---
type: "Bill"
title: "Bryan County; State Court; provide for a chief judge and an associate judge"
description: "A BILL to be entitled an Act to amend an Act establishing the State Court of Bryan County (formerly the City Court of Pembroke), approved January 10, 1938 (Ga. L. 1937-38, Ex. Sess., p. 714), as amended, particularly by an Act approved May 1, 2023 (Ga. L. 2023, p. 3851), so as to provide for a chief judge; to provide for an associate judge; to provide for the initial appointment of such associate judge by the Governor; to provide for the elections and terms of office of the judges of the court; to provide for compensation of the associate judge; to provide an effective date and applicability; 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 722"
citation: "Georgia HB 722 (2025_26)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Jesse Petrea", "Lehman Franklin", "Ron Stephens"]
version_count: 3
action_count: 13
vote_count: 2
first_action: "2025-03-04"
last_action: "2025-05-01"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/fecf57d6-acf1-4c7b-8757-dabc24ab67fb"
source_url: "http://webservices.legis.ga.gov/GGAServices/Legislation/Service.svc?wsdl"
source_hash: "060bb848613a9bd68e7d77497655298e4883eeeea7dca4010fa5f8b1fafc8465"
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 722 (2025_26) — Bryan County; State Court; provide for a chief judge and an associate judge

A BILL to be entitled an Act to amend an Act establishing the State Court of Bryan County (formerly the City Court of Pembroke), approved January 10, 1938 (Ga. L. 1937-38, Ex. Sess., p. 714), as amended, particularly by an Act approved May 1, 2023 (Ga. L. 2023, p. 3851), so as to provide for a chief judge; to provide for an associate judge; to provide for the initial appointment of such associate judge by the Governor; to provide for the elections and terms of office of the judges of the court; to provide for compensation of the associate judge; to provide an effective date and applicability; 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 722/AP*** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20252026/237139.pdf)
2. **LC 62 0117/a** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20252026/235106.pdf)
3. **Local Ad** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20252026/235144.pdf)

## Votes

- House Vote #273 - 2025-2026 Regular Session — **169–0** (pass) · lower
- Senate Vote #277 - 2025-2026 Regular Session — **52–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Jesse Petrea — primary (person)
- Lehman Franklin — primary (person)
- Ron Stephens — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2025-03-04** House Hopper `introduction`
- **2025-03-06** House First Readers `reading-1`
- **2025-03-10** House Second Readers `reading-2`
- **2025-03-13** House Committee Favorably Reported `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2025-03-13** House Third Readers `reading-3`
- **2025-03-13** House Passed/Adopted `passage`
- **2025-03-18** Senate Read and Referred `referral-committee`
- **2025-03-25** Senate Committee Favorably Reported `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2025-03-25** Senate Passed/Adopted `passage`
- **2025-04-07** House Sent to Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2025-05-01** House Date Signed by Governor `executive-signature`
- **2025-05-01** Act 60 `executive-signature`
- **2025-05-01** Effective Date

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/fecf57d6-acf1-4c7b-8757-dabc24ab67fb`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Georgia legislature records).