HB 300: Professions and businesses; pawnbrokers to exclude motor vehicle certificates of title from pawn transactions; revise provisions

Under current Georgia law, pawnbrokers can accept a motor vehicle's certificate of title as pawned property, and holding the title counts as legally holding the vehicle. This lets pawnbrokers repossess the car on default and charge fees for lien registration, storage, and repossession. House Bill 300 removes certificates of title from the definition of pledged goods a pawnbroker can accept, so only the physical motor vehicle itself, not its paperwork, can be pawned. The bill strikes the related repossession authority and related fees from Georgia's pawnbroker law (O.C.G.A. §§ 44-12-130, 44-12-131, 44-12-138, 44-14-403), including lien registration fees, storage fees, and repossession fees tied to titles, along with the disclosure requirements for those fees. It also updates related definitions in the used motor vehicle dealer licensing law (O.C.G.A. §§ 43-47-2, 43-47-3) to reflect that pawnbrokers deal in motor vehicles rather than titles.

• Removes motor vehicle certificates of title from the legal definition of pledged goods that pawnbrokers can accept in a pawn transaction.
• Eliminates the rule that a pawnbroker holding a vehicle's title is legally treated as holding the vehicle itself.
• Strikes the pawnbroker's right to repossess a motor vehicle on default when only the title, not the vehicle, was pawned.
• Removes pawnbrokers' ability to charge fees for registering liens on vehicle titles, storing repossessed vehicles, and repossession itself.
• Deletes the disclosure requirements that previously required pawnbrokers to tell customers about title-lien, storage, and repossession fees.
• Updates the state board membership description and dealer-definition language to describe pawnbrokers as pawning motor vehicles rather than automobile titles.

Georgia pawnbrokers who currently accept vehicle titles as collateral, and people who pawn or borrow against their car titles. It also touches the State Board of Registration of Used Motor Vehicle Dealers and Used Motor Vehicle Parts Dealers, which includes a pawnbroker member.

Georgians who use car titles to get quick cash from pawnbrokers would lose that option, since only the physical vehicle could be pawned going forward. Pawnbrokers would lose the associated repossession and fee-charging powers tied to titles, changing how title-based pawn deals work statewide.

• Section 1 revises O.C.G.A. § 43-47-2 so a pawnbroker who resells repossessed motor vehicles (not just 'all' of them) to licensed dealers is not treated as a used motor vehicle dealer, and removes finance-company exclusion language for pawnbrokers.
• Section 2 amends O.C.G.A. § 43-47-3 to describe the pawnbroker board member as being in the business of pawning motor vehicles rather than automobile titles.
• Section 3 revises O.C.G.A. § 44-12-130's definition of pledged goods to exclude any motor vehicle certificate of title and removes the rule treating title possession as vehicle possession.
• Section 4 amends O.C.G.A. § 44-12-131 to eliminate the pawnbroker's default repossession right for titles and removes fees for lien registration, storage, and repossession tied to vehicle titles.
• Section 5 revises the disclosure ticket rules in O.C.G.A. § 44-12-138, removing required disclosures about title-related fees, storage fees, and repossession fees.
• Section 6 amends O.C.G.A. § 44-14-403 to remove references to motor vehicle certificates of title from grace period and lien-release rules governing pawn transactions.

1. 2025-02-10House Second Readers (House)
2. 2025-02-06House First Readers (House)
3. 2025-02-05House Hopper (House)

• Matt Dubnik (R, HD-029)Primary sponsor
• Josh Bonner (R, HD-073)
• Lee Hawkins (R, HD-027)
• Emory Dunahoo (R, HD-031)
• Beth Camp (R, HD-135)
• Joseph Gullett (R, HD-019)

• pawnbrokers
• motor vehicle titles
• consumer lending
• auto title loans
• pawn shop regulation