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Panel advances bill to centralize 'doing business as' filings; effective date moved to 2027
Summary
Representative Franklin presented a bill to make county 'doing business as' filings searchable in the Georgia Superior Court Clerk’s Corporate Authority database; the subcommittee amended multiple lines to set the effective date to Jan. 1, 2027, and passed the bill as amended.
Representative Franklin told the subcommittee HB 158 would let trademarks, trade names and doing-business-as records—now filed per county—be consolidated into the Georgia Superior Court Clerk’s Corporate Authority database so they can be searched in one place. He said the bill does not change the $15 fee clerks collect and that clerks would still process filings and transfer the information electronically to the corporate authority.
Franklin noted the bill had passed this committee last year but ran out of time in the session and suggested updating one effective date provision, which currently reads 01/01/2026. During discussion members and counsel agreed that moving several effective-date lines to 01/01/2027 would give clerks and the corporate authority time to prepare.
The subcommittee voted to amend lines 17, 39, 80 and 93 to reflect an effective date of Jan. 1, 2027; counsel confirmed the change "sounds appropriate." After adopting the amendment the committee voted to pass the bill as amended.
