republic-os/legislation/us/states/ga/2023-24/hb-244.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Board of Natural Resources; effective date for certain rules and regulations; extend"
description: "A BILL to be entitled an Act to amend Chapter 1 of Title 27 of the O.C.G.A., relating to general provisions relative to game and fish, so as to extend the date by which rules and regulations prescribed by the Board of Natural Resources must be in effect for purposes of establishing criminal violations of said rules and regulations; to amend Part 1 of Article 4 of Chapter 4 of Title 27 of the O.C.G.A., relating to general provisions relative to seafood, so as to require certain reporting of non-activity by seafood dealers; to amend Part 4 of Article 4 of Chapter 4 of Title 27 of the O.C.G.A., relating to shellfish, so as to provide for a definition; to authorize discretionary penalties for certain enforcement actions by the Department of Natural Resources; to provide for effective dates; to provide for related matters; to repeal conflicting laws; and for other purposes."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ga"
legislature: "Georgia General Assembly"
session: "2023_24"
identifier: "HB 244"
citation: "Georgia HB 244 (2023_24)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Buddy DeLoach", "Jesse Petrea", "Rick Townsend", "Ron Stephens", "Steven Sainz", "Trey Rhodes"]
version_count: 7
action_count: 21
vote_count: 3
first_action: "2023-02-06"
last_action: "2024-04-25"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/1e05233d-c5f6-4346-bb44-a149439dcc7a"
source_url: "http://webservices.legis.ga.gov/GGAServices/Legislation/Service.svc?wsdl"
source_hash: "3b2c052ddad785c31d4cd1553fb5bcb3f967bc79a0dfe264ecd1f74d74842e22"
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 244 (2023_24) — Board of Natural Resources; effective date for certain rules and regulations; extend

A BILL to be entitled an Act to amend Chapter 1 of Title 27 of the O.C.G.A., relating to general provisions relative to game and fish, so as to extend the date by which rules and regulations prescribed by the Board of Natural Resources must be in effect for purposes of establishing criminal violations of said rules and regulations; to amend Part 1 of Article 4 of Chapter 4 of Title 27 of the O.C.G.A., relating to general provisions relative to seafood, so as to require certain reporting of non-activity by seafood dealers; to amend Part 4 of Article 4 of Chapter 4 of Title 27 of the O.C.G.A., relating to shellfish, so as to provide for a definition; to authorize discretionary penalties for certain enforcement actions by the Department of Natural Resources; to provide for effective dates; 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 244/AP*** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20232024/228434.pdf)
2. **LC 51 0279/a** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20232024/213765.pdf)
3. **LC 51 0348S/hcs** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20232024/216792.pdf)
4. **LC 51 0348S/hs** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20232024/215754.pdf)
5. **Sen Ctee Sub LC 44 2622S** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20232024/224102.pdf)
6. **Sen ctee sub LC 54 0246S** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20232024/218073.pdf)
7. **Sen floor amend 1** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20232024/220350.pdf)

## Votes

- House Vote #740 - 2023-2024 Regular Session — **156–1** (pass) · lower
- Senate Vote #662 - 2023-2024 Regular Session — **51–1** (pass) · upper
- House Vote #144 - 2023-2024 Regular Session — **170–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Buddy DeLoach — primary (person)
- Jesse Petrea — primary (person)
- Rick Townsend — primary (person)
- Ron Stephens — primary (person)
- Steven Sainz — primary (person)
- Trey Rhodes — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2023-02-06** House Hopper `introduction`
- **2023-02-07** House First Readers `reading-1`
- **2023-02-08** House Second Readers `reading-2`
- **2023-02-23** House Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2023-03-01** House Postponed
- **2023-03-02** House Third Readers `reading-3`
- **2023-03-02** House Passed/Adopted By Substitute `passage`
- **2023-03-06** Senate Read and Referred `referral-committee`
- **2023-03-16** Senate Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2023-03-20** Senate Read Second Time `reading-2`
- **2023-03-27** Senate Tabled
- **2024-01-08** Senate Taken from Table
- **2024-01-08** Senate Recommitted `referral-committee`
- **2024-02-15** Senate Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2024-03-14** Senate Third Read `reading-3`
- **2024-03-14** Senate Passed/Adopted By Substitute `passage`
- **2024-03-21** House Agreed Senate Amend or Sub
- **2024-04-01** House Sent to Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2024-04-25** House Date Signed by Governor `executive-signature`
- **2024-04-25** Act 493 `executive-signature`
- **2024-04-25** Effective Date

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/1e05233d-c5f6-4346-bb44-a149439dcc7a`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Georgia legislature records).