HB158: HB158 Commerce and trade; filing of registration statements with the office of the Secretary of State; provide

Currently, Georgians who do business under a trade name (a name other than their own or their company's legal name) must file a registration statement with the clerk of superior court in their county and publish notice in the local legal newspaper. This bill changes that process starting January 1, 2027. Instead of newspaper publication, registration statements would be filed electronically using standard forms created by the Georgia Superior Court Clerks' Cooperative Authority, and all filings would feed into a new statewide trade name registry. The bill also lets businesses that registered a trade name before 2027 but whose registration is not yet in the new statewide system reregister so their name shows up in the registry, without losing the original filing date. It sets a single combined fee for registration, amendments, reregistration, and cancellation, and requires county clerks to send copies of all trade name filings to the Cooperative Authority. The law takes effect January 1, 2027.

• Requires trade name registration statements to be filed electronically using standardized forms created by the Georgia Superior Court Clerks' Cooperative Authority, starting January 1, 2027.
• Creates a statewide, searchable registry of trade, partnership, and other business name registrations maintained by the Cooperative Authority.
• Removes the requirement to publish a notice of trade name registration in the local legal newspaper.
• Allows businesses that registered a trade name before 2027 to reregister so their filing appears in the new statewide registry, without changing their original filing date.
• Sets a single combined fee for registration, amendment, reregistration, or cancellation and exempts these filings from certain other clerk fee statutes.
• Requires county superior court clerks to electronically transmit copies of trade name filings to the Cooperative Authority.

Sole proprietors, partnerships, and businesses operating under a trade name other than their legal or corporate name; clerks of superior court in every Georgia county, who process these filings; and the Georgia Superior Court Clerks' Cooperative Authority, which must build and run the new statewide system.

Business owners would file trade names electronically and be searchable in one statewide database instead of relying on scattered county records and newspaper notices, potentially making it easier for the public, creditors, and competitors to find out who owns a given business name.

• Section 1 rewrites O.C.G.A. § 10-1-490 to require electronic filing of trade name registrations using forms from the Georgia Superior Court Clerks' Cooperative Authority beginning January 1, 2027, replacing the newspaper publication requirement.
• Section 1 allows reregistration of trade names filed before January 1, 2027 for inclusion in the new statewide registry, without affecting the original filing date.
• Section 1 sets a single fee for registration, amendment, reregistration, or cancellation under O.C.G.A. § 15-6-77(g)(10), exempting these filings from fees under O.C.G.A. §§ 15-21A-6 and 15-21A-6.1.
• Section 2 adds a duty for clerks of superior court under O.C.G.A. § 15-6-61 to participate in the new statewide electronic information system and transmit trade name filing data to the Cooperative Authority.
• Section 3 creates new O.C.G.A. § 15-6-97.4, directing the Cooperative Authority to build and implement the uniform statewide trade name information system by January 1, 2027.
• Section 4 sets the effective date of the Act as January 1, 2027.

1. 2026-03-25Senate Read Second Time (Senate)
2. 2026-03-25Senate Committee Favorably Reported (Senate)
3. 2026-03-04Senate Read and Referred (Senate)
4. 2026-03-03House Passed/Adopted By Substitute (House)
5. 2026-03-03House Third Readers (House)
6. 2026-02-24House Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute (House)
7. 2025-04-04House Withdrawn, Recommitted (House)
8. 2025-02-19House Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute (House)

• Lehman Franklin (R, HD-160)Primary sponsor
• Anne Westbrook (D, HD-163)
• Tyler Smith (R, HD-018)
• Mike Cheokas (R, HD-151)
• Ron Stephens (R, HD-164)
• Jason T. Dickerson (R, SD-021)

1. PassedHouse voteMarch 3, 2026

   168 yea, 3 nay (3 not voting, 3 absent)

   Passage: House Vote #582

• trade name registration
• small business filings
• Georgia Superior Court Clerks' Cooperative Authority
• business licensing
• court records