SB175: SB175 Elections and Primaries; use of ranked-choice voting; prohibit

Although this bill is titled as a ban on ranked-choice voting, the substitute text actually rewrites Georgia's monument protection law (O.C.G.A. § 50-3-1), which covers statues, plaques, and memorials on public and private property. The bill broadens who can sue over damaged or removed monuments, letting almost any interested person or group bring a case without proving personal injury, and increases penalties to triple the cost of repair or replacement plus attorney's fees. It also requires agencies wanting to remove or relocate a monument to give 90 days' public notice and offer it to interested third parties first. The Department of Community Affairs must create and maintain a statewide registry of all public monuments. The bill also waives the state's sovereign immunity and any officer's qualified immunity for violations, and specifically preserves the Stone Mountain Confederate memorial from alteration. It would take effect immediately upon the Governor's signature or becoming law without signature.

• Expands who can sue over monument damage or removal, allowing any interested person or group to bring a claim without showing personal injury.
• Increases penalties for damaging, destroying, or removing a monument to triple the repair or replacement cost plus attorney's fees and court costs.
• Requires government agencies to give 90 days' public notice before removing or relocating a monument, and to offer it to interested third parties for display.
• Creates a statewide monument registry run by the Department of Community Affairs, requiring agencies to report all public monuments and any relocations.
• Waives the state's sovereign immunity and any officer's qualified immunity for lawsuits brought under this monument protection law.
• Permanently protects the Confederate memorial carved into Stone Mountain from being altered, removed, or obscured.

State and local government agencies, including school boards, the University System of Georgia's Board of Regents, and any officer or employee involved in managing public monuments; also private monument owners, the Department of Community Affairs, the Attorney General, district attorneys, and anyone who wants to sue over a damaged or removed monument.

If enacted, it would become significantly easier for individuals or groups, not just monument owners, to sue over any monument's removal or damage, and harder for local governments to relocate monuments without a lengthy public notice process, while the state loses its usual legal immunity from such lawsuits.

• Section 1 rewrites O.C.G.A. § 50-3-1(b), broadening who counts as an 'agency' and defining 'monument' to include statues, plaques, flags, and memorials tied to historical, military, or cultural events.
• It removes the requirement that a claimant show personalized injury, stating enforcement of the law is a public right (paragraph (10)).
• It raises damages to triple the repair or replacement cost plus attorney's fees and court costs for anyone who damages, destroys, or removes a monument without authorization (paragraph (4)).
• It requires a 90-day public notice period before an agency may remove or relocate a monument, including notice in the county's legal organ and solicitation of third parties (paragraph (11)).
• It directs the Department of Community Affairs to create a public registry of all monuments on public property, updated whenever a monument is relocated (subsection (e)).
• Subsection (f) waives the state's sovereign immunity, and subsection (g) waives qualified immunity for officers, in lawsuits under this Code section.
• Subsection (c) permanently bars any alteration, removal, or concealment of the Confederate memorial carved on Stone Mountain.
• Section 2 sets the effective date as the date the Governor signs the bill or it otherwise becomes law without signature.

1. 2026-03-31House Third Reading Lost (House)
2. 2026-03-31House Third Readers (House)
3. 2026-03-31House Third Readers (House)
4. 2026-03-27House Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute (House)
5. 2025-04-04House Withdrawn, Recommitted (House)
6. 2025-03-27House Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute (House)
7. 2025-03-06House Second Readers (House)
8. 2025-03-04House First Readers (House)

• Randy Robertson (R, SD-029)Primary sponsor
• Brandon Beach (R, SD-021)
• Matt Brass (R, SD-006)
• Russ Goodman (R, SD-008)
• Mike Hodges (R, SD-003)
• Marty Harbin (R, SD-016)
• Shawn Still (R, SD-048)
• Drew Echols (R, SD-049)
• Ricky Williams (R, SD-025)
• Ed Setzler (R, SD-037)
• Sam Watson (R, SD-011)
• Alan Powell (R, HD-033)

1. PassedSenate voteMarch 3, 2025

   33 yea, 23 nay

   Motion To Engross: Sb 31, Sb 175: Senate Vote #115

2. PassedSenate voteMarch 3, 2025

   36 yea, 19 nay (0 not voting, 1 absent)

   Passage: Senate Vote #131

3. FailedHouse voteMarch 31, 2026

   72 yea, 91 nay (3 not voting, 10 absent)

   Table: House Vote #816

4. PassedHouse voteMarch 31, 2026

   89 yea, 73 nay (3 not voting, 11 absent)

   Passage: House Vote #817

• Confederate monuments
• historic preservation law
• government immunity
• public monument registry
• Stone Mountain