---
type: "Bill"
title: "Motor vehicles; presentation of a driver's license in a certain electronic format; provisions"
description: "A BILL to be entitled an Act to amend Article 2 of Chapter 5 of Title 40 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to issuance, expiration, and renewal of drivers' licenses, so as to provide that presentation of a driver's license in a certain electronic format satisfies the requirement to possess a driver's license while operating a motor vehicle; to prohibit the compelling of a licensee to produce a wireless telecommunications device to a law enforcement officer; 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 296"
citation: "Georgia HB 296 (2025_26)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["ELECTIONS", "GAME AND FISH", "MOTOR VEHICLES AND TRAFFIC", "REVENUE AND TAXATION"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Houston Gaines", "John Corbett", "Marcus Wiedower", "Scott Hilton", "Shaw Blackmon", "Trey Kelley"]
version_count: 7
action_count: 20
vote_count: 5
first_action: "2025-02-05"
last_action: "2025-07-01"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/b437eae0-3988-4474-804e-26d6d06a5d00"
source_url: "http://webservices.legis.ga.gov/GGAServices/Legislation/Service.svc?wsdl"
source_hash: "e6359cca3923957d829b67904282110d12f92bd59b83ef41b9fc5b0f1bcf4dd0"
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 296 (2025_26) — Motor vehicles; presentation of a driver's license in a certain electronic format; provisions

A BILL to be entitled an Act to amend Article 2 of Chapter 5 of Title 40 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to issuance, expiration, and renewal of drivers' licenses, so as to provide that presentation of a driver's license in a certain electronic format satisfies the requirement to possess a driver's license while operating a motor vehicle; to prohibit the compelling of a licensee to produce a wireless telecommunications device to a law enforcement officer; 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 296/AP*** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20252026/239322.pdf)
2. **LC 39 4423/a** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20252026/231498.pdf)
3. **LC 39 4599S/hs** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20252026/232052.pdf)
4. **LC 39 4667S/hcs** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20252026/234787.pdf)
5. **LC 39 4667S/hs** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20252026/233779.pdf)
6. **Sen Floor Amend 1 AM 50 0135** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20252026/239237.pdf)
7. **Sen Floor Amend 2 AM 39 0492** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20252026/239243.pdf)

## Votes

- Senate Vote #482 - 2025-2026 Regular Session — **13–39** (fail) · upper
- Senate Vote #481 - 2025-2026 Regular Session — **51–2** (pass) · upper
- Senate Vote #483 - 2025-2026 Regular Session — **51–3** (pass) · upper
- House Vote #448 - 2025-2026 Regular Session — **163–3** (pass) · lower
- House Vote #124 - 2025-2026 Regular Session — **154–17** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Houston Gaines — primary (person)
- John Corbett — primary (person)
- Marcus Wiedower — primary (person)
- Scott Hilton — primary (person)
- Shaw Blackmon — primary (person)
- Trey Kelley — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2025-02-05** House Hopper `introduction`
- **2025-02-06** House First Readers `reading-1`
- **2025-02-10** House Second Readers `reading-2`
- **2025-02-11** House Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2025-02-24** House Withdrawn, Recommitted `referral-committee, withdrawal`
- **2025-02-26** House Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2025-03-03** House Third Readers `reading-3`
- **2025-03-03** House Passed/Adopted By Substitute `passage`
- **2025-03-04** Senate Read and Referred `referral-committee`
- **2025-03-11** Senate Committee Favorably Reported `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2025-03-13** Senate Read Second Time `reading-2`
- **2025-04-02** Senate Tabled
- **2025-04-04** Senate Taken from Table
- **2025-04-04** Senate Third Read `reading-3`
- **2025-04-04** Senate Passed/Adopted As Amended `passage`
- **2025-04-04** House Agreed Senate Amend or Sub
- **2025-04-10** House Sent to Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2025-05-14** House Date Signed by Governor `executive-signature`
- **2025-05-14** Act 256 `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/b437eae0-3988-4474-804e-26d6d06a5d00`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Georgia legislature records).