---
type: "Bill"
title: "Education; High-demand Career Initiatives Program as the High Demand Apprenticeship Program; redesignate"
description: "A BILL to be entitled an Act to amend Chapter 4 of Title 20 of the O.C.G.A., relating to vocational, technical, and adult education, so as to redesignate the High-demand Career Initiatives Program as the High Demand Apprenticeship Program; to provide for definitions; to provide for rules and regulations; to provide for a repealer; to amend Code Section 20-2-161.4 of the O.C.G.A., relating to accessing HOPE scholarship funds for dual enrolled students and termination, so as to make a conforming change; to provide for related matters; to repeal conflicting laws; and for other purposes."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ga"
legislature: "Georgia General Assembly"
session: "2023_24"
identifier: "SB 497"
citation: "Georgia SB 497 (2023_24)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Billy Hickman", "Brandon Beach", "Jason Esteves", "John Albers", "Sonya Halpern"]
version_count: 5
action_count: 17
vote_count: 3
first_action: "2024-02-13"
last_action: "2024-07-01"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/888b7bd3-9b1d-45e4-be47-c4e8ae6507ad"
source_url: "http://webservices.legis.ga.gov/GGAServices/Legislation/Service.svc?wsdl"
source_hash: "e2871ef2897fe286ee7ae0fd399a10613b0396a71e2b0523dd951bb621117758"
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 497 (2023_24) — Education; High-demand Career Initiatives Program as the High Demand Apprenticeship Program; redesignate

A BILL to be entitled an Act to amend Chapter 4 of Title 20 of the O.C.G.A., relating to vocational, technical, and adult education, so as to redesignate the High-demand Career Initiatives Program as the High Demand Apprenticeship Program; to provide for definitions; to provide for rules and regulations; to provide for a repealer; to amend Code Section 20-2-161.4 of the O.C.G.A., relating to accessing HOPE scholarship funds for dual enrolled students and termination, so as to make a conforming change; 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.

1. **As Introduced LC 49 1788** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20232024/223952.pdf)
2. **As Passed Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20232024/225877.pdf)
3. **Committee sub LC 49 1826S** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20232024/225063.pdf)
4. **LC 49 1885S/hss** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20232024/227040.pdf)
5. **SB 497/AP*** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20232024/229108.pdf)

## Votes

- Senate Vote #789 - 2023-2024 Regular Session — **52–1** (pass) · upper
- Senate Vote #575 - 2023-2024 Regular Session — **52–1** (pass) · upper
- House Vote #772 - 2023-2024 Regular Session — **171–1** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Billy Hickman — primary (person)
- Brandon Beach — primary (person)
- Jason Esteves — primary (person)
- John Albers — primary (person)
- Sonya Halpern — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2024-02-13** Senate Hopper `introduction`
- **2024-02-15** Senate Read and Referred `referral-committee`
- **2024-02-22** Senate Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2024-02-26** Senate Read Second Time `reading-2`
- **2024-02-27** Senate Third Read `reading-3`
- **2024-02-27** Senate Passed/Adopted By Substitute `passage`
- **2024-02-29** House First Readers `reading-1`
- **2024-03-04** House Second Readers `reading-2`
- **2024-03-13** House Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2024-03-21** House Postponed
- **2024-03-26** House Third Readers `reading-3`
- **2024-03-26** House Passed/Adopted By Substitute `passage`
- **2024-03-26** Senate Agreed House Amend or Sub
- **2024-04-02** Senate Sent to Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2024-05-02** Senate Date Signed by Governor `executive-signature`
- **2024-05-02** Act 560 `executive-signature`
- **2024-07-01** Effective Date

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/888b7bd3-9b1d-45e4-be47-c4e8ae6507ad`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Georgia legislature records).