2021 Georgia Code
Title 50 - State Government
Chapter 13 - Administrative Procedure
Article 1 - General Provisions
§ 50-13-2. Definitions

As used in this chapter, the term:

1. "Agency" means each state board, bureau, commission, department, activity, or officer authorized by law expressly to make rules and regulations or to determine contested cases, except the General Assembly; the judiciary; the Governor; the State Board of Pardons and Paroles; the State Financing and Investment Commission; the State Properties Commission; the Board of Bar Examiners; the Board of Corrections and its penal institutions; the State Board of Workers' Compensation; all public authorities except as otherwise expressly provided by law; the State Personnel Board; the Department of Administrative Services or commissioner of administrative services; the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia; the Technical College System of Georgia; the Nonpublic Postsecondary Education Commission; the Department of Labor when conducting hearings related to unemployment benefits or overpayments of unemployment benefits; the Department of Revenue when conducting hearings relating to alcoholic beverages, tobacco, or bona fide coin operated amusement machines or any violations relating thereto; the Georgia Higher Education Savings Plan; the Georgia ABLE Program Corporation; any school, college, hospital, or other such educational, eleemosynary, or charitable institution; or any agency when its action is concerned with the military or naval affairs of this state. Such term shall include the State Board of Education and Department of Education, subject to the following qualifications:
   1. Subject to the limitations of subparagraph (B) of this paragraph, all otherwise valid rules adopted by the State Board of Education and Department of Education prior to January 1, 1990, are ratified and validated and shall be effective until January 1, 1991, whether or not such rules were adopted in compliance with the requirements of this chapter; and
   2. Effective January 1, 1991, any rule of the State Board of Education or Department of Education which has not been proposed, submitted, and adopted in accordance with the requirements of this chapter shall be void and of no effect.
2. "Contested case" means a proceeding, including, but not restricted to, rate making, price fixing, and licensing, in which the legal rights, duties, or privileges of a party are required by law to be determined by an agency after an opportunity for hearing.

   (2.1) "Electronic" means, without limitation, analog, digital, electronic, magnetic, mechanical, optical, chemical, electromagnetic, electromechanical, electrochemical, or other similar means.

3. "License" means the whole or part of any agency permit, certificate, approval, registration, charter, or similar form of permission required by law, but it does not include a license required solely for revenue purposes. "Licensing" includes the agency process respecting the grant, denial, renewal, revocation, suspension, annulment, withdrawal, or amendment of a license.

   (3.1) "Mailed" includes electronic means of communication.

   (3.2) "Mailing list" includes electronic means of distribution.

4. "Party" means each person or agency named or admitted as a party or properly seeking and entitled as of right to be admitted as a party.
5. "Person" means any individual, partnership, corporation, association, governmental subdivision, or public or private organization of any character other than an agency.

   (5.1) "Record" means information created, transmitted, received, or stored either in human perceivable form or in a form that is retrievable in human perceivable form.

6. "Rule" means each agency regulation, standard, or statement of general applicability that implements, interprets, or prescribes law or policy or describes the organization, procedure, or practice requirements of any agency. The term includes the amendment or repeal of a prior rule but does not include the following:
   1. Statements concerning only the internal management of an agency and not affecting private rights or procedures available to the public;
   2. Declaratory rulings issued pursuant to Code Section 50-13-11;
   3. Intra-agency memoranda;
   4. Statements of policy or interpretations that are made in the decision of a contested case;
   5. Rules concerning the use or creation of public roads or facilities, which rules are communicated to the public by use of signs or symbols;
   6. Rules which relate to the acquiring, sale, development, and management of the property, both real and personal, of the state or of an agency;
   7. Rules which relate to contracts for the purchases and sales of goods and services by the state or of an agency;
   8. Rules which relate to the employment, compensation, tenure, terms, retirement, or regulation of the employees of the state or of an agency;
   9. Rules relating to loans, grants, and benefits by the state or of an agency; or
   10. The approval or prescription for the future of rates or prices.

