--- title: SB 190. Parks, Historic Areas, Memorials, and Recreation; certain fee waivers for active duty members of the military, veterans, and family members; provide collection: bills id: 2025-2026/sb190 cite_as: SB 190, 2025-2026 Regular Session (Ga.) canonical_url: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/sb190 md_url: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/sb190.md text_url: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/sb190/text source_url: https://www.legis.ga.gov/legislation/70406 date: 2026-03-10 status: engrossed 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/sb189.md next: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/sb191.md index: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/index.md omitted: votes and history omitted_chars: 639 omitted_url: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/sb190.md?full=1 bill_number: SB 190 session: 2025-2026 Regular Session session_slug: 2025-2026 chamber: Senate bill_type: bill status_date: 2026-03-06 last_action: House Second Readers sponsors: - Kenya Wicks - Nikki Merritt - Ed Harbison - Josh McLaurin - Emanuel Jones - RaShaun Kemp - Nan Orrock - David Lucas - Jason Esteves - Donzella James - Sally Harrell - Sonya Halpern - Kim Jackson - Elena Parent - Tonya Anderson - Chuck Payne - Michael Rhett - Sheikh Rahman - Randal Mangham text_version: Engrossed has_text: true legiscan_url: https://legiscan.com/GA/bill/SB190/2025 upstream_id: 1974295 summaries_model: claude-sonnet-5 topic_tags: - veterans benefits - state parks - Gold Star families - military families - park fees --- # SB 190. Parks, Historic Areas, Memorials, and Recreation; certain fee waivers for active duty members of the military, veterans, and family members; provide ## Text Senate Bill 190 By: Senators Wicks of the 34th, Merritt of the 9th, Harbison of the 15th, McLaurin of the 14th, Jones of the 10th and others AS PASSED SENATE A BILL TO BE ENTITLED AN ACT To amend Part 1 of Article 1 of Chapter 3 of Title 12 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to general provisions of parks, historic areas, memorials, and recreation, so as to provide certain fee waivers for veterans and family members; to provide for rules and regulations; to provide for related matters; to repeal conflicting laws; and for other purposes. BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF GEORGIA: SECTION 1. Part 1 of Article 1 of Chapter 3 of Title 12 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to general provisions of parks, historic areas, memorials, and recreation, is amended by revising Code Section 12-3-9.1, relating to discount for certain disabled veterans, as follows: "12-3-9.1. (a) As used in this Code section, the term: (1) 'Disabled veteran' means a veteran discharged under honorable conditions from any branch of the armed forces of the United States who has a physical disability which was incurred during the period of service in the armed forces and who is a resident of the State of Georgia. (1) 'Armed forces' means the United States army, navy, marine corps, space force, coast guard, air force, Georgia National Guard, or other reserve unit of the United States military. (2) 'Fee' means the charge or fee established by the Board of Natural Resources for the use or occupancy of any state park, historic site, or recreational area and specifically includes, but is not limited to, entrance or admittance fees, rental fees for cabins or other overnight lodgings, rental fees for campsites, and fees for the use of golf courses or other recreational facilities. (3) 'Gold Star family member' means an immediate family member of a deceased member of the armed forces who died in the line of duty. (4) 'Immediate family member' means a parent, child, spouse, brother, or sister. (5) 'Veteran' means a former member of the armed forces who received an honorable discharge. (b) Any disabled veteran Gold Star family member may apply to the commissioner of veterans service for certification as a disabled veteran Gold Star family member as defined by paragraph (1) (3) of subsection (a) of this Code section. The commissioner of veterans service is authorized and directed to certify such applicants as disabled veterans applicant as a Gold Star family member and to issue to such applicants applicant such proof of certification as the commissioner finds appropriate. The commissioner of veterans service may shall by rule or regulation require such documentation as may be necessary to certify disabled veterans a Gold Star family member as provided in this subsection. (c) Any disabled veteran or Gold Star family member who is certified as such by the commissioner of veterans service as provided in subsection (b) of this Code section shall be granted a discount of 25 percent waiver of the fee otherwise applicable at any state park, historic site, or recreational area operated by or pursuant to the authority of the Department of Natural Resources or any division or other agency of said department. (d) The discount waiver provided for in subsection (c) of this Code section: (1) Shall apply to rental fees for cabins, campsites, or other overnight accommodations for the disabled veteran and members of the disabled veteran's immediate family who occupy any veteran or Gold Star family member who occupies the overnight accommodations with the disabled veteran; and (2) Shall not apply to rental or use fees for any group facilities or accommodations. (e) The Department of Natural Resources shall promulgate rules and regulations for verifying eligibility, issuing passes, and promoting the program described in this Code section." SECTION 2. 