Georgia CommonsHouse · Passed · 2025-2026 Regular Session
HB 1268: Official Code of Georgia Annotated; revise, modernize and correct errors or omissions
Last action July 1, 2026 · Effective Date
This is the annual Georgia Code Revision Commission bill that fixes typos, punctuation, cross-references, and outdated terms across dozens of titles of the Official Code of Georgia and formally reenacts the entire Code for 2026.
The summaries below were written by an AI model (claude-sonnet-5) from the text of the bill and are not part of it. Quote the text, not the summary. The stored text is the Enrolled version, the latest the General Assembly's website lists.
In plain language
Each year the Georgia General Assembly passes a housekeeping bill drafted by the Code Revision Commission to clean up the Official Code of Georgia Annotated (O.C.G.A.), the official compilation of state statutes. This bill makes hundreds of small technical corrections across nearly every title of the Code, from alcoholic beverages to taxation. Most changes are cosmetic: fixing misspellings, adding or removing commas, correcting cross-references to other Code sections, replacing outdated terms like 'Internet' with 'internet' or 'data base' with 'database', standardizing phrases like 'chairman' to 'chairperson', and renumbering sections that were moved or repealed. The bill also reenacts the entire statutory text and numbering system of the Code, giving it continued legal force, while specifically excluding things like case annotations, editorial notes, and law review references from having any legal authority. It resolves conflicts by stating that other 2026 session bills take priority over this one, and it repeals conflicting laws. It contains no substantive policy changes.
What the bill does
- Corrects hundreds of typographical, punctuation, and cross-reference errors across nearly all titles of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated.
- Standardizes outdated or inconsistent terms throughout the Code, such as changing 'Internet' to 'internet', 'data base' to 'database', and 'chairman' to 'chairperson'.
- Renumbers or redesignates several Code sections that had been repealed, reserved, or moved, including reorganizing parts of Title 20 (education) and Title 44 (property).
- Formally reenacts the entire statutory text and section numbering of the Code for 2026, giving it continued legal force under state law.
- Excludes non-statutory material, such as case annotations, editorial notes, and cross-references, from having any legal authority.
- Repeals all laws and parts of laws that conflict with this Act and states that other bills passed in the same session take priority over conflicting provisions here.
Who it affects
This bill mainly affects lawyers, judges, court clerks, state agencies, and anyone who relies on the precise wording of Georgia statutes, since it does not change substantive rights or obligations for ordinary citizens but corrects the text they read and cite in areas ranging from education and health to taxation and hunting law.
Why it matters
Although the bill does not change what is legal or illegal, keeping the Official Code of Georgia accurate and internally consistent matters because courts, agencies, and citizens rely on its exact wording. Fixing errors, updating terminology, and clarifying cross-references reduces confusion when people look up the law that governs their daily lives.
Key provisions
- Section 3 corrects a cross-reference in the alcohol delivery law (O.C.G.A. § 3-3-10) from 'subparagraph (b)(4)(D)' to 'subparagraph (b)(5)(D)'.
- Section 20 makes over 75 corrections across Title 20 (education), including fixing quotation marks, updating 'High-demand' to 'High-Demand' Career List references, and renumbering leave-of-absence provisions for organ donor teachers.
- Section 28 standardizes references to the 'House of Representatives' instead of 'House' and updates gendered terms like 'chairman' to 'chairperson' throughout Title 28 (General Assembly).
- Section 44 redesignates former Code Section 44-6-207 as Code Section 44-6-200.1 and designates reserved Code Section 44-1-18 as repealed.
- Section 55 formally reenacts the statutory text and numbering of the Code for 2026 while excluding annotations, editorial notes, and other non-statutory material from legal effect.
- Section 55(e) provides that if this bill conflicts with another bill passed in the 2026 session, the other bill's provision controls.
- Section 56 repeals all laws and parts of laws that conflict with this Act.
From the bill
“To amend the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, so as to revise, modernize, correct errors or omissions in, and reenact the statutory portion of said Code, as amended, in furtherance of the work of the Code Revision Commission”
“Case annotations”
“All laws and parts of laws in conflict with this Act are repealed.”
Discussed in meetings (12)
The House and Senate meetings that took this bill up, from their machine transcripts. Each account was written by Georgia Commons with AI and is not part of the record; the video is what was said.
