republic-os/legislation/us/states/ga/2025-26/sb-556.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	HOPE Scholarship; the inclusion of advanced placement and international baccalaureate fine arts courses in the calculation of grade point averages; provide	A BILL to be entitled an Act to amend Code Section 20-2-157 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to uniform reporting system for certain purposes, dual credit courses, and academic eligibility requirements to receive HOPE scholarship, so as to provide for the inclusion of advanced placement and international baccalaureate fine arts courses in the calculation of grade point averages for determining student eligibility for the HOPE scholarships and other scholarships; to provide for applicability; to provide for a definition; to provide for related matters; to provide an effective date; to repeal conflicting laws; and for other purposes.	us/states/ga	Georgia General Assembly	2025_26	SB 556	Georgia SB 556 (2025_26)	bill	EDUCATION HEALTH MINORS RETIREMENT AND PENSIONS REVENUE AND TAXATION STATE GOVERNMENT	enacted	Billy Hickman Chuck Payne Freddie Powell Sims Rick Williams Shawn Still	8	18	4	2026-02-24	2026-07-01	openstates	ocd-bill/b669a51f-20b0-41ec-938d-90d7db1f59b6	http://webservices.legis.ga.gov/GGAServices/Legislation/Service.svc?wsdl	750c58f1099790d1f2b2df7743cc75fb15f4ab24f0c5dfa81005763585be3fa9	2026-07-01	https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump	2026-07-06	reported	legislation bill us-ga

Georgia SB 556 (2025_26) — HOPE Scholarship; the inclusion of advanced placement and international baccalaureate fine arts courses in the calculation of grade point averages; provide

A BILL to be entitled an Act to amend Code Section 20-2-157 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to uniform reporting system for certain purposes, dual credit courses, and academic eligibility requirements to receive HOPE scholarship, so as to provide for the inclusion of advanced placement and international baccalaureate fine arts courses in the calculation of grade point averages for determining student eligibility for the HOPE scholarships and other scholarships; to provide for applicability; to provide for a definition; to provide for related matters; to provide 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 Passed Senate (committee substitute) — source
2. As introduced LC 49 2667 (committee substitute) — source
3. Committee Sub LC 61 0436S (committee substitute) — source
4. LC 61 0507S/hss (committee substitute) — source
5. LC 61 0519S/hrcs (committee substitute) — source
6. SB 556/AP* (committee substitute) — source
7. Sen Floor Amend 1 (committee substitute) — source
8. Sen Floor Amend 1A (committee substitute) — source

Votes

• House Vote #842 - 2025-2026 Regular Session — 167–2 (pass) · lower
• Senate Vote #959 - 2025-2026 Regular Session — 36–17 (pass) · upper
• Senate Vote #958 - 2025-2026 Regular Session — 25–25 (fail) · upper
• Senate Vote #669 - 2025-2026 Regular Session — 50–0 (pass) · upper

Sponsors

• Billy Hickman — primary (person)
• Chuck Payne — primary (person)
• Freddie Powell Sims — primary (person)
• Rick Williams — primary (person)
• Shawn Still — primary (person)

Timeline

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

• 2026-02-24 Senate Hopper introduction
• 2026-02-25 Senate Read and Referred referral-committee
• 2026-03-03 Senate Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute committee-passage-favorable
• 2026-03-04 Senate Read Second Time reading-2
• 2026-03-06 Senate Tabled
• 2026-03-06 Senate Taken from Table
• 2026-03-06 Senate Third Read reading-3
• 2026-03-06 Senate Passed/Adopted By Substitute passage
• 2026-03-09 House First Readers reading-1
• 2026-03-10 House Second Readers reading-2
• 2026-03-27 House Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute committee-passage-favorable
• 2026-04-02 House Third Readers reading-3
• 2026-04-02 House Passed/Adopted By Substitute passage
• 2026-04-02 Senate Agreed House Amend or Sub
• 2026-04-10 Senate Sent to Governor executive-receipt
• 2026-05-11 Senate Date Signed by Governor executive-signature
• 2026-05-11 Act 468 executive-signature
• 2026-07-01 Effective Date

Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot 2026-07-01; origin ocd-bill/b669a51f-20b0-41ec-938d-90d7db1f59b6. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Georgia legislature records).