republic-os/legislation/us/states/ga/2019-20/sb-359.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	'Surprise Billing Consumer Protection Act'; certain consumer protections against surprise billing; provide	A BILL to be entitled an Act to amend Title 33 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to insurance, so as to provide for certain consumer protections against surprise billing; to provide mechanisms to resolve payment disputes between insurers and out-of-network providers regarding the provision of healthcare services; to require the department to provide for the maintenance of an all-payer health claims data base; to provide for in-network cost-sharing amounts in healthcare plan contracts; to establish an arbitration process; to require the Commissioner of Insurance to contract with one or more resolution organizations; to require the promulgation of department rules; to provide for an effective date; to repeal conflicting laws; and for other purposes.	us/states/ga	Georgia General Assembly	2019_20	SB 359	Georgia SB 359 (2019_20)	bill		enacted	Ben Watson Blake Tillery Brian Strickland Chuck Hufstetler John Albers Kay Kirkpatrick	6	17	1	2020-02-04	2020-08-05	openstates	ocd-bill/b93e23ae-946a-4dd7-a521-c7223fcd89cd	http://webservices.legis.ga.gov/GGAServices/Legislation/Service.svc?wsdl	0c440d9681d6527906cfcc3ed3f0cf596d4a4448d19ce64525a0342fed405bea	2026-07-01	https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump	2026-07-06	reported	legislation bill us-ga

Georgia SB 359 (2019_20) — 'Surprise Billing Consumer Protection Act'; certain consumer protections against surprise billing; provide

A BILL to be entitled an Act to amend Title 33 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to insurance, so as to provide for certain consumer protections against surprise billing; to provide mechanisms to resolve payment disputes between insurers and out-of-network providers regarding the provision of healthcare services; to require the department to provide for the maintenance of an all-payer health claims data base; to provide for in-network cost-sharing amounts in healthcare plan contracts; to establish an arbitration process; to require the Commissioner of Insurance to contract with one or more resolution organizations; to require the promulgation of department rules; to provide for an effective date; 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 46 0247 (committee substitute) — source
2. As passed Senate (committee substitute) — source
3. Committee sub LC 46 0281S (committee substitute) — source
4. Floor amend 1 LC 46 0340S (committee substitute) — source
5. LC 41 2609S/hss (committee substitute) — source
6. SB359/AP* (committee substitute) — source

Votes

• PASSAGE BY SUBSTITUTE — 54–0 (pass) · upper

Sponsors

• Ben Watson — primary (person)
• Blake Tillery — primary (person)
• Brian Strickland — primary (person)
• Chuck Hufstetler — primary (person)
• John Albers — primary (person)
• Kay Kirkpatrick — primary (person)

Timeline

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

• 2020-02-04 Senate Hopper
• 2020-02-05 Senate Read and Referred referral-committee
• 2020-02-20 Senate Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute committee-passage-favorable
• 2020-02-21 Senate Read Second Time reading-2
• 2020-02-24 Senate Third Read reading-3
• 2020-02-24 Senate Passed/Adopted By Substitute passage
• 2020-02-25 House First Readers reading-1
• 2020-02-26 House Second Readers reading-2
• 2020-06-17 House Withdrawn, Recommitted withdrawal, referral-committee
• 2020-06-26 House Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute committee-passage-favorable
• 2020-06-26 House Third Readers reading-3
• 2020-06-26 House Passed/Adopted By Substitute passage
• 2020-06-26 Senate Agreed House Amend or Sub
• 2020-06-29 Senate Sent to Governor executive-receipt
• 2020-08-05 Senate Date Signed by Governor executive-signature
• 2020-08-05 Act 588 executive-signature
• 2020-08-05 Effective Date

Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot 2026-07-01; origin ocd-bill/b93e23ae-946a-4dd7-a521-c7223fcd89cd. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Georgia legislature records).