HB 65: State symbols; designate collard greens as official state greens; potlikka as official state dipping sauce of the official state bread

This bill adds a new section to Georgia's list of official state symbols (O.C.G.A. § 50-3-94), designating collard greens as the official state greens and 'potlikka,' the seasoned liquid left over from cooking collard greens, as the official state dipping sauce for cornbread. The legislature's findings note that Georgia is the country's second-largest producer of collards, growing almost 30,000 acres, nearly 20 percent of the state's farmed acreage. The designation would only take effect on July 1, 2025, and only if a separate bill making cornbread the official state bread also becomes law by that date. If that companion bread bill does not pass, this bill would not take effect and would automatically be repealed on July 1, 2025.

• Adds a new Code section (O.C.G.A. § 50-3-94) naming collard greens as Georgia's official state greens.
• Designates 'potlikka,' the liquid produced from cooking collard greens, as the official state dipping sauce for the official state bread.
• Includes legislative findings citing Georgia's status as the second-highest collard-producing state, with almost 30,000 farmed acres.
• Ties the bill's effective date to a separate bill designating cornbread as the official state bread, taking effect July 1, 2025 only if that bread bill also becomes law.
• Automatically repeals itself on July 1, 2025 if the companion cornbread bill does not become law by then.

The designation mainly affects Georgia's official symbolic identity rather than regulating any group directly, though it touches Georgia's collard farmers and agricultural sector, whose crop would gain formal state recognition, and depends on passage of a related cornbread bill.

The bill does not change any regulations, funding, or daily obligations for Georgians; it adds a ceremonial state symbol. Its practical effect is contingent on another bill about cornbread also becoming law, meaning this designation could fail to take effect depending on that bill's fate.

• Section 1 lays out legislative findings about collard greens' cultural history in Georgia and the state's standing as a major collard producer.
• Section 2 creates new Code section 50-3-94, formally naming collard greens the state greens and 'potlikka' the state dipping sauce for the state bread.
• Section 3 makes the Act's effectiveness contingent on a separate cornbread designation bill becoming law by July 1, 2025, and provides for automatic repeal if that does not happen.
• Section 4 repeals any conflicting laws.

1. 2026-02-25House Committee Favorably Reported (Cámara de Representantes)
2. 2025-01-17House Second Readers (Cámara de Representantes)
3. 2025-01-16House First Readers (Cámara de Representantes)
4. 2025-01-15House Hopper (Cámara de Representantes)

• Angela Moore (D, HD-091)Patrocinador principal
• Kasey Carpenter (R, HD-004)
• Emory Dunahoo (R, HD-031)
• Karla Drenner (D, HD-085)
• Clint Crowe (R, HD-118)
• Patty Stinson (D, HD-150)

• state symbols
• collard greens
• Georgia agriculture
• cornbread
• state bread