On May 12, 2026, Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp (R) signed HB 1247 into law. The bill, which supporters call the Georgia Bureaucratic Deference Elimination Act, requires Georgia agencies to submit economic impact analyses of their rules to the legislature, and restricts the practice of judicial deference by state courts.
The portion of the bill that contained the judicial deference provisions was passed 98-63 by the Georgia House of Representatives on March 4. The Georgia Senate amended the bill to include provisions of another bill, called the Red Tape Rollback Act, which changed agency economic analysis requirements for rulemaking. The Senate passed this amended version of the bill March 25, 48-2, sending the bill back to the House. The House added its own amendments (which included exempting specific agencies' rules from reporting requirements), and passed the amended bill 98-70 on April 2. The Senate then passed the House-amended bill on April 3, with a vote of 34-18.
The bill was introduced in the House February 9 by seven sponsors, all Republicans. In the House, 63 Democrats voted no, and one Democrat joined 97 Republicans in voting yes in the March 4 vote. 70 Democrats voted no, and two Democrats joined 96 Republicans in voting yes in the April 2 vote on the twice-amended bill.
