HB467: HB467 State flag, seal, and other symbols; protection of government statues and monuments; revise provisions

Georgia already makes it a crime to deface or remove certain government monuments, including Confederate memorials. This bill revises that law (O.C.G.A. § 50-3-1) to broaden who can sue over damaged monuments, increase financial penalties, and add new procedural requirements before a government agency can remove or relocate a monument. Under the bill, any interested person or group, not just the monument's owner, could sue for damages, attorney's fees, and treble (triple) the cost of repair. Before removing a monument from public display, an agency would have to give 90 days' public notice and offer it to interested third parties. The bill also creates a statewide monument registry run by the Department of Community Affairs, and it waives the state's sovereign immunity and any officer's qualified immunity for violations of this law, meaning the state and its employees could be sued directly.

• Expands who can sue over damaged, moved, or removed monuments to 'any interested person, group, or legal entity,' even without personal injury.
• Requires agencies to give 90 days' public notice and offer a monument to interested third parties before removing it from public display.
• Creates a statewide registry of public monuments to be maintained by the Department of Community Affairs, with agencies required to report their monuments by the end of the following year.
• Waives the state's sovereign immunity and any officer's qualified immunity for lawsuits brought under this monument protection law.
• Keeps in place the requirement that Stone Mountain's Confederate memorial carving 'shall never be altered, removed, concealed, or obscured.'
• Sets treble damages (three times repair or replacement cost) plus possible punitive damages and attorney's fees for violations.

State and local government agencies, school boards, the University System of Georgia, local governments, and public officers who oversee monuments; also private monument owners, third parties seeking to display relocated monuments, and anyone who wants to sue over damage to a monument.

The bill would make it easier and more costly to remove, alter, or damage government-owned monuments in Georgia, including Confederate memorials, by letting more people sue and by requiring extended public notice before relocation. Removing state immunity means taxpayers and officials could face direct liability in these disputes.

• Section 1 amends O.C.G.A. § 50-3-1 to define 'agency,' 'monument,' and 'officer' broadly, covering state and local government bodies, boards, and educational institutions.
• Paragraph (2) makes it a misdemeanor to mutilate, deface, damage, or conceal a monument on agency-owned property.
• Paragraph (4) sets treble damages plus possible exemplary damages, attorney's fees, and court costs for anyone who damages, removes, or fails to replace a monument.
• Paragraph (5) grants standing to any interested person or group to sue over monument violations, removing any requirement to show personal injury.
• Paragraph (11) requires agencies to give 90 days' public notice before removing a monument and to offer it to interested third parties for continued public display.
• Subsection (c) preserves the requirement that the Confederate memorial carved on Stone Mountain never be altered, removed, or obscured.
• Subsection (e) creates a statewide monument registry maintained by the Department of Community Affairs, requiring agencies to report monument locations and ownership.
• Subsections (f) and (g) waive the state's sovereign immunity and any officer's qualified immunity for claims brought under this Code section.

1. 2026-03-06House Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute (House)
2. 2025-04-04House Withdrawn, Recommitted (House)
3. 2025-02-27House Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute (House)
4. 2025-02-20House Second Readers (House)
5. 2025-02-19House First Readers (House)
6. 2025-02-18House Hopper (House)

• Alan Powell (R, HD-033)Primary sponsor
• Karen Mathiak (R, HD-082)
• Devan Seabaugh (R, HD-034)
• Steve Tarvin (R, HD-002)
• Mike Cameron (R, HD-001)
• Darlene Taylor (R, HD-173)

• Confederate monuments
• government monuments
• sovereign immunity
• Stone Mountain
• public records registry