HB670: HB670 Georgia Civil Rights Act of 2025; enact

Georgia currently has no single, comprehensive state civil rights law covering housing, public accommodations, and employment; protections mostly come from federal law or scattered state provisions. This bill would add sexual orientation and age as protected categories throughout Georgia's fair housing law (O.C.G.A. Title 8), and would replace the outdated term 'handicap' with 'disability' in several statutes. It creates a brand-new state law guaranteeing equal access to public accommodations like stores, restaurants, and hotels, with a civil lawsuit and attorney's fees available to people denied service. It adds a new private employment discrimination law covering employers with 15 or more workers, letting employees sue directly in court. It creates the 'End Racial Profiling Act,' banning racial profiling by police, requiring agencies to adopt anti-profiling policies, collect data, and report annually to the Attorney General, who can also sue to enforce the law. The bill also partially waives the state's sovereign immunity for these profiling claims and updates Georgia's public employee fair employment law. It would take effect January 1, 2026.

• Adds sexual orientation and age as protected classes throughout Georgia's fair housing law (O.C.G.A. § 8-3-200 et seq.), alongside race, color, religion, disability, familial status, and national origin.
• Creates a new Georgia public accommodations law (new O.C.G.A. Title 10, Chapter 16) letting anyone denied equal service at a business sue for an injunction and attorney's fees.
• Creates a new private-sector employment discrimination law (new O.C.G.A. § 34-1-11) covering employers with 15 or more workers, giving employees a direct right to sue in court for lost wages and reinstatement.
• Creates the 'End Racial Profiling Act' (new O.C.G.A. Title 35, Chapter 11), banning police from targeting people based on protected traits and requiring written anti-profiling policies, officer training, and a complaint process.
• Requires the Attorney General to collect stop and search data from every law enforcement agency and issue a public annual report on stop rates and 'hit rates' broken down by race, ethnicity, and national origin.
• Partially waives the state's sovereign immunity (legal protection from lawsuits) so people can sue state and local government over racial profiling for injunctions and attorney's fees, though not money damages.

Landlords, real estate agents, and mortgage lenders covered by fair housing rules; businesses open to the public, such as stores and restaurants; private employers with 15 or more employees and their workers; state and local law enforcement agencies and officers; and state agencies involved in public employment, including the Commission on Equal Opportunity and the State Personnel Board.

Georgians who are denied service, fired, or stopped by police because of traits like sexual orientation, age, or disability would gain new state-law grounds to sue, beyond what federal law already allows. Police departments statewide would face new data collection, training, and reporting duties, and could be sued by the Attorney General or individuals for racial profiling.

• Part II (Sections 2-1 through 2-5) rewrites Georgia's fair housing statutes to add sexual orientation and age as protected classes and to remove the term 'handicap' in favor of 'disability.'
• Part III (Section 3-1) creates a new Title 10, Chapter 16 public accommodations law modeled on federal civil rights law, letting aggrieved individuals sue for injunctions and attorney's fees.
• Part IV, Section 4-1 creates O.C.G.A. § 34-1-11, a new private employment discrimination law covering employers with 15+ employees, with a private right of action and back pay capped at two years before filing.
• Part IV, Sections 4-2 create the 'End Racial Profiling Act' (Title 35, Chapter 11), defining racial profiling, banning it, and requiring agency policies, data collection, and an annual Attorney General report starting July 1, 2025.
• Section 35-11-5 allows the Attorney General or any injured individual to sue for declaratory or injunctive relief over racial profiling, with attorney's fees available to prevailing plaintiffs other than the Attorney General.
• Sections 4-3 through 4-14 update the state's public employee 'Fair Employment Practices Act of 1978' (Title 45) to add sexual orientation, age, and familial status and replace 'handicap' with 'disability.'
• Section 4-15 adds O.C.G.A. § 50-21-38, waiving sovereign immunity for racial profiling claims seeking injunctions or attorney's fees, but not money damages.
• Part V sets the effective date as January 1, 2026, and repeals conflicting laws.

1. 2025-03-03House Second Readers (House)
2. 2025-02-28House First Readers (House)
3. 2025-02-27House Hopper (House)

• Jasmine Clark (D, HD-108)Primary sponsor
• Carolyn Hugley (D, HD-141)
• Doreen Carter (D, HD-093)
• Stacey Evans (D, HD-057)
• Scott Holcomb (D, HD-101)

• civil rights
• housing discrimination
• employment discrimination
• racial profiling
• public accommodations