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House · Engrossed · 2025-2026 Regular Session

HB 283: Motor vehicles; issuance of a refusal to sign citation; provide

Last action March 31, 2026 · Senate Tabled

A Georgia Senate substitute for HB 283 would push back to 2032 the deadline for police to get equipment reading electronic driver's licenses, and would make signing a traffic citation optional rather than mandatory.

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

Georgia law currently requires all law enforcement officers to have equipment capable of verifying a driver's license issued in electronic format by July 1, 2027. This bill extends that deadline to July 1, 2032, giving agencies more time to acquire the technology. The bill also changes how traffic citations work. Under current law, a person issued a citation must sign it to acknowledge receipt and their obligation to appear for trial; refusing can lead to being taken before a judge to post a cash bond. This bill makes signing optional instead of required, and changes the consequence of not signing so that a person appears for trial rather than posting a cash bond. If someone refuses to sign, the officer must write 'Refusal to Sign' on the citation and give it to the person, and may still bring them before a judicial officer or traffic violations bureau to post a bond as otherwise allowed by law.

What the bill does

  • Extends the deadline for all Georgia law enforcement officers to acquire equipment that can verify electronic driver's licenses from July 1, 2027 to July 1, 2032.
  • Changes citation law so that signing a traffic citation becomes optional (may) instead of mandatory (shall).
  • Removes the requirement that refusing to sign a citation results in posting a cash bond, replacing it with a requirement to appear for trial.
  • Requires officers to write 'Refusal to Sign' on a citation and hand it to the person when the person declines to sign.

Who it affects

Georgia law enforcement agencies and officers, who get more time to buy license-verification equipment and gain a new labeling duty on citations; and any driver stopped and issued a traffic citation, whose signing obligations and consequences for refusing to sign would change.

Why it matters

Drivers who decline to sign a citation would no longer automatically face a cash bond requirement, instead being told to appear for trial, though officers can still bring them before a judge or bond office. Police departments also get five more years before they must have technology to check digital driver's licenses.

Key provisions

  • Section 1 amends O.C.G.A. § 40-5-29(b)(4) to move the deadline for officers to acquire electronic license verification equipment from July 1, 2027 to July 1, 2032.
  • Section 2 amends O.C.G.A. § 40-13-2.1(a) to change citation signing from mandatory to optional for people issued citations under that chapter or Code Section 17-6-11.
  • Section 2 removes the prior consequence of posting a cash bond for refusing to sign and replaces it with a requirement to appear for trial.
  • Section 2 requires the officer to write 'Refusal to Sign' on the citation and give it to the person if they refuse to sign, before optionally bringing them before a judicial officer or bond office.
  • Section 3 repeals all conflicting laws.

From the bill

“the officer shall write 'Refusal to Sign' on such citation and shall give the citation to such person.”

Requires officers to label and return a citation when a driver refuses to sign it.

Discussed in meetings (4)

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 Public Safety Committee, March 18, 2026

    From 0:10:58 · Watch on the General Assembly's Vimeo channel

    Summary by Georgia Commons: The sponsor said HB 283 would put into law officers’ ability to record a driver’s refusal to sign a traffic citation, aiming to reduce confrontations, save taxpayer money and free officers for higher-priority calls. The sponsor cited support from law enforcement organizations, local-government groups and the Department of Public Safety. The chair explained that the substitute also moved the digital driver’s license implementation date from July 2027 to 2032, citing equipment costs of up to $1,000 per officer. Members questioned whether requiring officers to document refusal removed discretion to take a driver into custody. Although the sponsor initially said it did, later committee discussion identified language allowing officers to bring drivers before a judicial officer. The vice chair also questioned whether refusing to sign would prevent a driver from posting bond and moving a case to state court without attending the first hearing. The sponsor said that issue had not been considered, and it remained unresolved. One member proposed making documentation optional rather than required, then withdrew the amendment after discussion that it concerned documentation rather than custody discretion. The committee approved the substitute with two opposing votes.

  2. Senate Rules Committee, March 20, 2026

    From 0:29:25 · Watch on the General Assembly's Vimeo channel

    Summary by Georgia Commons: The sponsor said the bill would expressly allow officers to mark a traffic citation as refused when a driver will not sign, giving officers a safer alternative in those encounters. The sponsor said a Senate addition would move the implementation date for electronic license readers from 2027 to 2032 because law enforcement needed more time. The chair asked when the bill left committee and explained that additional Senate readings were needed before it became eligible for scheduling. No calendar selection was recorded.

  3. Senate Rules Committee, March 30, 2026

    From 1:13:53 · Watch on the General Assembly's Vimeo channel

    Summary by Georgia Commons: The chair recorded HB 283 as an absent member's calendar selection. No substantive explanation or debate followed. The committee unanimously approved the calendar containing it.

Status timeline

  1. 2026-03-31Senate Tabled (Senate)
  2. 2026-03-19Senate Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute (Senate)
  3. 2026-01-12Senate Recommitted (Senate)
  4. 2025-03-18Senate Read Second Time (Senate)
  5. 2025-03-13Senate Committee Favorably Reported (Senate)
  6. 2025-02-24Senate Read and Referred (Senate)
  7. 2025-02-21House Passed/Adopted (House)
  8. 2025-02-21House Third Readers (House)
Show full history (12 actions)
  1. 2025-02-18House Committee Favorably Reported (House)
  2. 2025-02-10House Second Readers (House)
  3. 2025-02-06House First Readers (House)
  4. 2025-02-05House Hopper (House)

Sponsors

  • Yasmin Neal (D, HD-79)Primary sponsor
  • Bill Hitchens (R, HD-161)
  • Eddie Lumsden (R, HD-12)
  • Scott Holcomb (D, HD-101)
  • John Albers (R, SD-56)

Votes

  1. PassedHouse voteFebruary 21, 2025

    155 yea, 6 nay (8 not voting, 11 excused)

    PASSAGE: House Vote #63

  2. PassedSenate voteMarch 31, 2026

    39 yea, 10 nay (2 not voting, 3 excused)

    MOTION TO TABLE REMAINING LEGISLATION ON THE RULES CALENDAR: Senate Vote #912

Topics

  • traffic citations
  • driver's licenses
  • law enforcement equipment
  • motor vehicle law

Ask about this bill

Answers come from this document. Not legal advice.

Machine-readable https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/hb283.md · https://georgiacommons.org/bills/index.md · MCP https://mcp.georgiacommons.org/mcp

HB283: Motor vehicles; issuance of a refusal to sign citation; provide | Georgia Commons