---
type: "Bill"
title: "Hemp farming; definitions, penalties and criminal background checks; provide"
description: "A BILL to be entitled an Act to amend Chapter 23 of Title 2 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to hemp farming, so as to provide definitions; to provide for penalties; to provide for criminal background checks; to provide for compliance with federal laws and regulations; to provide for hemp nursery licensees; to provide for license and permit fees; to provide for testing of hemp samples; to provide for destruction of noncompliant hemp; to provide for violations of the state hemp plan; 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 847"
citation: "Georgia HB 847 (2019_20)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Carl Gilliard", "Jimmy Pruett", "John Corbett", "Robert Dickey", "Tom McCall"]
version_count: 5
action_count: 16
vote_count: 1
first_action: "2020-01-29"
last_action: "2020-07-22"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/d4e8b687-c486-44ee-bf40-34e06beb9c12"
source_url: "http://webservices.legis.ga.gov/GGAServices/Legislation/Service.svc?wsdl"
source_hash: "de1157925de4c94adeecc7068932d14b2ded2431979041030752bafa76c91403"
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 847 (2019_20) — Hemp farming; definitions, penalties and criminal background checks; provide

A BILL to be entitled an Act to amend Chapter 23 of Title 2 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to hemp farming, so as to provide definitions; to provide for penalties; to provide for criminal background checks; to provide for compliance with federal laws and regulations; to provide for hemp nursery licensees; to provide for license and permit fees; to provide for testing of hemp samples; to provide for destruction of noncompliant hemp; to provide for violations of the state hemp plan; 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 847/AP*** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20192020/194589.pdf)
2. **LC 44 1336/a** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20192020/188798.pdf)
3. **LC 44 1414S/hs** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20192020/189913.pdf)
4. **LC 44 1462S/RCS** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20192020/192334.pdf)
5. **LC 44 1462S/rcs** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20192020/192136.pdf)

## Votes

- PASSAGE — **159–7** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Carl Gilliard — primary (person)
- Jimmy Pruett — primary (person)
- John Corbett — primary (person)
- Robert Dickey — primary (person)
- Tom McCall — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2020-01-29** House Hopper
- **2020-01-30** House First Readers `reading-1`
- **2020-01-31** House Second Readers `reading-2`
- **2020-02-18** House Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2020-03-05** House Third Readers `reading-3`
- **2020-03-05** House Passed/Adopted By Substitute `passage`
- **2020-03-09** Senate Read and Referred `referral-committee`
- **2020-06-18** Senate Committee Favorably Reported `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2020-06-19** Senate Read Second Time `reading-2`
- **2020-06-22** Senate Third Read `reading-3`
- **2020-06-22** Senate Passed/Adopted `passage`
- **2020-06-22** Senate Transmitted House
- **2020-06-29** House Sent to Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2020-07-22** House Date Signed by Governor `executive-signature`
- **2020-07-22** Act 484 `executive-signature`
- **2020-07-22** Effective Date

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/d4e8b687-c486-44ee-bf40-34e06beb9c12`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Georgia legislature records).