republic-os/legislation/us/states/ga/2015-16/sb-255.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Garnishment Proceedings; modernize, reorganize, and provide constitutional protections"
description: "A BILL to be entitled an Act to amend Title 18 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to debtor and creditor, so as to modernize, reorganize, and provide constitutional protections in garnishment proceedings; to provide for definitions; to provide for an affidavit and summons of garnishment, contents, and procedure for garnishment; to provide for property being subject to and exempt from garnishment; to provide for a defendant's and third party's claim and plaintiff's traverse and the procedure for claims and traverses; to provide for procedures only applicable to financial institutions; to provide for and require the use of certain forms for garnishment proceedings; to amend Code Sections 44-7-50 and 53-12-80 of the O.C.G.A., relating to demand for possession and spendthrift provisions, respectively, so as to correct cross-references; to provide for related matters; to repeal conflicting laws; and for other purposes."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ga"
legislature: "Georgia General Assembly"
session: "2015_16"
identifier: "SB 255"
citation: "Georgia SB 255 (2015_16)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Burt Jones", "Charlie Bethel", "Fran Millar", "Jesse Stone", "John Albers", "William Ligon, Jr."]
version_count: 7
action_count: 20
vote_count: 1
first_action: "2015-12-30"
last_action: "2016-06-03"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/db77f3b3-98b8-43fb-b087-60c085a89c0c"
source_url: "http://webservices.legis.ga.gov/GGAServices/Legislation/Service.svc?wsdl"
source_hash: "340bd071252920fdb77efe323c80426b7e8dd9de330e49b7f48d9211cee67408"
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 SB 255 (2015_16) — Garnishment Proceedings; modernize, reorganize, and provide constitutional protections

A BILL to be entitled an Act to amend Title 18 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to debtor and creditor, so as to modernize, reorganize, and provide constitutional protections in garnishment proceedings; to provide for definitions; to provide for an affidavit and summons of garnishment, contents, and procedure for garnishment; to provide for property being subject to and exempt from garnishment; to provide for a defendant's and third party's claim and plaintiff's traverse and the procedure for claims and traverses; to provide for procedures only applicable to financial institutions; to provide for and require the use of certain forms for garnishment proceedings; to amend Code Sections 44-7-50 and 53-12-80 of the O.C.G.A., relating to demand for possession and spendthrift provisions, respectively, so as to correct cross-references; 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 29 6767** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20152016/154287.pdf)
2. **As passed Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20152016/156911.pdf)
3. **Committee sub LC 29 6888S** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20152016/156314.pdf)
4. **Floor Amend 1** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20152016/156904.pdf)
5. **LC 29 7118S/hss** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20152016/160676.pdf)
6. **SB 255 Prefile** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20152016/154182.pdf)
7. **SB 255/AP*** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20152016/162341.pdf)

## Votes

- PASSAGE BY SUBSTITUTE — **50–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Burt Jones — primary (person)
- Charlie Bethel — primary (person)
- Fran Millar — primary (person)
- Jesse Stone — primary (person)
- John Albers — primary (person)
- William Ligon, Jr. — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2015-12-30** Senate Hopper
- **2015-12-30** Senate Prefiled `introduction`
- **2016-01-12** Senate Read and Referred `referral-committee`
- **2016-02-03** Senate Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2016-02-04** Senate Read Second Time `reading-2`
- **2016-02-09** Senate Third Read `reading-3`
- **2016-02-09** Senate Passed/Adopted By Substitute `passage`
- **2016-02-10** House First Readers `reading-1`
- **2016-02-11** House Second Readers `reading-2`
- **2016-02-16** House Committee Favorably Reported `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2016-02-18** House Withdrawn, Recommitted `referral-committee, withdrawal`
- **2016-03-15** House Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2016-03-22** House Postponed
- **2016-03-24** House Third Readers `reading-3`
- **2016-03-24** House Passed/Adopted By Substitute `passage`
- **2016-03-24** Senate Agreed House Amend or Sub
- **2016-03-31** Senate Sent to Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2016-04-12** Senate Date Signed by Governor `executive-signature`
- **2016-04-12** Act 325 `executive-signature`
- **2016-06-03** Effective Date

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/db77f3b3-98b8-43fb-b087-60c085a89c0c`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Georgia legislature records).