---
type: "Bill"
title: "Criminal procedure; revise certain arrest powers; provisions"
description: "A BILL to be entitled an Act to amend Title 17 of the O.C.G.A., relating to criminal procedure, so as to revise certain arrest powers; to provide for arrests by a law enforcement officer outside of the jurisdiction of his or her employing law enforcement agency under certain circumstances; to revise the grounds for arrest by a private person; to repeal in its entirety Article 4 of Chapter 4, relating to arrest by private persons; to amend Article 5 of Chapter 2 of Title 35 of the O.C.G.A., relating to motor carrier compliance division; to amend Chapter 38 of Title 43 of the O.C.G.A., relating to operators of private detective businesses and private security businesses; to amend Article 4 of Chapter 7 of Title 51 of the O.C.G.A., relating to detention or arrest on suspicion of shoplifting or film piracy; to provide for related matters; to provide for an effective date and applicability; to repeal conflicting laws; and for other purposes."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ga"
legislature: "Georgia General Assembly"
session: "2021_22"
identifier: "HB 479"
citation: "Georgia HB 479 (2021_22)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Bert Reeves", "Buddy DeLoach", "Carl Gilliard", "Don Hogan", "Gloria Frazier", "William Boddie"]
version_count: 5
action_count: 18
vote_count: 1
first_action: "2021-02-16"
last_action: "2021-05-10"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/d2a8721a-c122-455a-86e4-f88bb10e5d02"
source_url: "http://webservices.legis.ga.gov/GGAServices/Legislation/Service.svc?wsdl"
source_hash: "1182bcf137b6ba20c23e0836f3c05dbb734d019e7162324bdafb3aa6a8837408"
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 479 (2021_22) — Criminal procedure; revise certain arrest powers; provisions

A BILL to be entitled an Act to amend Title 17 of the O.C.G.A., relating to criminal procedure, so as to revise certain arrest powers; to provide for arrests by a law enforcement officer outside of the jurisdiction of his or her employing law enforcement agency under certain circumstances; to revise the grounds for arrest by a private person; to repeal in its entirety Article 4 of Chapter 4, relating to arrest by private persons; to amend Article 5 of Chapter 2 of Title 35 of the O.C.G.A., relating to motor carrier compliance division; to amend Chapter 38 of Title 43 of the O.C.G.A., relating to operators of private detective businesses and private security businesses; to amend Article 4 of Chapter 7 of Title 51 of the O.C.G.A., relating to detention or arrest on suspicion of shoplifting or film piracy; to provide for related matters; to provide for an effective date and applicability; 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 479/AP*** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20212022/202470.pdf)
2. **LC 41 2942-EC/a** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20212022/197751.pdf)
3. **LC 41 3075-ECS/hcs** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20212022/200005.pdf)
4. **LC 41 3075-ECS/hs** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20212022/199634.pdf)
5. **Sen floor amend 1 AM 41 0539** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20212022/201886.pdf)

## Votes

- PASSAGE — **173–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Bert Reeves — primary (person)
- Buddy DeLoach — primary (person)
- Carl Gilliard — primary (person)
- Don Hogan — primary (person)
- Gloria Frazier — primary (person)
- William Boddie — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2021-02-16** House Hopper
- **2021-02-17** House First Readers `reading-1`
- **2021-02-18** House Second Readers `reading-2`
- **2021-03-05** House Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2021-03-08** House Third Readers `reading-3`
- **2021-03-08** House Passed/Adopted By Substitute `passage`
- **2021-03-09** Senate Read and Referred `referral-committee`
- **2021-03-18** Senate Committee Favorably Reported `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2021-03-22** Senate Read Second Time `reading-2`
- **2021-03-29** Senate Tabled
- **2021-03-29** Senate Taken from Table
- **2021-03-29** Senate Third Read `reading-3`
- **2021-03-29** Senate Passed/Adopted As Amended `passage`
- **2021-03-31** House Agreed Senate Amend or Sub
- **2021-04-09** House Sent to Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2021-05-10** House Date Signed by Governor `executive-signature`
- **2021-05-10** Act 264 `executive-signature`
- **2021-05-10** Effective Date

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/d2a8721a-c122-455a-86e4-f88bb10e5d02`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Georgia legislature records).