SB56: SB56 Georgia State Indemnification Fund; the Department of Administrative Services to purchase annuities for the payment of indemnification claims; authorize

Georgia's State Indemnification Fund pays lump sums or installment payments to public safety officers, or their families, when they are killed or permanently disabled in the line of duty. This bill changes how the state funds and processes those payments. It authorizes the Department of Administrative Services to purchase annuities to pay for indemnification claims instead of relying only on direct payments. It also adds a legal definition of COVID-19 and creates a path for the deaths of public safety officers connected to COVID-19 that occurred on or before April 15, 2022 to count as in the line of duty, if the officer was diagnosed within 14 days of their last shift and had COVID-19 at the time of death. Families must submit those COVID-19 death claims between the bill's effective date and August 1, 2025. The bill also updates who reviews denied claims, shifting review from 'the commission' to 'the commissioner or his or her designee.'

• Authorizes the Department of Administrative Services to purchase annuities to fund payments made through the indemnification program.
• Adds a legal definition of COVID-19 to the indemnification law for use in death claims.
• Creates a special rule letting COVID-19 related deaths of public safety officers on or before April 15, 2022 qualify as line-of-duty deaths under certain conditions.
• Sets a submission deadline of August 1, 2025 for COVID-19 related death claims, and bars payment of any such claim submitted outside that window.
• Changes who reviews a denied indemnification claim from 'the commission' to 'the commissioner or his or her designee.'

Public safety officers such as police officers, firefighters, EMTs, emergency management rescue specialists, state highway employees, and prison guards, along with their surviving spouses, children, and dependents who may seek indemnification payments after a death or disability, plus the Department of Administrative Services, which administers the fund.

Families of public safety officers who died from COVID-19 related causes tied to their work between 2020 and April 2022 would get a defined path and deadline to seek the state's $150,000 death indemnification payment, while the annuity authorization changes how the state finances these long-standing benefit payments.

• Section 1 rewrites O.C.G.A. § 45-9-85 to add a definition of COVID-19 and authorizes the department to purchase annuities to fund payments under this part.
• Section 1 lets the department treat a public safety officer's COVID-19 related death occurring on or before April 15, 2022 as a line-of-duty death if diagnosed within 14 days of last duty and COVID-19 was present at death, unless medical evidence shows another cause.
• Section 1 changes claim review from 'the commission' to 'the commissioner or his or her designee' when a department denial is appealed.
• Section 2 amends O.C.G.A. § 45-9-86 to require COVID-19 related death claims to be filed between the bill's effective date and August 1, 2025, and bars payment of claims filed outside that window.
• Section 3 amends O.C.G.A. § 45-9-88 to update a cross-reference so the COVID-19 exception in Code Section 45-9-85 is properly cited among the exclusions for suicide, self-inflicted injury, natural causes, or routine duty.
• Section 4 repeals conflicting laws.

1. 2025-05-14Effective Date 2025-07-01
2. 2025-05-14Act 281
3. 2025-05-14Senate Date Signed by Governor (Senate)
4. 2025-04-07Senate Sent to Governor (Senate)
5. 2025-03-27House Passed/Adopted (House)
6. 2025-03-27House Third Readers (House)
7. 2025-03-20House Committee Favorably Reported (House)
8. 2025-03-06House Second Readers (House)

• Jason Anavitarte (R, SD-031)Primary sponsor
• John Albers (R, SD-056)
• Randy Robertson (R, SD-029)
• John Kennedy (R, SD-018)
• Steve Gooch (R, SD-051)
• Brian Strickland (R, SD-042)
• Billy Hickman (R, SD-004)
• Blake Tillery (R, SD-019)
• Frank Ginn (R, SD-047)
• Max Burns (R, SD-023)
• Chuck Payne (R, SD-054)
• Drew Echols (R, SD-049)
• Sam Watson (R, SD-011)
• Timothy Bearden (R, SD-030)
• Shawn Still (R, SD-048)
• Marty Harbin (R, SD-016)
• Russ Goodman (R, SD-008)
• Greg Dolezal (R, SD-027)
• Bo Hatchett (R, SD-050)
• Lee Anderson (R, SD-024)
• Joseph Gullett (R, HD-019)

1. PassedSenate voteMarch 3, 2025

   54 yea, 1 nay (0 not voting, 1 absent)

   Passage By Substitute: Senate Vote #134

2. PassedHouse voteMarch 27, 2025

   165 yea, 0 nay (4 not voting, 11 absent)

   Passage: House Vote #325

• public safety officer benefits
• COVID-19 death claims
• state indemnification fund
• first responder disability
• government annuities