HB 670: Georgia Civil Rights Act of 2025; enact

Georgia currently has no single, comprehensive state law banning discrimination in housing, employment, and public accommodations the way many other states do. This bill, called the Georgia Civil Rights Act of 2025, would change that by amending several parts of Georgia law at once. It adds sexual orientation and age as protected categories in the state's fair housing law and replaces the outdated term "handicap" with "disability" throughout. It creates a brand-new law giving everyone the right to equal access to public accommodations like stores and restaurants, modeled on federal civil rights law. It adds a new Code section letting private-sector employees sue their employers for discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, age, disability, familial status, or national origin. It also creates the "End Racial Profiling Act," barring police from targeting people based on these same characteristics, requiring law enforcement agencies to adopt anti-profiling policies, and having the Attorney General publish yearly data reports. The state waives its sovereign immunity for certain racial profiling lawsuits. The law would take effect January 1, 2026.

• Adds sexual orientation and age as protected classes throughout Georgia's fair housing law (O.C.G.A. Title 8) and replaces the term 'handicap' with 'disability'.
• Creates a new public accommodations law (new Title 10, Chapter 16) giving all Georgians a right to equal enjoyment of businesses like stores and restaurants regardless of race, sex, sexual orientation, age, disability, or other listed traits, enforceable through a civil lawsuit.
• Adds a new Code section (O.C.G.A. § 34-1-11) letting employees of private businesses with 15 or more employees sue for employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, age, disability, familial status, or national origin.
• Creates the 'End Racial Profiling Act' (new Title 35, Chapter 11), banning police from relying on race or other protected traits when deciding who to stop or search, and requiring agencies to adopt policies, collect data, and respond to complaints.
• Requires the Attorney General to publish an annual public report on police stop and search data broken down by race, ethnicity, and national origin, starting July 1, 2025.
• Updates Georgia's public-employee fair employment law (O.C.G.A. § 45-19-21 and related sections) to add sexual orientation, age, and familial status as protected categories and waives sovereign immunity for certain racial profiling lawsuits against the state.

The bill affects landlords, home sellers, and real estate agents; owners and operators of stores, restaurants, and other public-facing businesses; private employers with 15 or more employees and their employees; state and local law enforcement agencies and officers; public employers and employees; and the Attorney General's office, which gains new reporting and rulemaking duties.

If enacted, Georgians who face discrimination in renting an apartment, shopping at a business, working for a private employer, or being stopped by police could sue in state court for the first time under a unified state law, rather than relying only on federal law or narrower existing Georgia statutes covering specific groups.

• Part II (Sections 2-1 through 2-5) rewrites Georgia's fair housing law to add sexual orientation and age as protected traits and drop the term 'handicap' in favor of 'disability'.
• Part III (Section 3-1) creates a new public accommodations chapter (O.C.G.A. §§ 10-16-1 through 10-16-5) letting a person sue for an injunction and possibly attorney's fees if denied equal access to a business.
• Part IV, Section 4-1 creates O.C.G.A. § 34-1-11, giving private employees a right to sue employers for discrimination, capping back pay recovery at two years before the claim is filed, and excluding the federal government, small private clubs, and public employers from the definition of 'employer'.
• Part IV, Section 4-2 creates the 'End Racial Profiling Act' (O.C.G.A. §§ 35-11-1 through 35-11-5), defining 'racial profiling' and 'hit rate,' requiring agency policies and training, and allowing the Attorney General or an injured individual to sue for declaratory or injunctive relief.
• Part IV, Sections 4-3 through 4-14 update the state's Fair Employment Practices Act (O.C.G.A. Title 45) to add sexual orientation, age, and familial status to the list of protected traits for public employees.
• Part IV, Section 4-15 adds O.C.G.A. § 50-21-38, waiving the state's sovereign immunity for racial profiling lawsuits seeking injunctions or attorney's fees, but not for money damages.
• Part V sets the effective date as January 1, 2026, and repeals conflicting laws.

1. 2025-03-03House Second Readers (House)
2. 2025-02-28House First Readers (House)
3. 2025-02-27House Hopper (House)

• Jasmine Clark (D, HD-108)Primary sponsor
• Carolyn Hugley (D, HD-141)
• Doreen Carter (D, HD-93)
• Stacey Evans (D, HD-57)
• Scott Holcomb (D, HD-101)

• civil rights
• housing discrimination
• employment discrimination
• racial profiling
• LGBTQ protections