Georgia CommonsSenate · Failed · 2025-2026 Regular Session
SB 175: Elections and Primaries; use of ranked-choice voting; prohibit
Last action March 31, 2026 · House Third Reading Lost
A House committee substitute to SB 175 would rewrite Georgia's monument protection law, expanding it to cover privately owned monuments, creating a state monument registry, and waiving sovereign and qualified immunity for violations, even though the bill's official title still describes it as a ranked-choice voting ban.
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 Comm Sub version, the latest the General Assembly's website lists.
In plain language
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.
What the bill does
- 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.
Who it affects
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.
Why it matters
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.
Key provisions
- 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.
From the bill
“No claimant shall be required to show a particularized or personal concrete injury to make a claim for damages because the General Assembly of the State of Georgia finds the enforcement of this Code section to be a public right”
“The General Assembly of the State of Georgia explicitly hereby waives sovereign immunity for any and all civil actions, causes of action, and claims that may be asserted against the State of Georgia or its political subdivisions under this Code section”
“Any monument relocated for such purposes shall be relocated to a site of similar prominence, honor, visibility, and access within the same county or municipality in which the monument was originally located.”
Discussed in meetings (5)
The House and Senate meetings that took this bill up, from their machine transcripts. Each account was written by Georgia Commons with AI and is not part of the record; the video is what was said.
House Governmental Affairs Committee, March 26, 2026
From 0:33:32 · Watch on the General Assembly's Vimeo channel
Summary by Georgia Commons: The chair presented SB 175 as a substitute concerning monuments and statues, rather than its original subject. The presenter said it would define who can bring a lawsuit over a monument, require 90 days' public notice before removal or relocation, and provide another 90 days to find a recipient if a judge allows removal. The presenter said local officials would choose an appropriate recipient and that the process would preserve monuments and resolve recurring disputes. One member argued that expanding eligibility to sue would favor monument defenders and invite unnecessary cases. Other members questioned whether the proposal would override court decisions, particularly involving Confederate monuments. The presenter said judges could still permit removal and that the bill covered all monuments, not only Confederate ones. Another member raised costs involving inventories, relocation, the attorney general and litigation, and asked about a fiscal note. The presenter questioned whether one was needed because relocation would be a local choice and state enforcement was not mandatory. A final member disputed the claim that existing law did not define who could sue and argued that the proposal would reverse unfavorable rulings against Confederate heritage groups. The committee approved the substitute 9-5.
House Rules Committee, March 31, 2026
From 0:44:53 · Watch on the General Assembly's Vimeo channel · Confirmed by the 2026 House Journal, p. 3954
Summary by Georgia Commons: The sponsor said SB 175 began as a prohibition on ranked-choice voting but was now being used for monument-protection legislation. A member asked whether that would protect Confederate monuments and raised concerns about their effects on Georgia residents. The sponsor said the proposal would protect all kinds of monuments, including that type, and acknowledged understanding the concern. No decision was recorded.
House floor session, March 31, 2026 (legislative day 39, part 2)
From 3:27:08 · Watch on the General Assembly's Vimeo channel · Confirmed by the 2026 House Journal, p. 4085
Summary by Georgia Commons: Although the clerk read a ranked-choice voting title, the presenter said that language had been replaced with monument protections. The presenter described allowing interested people and groups to sue, tripling damages for destruction, permitting government attorneys to act, creating a monument registry and offering relocation after 90 days' public notice. The presenter said the measure covered all monuments and addressed court rulings denying challengers the right to sue. Members questioned outside-county lawsuits, private monuments, infrastructure relocations and whether such broad access to court was constitutional. The presenter said claimants must be Georgia residents and existing infrastructure exceptions remained. Opponents argued that relocation restrictions and lawsuits would undermine local decisions. Several speakers disputed the presenter's account of Confederate monuments and the Civil War, describing the monuments as symbols of slavery, racial intimidation and continuing pain. Minority-report speakers warned of taxpayer costs, mandatory legal fees, punitive damages and waived government immunity. A member recognized to speak in favor said protections could also cover emancipation and lynching sites, but expressed uncertainty about the bill's intent. The House adopted the committee substitute. After a motion to table and a recorded vote, the chair announced the bill failed, 89 to 73. The transcript leaves unclear how the pending tabling motion was resolved.
House Rules Committee, March 31, 2026
From 0:28:59 · Watch on the General Assembly's Vimeo channel · Confirmed by the 2026 House Journal, p. 3954
Summary by Georgia Commons: A member objected to placing SB 175 on the supplemental floor calendar. The chair called a voice vote and announced that the motion carried. No vote count or substantive discussion was provided.
Status timeline
- House Third Reading Lost (House)
- House Third Readers (House)
- House Third Readers (House)
- House Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute (House)
- House Withdrawn, Recommitted (House)
- House Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute (House)
- House Second Readers (House)
- House First Readers (House)
Show full history (15 actions)
- Senate Passed/Adopted (Senate)
- Senate Third Read (Senate)
- Senate Engrossed (Senate)
- Senate Read Second Time (Senate)
- Senate Committee Favorably Reported (Senate)
- Senate Read and Referred (Senate)
- Senate Hopper (Senate)
Sponsors
- Randy Robertson (R, SD-29)
- Brandon Beach (R, SD-21)
- Matt Brass (R, SD-6)
- Russ Goodman (R, SD-8)
- Mike Hodges (R, SD-3)
- Marty Harbin (R, SD-16)
- Shawn Still (R, SD-48)
- Drew Echols (R, SD-49)
- Rick Williams (R, SD-25)
- Ed Setzler (R, SD-37)
- Sam Watson (R, SD-11)
- Alan Powell (R, HD-33)
Votes
- Senate voteMarch 3, 2025
33 yea, 23 nay
- Senate voteMarch 3, 2025
36 yea, 19 nay (0 not voting, 1 excused)
- House voteMarch 31, 2026
72 yea, 91 nay (3 not voting, 10 excused)
- House voteMarch 31, 2026
89 yea, 73 nay (3 not voting, 11 excused)
Topics
- monument protection
- Confederate monuments
- government liability
- sovereign immunity
- public records registry