SB 175: Elections and Primaries; use of ranked-choice voting; prohibit

Although this bill is titled as a ban on ranked-choice voting, the substitute text passed by the House Committee on Governmental Affairs replaces that subject entirely with a rewrite of Georgia's monument protection law (O.C.G.A. § 50-3-1). The bill expands the existing law against damaging or removing public monuments so that it also covers privately owned monuments, and it makes officers, agencies, firms, and corporations liable, not just private individuals. It lets any interested person or group, not just the monument's owner, sue over violations, and it removes the requirement that a plaintiff show personal injury. It also creates a 90 day public notice process before an agency can remove or relocate a monument, directs the Department of Community Affairs to build a statewide registry of public monuments, and expressly waives the state's sovereign immunity and officials' qualified immunity for claims under this law. The changes would take effect as soon as the Governor signs the bill or it becomes law without a signature.

• Extends Georgia's monument protection law to cover privately owned monuments in addition to publicly owned ones, treating them the same way for legal protection.
• Allows any interested person or group, not just the monument's owner, to sue over damage, removal, or defacement of a monument without having to show personal injury.
• Requires agencies to give 90 days public notice before removing or relocating a public monument, including a chance for third parties to request the monument for display.
• Directs the Department of Community Affairs to create and maintain a statewide registry listing every public monument, its location, and its owner.
• Waives the state's sovereign immunity and any officer's qualified immunity for lawsuits brought under this monument protection law.
• Makes violators liable for triple the cost of repair or replacement of a damaged monument plus attorney's fees and court costs.

State and local government agencies, including school boards and University System of Georgia institutions; private owners of monuments; anyone who damages, removes, or defaces a public or private monument; the Department of Community Affairs, which must build the new registry; and the Attorney General and district attorneys, who gain enforcement authority.

Georgians who want to challenge removal or damage of a monument, public or private, would gain broader legal standing to sue and could collect triple damages and attorney's fees. Agencies would face new notice and registry requirements before altering monuments, and could no longer rely on sovereign immunity as a legal defense.

• Section 1 rewrites O.C.G.A. § 50-3-1(b) to add officers, agencies, and other entities to the list of parties who can be held liable for damaging or removing monuments.
• The revised law expands protection to privately owned monuments in addition to publicly owned ones, while paragraph (d) clarifies it does not transfer title or interfere with private ownership rights.
• Paragraph (5) grants any interested person, group, or legal entity standing to sue over monument violations without needing to show a personalized injury.
• Paragraph (8) lets the Attorney General or local district attorneys represent the state's interest and bring enforcement actions as parens patriae.
• Paragraph (11) creates a 90 day public notice requirement before an agency may remove or relocate a monument, with a process for interested third parties to request it for display elsewhere.
• Paragraph (e) directs the Department of Community Affairs to build a statewide monument registry, with agencies required to report their monument inventories by December 31 of the year after the law takes effect.
• Paragraphs (f) and (g) waive the state's sovereign immunity and officials' qualified immunity for claims brought under this Code section.
• Section 2 sets the effective date as the date the Governor signs the bill or it becomes law without a signature.

1. 2026-03-31House Third Reading Lost (House)
2. 2026-03-31House Third Readers (House)
3. 2026-03-31House Third Readers (House)
4. 2026-03-27House Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute (House)
5. 2025-04-04House Withdrawn, Recommitted (House)
6. 2025-03-27House Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute (House)
7. 2025-03-06House Second Readers (House)
8. 2025-03-04House First Readers (House)

• Randy Robertson (R, SD-029)Primary sponsor
• Brandon Beach (R, SD-021)
• Matt Brass (R, SD-006)
• Russ Goodman (R, SD-008)
• Mike Hodges (R, SD-003)
• Marty Harbin (R, SD-016)
• Shawn Still (R, SD-048)
• Drew Echols (R, SD-049)
• Ricky Williams (R, SD-025)
• Ed Setzler (R, SD-037)
• Sam Watson (R, SD-011)
• Alan Powell (R, HD-033)

1. PassedSenate voteMarch 3, 2025

   33 yea, 23 nay

   Motion To Engross: Sb 31, Sb 175: Senate Vote #115

2. PassedSenate voteMarch 3, 2025

   36 yea, 19 nay (0 not voting, 1 absent)

   Passage: Senate Vote #131

3. FailedHouse voteMarch 31, 2026

   72 yea, 91 nay (3 not voting, 10 absent)

   Table: House Vote #816

4. PassedHouse voteMarch 31, 2026

   89 yea, 73 nay (3 not voting, 11 absent)

   Passage: House Vote #817

• monument protection
• Confederate monuments
• government liability
• sovereign immunity
• public records registry