---
type: "Bill"
title: "Insurance; carriers issuing a health benefit plan in this state through an agent shall file proposed commission rates with the department; provide"
description: "A BILL to be entitled an Act to amend Code Section 33-24-59.23 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to carrier issuing health benefit plans to pay insurance agent's commissions and regulation authority, so as to provide that carriers issuing a health benefit plan in this state through an agent shall file proposed commission rates with the department; to provide that carriers that do not pay commission during special enrollments shall upon policy renewals pay such commission along with renewal commission; to provide for related matters; to provide for an effective date; to repeal conflicting laws; and for other purposes."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ga"
legislature: "Georgia General Assembly"
session: "2019_20"
identifier: "HB 716"
citation: "Georgia HB 716 (2019_20)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Richard Smith", "Shaw Blackmon"]
version_count: 2
action_count: 15
vote_count: 1
first_action: "2019-03-29"
last_action: "2021-01-01"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/4c38dc85-9c4e-4831-a3ae-dbb361c85139"
source_url: "http://webservices.legis.ga.gov/GGAServices/Legislation/Service.svc?wsdl"
source_hash: "6ca85b7d09be452ebc13b784bf8d00ff09f98188f88a544f2294383d35e6e5ca"
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 716 (2019_20) — Insurance; carriers issuing a health benefit plan in this state through an agent shall file proposed commission rates with the department; provide

A BILL to be entitled an Act to amend Code Section 33-24-59.23 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to carrier issuing health benefit plans to pay insurance agent's commissions and regulation authority, so as to provide that carriers issuing a health benefit plan in this state through an agent shall file proposed commission rates with the department; to provide that carriers that do not pay commission during special enrollments shall upon policy renewals pay such commission along with renewal commission; to provide for related matters; to provide for 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. **HB 716/AP*** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20192020/195314.pdf)
2. **LC 46 0176/a** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20192020/186822.pdf)

## Votes

- PASSAGE — **155–6** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Richard Smith — primary (person)
- Shaw Blackmon — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2019-03-29** House Hopper
- **2019-04-02** House First Readers `reading-1`
- **2020-01-13** House Second Readers `reading-2`
- **2020-02-05** House Committee Favorably Reported `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2020-02-20** House Third Readers `reading-3`
- **2020-02-20** House Passed/Adopted `passage`
- **2020-02-21** Senate Read and Referred `referral-committee`
- **2020-06-23** Senate Committee Favorably Reported `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2020-06-23** Senate Read Second Time `reading-2`
- **2020-06-25** Senate Third Read `reading-3`
- **2020-06-25** Senate Passed/Adopted `passage`
- **2020-06-29** House Sent to Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2020-08-04** House Date Signed by Governor `executive-signature`
- **2020-08-04** Act 565 `executive-signature`
- **2021-01-01** Effective Date

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/4c38dc85-9c4e-4831-a3ae-dbb361c85139`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Georgia legislature records).