---
type: "Bill"
title: "Pharmacists and Pharmacies; provide for substitutions of interchangeable biological products"
description: "A BILL to be entitled an Act to amend Chapter 4 of Title 26 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to pharmacists and pharmacies, so as to provide for substitutions of interchangeable biological products; to define certain terms; to provide for requirements and limitations; to provide for related matters; to repeal conflicting laws; and for other purposes."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ga"
legislature: "Georgia General Assembly"
session: "2015_16"
identifier: "SB 51"
citation: "Georgia SB 51 (2015_16)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Ben Watson", "Brandon Beach", "Butch Miller", "Charlie Bethel", "Chuck Hufstetler", "Dean Burke", "Fran Millar", "Greg Kirk", "Hunter Hill", "Nan Orrock", "Steve Henson"]
version_count: 5
action_count: 16
vote_count: 1
first_action: "2015-01-16"
last_action: "2015-07-01"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/6c18c06b-ebf0-46ba-acf8-a5ea0bae14ee"
source_url: "http://webservices.legis.ga.gov/GGAServices/Legislation/Service.svc?wsdl"
source_hash: "049f22275dc802d50f8d31a8fe948741960f62e05af0d9e6044ab772d7509c0d"
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 51 (2015_16) — Pharmacists and Pharmacies; provide for substitutions of interchangeable biological products

A BILL to be entitled an Act to amend Chapter 4 of Title 26 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to pharmacists and pharmacies, so as to provide for substitutions of interchangeable biological products; to define certain terms; to provide for requirements and limitations; 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. **As introduced LC 37 1863ER** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20152016/145655.pdf)
2. **As passed Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20152016/148517.pdf)
3. **Committee sub LC 37 1893ERS** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20152016/148109.pdf)
4. **LC 37 1979S/hss** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20152016/152452.pdf)
5. **SB 51/AP*** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20152016/152456.pdf)

## Votes

- PASSAGE BY SUBSTITUTE — **47–1** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Ben Watson — primary (person)
- Brandon Beach — primary (person)
- Butch Miller — primary (person)
- Charlie Bethel — primary (person)
- Chuck Hufstetler — primary (person)
- Dean Burke — primary (person)
- Fran Millar — primary (person)
- Greg Kirk — primary (person)
- Hunter Hill — primary (person)
- Nan Orrock — primary (person)
- Steve Henson — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2015-01-16** Senate Hopper
- **2015-01-26** Senate Read and Referred `referral-committee`
- **2015-02-17** Senate Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2015-02-18** Senate Read Second Time `reading-2`
- **2015-02-19** Senate Third Read `reading-3`
- **2015-02-19** Senate Passed/Adopted By Substitute `passage`
- **2015-02-20** House First Readers `reading-1`
- **2015-02-23** House Second Readers `reading-2`
- **2015-03-11** House Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2015-03-20** House Third Readers `reading-3`
- **2015-03-20** House Passed/Adopted By Substitute `passage`
- **2015-03-25** Senate Agreed House Amend or Sub
- **2015-04-09** Senate Sent to Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2015-05-06** Senate Date Signed by Governor `executive-signature`
- **2015-05-06** Act 189 `executive-signature`
- **2015-07-01** Effective Date

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/6c18c06b-ebf0-46ba-acf8-a5ea0bae14ee`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Georgia legislature records).