(Ga. L. 1964, p. 338, § 2; Ga. L. 1965, p. 283, §§ 2-4; Ga. L. 1975, p. 404, § 3; Ga. L. 1980, p. 1573, § 2; Ga. L. 1982, p. 3, § 50; Ga. L. 1982, p. 1463, §§ 6, 13; Ga. L. 1985, p. 283, § 1; Ga. L. 1990, p. 794, § 1; Ga. L. 1992, p. 6, § 50; Ga. L. 1994, p. 97, § 50; Ga. L. 1997, p. 404, § 1; Ga. L. 1997, p. 695, § 1; Ga. L. 1999, p. 721, § 2; Ga. L. 2000, p. 1619, § 1; Ga. L. 2001, p. 76, § 4; Ga. L. 2005, p. 175, § 3/HB 98; Ga. L. 2008, p. 335, § 10/SB 435; Ga. L. 2010, p. 470, § 8/SB 454; Ga. L. 2012, p. 446, § 2-105/HB 642; Ga. L. 2012, p. 831, § 14/HB 1071; Ga. L. 2014, p. 730, § 10/HB 714; Ga. L. 2015, p. 83, § 10/HB 353; Ga. L. 2016, p. 588, § 3/HB 768; Ga. L. 2018, p. 762, § 1/HB 790; Ga. L. 2019, p. 919, § 2-4/HB 553.)

The 2019 amendment, effective July 1, 2019, deleted "the Georgia Tobacco Community Development Board;" preceding "the Georgia Higher Education Savings Plan" near the end of the first sentence of paragraph (1).

- Georgia Achieving a Better Life Experience (ABLE) Act, § 30-9-1 et seq.

- Ga. L. 1975, p. 404, § 9, not codified by the General Assembly, provides that nothing contained within that Act shall apply to any rate, charge, classification, service, hearing, procedure, or matter which shall pertain to any motor contract carrier, motor common carrier, or railroad.

Ga. L. 2005, p. 175, § 1/HB 98, not codified by the General Assembly, provides that: "This Act shall be known and may be cited as the 'Georgia Land Conservation Act.'"

Ga. L. 2012, p. 446, § 3-1/HB 642, not codified by the General Assembly, provides that: "Personnel, equipment, and facilities that were assigned to the State Personnel Administration as of June 30, 2012, shall be transferred to the Department of Administrative Services on the effective date of this Act." This Act became effective July 1, 2012.

Ga. L. 2012, p. 446, § 3-2/HB 642, not codified by the General Assembly, provides that: "Appropriations for functions which are transferred by this Act may be transferred as provided in Code Section 45-12-90."

Ga. L. 2019, p. 919, § 2-2/HB 553, not codified by the General Assembly, provides: "Any assets of the Georgia Tobacco Community Development Board existing as of June 30, 2019, shall devolve by operation of law and without further action to the State of Georgia on July 1, 2019. Any liabilities and obligations of the Georgia Tobacco Community Development Board existing as of June 30, 2019, shall be transferred to and assumed by the State of Georgia, by such instruments as may be required to maintain the same."

- For article, "Administrative Law," see 53 Mercer L. Rev. 81 (2001). For article on 2005 amendment of this Code section, see 22 Ga. St. U. L. Rev. 185 (2005). For article, "The Status of Administrative Agencies under the Georgia Constitution," see 40 Ga. L. Rev. 1109 (2006). For annual survey of law on administrative law, see 62 Mercer L. Rev. 1 (2010). For article, "Administrative Law," see 63 Mercer L. Rev. 47 (2011). For article on the 2014 amendment of this Code section, see 31 Ga. St. U. L. Rev. 137 (2014). For article, "Researching Georgia Law," see 34 Ga. St. U. L. Rev. 741 (2015). For article on the 2016 amendment of this Code section, see 33 Georgia St. U. L. Rev. 193 (2016). For note on the 2001 amendment to this Code section, see 18 Ga. St. U. L. Rev. 84 (2001).

ANALYSIS

• General Consideration
• Agency
• Contested Case
• Benefits

ANALYSIS

• General Consideration
• Agency
• Rules

RESEARCH REFERENCES

Am. Jur. 2d.

- 2 Am. Jur. 2d, Administrative Law, § 31.

- 73 C.J.S., Public Administrative Law and Procedure, § 1 et seq.

- Model State Administrative Procedure Act (U.L.A.) § 1-102.

- Propriety of hospital's conditioning physician's staff privileges on his carrying professional liability or malpractice insurance, 7 A.L.R.4th 1238.