republic-os/legislation/us/states/ga/2025-26/hb-426.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	Courts; nonpartisan election of magistrates; provide	A BILL to be entitled an Act to amend Chapter 10 of Title 15 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to magistrate courts, so as to provide for nonpartisan election of magistrates; to amend Chapter 2 of Title 21 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to elections and primaries generally, so as to revise provisions related to nonpartisan elections of judges of the probate court and magistrates; to provide for related matters; to provide for an effective date, a contingent effective date and automatic repeal; to repeal conflicting laws; and for other purposes.	us/states/ga	Georgia General Assembly	2025_26	HB 426	Georgia HB 426 (2025_26)	bill	COURTS ELECTIONS	enacted	Chuck Efstration Holt Persinger James Burchett Kimberly New Mitchell Scoggins Tyler Paul Smith	2	17	3	2025-02-12	2025-07-01	openstates	ocd-bill/c82030b9-f774-4c80-9db6-a3b228c146ff	http://webservices.legis.ga.gov/GGAServices/Legislation/Service.svc?wsdl	1c5d0eca8f490d49eef30b19492449c1f6cd9e3de7b4ed978528bc4e341ffa2f	2026-07-01	https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump	2026-07-06	reported	legislation bill us-ga

Georgia HB 426 (2025_26) — Courts; nonpartisan election of magistrates; provide

A BILL to be entitled an Act to amend Chapter 10 of Title 15 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to magistrate courts, so as to provide for nonpartisan election of magistrates; to amend Chapter 2 of Title 21 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to elections and primaries generally, so as to revise provisions related to nonpartisan elections of judges of the probate court and magistrates; to provide for related matters; to provide for an effective date, a contingent effective date and automatic repeal; 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 426/AP* (committee substitute) — source
2. LC 47 3367/a (committee substitute) — source

Votes

• Senate Vote #266 - 2025-2026 Regular Session — 32–22 (pass) · upper
• Senate Vote #271 - 2025-2026 Regular Session — 43–11 (pass) · upper
• House Vote #180 - 2025-2026 Regular Session — 111–59 (pass) · lower

Sponsors

• Chuck Efstration — primary (person)
• Holt Persinger — primary (person)
• James Burchett — primary (person)
• Kimberly New — primary (person)
• Mitchell Scoggins — primary (person)
• Tyler Paul Smith — primary (person)

Timeline

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

• 2025-02-12 House Hopper introduction
• 2025-02-13 House First Readers reading-1
• 2025-02-18 House Second Readers reading-2
• 2025-02-19 House Withdrawn, Recommitted referral-committee, withdrawal
• 2025-02-21 House Committee Favorably Reported committee-passage-favorable
• 2025-03-04 House Third Readers reading-3
• 2025-03-04 House Passed/Adopted passage
• 2025-03-06 Senate Read and Referred referral-committee
• 2025-03-13 Senate Committee Favorably Reported committee-passage-favorable
• 2025-03-18 Senate Read Second Time reading-2
• 2025-03-21 Senate Engrossed passage
• 2025-03-21 Senate Third Read reading-3
• 2025-03-21 Senate Passed/Adopted passage
• 2025-04-07 House Sent to Governor executive-receipt
• 2025-05-14 House Date Signed by Governor executive-signature
• 2025-05-14 Act 302 executive-signature
• 2025-07-01 Effective Date

Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot 2026-07-01; origin ocd-bill/c82030b9-f774-4c80-9db6-a3b228c146ff. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Georgia legislature records).