---
type: "Bill"
title: "Alapaha Judicial Circuit; superior courts; provide for an additional judge"
description: "A BILL to be entitled an Act to amend Code Section 15-6-2 of the O.C.G.A., relating to the number of judges of superior courts, so as to provide for an additional judge of the superior courts of the Alapaha Judicial Circuit; to provide for the appointment and term of such additional judge by the Governor; to provide for related matters; to provide for effective dates; to repeal conflicting laws; and for other purposes."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ga"
legislature: "Georgia General Assembly"
session: "2025_26"
identifier: "HB 55"
citation: "Georgia HB 55 (2025_26)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["COURTS"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Chas Cannon", "Chuck Efstration", "Jaclyn Ford", "James Burchett", "John Corbett", "Stan Gunter"]
version_count: 5
action_count: 18
vote_count: 3
first_action: "2025-01-14"
last_action: "2025-05-13"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/11ee0f06-933f-4f38-af20-e0112c01d0bf"
source_url: "http://webservices.legis.ga.gov/GGAServices/Legislation/Service.svc?wsdl"
source_hash: "823cf12c1f8d300f03795e2cc1d8aed21619ed92bc4533aaad7634ea54e99472"
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 55 (2025_26) — Alapaha Judicial Circuit; superior courts; provide for an additional judge

A BILL to be entitled an Act to amend Code Section 15-6-2 of the O.C.G.A., relating to the number of judges of superior courts, so as to provide for an additional judge of the superior courts of the Alapaha Judicial Circuit; to provide for the appointment and term of such additional judge by the Governor; to provide for related matters; to provide for effective dates; 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 55/AP*** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20252026/237189.pdf)
2. **LC 44 2914/a** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20252026/229920.pdf)
3. **LC 48 1425S/hcs** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20252026/232232.pdf)
4. **LC 48 1425S/hs** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20252026/231350.pdf)
5. **Sen Ctee Sub LC 44 3067S** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20252026/235820.pdf)

## Votes

- Senate Vote #254 - 2025-2026 Regular Session — **51–1** (pass) · upper
- House Vote #314 - 2025-2026 Regular Session — **166–0** (pass) · lower
- House Vote #27 - 2025-2026 Regular Session — **166–1** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Chas Cannon — primary (person)
- Chuck Efstration — primary (person)
- Jaclyn Ford — primary (person)
- James Burchett — primary (person)
- John Corbett — primary (person)
- Stan Gunter — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2025-01-14** House Hopper `introduction`
- **2025-01-15** House First Readers `reading-1`
- **2025-01-16** House Second Readers `reading-2`
- **2025-01-29** House Committee Favorably Reported `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2025-01-30** House Withdrawn, Recommitted `referral-committee, withdrawal`
- **2025-02-04** House Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2025-02-12** House Third Readers `reading-3`
- **2025-02-12** House Passed/Adopted By Substitute `passage`
- **2025-02-13** Senate Read and Referred `referral-committee`
- **2025-03-11** Senate Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2025-03-13** Senate Read Second Time `reading-2`
- **2025-03-20** Senate Third Read `reading-3`
- **2025-03-20** Senate Passed/Adopted By Substitute `passage`
- **2025-03-25** House Agreed Senate Amend or Sub
- **2025-04-07** House Sent to Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2025-05-13** House Date Signed by Governor `executive-signature`
- **2025-05-13** Act 171 `executive-signature`
- **2025-05-13** Effective Date

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/11ee0f06-933f-4f38-af20-e0112c01d0bf`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Georgia legislature records).