2021 Georgia Code
Title 50 - State Government
Chapter 13 - Administrative Procedure
Article 1 - General Provisions
§ 50-13-7. Secretary of State to Publish Compilation of Rules and Quarterly Bulletin

1. The Secretary of State shall compile, index, and publish in print or electronically all rules adopted by each agency and remaining in effect. Compilations shall be supplemented or revised as often as necessary and at least once every two years.
2. The Secretary of State shall publish in print or electronically a quarterly bulletin in which the Secretary of State shall set forth the text of all rules filed during the preceding quarter.
3. The Secretary of State, in his or her discretion, may omit rules from the bulletin or compilation if their publication would be unduly cumbersome, expensive, or otherwise inexpedient, provided that the omitted rules are made available in electronic, printed, or processed form on application to the adopting agency and that the bulletin or compilation contains a notice stating the general subject matter of the rules so omitted and stating how copies thereof may be obtained.
4. The official compilation, Rules and Regulations of the State of Georgia, and bulletins shall be made available upon request free of charge to the heads of all departments, bureaus, agencies, commissions, and boards of this state; members of the General Assembly; Justices of the Supreme Court,Judges of the Court of Appeals; judges, clerks, and district attorneys of the superior courts. The compilation and bulletins shall be made available upon request to other persons at a price fixed by the Secretary of State to cover publication and mailing costs.
5. The Secretary of State may engage the services of a privately operated editorial and publication firm experienced in the publication of annotated law books to compile, index, and publish such rules. The compilation shall conform in its arrangement as near as practicable to the Code of this state.

(Ga. L. 1964, p. 338, § 7; Ga. L. 1965, p. 283, § 8; Ga. L. 1967, p. 893, § 1; Ga. L. 1968, p. 115, § 1; Ga. L. 2000, p. 1619, § 5.)

- For article, "Researching Georgia Law," see 34 Ga. St. U. L. Rev. 741 (2015).

JUDICIAL DECISIONS

Unfiled and unpublished policy manual not entitled to judicial notice.

- Policy manual upon which a state agency relies, if never filed with or published by the Secretary of State pursuant to O.C.G.A. §§ 50-13-6 and50-13-7, is not entitled to judicial notice, even if the manual's publication is not statutorily required. Commissioner, Dep't of Human Resources v. Haggard, 173 Ga. App. 676, 327 S.E.2d 798 (1985).

Cited in State v. Bonini, 236 Ga. 896, 225 S.E.2d 907 (1976); State of Ga. v. International Keystone Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, Inc., 299 Ga. 392, 788 S.E.2d 455 (2016).

OPINIONS OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL

Rules must be properly adopted to be valid.

- Any rule, regulation, resolution, etc., by whatever name called, which falls under the definition of a "rule," as defined by Ga. L. 1965, p. 283, §§ 2-4 (see O.C.G.A. § 50-13-2), must be adopted pursuant to the procedure for adoption of rules, i.e., Ga. L. 1965, p. 283, §§ 6, 7, and 8 and Ga. L. 1964, p. 338, § 6 (see O.C.G.A. §§ 50-13-4 through50-13-7), if it is to be valid against any person or party. 1971 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 71-158.

RESEARCH REFERENCES

Am. Jur. 2d.

- 2 Am. Jur. 2d, Administrative Law, § 193.

- 73 C.J.S., Public Administrative Law and Procedure, §§ 185, 204.

- Model State Administrative Procedure Act (U.L.A.) § 2-101.