republic-os/legislation/us/states/ga/2025-26/hb-491.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	Game and fish; remove an exception for use of air guns to hunt wildlife	A BILL to be entitled an Act to amend Article 1 of Chapter 3 and Article 2 of Chapter 4 of Title 27 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to hunting and noncommercial fishing, respectively, so as to remove an exception for the use of air guns to hunt wildlife; to revise provisions concerning the taking of catfish by bow and arrow; to provide for related matters; to repeal conflicting laws; and for other purposes.	us/states/ga	Georgia General Assembly	2025_26	HB 491	Georgia HB 491 (2025_26)	bill	GAME AND FISH	enacted	Danny Mathis Jason Ridley John Corbett Johnny Chastain Justin Howard Trey Rhodes	6	19	4	2025-02-18	2025-07-01	openstates	ocd-bill/acc0f865-4fac-482d-9b9c-145f5330e8bf	http://webservices.legis.ga.gov/GGAServices/Legislation/Service.svc?wsdl	513974a8033e6710d40cc13c20d415c23f761449cf1ea0ecb8f17b6c49480fef	2026-07-01	https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump	2026-07-06	reported	legislation bill us-ga

Georgia HB 491 (2025_26) — Game and fish; remove an exception for use of air guns to hunt wildlife

A BILL to be entitled an Act to amend Article 1 of Chapter 3 and Article 2 of Chapter 4 of Title 27 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to hunting and noncommercial fishing, respectively, so as to remove an exception for the use of air guns to hunt wildlife; to revise provisions concerning the taking of catfish by bow and arrow; 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. Floor Amendment AM 44 0230 (committee substitute) — source
2. HB 491/AP* (committee substitute) — source
3. LC 44 3040/a (committee substitute) — source
4. LC 44 3109S/hcs (committee substitute) — source
5. LC 44 3109S/hs (committee substitute) — source
6. Sen Floor Amend 1 AM 60 0007 (committee substitute) — source

Votes

• House Vote #224 - 2025-2026 Regular Session — 171–3 (pass) · lower
• Senate Vote #424 - 2025-2026 Regular Session — 52–3 (pass) · upper
• Senate Vote #487 - 2025-2026 Regular Session — 52–1 (pass) · upper
• House Vote #424 - 2025-2026 Regular Session — 170–0 (pass) · lower

Sponsors

• Danny Mathis — primary (person)
• Jason Ridley — primary (person)
• John Corbett — primary (person)
• Johnny Chastain — primary (person)
• Justin Howard — primary (person)
• Trey Rhodes — primary (person)

Timeline

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

• 2025-02-18 House Hopper introduction
• 2025-02-19 House First Readers reading-1
• 2025-02-20 House Second Readers reading-2
• 2025-02-27 House Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute committee-passage-favorable
• 2025-03-06 House Third Readers reading-3
• 2025-03-06 House Passed/Adopted By Substitute passage
• 2025-03-10 Senate Read and Referred referral-committee
• 2025-03-20 Senate Committee Favorably Reported committee-passage-favorable
• 2025-03-21 Senate Read Second Time reading-2
• 2025-03-31 Senate Tabled
• 2025-04-02 Senate Taken from Table
• 2025-04-02 Senate Third Read reading-3
• 2025-04-02 Senate Passed/Adopted As Amended passage
• 2025-04-04 House Agreed Senate Amend or Sub As Amended
• 2025-04-04 Senate Agreed House Amend or Sub
• 2025-04-10 House Sent to Governor executive-receipt
• 2025-05-14 House Date Signed by Governor executive-signature
• 2025-05-14 Act 268 executive-signature
• 2025-07-01 Effective Date

Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot 2026-07-01; origin ocd-bill/acc0f865-4fac-482d-9b9c-145f5330e8bf. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Georgia legislature records).