---
title: SB 16. Public Officials; bail bond business; modify provisions
collection: bills
id: 2025-2026/sb16
cite_as: SB 16, 2025-2026 Regular Session (Ga.)
canonical_url: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/sb16
md_url: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/sb16.md
text_url: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/sb16/text
source_url: https://www.legis.ga.gov/legislation/69392
date: 2025-02-25
status: passed
corpus_version: bills-2026-09-13
license: Public record of the Georgia General Assembly, via LegiScan; see about.md
publisher: Georgia Commons, an independent project of Georgia Civic Data. Not the State of Georgia. Not legal advice.
up: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026.md
previous: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/sb15.md
next: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/sb17.md
index: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/index.md
omitted: votes and history
omitted_chars: 995
omitted_url: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/sb16.md?full=1
bill_number: SB 16
session: 2025-2026 Regular Session
session_slug: 2025-2026
chamber: Senate
bill_type: bill
status_date: 2025-02-25
last_action: Effective Date 2025-02-25
sponsors:
- Matt Brass
- David Huddleston
text_version: Enrolled
has_text: true
legiscan_url: https://legiscan.com/GA/bill/SB16/2025
upstream_id: 1922267
summaries_model: claude-sonnet-5
topic_tags:
- bail bonds
- public officials ethics
- local government
- conflicts of interest
---
# SB 16. Public Officials; bail bond business; modify provisions
## Text
Senate Bill 16
By: Senator Brass of the 6th
AS PASSED
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
To amend Chapter 11 of Title 45 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to
miscellaneous offenses concerning public officers and employees, so as to modify provisions
relating to public officials engaging in the bail bond business; to provide for related matters;
to provide an effective date; to repeal conflicting laws; and for other purposes.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF GEORGIA:
SECTION 1.
Chapter 11 of Title 45 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to miscellaneous
offenses concerning public officers and employees, is amended by revising Code
Section 45-11-8, relating to engaging in bail bond business, as follows:
"45-11-8.
(a)(1) It shall be unlawful for any elected official, officer of the court, law enforcement
officer, or attorney in this state to engage either directly or indirectly in the bail bond
business. For purposes of this Code section paragraph, the term 'elected official' shall not
include a person who is elected to as a member of the local school board or the governing
authority of a county, municipal corporation, or consolidated government.
(2) It shall be unlawful for any person who is a member of the governing authority of a
county, municipal corporation, or consolidated government to engage either directly or
indirectly in the bail bond business within the jurisdiction of the county, municipal
corporation, or consolidated government where such person holds office.
(b) Any person who violates this Code section shall be guilty of a misdemeanor."
SECTION 2.
This Act shall become effective upon its approval by the Governor or upon its becoming law
without such approval.
SECTION 3.
All laws and parts of laws in conflict with this Act are repealed.
## Summaries written by Georgia Commons
The following was written by claude-sonnet-5 from the text above and is not part of the bill. Quote the text, not the summary.
A Georgia Senate bill would narrow the ban on public officials running bail bond businesses, letting county, city, and consolidated government officeholders engage in the business outside their own jurisdiction while still banning it within it.
### Plain-language summary
Georgia law already makes it a crime for elected officials, court officers, law enforcement officers, and attorneys to operate a bail bond business, either directly or through someone else. This bill rewrites that law (O.C.G.A. § 45-11-8) to change how it applies to local elected officials.
Under current law, the term 'elected official' excludes school board members, meaning they are not barred from the bail bond business. The bill adds members of county, municipal, and consolidated government governing authorities (such as county commissioners and city council members) to that same exclusion from the general ban. But it then adds a new, narrower rule just for those local officials: they cannot engage in the bail bond business within the jurisdiction of the county, city, or consolidated government where they hold office. Violating the law remains a misdemeanor. The law would take effect as soon as the Governor signs it.
### What it does
- Exempts county, municipal, and consolidated government governing authority members, along with school board members, from the general ban on public officials in the bail bond business.
- Adds a new, separate rule making it illegal for those same local officials to run a bail bond business specifically within the jurisdiction where they serve.
- Keeps the existing ban in place for elected officials generally, officers of the court, law enforcement officers, and attorneys.
- Keeps the punishment for violating the law a misdemeanor, unchanged from current law.
### Who it affects
County commissioners, city council members, and consolidated government officials in Georgia who might work in or own a bail bond business, as well as law enforcement officers, officers of the court, attorneys, and school board members already addressed in the existing law.
### Why it matters
Local elected officials would gain the ability to work in the bail bond business as long as they do so outside the county or city they represent, narrowing a previously broader conflict-of-interest restriction while still barring them from profiting off bail bonds in their own jurisdiction.
### Key provisions
- Section 1 revises O.C.G.A. § 45-11-8 to redefine 'elected official' for the general ban, excluding both school board members and members of county, municipal, or consolidated government governing authorities.
- Section 1 adds new paragraph (2), making it a separate violation for a county, municipal, or consolidated government official to engage in the bail bond business within their own jurisdiction.
- Subsection (b) keeps the violation classified as a misdemeanor.
- Section 2 sets the effective date as the date the Governor signs the bill or it otherwise becomes law without signature.
- Section 3 repeals any conflicting laws.
## Status
- Status: Passed (2025-02-25)
- Last action: Effective Date 2025-02-25 (2025-02-25)
- Sponsors: Matt Brass, David Huddleston
- Official page: https://www.legis.ga.gov/legislation/69392
> The history, votes, and amendments (995 characters) are at https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/sb16.md?full=1