Georgia CommonsHouse · Passed · 2025-2026 Regular Session
HB 966: Garden City, City of; mayor to fill any vacancy in the office of mayor pro tempore; provide
Last action April 2, 2026 · Effective Date
A House bill would let Garden City's mayor fill any vacancy in the office of mayor pro tempore, updating the city's charter to spell out who makes that appointment.
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
Garden City's charter already lets the mayor appoint a councilperson to serve as mayor pro tempore after each election. This bill amends that charter section to add a specific rule for what happens if the mayor pro tempore's seat becomes vacant during the term: the mayor, not the full council, fills that vacancy. The bill rewrites subsection (b) of Section 2.03 of the 1973 charter Act (as amended in 2024) to insert the sentence giving the mayor this filling power. It leaves unchanged the rest of the section, including the mayor pro tempore's role of acting as mayor during absences and the separate process for replacing the president of council. The bill repeals any conflicting laws and applies only to the City of Garden City.
What the bill does
- Adds a new rule to Garden City's charter (Section 2.03(b)) giving the mayor the power to fill any vacancy in the office of mayor pro tempore.
- Leaves in place the existing charter language on how the mayor pro tempore is originally appointed for a four-year term.
- Keeps unchanged the rule that the mayor pro tempore acts as mayor during the mayor's absence or disability and becomes mayor if the mayor's office is vacated.
- Keeps unchanged the separate process for replacing the president of council if that seat becomes vacant, which still requires a council vote.
- Repeals any existing laws that conflict with this new charter provision.
Who it affects
This bill affects the City of Garden City's government, specifically the mayor, the city council, and whichever councilperson serves as mayor pro tempore. It clarifies the process only for that city's local charter and does not affect other Georgia municipalities.
Why it matters
Without this change, Garden City's charter did not clearly say who decides when the mayor pro tempore's seat becomes vacant mid-term. The bill settles that question by giving the mayor sole authority to fill it, rather than leaving it to a council vote or leaving the process undefined.
Key provisions
- Section 1 revises subsection (b) of Section 2.03 of Garden City's 1973 charter Act to add the sentence: the mayor shall fill any vacancy in the mayor pro tempore's office.
- Section 1 retains existing language on the mayor pro tempore's four-year term, acting role during mayoral absence, and automatic succession to mayor if that office becomes vacant.
- Section 1 retains the separate, unchanged process by which the city council fills a vacancy in the office of president of council by majority vote.
- Section 2 repeals all laws and parts of laws that conflict with this Act.
From the bill
“The mayor shall fill any vacancy in the mayor pro tempore's office.”
Discussed in meetings (6)
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 floor session, February 12, 2026 (legislative day 18)
From 1:00:24 · Watch on the General Assembly's Vimeo channel · Confirmed by the 2026 House Journal, p. 569
Summary by Georgia Commons: The clerk read a favorable committee report on HB 966 and later listed it on the uncontested local calendar for Garden City. No individual presentation or debate occurred. The House passed the entire local calendar in one recorded vote, 158 to 0.
House Rules Committee, February 18, 2026
From 0:35:44 · Watch on the General Assembly's Vimeo channel
Summary by Georgia Commons: The chair initially announced that HB 966 would return to the Retirement Committee and declared the motion approved without opposition. After a committee member questioned the number, the chair said the reference was a mistake and identified a different bill as the intended subject. The transcript therefore does not show a final decision to return HB 966 to committee.
- Read aloud: House floor session, January 15, 2026 (legislative day 4), 0:42:16
- Read aloud: House floor session, January 16, 2026 (legislative day 5), 0:58:00
- Read aloud: Senate floor session, February 17, 2026 (legislative day 19), 0:32:12
- Read aloud: Senate floor session, February 24, 2026 (legislative day 23), 0:20:40
Status timeline
- Effective Date
- Act 376
- House Date Signed by Governor (House)
- House Sent to Governor (House)
- Senate Passed/Adopted (Senate)
- Senate Committee Favorably Reported (Senate)
- Senate Read and Referred (Senate)
- House Passed/Adopted (House)
Show full history (13 actions)
- House Third Readers (House)
- House Committee Favorably Reported (House)
- House Second Readers (House)
- House First Readers (House)
- House Hopper (House)
Sponsors
- Anne Allen Westbrook (D, HD-163)
- Edna Jackson (D, HD-165)
- Carl Gilliard (D, HD-162)
- Ron Stephens (R, HD-164)
- Bill Hitchens (R, HD-161)
Votes
- House voteFebruary 12, 2026
158 yea, 0 nay (11 not voting, 8 excused)
- Senate voteFebruary 24, 2026
53 yea, 0 nay (1 not voting, 1 excused)
Topics
- local government
- city charters
- Garden City
- mayor pro tempore
- municipal law