---
type: "Bill"
title: "Appellate practice; digital recording of certain trial proceedings; provide"
description: "A BILL to be entitled an Act to amend Article 2 of Chapter 6 of Title 5 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating appellate practice, so as to provide for the digital recording of certain trial proceedings; to amend Article 2 of Chapter 14 of Title 9 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to procedure for persons under sentence of state court of record, so as to provide for digital recording of certain felony trial proceedings; to amend Title 15 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to courts, so as to provide for the digital recording of certain Georgia State-wide Business Court proceedings; to provide for the utilization and regulation of digital recording systems; to provide for definitions; 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: "2025_26"
identifier: "HB 179"
citation: "Georgia HB 179 (2025_26)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["APPEAL AND ERROR", "CIVIL PRACTICE", "COURTS", "CRIMINAL PROCEDURE"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Rob Leverett", "Soo Hong", "Stacey Evans", "Stan Gunter", "Tyler Paul Smith"]
version_count: 5
action_count: 16
vote_count: 3
first_action: "2025-01-29"
last_action: "2026-01-01"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/d975fe7b-e5f7-4d3e-ae8d-b5f996c8cf2b"
source_url: "http://webservices.legis.ga.gov/GGAServices/Legislation/Service.svc?wsdl"
source_hash: "72741b00101a21738ea8e79b1f0750bcd347a1d2e622e0a83524137b32af01c0"
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 179 (2025_26) — Appellate practice; digital recording of certain trial proceedings; provide

A BILL to be entitled an Act to amend Article 2 of Chapter 6 of Title 5 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating appellate practice, so as to provide for the digital recording of certain trial proceedings; to amend Article 2 of Chapter 14 of Title 9 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to procedure for persons under sentence of state court of record, so as to provide for digital recording of certain felony trial proceedings; to amend Title 15 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to courts, so as to provide for the digital recording of certain Georgia State-wide Business Court proceedings; to provide for the utilization and regulation of digital recording systems; to provide for definitions; 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. **HB 179/AP*** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20252026/239304.pdf)
2. **LC 48 1407/a** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20252026/230698.pdf)
3. **LC 48 1561S/hcs** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20252026/235236.pdf)
4. **LC 48 1561S/hs** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20252026/234541.pdf)
5. **Sen Ctee Sub LC 48 1604S** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20252026/237491.pdf)

## Votes

- House Vote #172 - 2025-2026 Regular Session — **169–0** (pass) · lower
- House Vote #412 - 2025-2026 Regular Session — **167–0** (pass) · lower
- Senate Vote #390 - 2025-2026 Regular Session — **52–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Rob Leverett — primary (person)
- Soo Hong — primary (person)
- Stacey Evans — primary (person)
- Stan Gunter — primary (person)
- Tyler Paul Smith — 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`
- **2025-02-28** House Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2025-03-04** House Third Readers `reading-3`
- **2025-03-04** House Passed/Adopted By Substitute `passage`
- **2025-03-06** Senate Read and Referred `referral-committee`
- **2025-03-27** Senate Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2025-03-27** Senate Read Second Time `reading-2`
- **2025-04-02** Senate Third Read `reading-3`
- **2025-04-02** Senate Passed/Adopted By Substitute `passage`
- **2025-04-04** House Agreed Senate Amend or Sub
- **2025-04-10** House Sent to Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2025-04-30** House Date Signed by Governor `executive-signature`
- **2025-04-30** Act 23 `executive-signature`
- **2026-01-01** Effective Date

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/d975fe7b-e5f7-4d3e-ae8d-b5f996c8cf2b`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Georgia legislature records).