HB243: HB243 Stone Mountain Memorial Association; revise purpose

Georgia law currently lists three purposes for the Stone Mountain Memorial Association (O.C.G.A. § 12-3-192.1), the state entity that oversees Stone Mountain Park: preserving natural areas, providing public access, and maintaining an appropriate memorial for the Confederacy. This bill rewrites that third purpose. Under the bill, the association's purposes would instead include preserving the park's natural areas, providing Georgians access to the mountain, and educating the public about the mountain's natural history and environment as well as the history of human interaction with the mountain and its surroundings. The bill does not restate the Confederacy memorial as a purpose. It repeals conflicting laws and does not include a specific effective date beyond standard enactment.

• Rewrites O.C.G.A. § 12-3-192.1 to remove the association's stated purpose of maintaining a memorial for the Confederacy.
• Adds a new purpose directing the association to educate the public about the natural history of Stone Mountain and its environment.
• Adds a purpose covering education about the history of human interaction with the mountain and its surroundings.
• Keeps the existing purposes of preserving natural areas within the park and providing Georgians access to the mountain.
• Repeals any existing laws that conflict with the revised purposes.

The Stone Mountain Memorial Association, which manages Stone Mountain Park, and by extension park visitors, historians, and educators who rely on the association's stated mission to guide programming, signage, and preservation decisions at the park.

Because the association's legal purpose shapes how it plans and justifies its programs at the park, removing the Confederacy memorial purpose and replacing it with an educational mission could change what kinds of exhibits, programming, or preservation priorities the association pursues going forward.

• Section 1 amends O.C.G.A. § 12-3-192.1 to revise the three statutory purposes of the Stone Mountain Memorial Association.
• The revised law keeps preservation of the park's natural areas and public access to the mountain as purposes.
• The revised law replaces the prior purpose of maintaining a Confederacy memorial with a purpose of educating the public about the mountain's natural history and the history of human interaction with it.
• Section 2 repeals any laws or parts of laws that conflict with the bill.

1. 2025-02-06House Second Readers (House)
2. 2025-02-05House First Readers (House)
3. 2025-02-04House Hopper (House)

• Billy Mitchell (D, HD-088)Primary sponsor
• Mary Oliver (D, HD-084)
• Angela Moore (D, HD-091)
• Dar'shun Kendrick (D, HD-095)
• Scott Holcomb (D, HD-101)
• Karen Lupton (D, HD-083)

• Stone Mountain Park
• Confederate memorials
• state parks
• historical education