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House · Engrossed · 2025-2026 Regular Session

HB 254: State government; provide placement of Revolutionary War Patriots marker on state capitol building grounds and state archives building grounds

Last action March 10, 2026 · Senate Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute

A Georgia Senate substitute for HB 254 would authorize a privately funded monument to Justice Clarence Thomas at the Nathan Deal Judicial Center and Revolutionary War Patriots markers at the state capitol and state archives grounds.

Read the full bill text

These buttons carry the bill's own text, not the summaries below. Copy for LLM, View as markdown, and Send to AI use the Markdown version: the text as filed, then the summaries under a heading that names them as ours. View raw is the text alone.

The summaries below were written by an AI model (claude-sonnet-5) from the text of the bill and are not part of it. Quote the text, not the summary. The stored text is the Comm Sub version, the latest the General Assembly's website lists.

In plain language

This bill amends Georgia law governing the Capitol Art Standards Commission and the state's official symbols. It adds a new duty for the commission to oversee designing, procuring, and placing a monument honoring Justice Clarence Thomas inside the Nathan Deal Judicial Center, subject to final approval by a special legislative committee made up of two House members, two Senate members, and one member from each chamber appointed by the Governor. That committee dissolves once the monument is placed, and no state money can be spent on designing or procuring the monument, only private gifts and donations. The bill also creates a new Code section requiring markers commemorating Revolutionary War patriots to be placed on the grounds of the state capitol building and outside the state archives building, marking the 250th anniversary of the United States. Placement must be approved by the Capitol Art Standards Commission for the capitol grounds and by the Board of Regents for the archives grounds, and no public funds may be used for these markers either.

What the bill does

  • Adds a duty to Georgia's Capitol Art Standards Commission (O.C.G.A. § 45-13-71) to oversee a monument honoring Justice Clarence Thomas.
  • Creates a new law (O.C.G.A. § 50-3-140) requiring a Clarence Thomas monument at the Nathan Deal Judicial Center, funded only by private gifts, not public money.
  • Establishes a temporary legislative monument committee with members appointed by the House Speaker, Lieutenant Governor, and Governor to give final approval on the monument's design and placement.
  • Requires the monument to wait until the state secures any needed intellectual property license before it can be procured or placed.
  • Creates a new law (O.C.G.A. § 50-3-150) requiring Revolutionary War Patriots markers on the state capitol grounds and outside the state archives building, funded privately, marking the nation's 250th anniversary.
  • Assigns approval of marker placement to the Capitol Art Standards Commission for the capitol grounds and to the Board of Regents for the archives grounds.

Who it affects

The Capitol Art Standards Commission, which gains new oversight duties; the Board of Regents, which must approve marker placement at the archives building; members of the General Assembly appointed to the monument committee; and private donors or organizations that would fund both the monument and the markers.

Why it matters

If enacted, Georgians would see a new monument honoring Justice Clarence Thomas at a state judicial building and new historical markers at the capitol and archives grounds, all paid for through private donations rather than taxpayer funds, with legislators and state bodies controlling design and placement approval.

Key provisions

  • Section 1 adds paragraph (5.1) to O.C.G.A. § 45-13-71, giving the Capitol Art Standards Commission authority over the Clarence Thomas monument's design, procurement, and placement.
  • Section 2 creates Article 9 (O.C.G.A. § 50-3-140), establishing the monument, the approval committee's makeup, its dissolution once the monument is placed, and the ban on public funding.
  • Section 2 requires the monument to wait for any necessary intellectual property license before it is procured or placed.
  • Section 2 creates Article 10 (O.C.G.A. § 50-3-150), requiring Revolutionary War Patriots markers at the capitol and archives grounds tied to the 250th anniversary of the United States.
  • Section 2 assigns marker placement approval to the Capitol Art Standards Commission (capitol grounds) and the Board of Regents (archives grounds), with no public funds for design or procurement.
  • Section 3 repeals conflicting laws.

From the bill

“No public funds shall be expended for the design or procurement of such monument. Gifts and donations from private individuals, organizations, or foundations shall be accepted and expended by the Capitol Art Standards Commission to carry out the requirements of this Code section.”

This clause bars taxpayer money for the Clarence Thomas monument, limiting funding to private donations.

“Each such marker shall honor the two-hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the United States and those who fought for the noble cause of liberty and for a new nation.”

This describes the purpose of the Revolutionary War Patriots markers tied to America's 250th anniversary.

Discussed in meetings (2)

The House and Senate meetings that took this bill up, from their machine transcripts. Each account was written by Georgia Commons with AI and is not part of the record; the video is what was said.

  1. Senate Rules Committee, March 9, 2026

    From 0:22:59 · Watch on the General Assembly's Vimeo channel

    Summary by Georgia Commons: The sponsor said the original bill would authorize a bronze historical marker commemorating America's 250th anniversary on Capitol grounds. The sponsor said a national commission had supplied markers for the original 13 colonies and that legislative approval and the governor's signature were needed before the Capitol Arts Commission could approve a location. The sponsor reported that the House had passed the bill 166-0 on February 27, 2025. Another member explained that the substitute would also place a statue of a U.S. Supreme Court justice in the judicial center. In response to the chair, that member confirmed public money would not be used for the statue. The committee approved the substitute 13-4. The chair said it would be reported out the next day and could then become available for calendar consideration.

Status timeline

  1. 2026-03-10Senate Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute (Senate)
  2. 2026-01-12Senate Recommitted (Senate)
  3. 2026-01-12Senate Taken from Table (Senate)
  4. 2025-04-02Senate Tabled (Senate)
  5. 2025-03-31Senate Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute (Senate)
  6. 2025-03-28Senate Recommitted (Senate)
  7. 2025-03-21Senate Read Second Time (Senate)
  8. 2025-03-20Senate Committee Favorably Reported (Senate)
Show full history (15 actions)
  1. 2025-02-28Senate Read and Referred (Senate)
  2. 2025-02-27House Passed/Adopted (House)
  3. 2025-02-27House Third Readers (House)
  4. 2025-02-20House Committee Favorably Reported (House)
  5. 2025-02-06House Second Readers (House)
  6. 2025-02-05House First Readers (House)
  7. 2025-02-04House Hopper (House)

Sponsors

  • Debbie Buckner (D, HD-137)Primary sponsor
  • Gerald Greene (R, HD-154)
  • Leesa Hagan (R, HD-156)
  • Beth Camp (R, HD-135)
  • Katie Dempsey (R, HD-13)
  • Max Burns (R, SD-23)

Votes

  1. PassedHouse voteFebruary 27, 2025

    166 yea, 0 nay (3 not voting, 11 excused)

    PASSAGE: House Vote #104

Topics

  • state monuments
  • Clarence Thomas
  • Revolutionary War history
  • Capitol Art Standards Commission
  • state capitol grounds

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Machine-readable https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/hb254.md · https://georgiacommons.org/bills/index.md · MCP https://mcp.georgiacommons.org/mcp