---
type: "Bill"
title: "Civil practice; require depositions to be taken before certified court reporters"
description: "A BILL to be entitled an Act to amend Article 5 of Chapter 11 of Title 9 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to depositions and discovery, so as to require depositions in this state to be taken before certified court reporters; to repeal requirements that depositions in this state shall be recorded by stenographic means; to provide an effective date; to provide for related matters; to repeal conflicting laws; and for other purposes."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ga"
legislature: "Georgia General Assembly"
session: "2025_26"
identifier: "HB 1208"
citation: "Georgia HB 1208 (2025_26)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["CIVIL PRACTICE", "COURTS"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Esther Panitch", "James Burchett", "Rob Leverett", "Stan Gunter", "Trey Kelley", "Tyler Paul Smith"]
version_count: 4
action_count: 14
vote_count: 2
first_action: "2026-02-05"
last_action: "2026-05-05"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/17a6881a-a4c4-43c6-91a9-e5c296bf6268"
source_url: "http://webservices.legis.ga.gov/GGAServices/Legislation/Service.svc?wsdl"
source_hash: "111bfa194d335ea9189495e8c5f743fdd039851c525598314bb5ff216ddc80ea"
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 1208 (2025_26) — Civil practice; require depositions to be taken before certified court reporters

A BILL to be entitled an Act to amend Article 5 of Chapter 11 of Title 9 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to depositions and discovery, so as to require depositions in this state to be taken before certified court reporters; to repeal requirements that depositions in this state shall be recorded by stenographic means; to provide an effective date; 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. **HB 1208/AP*** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20252026/248115.pdf)
2. **LC 49 2566/a** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20252026/241644.pdf)
3. **LC 49 2659S/hcs** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20252026/245512.pdf)
4. **LC 49 2659S/hs** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20252026/243239.pdf)

## Votes

- Senate Vote #834 - 2025-2026 Regular Session — **48–0** (pass) · upper
- House Vote #689 - 2025-2026 Regular Session — **138–17** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Esther Panitch — primary (person)
- James Burchett — primary (person)
- Rob Leverett — primary (person)
- Stan Gunter — primary (person)
- Trey Kelley — primary (person)
- Tyler Paul Smith — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2026-02-05** House Hopper `introduction`
- **2026-02-06** House First Readers `reading-1`
- **2026-02-09** House Second Readers `reading-2`
- **2026-02-19** House Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2026-03-06** House Third Readers `reading-3`
- **2026-03-06** House Passed/Adopted By Substitute `passage`
- **2026-03-09** Senate Read and Referred `referral-committee`
- **2026-03-18** Senate Committee Favorably Reported `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2026-03-19** Senate Read Second Time `reading-2`
- **2026-03-27** Senate Third Read `reading-3`
- **2026-03-27** Senate Passed/Adopted `passage`
- **2026-04-06** House Sent to Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2026-05-05** House Date Signed by Governor `executive-signature`
- **2026-05-05** Act 387 `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/17a6881a-a4c4-43c6-91a9-e5c296bf6268`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Georgia legislature records).