---
type: "Bill"
title: "Homelessness Prevention Act of Chatham County; enact"
description: "A BILL to be entitled an Act to create the Interagency Council on Homelessness for Chatham-Savannah; to provide for a short title and definitions; to provide for findings; to confer powers and impose duties on the authority; to provide for the membership of the authority and their terms of office; to provide for meetings; to provide for a quorum; to provide for venue; to provide for tax exemptions from levy and sale; to provide for liberal construction; 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 797"
citation: "Georgia HB 797 (2025_26)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Bill Hitchens", "Carl Gilliard", "Jesse Petrea", "Ron Stephens"]
version_count: 3
action_count: 13
vote_count: 2
first_action: "2025-03-18"
last_action: "2025-05-01"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/92595e9f-c64f-4c14-bec7-a3aab784639a"
source_url: "http://webservices.legis.ga.gov/GGAServices/Legislation/Service.svc?wsdl"
source_hash: "7537cf28cd7f2df78034304f3cf43e8e58132d565d1e5a2389a2ff5de2088d04"
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 797 (2025_26) — Homelessness Prevention Act of Chatham County; enact

A BILL to be entitled an Act to create the Interagency Council on Homelessness for Chatham-Savannah; to provide for a short title and definitions; to provide for findings; to confer powers and impose duties on the authority; to provide for the membership of the authority and their terms of office; to provide for meetings; to provide for a quorum; to provide for venue; to provide for tax exemptions from levy and sale; to provide for liberal construction; 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 797/AP*** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20252026/238125.pdf)
2. **LC 62 0142/a** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20252026/236320.pdf)
3. **Local Ad** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20252026/236378.pdf)

## Votes

- House Vote #317 - 2025-2026 Regular Session — **164–0** (pass) · lower
- Senate Vote #339 - 2025-2026 Regular Session — **49–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Bill Hitchens — primary (person)
- Carl Gilliard — primary (person)
- Jesse Petrea — primary (person)
- Ron Stephens — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2025-03-18** House Hopper `introduction`
- **2025-03-20** House First Readers `reading-1`
- **2025-03-21** House Second Readers `reading-2`
- **2025-03-27** House Committee Favorably Reported `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2025-03-27** House Third Readers `reading-3`
- **2025-03-27** House Passed/Adopted `passage`
- **2025-03-28** Senate Read and Referred `referral-committee`
- **2025-03-31** Senate Committee Favorably Reported `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2025-03-31** Senate Passed/Adopted `passage`
- **2025-04-07** House Sent to Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2025-05-01** House Date Signed by Governor `executive-signature`
- **2025-05-01** Act 50 `executive-signature`
- **2025-05-01** Effective Date

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/92595e9f-c64f-4c14-bec7-a3aab784639a`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Georgia legislature records).