HB 728: Elections; limit effective date of rules or regulations adopted by State Election Board prior to a primary, election, or runoff

Currently the State Election Board can adopt rules or regulations that take effect quickly, even close to an election date. This bill changes that by amending Georgia's election code (O.C.G.A. § 21-2-35). If the board adopts a rule or regulation within 75 days of a presidential preference primary, general primary, general election, or runoff, the rule would not take effect until 30 days after that election. For special primaries or special elections, a rule adopted in that window would take effect as otherwise provided by law but could not be applied to that specific special primary, election, or runoff. The bill keeps an exception for true emergency rules, but tightens the process: the board must give public notice, immediately email notice to the Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Speaker of the House, relevant legislative committee chairs, the Secretary of State, legislative counsel, and each registered political party's chief executive, and explain the specific imminent peril justifying emergency action. It also renumbers existing certification requirements to fit the new structure.

• Delays the effective date of most State Election Board rules or regulations to 30 days after a primary, election, or runoff if adopted within 75 days of that vote.
• Bars rules adopted within 75 days of a special primary or special election from being applied to that specific vote, even though they take effect under normal law.
• Requires the board to send immediate email notice of any proposed emergency rule to a specific list of state officials and party leaders, not just post public notice.
• Requires the board's emergency notices to state the exact nature of the emergency and how it creates imminent peril to public health, safety, or welfare.
• Keeps the existing requirement that a majority of the board certify in writing that any emergency rule strictly complied with the law.

The State Election Board, county election officials who must follow board rules, political parties and their leaders who receive new notice requirements, the Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Speaker of the House, legislative committee chairs on elections, the Secretary of State, and Georgia voters and candidates affected by last-minute rule changes near elections.

Voters, candidates, and local election officials would gain more certainty that election procedures cannot be changed in the final weeks before a vote, except through a more constrained emergency process with mandatory advance notice to top state officials and party leaders.

• Section 1 rewrites O.C.G.A. § 21-2-35(a) to create a new default 75-day pre-election blackout on rule changes, delaying effect until 30 days after the primary, election, or runoff.
• New paragraph (a)(2) specifically exempts special primaries and special elections from having a rule applied to them if adopted in that 75-day window, even though the rule remains effective under general law.
• Subsection (b) (renumbered from old (a)) keeps the imminent-peril standard for emergency rules but adds a mandatory immediate email notice requirement to a named list of officials and party chief executives.
• Subsection (b)(3) requires the board's notices to state the specific nature of the emergency and how it constitutes imminent peril to public health, safety, or welfare.
• Renumbered subsection (c) (formerly (b)) keeps the requirement that a board majority certify in writing that an emergency rule strictly complied with the law and O.C.G.A. § 50-13-4(e).
• Renumbered subsection (d) preserves the rule that this Code section governs over any conflicting provision of the Georgia Administrative Procedure Act (Chapter 13 of Title 50).
• Section 2 repeals all conflicting laws.

1. 2025-04-04House Withdrawn, Recommitted (House)
2. 2025-03-06House Committee Favorably Reported (House)
3. 2025-03-06House Second Readers (House)
4. 2025-03-04House First Readers (House)
5. 2025-03-04House Hopper (House)

• Scott Hilton (R, HD-48)Primary sponsor
• Saira Draper (D, HD-90)
• Bethany Ballard (R, HD-147)
• Kasey Carpenter (R, HD-4)

• election rules
• State Election Board
• voting administration
• election law changes