HB 1268: Official Code of Georgia Annotated; revise, modernize and correct errors or omissions

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cosmetic: fixing misspellings, adding or removing commas, correcting cross-references to other Code sections, replacing outdated terms like 'Internet' with 'internet' or 'data base' with 'database', standardizing phrases like 'chairman' to 'chairperson', and renumbering sections that were moved or repealed.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.

• 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• Standardizes outdated or inconsistent terms throughout the Code, such as changing 'Internet' to 'internet', 'data base' to 'database', and 'chairman' to 'chairperson'.
• Renumbers or redesignates several Code sections that had been repealed, reserved, or moved, including reorganizing parts of Title 20 (education) and Title 44 (property).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.

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.

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.

• 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.

1. 2026-05-12Effective Date 2026-07-01
2. 2026-05-12Act 723
3. 2026-05-12House Date Signed by Governor (Cámara de Representantes)
4. 2026-04-10House Sent to Governor (Cámara de Representantes)
5. 2026-03-20Senate Passed/Adopted (Senado)
6. 2026-03-20Senate Third Read (Senado)
7. 2026-03-19Senate Read Second Time (Senado)
8. 2026-03-18Senate Committee Favorably Reported (Senado)

• James Burchett (R, HD-176)Patrocinador principal
• Rob Leverett (R, HD-123)
• Chuck Efstration (R, HD-104)
• Stacey Evans (D, HD-057)
• Bo Hatchett (R, SD-050)

1. AprobadaVotación: Cámara de Representantes3 de marzo de 2026

   168 a favor, 0 en contra (3 sin votar, 6 ausentes)

   Passage: House Vote #591

2. AprobadaVotación: Senado20 de marzo de 2026

   45 a favor, 0 en contra (3 sin votar, 6 ausentes)

   Passage: Senate Vote #763

• Georgia Code revision
• legislative housekeeping
• statutory corrections
• Official Code of Georgia Annotated