House Code Revision Committee, February 24, 2026
From 0:01:13 · Watch on the General Assembly's Vimeo channel
Summary by Georgia Commons: The sponsor described HB 1268 as code cleanup, including punctuation and capitalization corrections, and said its more than 50 pages contained no substantive policy changes. The sponsor offered to walk through all 56 sections. The chair noted there were no questions and said a section-by-section review was unnecessary. A committee member moved to approve the bill, and another member seconded the motion. The chair declared the bill passed by voice vote and sent it to the Rules Committee. No vote count was stated.
House Rules Committee, March 3, 2026
From 0:31:57 · Watch on the General Assembly's Vimeo channel · Confirmed by the 2026 House Journal, p. 1743
Summary by Georgia Commons: The sponsor described HB 1268 as the annual housekeeping measure to update and modernize Georgia's code. The sponsor said it would make no substantive changes. No members asked questions, and no vote was recorded.
House floor session, March 3, 2026 (legislative day 26, PM)
From 4:11:10 · Watch on the General Assembly's Vimeo channel · Confirmed by the 2026 House Journal, p. 1743
Summary by Georgia Commons: The sponsor said HB 1268 was the annual code-revision bill, correcting references and numbering and removing obsolete law. The sponsor said it made no substantive policy changes. No questions were asked. The House passed the bill 168-0.
House Rules Committee, March 3, 2026
From 0:04:49 · Watch on the General Assembly's Vimeo channel · Confirmed by the 2026 House Journal, p. 1743
Summary by Georgia Commons: The committee agreed to place HB 1268 on the day's second supplemental calendar under modified structure. The motion was made and seconded, and no opposition was heard. There was no discussion of the bill's contents.
Senate Judiciary Committee, March 16, 2026
From 0:53:34 · Watch on the General Assembly's Vimeo channel
Summary by Georgia Commons: A bill co-sponsor presented HB 1268 as the annual code-revision measure, describing corrections to capitalization, punctuation and missing conjunctions. The chair said the bill came from legislative counsel and was intended to make no substantive policy changes, which the presenter confirmed. No substantive questions or public testimony followed. The committee unanimously recommended passage.
Senate Rules Committee, March 19, 2026
From 0:08:14 · Watch on the General Assembly's Vimeo channel
Summary by Georgia Commons: A presenter described the bill as the annual code revision measure. Members later selected it for the floor calendar, which the committee approved unanimously.
Senate floor session, March 20, 2026 (legislative day 35)
From 1:38:21 · Watch on the General Assembly's Vimeo channel · Confirmed by the bill's status history (Senate Third Read)
Summary by Georgia Commons: The floor leader described HB 1268 as the annual measure correcting errors in Georgia's laws, prepared by a team working throughout the year. The clerk's reading also described removing obsolete provisions and updating the code to reflect court decisions and later laws. No questions or opposing speeches followed. The Senate passed the bill 45-0.
- Read aloud: House floor session, February 11, 2026 (legislative day 17), 0:32:48
- Read aloud: House floor session, February 12, 2026 (legislative day 18), 0:53:57
- Read aloud: Senate floor session, March 4, 2026 (legislative day 27), 0:44:59
- Read aloud: Senate floor session, March 18, 2026 (legislative day 33), 0:32:24
- Read aloud: Senate floor session, March 19, 2026 (legislative day 34), 0:48:02
Status timeline
- Effective Date
- Act 723
- House Date Signed by Governor (House)
- House Sent to Governor (House)
- Senate Passed/Adopted (Senate)
- Senate Third Read (Senate)
- Senate Read Second Time (Senate)
- Senate Committee Favorably Reported (Senate)
Show full history (15 actions)
- Senate Read and Referred (Senate)
- House Passed/Adopted (House)
- House Third Readers (House)
- House Committee Favorably Reported (House)
- House Second Readers (House)
- House First Readers (House)
- House Hopper (House)
Sponsors
- James Burchett (R, HD-176)
- Rob Leverett (R, HD-123)
- Chuck Efstration (R, HD-104)
- Stacey Evans (D, HD-57)
- Bo Hatchett (R, SD-50)
Votes
- House voteMarch 3, 2026
168 yea, 0 nay (3 not voting, 6 excused)
- Senate voteMarch 20, 2026
45 yea, 0 nay (3 not voting, 6 excused)
Topics
- Georgia Code revision
- legislative housekeeping
- statutory corrections
- Official Code of Georgia Annotated