---
type: "Bill"
title: "Commerce; a litigation bar on governmental entities regarding certain statewide opioid litigation; provide"
description: "A BILL to be entitled an Act to amend Title 10 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to commerce, so as to provide for a litigation bar on governmental entities regarding certain statewide opioid litigation; to provide for legislative findings and intent; to provide for definitions; to provide for related matters; to provide an effective date; to repeal conflicting laws; and for other purposes."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ga"
legislature: "Georgia General Assembly"
session: "2021_22"
identifier: "SB 500"
citation: "Georgia SB 500 (2021_22)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Bill Cowsert", "Brian Strickland", "Harold Jones II", "John Kennedy", "Larry Walker, III", "Michael 'Doc' Rhett"]
version_count: 4
action_count: 15
vote_count: 1
first_action: "2022-02-11"
last_action: "2022-05-02"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/d4b134a3-471b-4e44-9e7f-29f0dbf848e3"
source_url: "http://webservices.legis.ga.gov/GGAServices/Legislation/Service.svc?wsdl"
source_hash: "f3d8d73bb9f567ca943bd5bead8b678b82dbee5b9bc29b44c545d627fe5ee3a7"
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 SB 500 (2021_22) — Commerce; a litigation bar on governmental entities regarding certain statewide opioid litigation; provide

A BILL to be entitled an Act to amend Title 10 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to commerce, so as to provide for a litigation bar on governmental entities regarding certain statewide opioid litigation; to provide for legislative findings and intent; to provide for definitions; to provide for related matters; to provide 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. **As introduced LC 44 1911** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20212022/206266.pdf)
2. **As passed Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20212022/207977.pdf)
3. **Committee sub LC 49 0881S** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20212022/207400.pdf)
4. **SB 500/AP*** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20212022/210564.pdf)

## Votes

- PASSAGE BY SUBSTITUTE — **52–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Bill Cowsert — primary (person)
- Brian Strickland — primary (person)
- Harold Jones II — primary (person)
- John Kennedy — primary (person)
- Larry Walker, III — primary (person)
- Michael 'Doc' Rhett — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2022-02-11** Senate Hopper
- **2022-02-14** Senate Read and Referred `referral-committee`
- **2022-02-24** Senate Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2022-02-28** Senate Read Second Time `reading-2`
- **2022-03-01** Senate Third Read `reading-3`
- **2022-03-01** Senate Passed/Adopted By Substitute `passage`
- **2022-03-03** House First Readers `reading-1`
- **2022-03-04** House Second Readers `reading-2`
- **2022-03-22** House Committee Favorably Reported `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2022-03-25** House Third Readers `reading-3`
- **2022-03-25** House Passed/Adopted `passage`
- **2022-04-07** Senate Sent to Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2022-05-02** Senate Date Signed by Governor `executive-signature`
- **2022-05-02** Act 729 `executive-signature`
- **2022-05-02** Effective Date

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/d4b134a3-471b-4e44-9e7f-29f0dbf848e3`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Georgia legislature records).