SB 199: State Ethics Commission; shall not accept or reject complaints made against candidates 60 days prior to an election; provide

Georgia's campaign finance and ethics law (O.C.G.A. Chapter 5 of Title 21) currently lets the State Ethics Commission accept, reject, or open complaints against candidates at any time, and requires many local candidates to file disclosure reports with county or city officials rather than the commission itself. This bill changes both of those things. It bars the commission from accepting, rejecting, or opening a complaint against a candidate in the 60 days right before an election. It also shifts most local candidates' campaign and personal financial disclosure filings to the commission (with a transition period through the end of 2026 for county and municipal offices), and sets one common set of filing dates, January 31, April 30, July 31, and October 20, for candidates at every level of office. The bill also requires certain political action committees to register, open and maintain a dedicated bank account, and file regular disclosure reports; revises how income is reported on personal financial disclosure statements; bars the commission from publicly releasing filers' home addresses; and standardizes lobbyist reporting deadlines. The law would take effect January 1, 2026.

• Prohibits the State Ethics Commission from accepting, rejecting, or opening a complaint on its own against a candidate during the 60 days immediately before an election.
• Moves the filing point for campaign and personal financial disclosure reports for many local elected officials and candidates from county or city offices to the State Ethics Commission, with a transition period running through December 31, 2026.
• Sets uniform disclosure filing dates of January 31, April 30, July 31, and October 20 for candidates and officeholders at every level, replacing the old mix of dates that varied by office type.
• Requires certain political action committees to register with the commission, open and maintain a dedicated bank account, and file periodic disclosure reports until the account is zeroed out and the committee is terminated.
• Bars the commission from publicly releasing home address information contained in financial disclosure filings.
• Requires newly elected county, school board, and municipal officials to affirm in their candidate filings that they understand the training requirements tied to their offices.

Candidates and officeholders for state, county, and municipal office in Georgia, county and municipal election officials who currently receive local filings, political action committees and independent campaign committees, registered lobbyists, and the State Ethics Commission, which takes on new filing, complaint-timing, and privacy duties.

Candidates would face a uniform, predictable filing schedule instead of office-specific deadlines, and could not be hit with a new ethics complaint in the final two months of a campaign. Political action committees would face new bank account and disclosure duties, and filers' home addresses would no longer appear in public commission records.

• Section 1 rewrites O.C.G.A. § 21-5-7 to add subsection (c), blocking the commission from accepting, rejecting, or initiating a complaint against a candidate in the 60 days before an election.
• Section 2 amends O.C.G.A. § 21-5-34 to set uniform reporting dates (January 31, April 30, July 31, October 20) for most candidates and to require new political action committees to register, bank, and file reports under new subsection (e.1).
• Section 2 also creates a temporary subsection (a.1), effective through December 31, 2026, keeping county and municipal candidates filing locally before those filings shift fully to the commission on January 1, 2027.
• Section 3 amends O.C.G.A. § 21-5-50 to move the annual personal financial disclosure deadline from July 1 to April 1 and to require county and municipal candidates to affirm awareness of mandatory training requirements.
• Section 4 adds a new subsection (b) to O.C.G.A. § 21-5-51 requiring the commission to redact home addresses from any financial disclosure records it releases to the public.
• Section 5 restructures lobbyist reporting under O.C.G.A. § 21-5-73, adding categories for lobbying local public officers, vendor-selection lobbying, and State Transportation Board matters, and setting a monthly report due on or before the fifth of each month.
• Section 6 sets the effective date of the Act as January 1, 2026.

1. 2026-01-01Effective Date
2. 2025-05-14Act 293
3. 2025-05-14Senate Date Signed by Governor (Senate)
4. 2025-04-07Senate Sent to Governor (Senate)
5. 2025-03-31House Passed/Adopted (House)
6. 2025-03-31House Third Readers (House)
7. 2025-03-20House Committee Favorably Reported (House)
8. 2025-03-10House Second Readers (House)

• Sam Watson (R, SD-11)Primary sponsor
• Steve Gooch (R, SD-51)
• Max Burns (R, SD-23)
• Russ Goodman (R, SD-8)
• Rick Williams (R, SD-25)
• John F. Kennedy (R, SD-18)
• Lee Anderson (R, SD-24)
• Shawn Still (R, SD-48)
• Matt Brass (R, SD-6)
• Jason Anavitarte (R, SD-31)
• Randy Robertson (R, SD-29)
• Chas Cannon (R, HD-172)

1. PassedSenate voteMarch 4, 2025

   29 yea, 17 nay (4 not voting, 6 excused)

   MOTION TO ENGROSS: SB 177, SB 199: Senate Vote #136

2. PassedSenate voteMarch 4, 2025

   55 yea, 0 nay (0 not voting, 1 excused)

   PASSAGE BY SUBSTITUTE: Senate Vote #140

3. PassedHouse voteMarch 31, 2025

   167 yea, 1 nay (3 not voting, 9 excused)

   PASSAGE: House Vote #366

• campaign finance
• state ethics commission
• election law
• lobbyist disclosure
• political action committees