---
title: HB 966. Garden City, City of; mayor to fill any vacancy in the office of mayor pro tempore; provide
collection: bills
id: 2025-2026/hb966
cite_as: HB 966, 2025-2026 Regular Session (Ga.)
canonical_url: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/hb966
md_url: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/hb966.md
text_url: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/hb966/text
source_url: https://www.legis.ga.gov/legislation/72215
date: 2026-04-02
status: passed
corpus_version: bills-2026-09-13
license: Public record of the Georgia General Assembly, via LegiScan; see about.md
publisher: Georgia Commons, an independent project of Georgia Civic Data. Not the State of Georgia. Not legal advice.
up: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026.md
previous: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/hb965.md
next: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/hb967.md
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omitted: votes and history
omitted_chars: 885
omitted_url: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/hb966.md?full=1
bill_number: HB 966
session: 2025-2026 Regular Session
session_slug: 2025-2026
chamber: House
bill_type: bill
status_date: 2026-04-02
last_action: Effective Date 2026-04-02
sponsors:
  - Anne Westbrook
  - Edna Jackson
  - Carl Gilliard
  - Ron Stephens
  - Bill Hitchens
text_version: Enrolled
has_text: true
legiscan_url: https://legiscan.com/GA/bill/HB966/2025
upstream_id: 2080518
summaries_model: claude-sonnet-5
topic_tags:
  - local government
  - city charters
  - Garden City
  - mayor pro tempore
  - municipal law
---

# HB 966. Garden City, City of; mayor to fill any vacancy in the office of mayor pro tempore; provide

## Text

House Bill 966 (AS PASSED HOUSE AND SENATE)
By: Representatives Westbrook of the 163rd, Jackson of the 165th, Gilliard of the 162nd,
Stephens of the 164th, and Hitchens of the 161st
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
To amend an Act creating a new charter for the City of Garden City, approved April 17, 1973
(Ga. L. 1973, p. 3581), as amended, particularly by an Act approved May 6, 2024 (Ga. L.
2024, p. 4332), so as to provide for the mayor to fill any vacancy in the office of mayor pro
tempore; to provide for related matters; to repeal conflicting laws; and for other purposes.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF GEORGIA:
SECTION 1.
An Act creating a new charter for the City of Garden City, approved April 17, 1973
(Ga. L. 1973, p. 3581), as amended, is amended by revising subsection (b) of Section 2.03
as follows:
"(b) Commencing with the general election on the Tuesday following the first Monday in
November, 2011, the city shall elect a mayor at large for a term of four years. After each
regular election, the city council shall meet for organization at its first regular meeting next
following the meeting where the oath of office has been administered. If the mayor has
been elected at the recent election, he or she shall appoint one of the other councilpersons
to serve as mayor pro tempore for a four-year term and until his or her successor is elected
and qualified. The mayor shall fill any vacancy in the mayor pro tempore's office. The
mayor pro tempore shall act as mayor during any absence or disability of the mayor but
shall only vote once on matters before the council and, if a vacancy occurs in the office of
mayor, shall become mayor for the remainder of the unexpired term. The city council shall
also, by majority vote of all the members, elect one of their number, other than the mayor
or mayor pro tempore, to be president of council who shall temporarily assume the mayor's
position in the event that the mayor and mayor pro tempore are both unavailable, but who
shall not, by virtue of being president of council, become mayor in the event that any
vacancy occurs in such office. The president of council shall serve for a term of two years
and until his or her successor is elected and qualified. If the president of council leaves
office before his or her term has expired, he or she shall be replaced by a majority vote of
city council at any regular meeting of city council."
SECTION 2.
All laws and parts of laws in conflict with this Act are repealed.

## Summaries written by Georgia Commons

The following was written by claude-sonnet-5 from the text above and is not part of the bill. Quote the text, not the summary.

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.

### Plain-language summary

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 it 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.

## Status

- Status: Passed (2026-04-02)
- Last action: Effective Date 2026-04-02 (2026-04-02)
- Sponsors: Anne Westbrook, Edna Jackson, Carl Gilliard, Ron Stephens, Bill Hitchens
- Official page: https://www.legis.ga.gov/legislation/72215

> The history, votes, and amendments (885 characters) are at https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/hb966.md?full=1