republic-os/legislation/us/states/ga/2015-16/sb-275.md

type, title, description, jurisdiction, legislature, session, identifier, citation, classification, subjects, status, primary_sponsors, version_count, action_count, vote_count, first_action, last_action, source, source_identifier, source_url, source_hash, vintage, source_snapshot, retrieved_at, confidence, tags

type	title	description	jurisdiction	legislature	session	identifier	citation	classification	subjects	status	primary_sponsors	version_count	action_count	vote_count	first_action	last_action	source	source_identifier	source_url	source_hash	vintage	source_snapshot	retrieved_at	confidence	tags
Bill	Local Government; governing body shall not adopt policy that has effect of preventing free exercise of the right of freedom of speech by the members	A BILL to be entitled an Act to amend Chapter 80 of Title 36 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to general provisions regarding counties, municipal corporations, and other governmental entities, so as to provide that the governing body of any county, consolidated government, or municipality; local board of education; or any other governmental entity shall not adopt or maintain any policy, rule, or other provision that has the effect of preventing the free exercise of the right of freedom of speech by the members of the governing body and the ability of members of the governing body to discuss freely the policies and actions of such entity; to provide for related matters; to repeal conflicting laws; and for other purposes.	us/states/ga	Georgia General Assembly	2015_16	SB 275	Georgia SB 275 (2015_16)	bill		enacted	Chuck Hufstetler Dean Burke Jesse Stone Michael Williams P. K. Martin IV Steve Gooch William Ligon, Jr.	5	16	1	2016-01-20	2016-07-01	openstates	ocd-bill/e51ac1c2-76a6-48d4-bc63-44c717054617	http://webservices.legis.ga.gov/GGAServices/Legislation/Service.svc?wsdl	d7d6e9f75a4c44e2c36a33ddd612608b44ebb9a2d458ba1713be08757dbd9393	2026-07-01	https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump	2026-07-06	reported	legislation bill us-ga

Georgia SB 275 (2015_16) — Local Government; governing body shall not adopt policy that has effect of preventing free exercise of the right of freedom of speech by the members

A BILL to be entitled an Act to amend Chapter 80 of Title 36 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to general provisions regarding counties, municipal corporations, and other governmental entities, so as to provide that the governing body of any county, consolidated government, or municipality; local board of education; or any other governmental entity shall not adopt or maintain any policy, rule, or other provision that has the effect of preventing the free exercise of the right of freedom of speech by the members of the governing body and the ability of members of the governing body to discuss freely the policies and actions of such entity; 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 28 7823 (committee substitute) — source
2. As passed Senate (committee substitute) — source
3. Committee sub LC 28 7940S (committee substitute) — source
4. LC 28 8058S/hss (committee substitute) — source
5. SB 275/AP* (committee substitute) — source

Votes

• PASSAGE BY SUBSTITUTE — 52–1 (pass) · upper

Sponsors

• Chuck Hufstetler — primary (person)
• Dean Burke — primary (person)
• Jesse Stone — primary (person)
• Michael Williams — primary (person)
• P. K. Martin IV — primary (person)
• Steve Gooch — primary (person)
• William Ligon, Jr. — primary (person)

Timeline

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

• 2016-01-20 Senate Hopper
• 2016-01-21 Senate Read and Referred referral-committee
• 2016-02-10 Senate Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute committee-passage-favorable
• 2016-02-11 Senate Read Second Time reading-2
• 2016-02-22 Senate Third Read reading-3
• 2016-02-22 Senate Passed/Adopted By Substitute passage
• 2016-02-23 House First Readers reading-1
• 2016-02-24 House Second Readers reading-2
• 2016-03-10 House Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute committee-passage-favorable
• 2016-03-22 House Third Readers reading-3
• 2016-03-22 House Passed/Adopted By Substitute passage
• 2016-03-24 Senate Agreed House Amend or Sub
• 2016-03-31 Senate Sent to Governor executive-receipt
• 2016-04-26 Senate Date Signed by Governor executive-signature
• 2016-04-26 Act 352 executive-signature
• 2016-07-01 Effective Date

Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot 2026-07-01; origin ocd-bill/e51ac1c2-76a6-48d4-bc63-44c717054617. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Georgia legislature records).