SB 437 Georgia Senate · 2025-2026 Regular Session

State Building, Plumbing, and Electrical Codes; acknowledgement of an applicant's use of a private professional provider to conduct a plan review or inspection; provide

Summary

A BILL to be entitled an Act to amend Part 2 of Article 1 of Chapter 2 of Title 8 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to state building, plumbing, and electrical codes, so as to provide for acknowledgment of an applicant's use of a private professional provider to conduct a plan review or inspection and that such review or inspection may proceed regardless of whether the local governing authority had performed its own plan review or inspection; to provide for related matters; to provide for an effective date and applicability; to repeal conflicting laws; and for other purposes.

Bill status passed 3 of 5 stages cleared

Introduction

Jan 2026

Committee Review

Mar 2026

Senate Passage

Mar 2026

House Passage

Governor

Introduced Jan 28, 2026 Last action Mar 31, 2026

Maddy AI version diff · 2 comparisons

What changed between versions

As Passed Senate → LC 47 4315S/hss · 3 edits

MINOR

The bill text was updated to reflect a House substitute version, changing the title from 'As Passed Senate' to 'House Committee Substitute.' The substantive policy content regarding building inspections remains largely the same, but the language was slightly tightened to remove references to 'plan review' in favor of just 'inspection,' and the timeline for local approvals was clarified to specify that the 15-day period applies to 'inspection' rather than 'plan review or inspection.'

Scope change

The scope of applicability remains unchanged for residential structures (single-family, townhomes, and condos of three stories or less), but the specific administrative processes described were narrowed slightly to focus on 'inspection' rather than 'plan review.'

TECHNICAL

The bill header was changed from 'As Passed Senate' to 'House Committee Substitute,' indicating the text has been amended by the House of Representatives.

REQUIREMENT

References to 'plan review' were removed or replaced with 'inspection' in several sections, narrowing the specific administrative actions described in the new subsections.

TIMELINE

The timeline for local government approval was clarified to state that the 15-business-day period applies specifically to 'inspection,' whereas the original text included 'plan review or inspection.'

Floor votes · Senate Mar 3, 2026

How they voted

45–1

Passed · 2 other

Total votes 48

Mar 3, 2026

D Democratic19

17 Yea 2

89% Yea

R Republican29

28 Yea 1 Nay

96% Yea

Vote distribution

All Yea All Nay Mixed No data

Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions

Key actions

Committee

Mar 27, 2026

Lower · Passed

House Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute

lower

Mar 3, 2026

Upper · Passed

Senate Passed/Adopted By Substitute

upper

Feb 19, 2026

Upper · Passed

Senate Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute

upper

Feb 17, 2026

Committee

Senate Recommitted

upper

Feb 10, 2026

Upper · Passed

Senate Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute

upper

Jan 29, 2026

Committee

Senate Read and Referred

upper

Jan 28, 2026

Introduced

Senate Hopper

upper

5 primary · 0 co-sponsors