HB 350: Domestic relations; safe places for newborns; revise provisions

Georgia law already lets a mother leave a newborn at a medical facility, fire station, or police station without facing criminal charges for abandonment. This bill expands that protection. It renames the law the Eliza Jane Warner Act, raises the newborn's maximum age from 30 to 45 days, and adds ambulance services and occupied public safety vehicles as places where a newborn can be safely left. It also creates a new option: a locked, monitored 'newborn safety device' where a newborn can be placed instead of handed to a person. The bill sets safety requirements for these devices, including a security camera, a dual alarm system checked regularly, and a way to dispatch the nearest ambulance if staff are unavailable. It also requires facilities to arrange immediate transport of a left newborn to the nearest medical facility, extends legal immunity to ambulance services, and states that no state funds may be used to buy or operate the devices.

• Renames the law from the Safe Place for Newborns Act of 2002 to the Eliza Jane Warner Act.
• Raises the maximum age of a newborn who can be safely left from 30 days to 45 days without the mother facing prosecution.
• Adds ambulance services and occupied public safety vehicles as places a newborn can be left, alongside medical facilities, fire stations, and police stations.
• Creates a new category called a newborn safety device, a locked and monitored receptacle where a newborn can be placed instead of handed to a person.
• Requires facilities that accept a newborn to immediately arrange transport to the nearest medical facility and extends civil and criminal liability protection to ambulance services.
• Bars the use of state funds to buy or operate newborn safety devices.

Mothers who might otherwise abandon a newborn, ambulance services and their employees, fire and police stations, medical facilities including birthing centers and urgent care facilities, the Department of Human Services, and juvenile courts that receive custody of surrendered newborns.

Georgians would have more places and more ways, including an unattended locked device, to safely give up a newborn without facing prosecution, and the safeguards written into the bill, like alarms and mandatory transport to medical care, aim to keep those infants safe once left.

• Code Section 19-10A-1 renames the chapter the Eliza Jane Warner Act.
• Code Section 19-10A-2 adds definitions for ambulance service, newborn safety device, and public safety vehicle, and expands the definition of medical facility to include ambulatory surgery centers and urgent care facilities.
• Code Section 19-10A-4 raises the newborn age limit from 30 to 45 days and adds leaving a newborn in a newborn safety device or with an ambulance service or public safety vehicle as protected acts, also shielding anyone assisting the mother.
• Code Section 19-10A-6 requires immediate arrangement of transport of a left newborn to the nearest medical facility and requires the Department of Human Services to take custody within six hours of notification.
• Code Section 19-10A-7 extends civil and criminal immunity to ambulance services and their staff for accepting newborns under the chapter.
• Code Section 19-10A-8 sets requirements for newborn safety devices, including a security camera, a dual alarm system tested monthly and checked twice daily, and dispatch of the nearest ambulance if staff are unavailable.
• Code Section 19-10A-8(c) prohibits the use of state funds to acquire or operate newborn safety devices.

1. 2026-05-12Effective Date 2026-07-01
2. 2026-05-12Act 639
3. 2026-05-12House Date Signed by Governor (House)
4. 2026-04-10House Sent to Governor (House)
5. 2026-04-02House Agreed Senate Amend or Sub (House)
6. 2026-04-02Senate Passed/Adopted By Substitute (Senate)
7. 2026-04-02Senate Third Read (Senate)
8. 2026-04-02Senate Taken from Table (Senate)

• Mike Cameron (R, HD-001)Primary sponsor
• Clint Crowe (R, HD-118)
• Beth Camp (R, HD-135)
• Karen Mathiak (R, HD-082)
• Dale Washburn (R, HD-144)
• Matthew Gambill (R, HD-015)
• Brian Strickland (R, SD-042)

1. PassedHouse voteFebruary 3, 2026

   166 yea, 0 nay (1 not voting, 8 absent)

   Passage: House Vote #472

2. PassedSenate voteMarch 31, 2026

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

   Motion To Table Remaining Legislation On The Rules Calendar: Senate Vote #912

3. PassedSenate voteApril 2, 2026

   49 yea, 1 nay (3 not voting, 1 absent)

   Passage By Substitute: Senate Vote #977

4. PassedHouse voteApril 3, 2026

   164 yea, 4 nay (7 not voting, 1 absent)

   Agree To Senate Substitute: House Vote #877

• safe haven law
• newborn abandonment
• domestic relations law
• ambulance services
• child welfare