HB 391: Professions and businesses; certain boxing, wrestling, and martial art associations and federations; change certain provisions

Georgia law (O.C.G.A. Title 43) currently exempts amateur boxing, wrestling, and martial arts matches from state licensing rules if they are governed by one of several named organizations, such as U.S.A. Boxing, the Georgia High School Athletic Association, or the Professional Karate Commission. This bill removes five of those organizations from the approved list: the International Sport Kick Boxing/Karate Association, the World Kick Boxing Association, the United States Kick Boxing Association, the International Sport Combat Federation, and the International Kick Boxing Federation. The change is made in two places: the definition of 'amateur' in O.C.G.A. § 43-4B-1 and the exemption rule in O.C.G.A. § 43-4B-2. After the change, matches sanctioned only by those five removed organizations would no longer automatically count as amateur exhibitions exempt from the chapter's regulation. The bill does not add any new organizations and does not set a new effective date beyond standard enactment.

• Removes five named organizations, the International Sport Kick Boxing/Karate Association, World Kick Boxing Association, United States Kick Boxing Association, International Sport Combat Federation, and International Kick Boxing Federation, from the list defining an 'amateur' contestant under O.C.G.A. § 43-4B-1.
• Makes the identical removal in the exemption rule at O.C.G.A. § 43-4B-2, so matches sanctioned only by those five groups are no longer automatically exempt from chapter regulation.
• Renumbers the remaining list entries so Professional Karate Commission and 'the local affiliate of any organization listed' remain the final qualifying entries.
• Repeals any existing laws that conflict with these changes.

Amateur boxers, wrestlers, and martial artists in Georgia, along with the sanctioning organizations named in the law, particularly kickboxing and combat sport federations that would lose their exempt status, and state regulators overseeing combat sports under Title 43.

Matches sanctioned by the five removed organizations would no longer be treated as exempt amateur events, meaning promoters or participants relying on those sanctioning bodies could become subject to Georgia's boxing and wrestling regulatory requirements that previously did not apply to them.

• Section 1 revises the definition of 'amateur' in O.C.G.A. § 43-4B-1 by striking five kickboxing and combat sport organizations from the list of bodies whose sanctioning qualifies a match as amateur.
• Section 2 makes the same change to the exemption provision in O.C.G.A. § 43-4B-2, which determines which matches fall outside the chapter's regulation.
• Section 3 repeals any conflicting laws, a standard closing provision with no substantive effect of its own.

1. 2025-04-04House Withdrawn, Recommitted (House)
2. 2025-02-26House Committee Favorably Reported (House)
3. 2025-02-13House Second Readers (House)
4. 2025-02-12House First Readers (House)
5. 2025-02-11House Hopper (House)

• Brent Cox (R, HD-28)Primary sponsor
• Alan Powell (R, HD-33)
• Rick Jasperse (R, HD-11)
• Buddy DeLoach (R, HD-167)
• Dale Washburn (R, HD-144)

• combat sports regulation
• boxing and wrestling licensing
• martial arts
• amateur athletics