Georgia CommonsHB 483: Crimes and offenses; protections for inspectors of code enforcement; provide
Last action May 5, 2026 · Effective Date 2026-05-05
House Bill 483 adds code enforcement officials to the list of Georgia public workers who get enhanced criminal penalties when they are assaulted or battered while on duty.
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 Enrolled version, the latest LegiScan holds.
In plain language
Georgia law already sets tougher penalties for assaulting or battering certain public workers, such as utility workers, firefighters, and healthcare workers, while they are on the job. This bill adds a new category, code enforcement officials, to that protected list. The bill defines a code enforcement official as someone with at least a high school diploma who has completed Level 1 code enforcement training and works for or under contract with a city, county, or consolidated government inspecting buildings, structures, businesses, or property for legal compliance. It then amends five separate Georgia criminal statutes covering simple assault, aggravated assault, simple battery, battery, and aggravated battery (O.C.G.A. §§ 16-5-19 through 16-5-24) so that crimes committed against these officials while they act within their job duties carry the same enhanced penalties already applied to utility workers. The changes take effect upon the Governor's signature and apply to offenses committed on or after July 1, 2026.
What the bill does
- Creates a new legal definition of 'code enforcement official' covering trained inspectors employed by or contracted with a municipality, county, or consolidated government.
- Adds code enforcement officials to the list of protected workers under Georgia's simple assault law, making an on-duty assault a high and aggravated misdemeanor.
- Adds the same protection to Georgia's aggravated assault law, setting a prison term of 3 to 20 years for offenders.
- Extends the same enhanced penalties to simple battery, battery, and aggravated battery committed against code enforcement officials on duty.
- Sets the changes to take effect once signed into law and to apply only to offenses committed on or after July 1, 2026.
Who it affects
Municipal, county, and consolidated government code enforcement inspectors who check buildings, structures, businesses, or property for legal compliance; people who assault or batter these officials while they are working; and prosecutors and courts handling such cases under Georgia's assault and battery statutes.
Why it matters
Code enforcement officials, who often inspect properties for safety violations, would gain the same legal protections already given to utility workers, meaning anyone who assaults or batters them on the job would face harsher misdemeanor or felony penalties, including up to 20 years for aggravated offenses, starting July 1, 2026.
Key provisions
- Section 1 rewrites the definitions section of Georgia's assault and battery law (O.C.G.A. § 16-5-19) to add 'code enforcement official' as a defined term requiring specific training and government employment or contract status.
- Section 2 amends the simple assault statute (O.C.G.A. § 16-5-20) to make assaulting a code enforcement official on duty a misdemeanor of a high and aggravated nature.
- Section 3 amends the aggravated assault statute (O.C.G.A. § 16-5-21) to set a 3-to-20-year prison sentence for aggravated assault on a code enforcement official.
- Section 4 amends the simple battery statute (O.C.G.A. § 16-5-23) to apply the same high and aggravated misdemeanor penalty to battery of a code enforcement official.
- Section 5 amends the battery statute (O.C.G.A. § 16-5-23.1) similarly for the offense of battery.
- Section 6 amends the aggravated battery statute (O.C.G.A. § 16-5-24) to set a 3-to-20-year sentence for aggravated battery on a code enforcement official.
- Section 7 sets the effective date as upon the Governor's approval, applying only to offenses committed on or after July 1, 2026.
From the bill
“'Code enforcement official' means any person with a high school diploma or equivalent who has completed Level 1 code enforcement training under a professional program and is employed by or under contract with a municipality, city, county, or consolidated government who performs safety inspections of buildings, structures, businesses, or real property to ensure they are operated in accordance with the law.”
“Any person who commits the offense of aggravated assault upon a utility worker or code enforcement official while such worker or official is acting within the course and scope of his or her employment or is performing official duties shall, upon conviction thereof, be punished by imprisonment for not less than three nor more than 20 years.”
Status timeline
- Effective Date 2026-05-05
- Act 380
- House Date Signed by Governor (House)
- House Sent to Governor (House)
- House Agreed Senate Amend or Sub (House)
- Senate Passed/Adopted By Substitute (Senate)
- Senate Third Read (Senate)
- Senate Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute (Senate)
Show full history (22 actions)
- Senate Recommitted (Senate)
- Senate Taken from Table (Senate)
- Senate Tabled (Senate)
- Senate Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute (Senate)
- Senate Recommitted (Senate)
- Senate Read Second Time (Senate)
- Senate Committee Favorably Reported (Senate)
- Senate Read and Referred (Senate)
- House Passed/Adopted By Substitute (House)
- House Third Readers (House)
- House Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute (House)
- House Second Readers (House)
- House First Readers (House)
- House Hopper (House)
Sponsors
- Brian Prince (D, HD-132)
- Rob Leverett (R, HD-123)
- Tyler Smith (R, HD-018)
- Matt Reeves (R, HD-099)
- Shea Roberts (D, HD-052)
- Esther Panitch (D, HD-051)
- Max Burns (R, SD-023)
Votes
- House voteMarch 6, 2025
168 yea, 5 nay (4 not voting, 3 absent)
- Senate voteMarch 12, 2026
40 yea, 7 nay (2 not voting, 6 absent)
- House voteMarch 23, 2026
140 yea, 26 nay (3 not voting, 7 absent)
Topics
- code enforcement
- assault and battery law
- public employee protections
- criminal penalties