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. Senate Bill 190 would replace Georgia's 25 percent state park discount for disabled veterans with a full fee waiver available to all honorably discharged veterans and to Gold Star family members of service members killed in the line of duty. ### Plain-language summary Current Georgia law (O.C.G.A. § 12-3-9.1) gives a 25 percent discount on state park, historic site, and recreational area fees, but only to veterans who were discharged under honorable conditions and have a service-connected physical disability. This bill rewrites that law. It drops the disability requirement and instead defines 'veteran' as anyone honorably discharged from the armed forces, and it adds a new category, 'Gold Star family member,' meaning a parent, child, spouse, brother, or sister of a service member who died in the line of duty. Both veterans and Gold Star family members would qualify for certification through the commissioner of veterans service, and once certified they would receive a full waiver of park fees rather than the old 25 percent discount. The waiver covers overnight accommodations for the certified person and anyone staying with them, but not group facility rentals. The Department of Natural Resources would have to write rules for verifying eligibility and issuing passes. ### What it does - Removes the requirement that a veteran have a service-connected disability to qualify for the fee benefit, opening it to any honorably discharged veteran. - Creates a new eligible category, 'Gold Star family member,' covering the immediate family of a service member killed in the line of duty. - Upgrades the benefit from a 25 percent discount to a full waiver of fees at state parks, historic sites, and recreational areas. - Changes the commissioner of veterans service's documentation requirement from optional ('may') to mandatory ('shall') when certifying applicants. - Directs the Department of Natural Resources to create rules and regulations for verifying eligibility and issuing passes under the program. ### Who it affects Veterans of any branch of the U.S. armed forces, including the Georgia National Guard and reserve units, who no longer need a service-connected disability to qualify. Gold Star family members (parents, children, spouses, siblings of those killed in the line of duty) also become newly eligible. The commissioner of veterans service and the Department of Natural Resources take on new certification and rulemaking duties. ### Why it matters Georgia veterans without a qualifying disability, and families who lost a service member, would gain free access to state parks, historic sites, and recreational areas, including overnight lodging, instead of a partial discount. The change expands both who qualifies and how much they save. ### Key provisions - Section 1 rewrites O.C.G.A. § 12-3-9.1(a) to remove the 'disabled veteran' definition and add definitions for 'armed forces,' 'Gold Star family member,' 'immediate family member,' and 'veteran.' - Subsection (b) lets veterans or Gold Star family members apply to the commissioner of veterans service for certification and now requires (rather than permits) the commissioner to set documentation rules. - Subsection (c) changes the benefit from a 25 percent fee discount to a full fee waiver at any state park, historic site, or recreational area run by the Department of Natural Resources. - Subsection (d) extends the waiver to overnight accommodations for the certified veteran or Gold Star family member and anyone staying with them, but excludes group facility rentals. - New subsection (e) requires the Department of Natural Resources to issue rules and regulations for verifying eligibility and issuing passes. - Section 2 repeals any conflicting laws. ## Status - Status: Engrossed (2026-03-06) - Last action: House Second Readers (2026-03-10) - Sponsors: Kenya Wicks, Nikki Merritt, Ed Harbison, Josh McLaurin, Emanuel Jones, RaShaun Kemp, Nan Orrock, David Lucas, Jason Esteves, Donzella James, Sally Harrell, Sonya Halpern, Kim Jackson, Elena Parent, Tonya Anderson, Chuck Payne, Michael Rhett, Sheikh Rahman, Randal Mangham - Official page: https://www.legis.ga.gov/legislation/70406 > The history, votes, and amendments (639 characters) are at https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/sb190.md?full=1