---
type: "Bill"
title: "General Assembly; authorization of statutory investigatory powers to certain committees of the General Assembly; codify a process"
description: "A BILL to be entitled an Act to amend Chapter 1 of Title 28 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to general provisions regarding the General Assembly, so as to codify a process for the authorization of statutory investigatory powers to certain committees of the General Assembly; to provide for oaths and subpoena powers related to such investigatory powers; to provide for confidentiality of certain materials; to explicitly preserve any authority, immunity, privilege, or power granted to or possessed by the General Assembly or its members; to provide for related matters; to provide an effective date; to repeal conflicting laws; and for other purposes."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ga"
legislature: "Georgia General Assembly"
session: "2025_26"
identifier: "SB 255"
citation: "Georgia SB 255 (2025_26)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["GENERAL ASSEMBLY"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Bill Cowsert"]
version_count: 4
action_count: 16
vote_count: 3
first_action: "2025-02-25"
last_action: "2025-05-14"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/13a3b1b6-6a74-4ceb-8632-52643d10566a"
source_url: "http://webservices.legis.ga.gov/GGAServices/Legislation/Service.svc?wsdl"
source_hash: "fa12c9546870293b85b1a001c2336db8796f46aa1a16440119cc8a84b7b2f721"
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 SB 255 (2025_26) — General Assembly; authorization of statutory investigatory powers to certain committees of the General Assembly; codify a process

A BILL to be entitled an Act to amend Chapter 1 of Title 28 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to general provisions regarding the General Assembly, so as to codify a process for the authorization of statutory investigatory powers to certain committees of the General Assembly; to provide for oaths and subpoena powers related to such investigatory powers; to provide for confidentiality of certain materials; to explicitly preserve any authority, immunity, privilege, or power granted to or possessed by the General Assembly or its members; to provide for related matters; to provide 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. **As Passed Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20252026/235504.pdf)
2. **As introduced LC 47 3461** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20252026/233833.pdf)
3. **LC 47 3681S/hss** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20252026/237449.pdf)
4. **SB 255/AP*** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20252026/239533.pdf)

## Votes

- Senate Vote #183 - 2025-2026 Regular Session — **33–23** (pass) · upper
- Senate Vote #451 - 2025-2026 Regular Session — **31–22** (pass) · upper
- House Vote #402 - 2025-2026 Regular Session — **91–67** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Bill Cowsert — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2025-02-25** Senate Hopper `introduction`
- **2025-02-26** Senate Read and Referred `referral-committee`
- **2025-03-03** Senate Committee Favorably Reported `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2025-03-04** Senate Read Second Time `reading-2`
- **2025-03-06** Senate Third Read `reading-3`
- **2025-03-06** Senate Passed/Adopted `passage`
- **2025-03-10** House First Readers `reading-1`
- **2025-03-11** House Second Readers `reading-2`
- **2025-03-27** House Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2025-04-02** House Third Readers `reading-3`
- **2025-04-02** House Passed/Adopted By Substitute `passage`
- **2025-04-04** Senate Agreed House Amend or Sub
- **2025-04-10** Senate Sent to Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2025-05-14** Senate Date Signed by Governor `executive-signature`
- **2025-05-14** Act 314 `executive-signature`
- **2025-05-14** Effective Date

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/13a3b1b6-6a74-4ceb-8632-52643d10566a`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Georgia legislature records).