---
type: "Bill"
title: "Local government; probate judges shall be elected in nonpartisan elections; provide - CA"
description: "A RESOLUTION proposing an amendment to the Constitution so as to provide that all probate judges shall be elected in nonpartisan elections; to provide for related matters; to provide for submission of this amendment for ratification or rejection; and for other purposes."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ga"
legislature: "Georgia General Assembly"
session: "2025_26"
identifier: "HR 251"
citation: "Georgia HR 251 (2025_26)"
classification: ["resolution"]
subjects: ["COURTS", "ELECTIONS", "LOCAL GOVERNMENT"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Chuck Efstration", "Holt Persinger", "James Burchett", "Kimberly New", "Mitchell Scoggins", "Tyler Paul Smith"]
version_count: 2
action_count: 20
vote_count: 4
first_action: "2025-02-12"
last_action: "2026-07-01"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/4aa2639c-c209-4a80-8855-cd2fe8879423"
source_url: "http://webservices.legis.ga.gov/GGAServices/Legislation/Service.svc?wsdl"
source_hash: "cb9ae6de7c966534e10409ecc2f9e82f9a4c224514ac9ecca00def7dbf911fea"
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 HR 251 (2025_26) — Local government; probate judges shall be elected in nonpartisan elections; provide - CA

A RESOLUTION proposing an amendment to the Constitution so as to provide that all probate judges shall be elected in nonpartisan elections; to provide for related matters; to provide for submission of this amendment for ratification or rejection; and for other purposes.

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **HR 251/AP*** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20252026/248549.pdf)
2. **LC 47 3339/a** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20252026/232307.pdf)

## Votes

- Senate Vote #877 - 2025-2026 Regular Session — **46–0** (pass) · upper
- Senate Vote #758 - 2025-2026 Regular Session — **32–5** (pass) · upper
- House Vote #504 - 2025-2026 Regular Session — **147–20** (pass) · lower
- Senate Vote #749 - 2025-2026 Regular Session — **31–18** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Chuck Efstration — primary (person)
- Holt Persinger — primary (person)
- James Burchett — primary (person)
- Kimberly New — primary (person)
- Mitchell Scoggins — primary (person)
- Tyler Paul Smith — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2025-02-12** House Hopper `introduction`
- **2025-02-13** House First Readers `reading-1`
- **2025-02-18** House Second Readers `reading-2`
- **2025-02-21** House Committee Favorably Reported `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2025-04-04** House Withdrawn, Recommitted `referral-committee, withdrawal`
- **2026-01-28** House Committee Favorably Reported `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2026-02-11** House Third Readers `reading-3`
- **2026-02-11** House Passed/Adopted `passage`
- **2026-02-12** Senate Read and Referred `referral-committee`
- **2026-03-10** Senate Committee Favorably Reported `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2026-03-12** Senate Read Second Time `reading-2`
- **2026-03-19** Senate Third Read `reading-3`
- **2026-03-19** Senate Lost `failure, reading-3`
- **2026-03-19** Senate Notice to Reconsider
- **2026-03-20** Senate Reconsidered
- **2026-03-31** Senate Reconsidered Passed/Adopted
- **2026-04-07** House Sent to Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2026-05-12** House Date Signed by Governor `executive-signature`
- **2026-05-12** Act 638 `executive-signature`
- **2026-07-01** Effective Date

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/4aa2639c-c209-4a80-8855-cd2fe8879423`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Georgia legislature records).