---
type: "Bill"
title: "Voluntary Portable Benefit Plan Act; enact"
description: "A BILL to be entitled an Act to amend Chapter 8 of Title 34 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to employment security, so as to provide for portable benefit plans and portable benefit accounts for independent contractors; to provide for definitions; to provide for voluntary contributions; to provide for independent contractors to opt in to withholdings; to provide for independent contractors to opt out at any time; to exclude voluntary contributions from establishing the classification of employer or employment; to provide for related matters; to provide for a short title; to repeal conflicting laws; and for other purposes."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ga"
legislature: "Georgia General Assembly"
session: "2025_26"
identifier: "HB 987"
citation: "Georgia HB 987 (2025_26)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["LABOR AND INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Brad Thomas", "Carter Barrett", "Mike Cameron", "Todd Jones", "Victor Anderson"]
version_count: 2
action_count: 14
vote_count: 2
first_action: "2026-01-15"
last_action: "2026-05-11"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/8b8bd682-285f-4bd8-a77d-482a9b632861"
source_url: "http://webservices.legis.ga.gov/GGAServices/Legislation/Service.svc?wsdl"
source_hash: "3ec74305cf7f3260eea0068953b57b0bbc3fec4d5caac1bfff1bb204de758cd4"
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 987 (2025_26) — Voluntary Portable Benefit Plan Act; enact

A BILL to be entitled an Act to amend Chapter 8 of Title 34 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to employment security, so as to provide for portable benefit plans and portable benefit accounts for independent contractors; to provide for definitions; to provide for voluntary contributions; to provide for independent contractors to opt in to withholdings; to provide for independent contractors to opt out at any time; to exclude voluntary contributions from establishing the classification of employer or employment; to provide for related matters; to provide for a short title; 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 987/AP*** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20252026/246936.pdf)
2. **LC 52 0908/a** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20252026/239914.pdf)

## Votes

- House Vote #521 - 2025-2026 Regular Session — **109–53** (pass) · lower
- Senate Vote #773 - 2025-2026 Regular Session — **44–1** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Brad Thomas — primary (person)
- Carter Barrett — primary (person)
- Mike Cameron — primary (person)
- Todd Jones — primary (person)
- Victor Anderson — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2026-01-15** House Hopper `introduction`
- **2026-01-16** House First Readers `reading-1`
- **2026-01-27** House Second Readers `reading-2`
- **2026-01-29** House Committee Favorably Reported `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2026-02-17** House Third Readers `reading-3`
- **2026-02-17** House Passed/Adopted `passage`
- **2026-02-18** 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`
- **2026-03-20** Senate Third Read `reading-3`
- **2026-03-20** Senate Passed/Adopted `passage`
- **2026-04-06** House Sent to Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2026-05-11** House Date Signed by Governor `executive-signature`
- **2026-05-11** Act 466 `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/8b8bd682-285f-4bd8-a77d-482a9b632861`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Georgia legislature records).