---
type: "Bill"
title: "Mining and drilling; regulate exploration and extraction of gas and oil; provisions"
description: "A BILL to be entitled an Act to amend Article 2 of Chapter 4 of Title 12 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to mining and drilling, so as to regulate the exploration and extraction of gas and oil in this state; to provide for a definition; to provide for authority to create an Oil and Gas Board under certain circumstances; to require the promulgation of rules and regulations related to drilling and extraction; to amend provisions relating to drilling permits; to increase the amount of bond security for drilling operations; to provide for authority of local governments; to impose a severance tax on the extraction of oil and gas; to provide for related matters; to repeal conflicting laws; and for other purposes."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ga"
legislature: "Georgia General Assembly"
session: "2017_18"
identifier: "HB 205"
citation: "Georgia HB 205 (2017_18)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Bruce Broadrick", "Eddie Lumsden", "Jason Ridley", "John Meadows", "Katie Dempsey", "Rick Jasperse"]
version_count: 0
action_count: 22
vote_count: 1
first_action: "2017-02-01"
last_action: "2018-05-08"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/ff1a8aa1-7878-44eb-b8e2-4b53198c9c25"
source_url: "http://webservices.legis.ga.gov/GGAServices/Legislation/Service.svc?wsdl"
source_hash: "4435f850961f2ab6497ead448855423a6d2bfa022d26000c160aeb4e939d0d0e"
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 205 (2017_18) — Mining and drilling; regulate exploration and extraction of gas and oil; provisions

A BILL to be entitled an Act to amend Article 2 of Chapter 4 of Title 12 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to mining and drilling, so as to regulate the exploration and extraction of gas and oil in this state; to provide for a definition; to provide for authority to create an Oil and Gas Board under certain circumstances; to require the promulgation of rules and regulations related to drilling and extraction; to amend provisions relating to drilling permits; to increase the amount of bond security for drilling operations; to provide for authority of local governments; to impose a severance tax on the extraction of oil and gas; 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.


## Votes

- PASSAGE — **162–1** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Bruce Broadrick — primary (person)
- Eddie Lumsden — primary (person)
- Jason Ridley — primary (person)
- John Meadows — primary (person)
- Katie Dempsey — primary (person)
- Rick Jasperse — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2017-02-01** House Hopper
- **2017-02-02** House First Readers `reading-1`
- **2017-02-07** House Second Readers `reading-2`
- **2017-02-21** House Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2017-02-23** House Third Readers `reading-3`
- **2017-02-23** House Passed/Adopted By Substitute `passage`
- **2017-02-24** Senate Read and Referred `referral-committee`
- **2017-03-14** Senate Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2017-03-15** Senate Read Second Time `reading-2`
- **2017-03-24** Senate Third Read `reading-3`
- **2017-03-24** Senate Passed/Adopted By Substitute `passage`
- **2017-03-28** House Agreed Senate Amend or Sub As Amended
- **2017-03-30** Senate Disagreed House Amend or Sub
- **2017-03-30** House Insisted
- **2017-03-30** House Conference Committee Appointed 5th, 36th, 106th
- **2017-03-30** Senate Conference Committee Appointed 25th, 52nd, 49th
- **2018-01-29** House Conference Committee Report Adopted
- **2018-03-09** Senate Conference Committee Report Adopted
- **2018-04-02** House Sent to Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2018-05-08** House Date Signed by Governor `executive-signature`
- **2018-05-08** Act 481 `executive-signature`
- **2018-05-08** Effective Date

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/ff1a8aa1-7878-44eb-b8e2-4b53198c9c25`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Georgia legislature records).