HB161: HB161 Georgia Bureau of Investigation; authority to issue subpoenas of electronic communication records for purposes of investigating certain cyber enabled threats to life and property; provide

Georgia law already let the GBI director or deputy director for investigations subpoena subscriber records from phone and internet companies when investigating certain child exploitation and computer crimes. House Bill 161 expands that subpoena power to cover investigations of additional offenses, including computer theft, obstruction, terroristic threats, harassing communications, and the newly defined crime of domestic terrorism. Companies served with these subpoenas must hand over basic subscriber information such as name, address, phone records, and payment details, and they are barred from telling the customer about the subpoena. The bill also keeps the subpoena's existence secret during a pending investigation. Separately, the bill moves the definition of domestic terrorism out of a definitions section and into the actual criminal offense statute (O.C.G.A. § 16-11-221), spelling out what someone must intend and do to be guilty and setting prison terms ranging from 5 years to life or death depending on the harm caused. It also updates references to domestic terrorism in Georgia's anti-racketeering law, sanctuary policy laws, and Board of Homeland Security definitions to match the new structure.

• Expands the GBI's subpoena authority for electronic communication records to cover investigations of computer theft, obstruction, terroristic threats, harassing communications, and domestic terrorism, not just child exploitation crimes.
• Requires phone and internet providers to hand over a subscriber's name, address, call records, service dates, and payment information when served with one of these GBI subpoenas.
• Bars providers from notifying the customer that a subpoena was issued and keeps the subpoena's existence confidential during a pending investigation.
• Rewrites the domestic terrorism statute (O.C.G.A. § 16-11-221) to define the crime directly and sets prison terms from 5 years up to life or death depending on whether death, kidnapping, serious injury, or infrastructure damage results.
• Limits judges' ability to suspend or probate a domestic terrorism sentence unless the prosecutor and defendant have agreed to it.
• Updates references to domestic terrorism in Georgia's racketeering law, sanctuary policy laws, and Board of Homeland Security statute to point to the new offense definition.

Phone and internet service providers who must respond to GBI subpoenas, GBI investigators and the Attorney General's office, people under investigation for computer crimes, threats, or domestic terrorism, and local governments and the Board of Homeland Security whose statutes reference the domestic terrorism definition.

Investigators would be able to obtain subscriber records more quickly across a wider range of cyber-related crimes without the subject knowing, and anyone convicted of the newly defined domestic terrorism offense would face fixed, largely non-negotiable prison terms tied to the specific harm caused.

• Section 1-1 rewrites O.C.G.A. § 35-3-4.1 to let the GBI director, assistant director, or deputy director for investigations issue subpoenas, with Attorney General consent, for electronic communication records in investigations of a broadened list of crimes, including 16-9-93, 16-10-28, 16-11-37, 16-11-39.1, and 16-11-221.
• Section 1-1 requires providers to disclose subscriber name, address, call/session records, service dates, phone number, and payment method, and bars them from notifying the subscriber.
• Section 1-1 keeps the fact that a subpoena was issued confidential during a pending investigation and lets GBI share information gathered with other law enforcement agencies for child exploitation cases.
• Section 2-1 removes the definition of 'domestic terrorism' from O.C.G.A. § 16-11-220's definitions section.
• Section 2-2 rewrites O.C.G.A. § 16-11-221 to define the crime of domestic terrorism directly, listing required intent and setting penalties from 5 years to death or life without parole depending on the harm caused.
• Section 2-2 restricts courts from suspending, staying, or probating a domestic terrorism sentence except when the prosecutor and defendant agree.
• Sections 2-3 through 2-6 update cross-references to domestic terrorism in the racketeering law, sanctuary policy statutes, and the Board of Homeland Security definitions to point to the new § 16-11-221 offense.

1. 2025-05-08Effective Date 2025-07-01
2. 2025-05-08Act 68
3. 2025-05-08House Date Signed by Governor (House)
4. 2025-04-07House Sent to Governor (House)
5. 2025-03-25House Agreed Senate Amend or Sub (House)
6. 2025-03-20Senate Passed/Adopted By Substitute (Senate)
7. 2025-03-20Senate Third Read (Senate)
8. 2025-03-18Senate Read Second Time (Senate)

• Clint Crowe (R, HD-118)Primary sponsor
• Matt Reeves (R, HD-099)
• Kimberly New (R, HD-040)
• Beth Camp (R, HD-135)
• Tyler Smith (R, HD-018)
• John Albers (R, SD-056)

1. PassedHouse voteMarch 6, 2025

   158 yea, 8 nay (7 not voting, 7 absent)

   Passage: House Vote #217

2. PassedSenate voteMarch 20, 2025

   48 yea, 4 nay (1 not voting, 3 absent)

   Passage By Substitute: Senate Vote #258

3. PassedHouse voteMarch 25, 2025

   150 yea, 18 nay (6 not voting, 6 absent)

   Agree To Senate Substitute: House Vote #308

• domestic terrorism law
• Georgia Bureau of Investigation
• electronic records subpoenas
• criminal penalties
• cybercrime investigations