---
type: "Bill"
title: "Motor vehicles; prohibit actions which distract a driver while operating a motor vehicle; provisions"
description: "A BILL to be entitled an Act to amend Title 40 of the O.C.G.A., relating to motor vehicles and traffic, so as to prohibit actions which distract a driver while operating a motor vehicle; to provide for the proper and safe use of wireless telecommunications devices while driving; to provide for definitions; to provide for violations; to provide for punishments; to provide for the assessment of points upon conviction; to provide for additional fines to be collected by the Department of Driver Services; to provide for applicability; to provide for punishments for homicide by vehicle and for serious bodily injury by vehicle when driver was operating such motor vehicle while using a wireless telecommunications device; to correct cross-references; 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 673"
citation: "Georgia HB 673 (2017_18)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Bill Hitchens", "Eddie Lumsden", "John Carson", "Rich Golick", "Richard Smith", "Robert Trammell"]
version_count: 0
action_count: 18
vote_count: 1
first_action: "2018-01-10"
last_action: "2018-07-01"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/5d379f5c-a9c9-4b69-bf6f-7792123dfb0c"
source_url: "http://webservices.legis.ga.gov/GGAServices/Legislation/Service.svc?wsdl"
source_hash: "f10d0471000c37c320ee4dce6d9a605f7673daeac095191f6169e05ba17103c3"
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 673 (2017_18) — Motor vehicles; prohibit actions which distract a driver while operating a motor vehicle; provisions

A BILL to be entitled an Act to amend Title 40 of the O.C.G.A., relating to motor vehicles and traffic, so as to prohibit actions which distract a driver while operating a motor vehicle; to provide for the proper and safe use of wireless telecommunications devices while driving; to provide for definitions; to provide for violations; to provide for punishments; to provide for the assessment of points upon conviction; to provide for additional fines to be collected by the Department of Driver Services; to provide for applicability; to provide for punishments for homicide by vehicle and for serious bodily injury by vehicle when driver was operating such motor vehicle while using a wireless telecommunications device; to correct cross-references; 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

- AM 39 0225 — **36–136** (fail) · lower

## Sponsors

- Bill Hitchens — primary (person)
- Eddie Lumsden — primary (person)
- John Carson — primary (person)
- Rich Golick — primary (person)
- Richard Smith — primary (person)
- Robert Trammell — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2018-01-10** House Hopper
- **2018-01-11** House First Readers `reading-1`
- **2018-01-18** House Second Readers `reading-2`
- **2018-02-22** House Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2018-02-28** House Third Readers `reading-3`
- **2018-02-28** House Passed/Adopted By Substitute `passage`
- **2018-03-01** Senate Read and Referred `referral-committee`
- **2018-03-23** Senate Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2018-03-23** Senate Read Second Time `reading-2`
- **2018-03-27** Senate Third Read `reading-3`
- **2018-03-27** Senate Passed/Adopted By Substitute `passage`
- **2018-03-29** House Agreed Senate Amend or Sub As Amended
- **2018-03-29** Senate Agreed House Amend or Sub As Amended
- **2018-03-29** House Agreed Senate Amend or Sub
- **2018-04-06** House Sent to Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2018-05-02** House Date Signed by Governor `executive-signature`
- **2018-05-02** Act 298 `executive-signature`
- **2018-07-01** Effective Date

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/5d379f5c-a9c9-4b69-bf6f-7792123dfb0c`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Georgia legislature records).