly New — primary (person)
- Matt Reeves — primary (person)
- Sharon Cooper — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2025-01-29** House Hopper `introduction`
- **2025-01-30** House First Readers `reading-1`
- **2025-02-03** House Second Readers `reading-2`
- **2025-02-12** House Committee Favorably Reported `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2025-02-19** House Third Readers `reading-3`
- **2025-02-19** House Passed/Adopted `passage`
- **2025-02-20** 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
- **2025-04-02** Senate Taken from Table
- **2025-04-02** Senate Third Read `reading-3`
- **2025-04-02** Senate Passed/Adopted `passage`
- **2025-04-08** House Sent to Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2025-05-13** House Date Signed by Governor `executive-signature`
- **2025-05-13** Act 189 `executive-signature`
- **2025-07-01** Effective Date

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/b2e39786-65ae-4172-af1c-ae32c3c2c7d5`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Georgia legislature records).