--- title: SB 213. "Fair Business Practices Act of 1975" commercial cheating services that target students and examinees seeking a professional license as an unlawful, unfair, and deceptive trade practice; ban collection: bills id: 2025-2026/sb213 cite_as: SB 213, 2025-2026 Regular Session (Ga.) canonical_url: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/sb213 md_url: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/sb213.md text_url: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/sb213/text source_url: https://www.legis.ga.gov/legislation/70531 date: 2025-05-14 status: passed corpus_version: bills-2026-08-28 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/sb212.md next: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/sb214.md index: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/index.md omitted: votes and history omitted_chars: 1150 omitted_url: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/sb213.md?full=1 bill_number: SB 213 session: 2025-2026 Regular Session session_slug: 2025-2026 chamber: Senate bill_type: bill status_date: 2025-05-14 last_action: Effective Date 2025-07-01 sponsors: - Kay Kirkpatrick - Bill Cowsert - John Albers - Michael Rhett - Carden Summers - Frank Ginn - Steve Gooch - Randy Robertson - Ed Harbison - Greg Dolezal - Max Burns - Charles Martin text_version: Enrolled has_text: true legiscan_url: https://legiscan.com/GA/bill/SB213/2025 upstream_id: 1976313 summaries_model: claude-sonnet-5 topic_tags: - academic cheating - consumer protection law - professional licensing - education policy - Fair Business Practices Act --- # SB 213. "Fair Business Practices Act of 1975" commercial cheating services that target students and examinees seeking a professional license as an unlawful, unfair, and deceptive trade practice; ban ## Text 25 SB 213/AP Senate Bill 213 By: Senators Kirkpatrick of the 32nd, Cowsert of the 46th, Albers of the 56th, Rhett of the 33rd, Summers of the 13th and others AS PASSED A BILL TO BE ENTITLED AN ACT To amend Part 2 of Article 15 of Chapter 1 of Title 10 of the O fficial Code of Georgia1 Annotated, relating to the "Fair Business Practices Act of 1975 ," so as to ban commercial2 cheating services that target students and examinees seeking a professional license; to limit3 enforcement to public enforcement by the Attorney General; to p rovide for definitions; to4 provide for statutory construction; to provide for related matters; to repeal conflicting laws;5 and for other purposes.6 BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF GEORGIA:7 SECTION 1.8 Part 2 of Article 15 of Chapter 1 of Title 10 of the Official C ode of Georgia Annotated,9 relating to the "Fair Business Practices Act of 1975," is amended in subsection (b) of Code10 Section 10-1-393, relating to unfair or deceptive practices in consumer transactions unlawful11 and examples, by deleting "and" at the end of paragraph (34), by replacing the period with12 "; and" at the end of paragraph (35), and by adding a new paragraph to read as follows:13 "(36) Failure to comply with the provisions of Code Section 10-1-393.20."14 S. B. 213 - 1 - 25 SB 213/AP SECTION 2.15 Said part is further amended by adding a new Code section to read as follows:16 "10-1-393.20.17 (a) As used in this Code section, the term:18 (1) 'Assessment task' means any assignment, essay, thesis, dis sertation, report,19 examination, project, or other assessable part of a course of study assigned or otherwise20 given to a student or examinee for credit.21 (2) 'Assignor' means:22 (A) Any local school system or public school, private school, or home study program23 in this state;24 (B) Any institution of the University System of Georgia or uni t of the Technical25 College System of Georgia;26 (C) Any organization that issues a professional license in this state; or27 (D) Any employee or agent of such schools, programs, instituti ons, units, or28 organizations.29 (3) 'Commercial purpose' means a purpose relating to financial gain or other30 compensation.31 (4) 'For credit' means for evaluation by an assignor as a fact or in the issuance of any32 grade, evaluation, degree, diploma, certification, certificate, credential, exam score, or33 professional license.34 (5) 'Home study program' means a home study program as defined in subsection (c) of35 Code Section 20-2-690.36 (6) 'Person' means any individual, partnership, firm, limited liability company,37 association, corporation, or other legal entity or unincorporated organization.38 (7) 'Private school' shall have the same meaning as private sc hool set forth in39 subsection (b) of Code Section 20-2-690.40 (8) 'Student or examinee' means:41 S. B. 213 - 2 - 25 SB 213/AP (A) Any student of a local school system or public school, a private school, or a home42 study program in this state;43 (B) Any student of an institution of the University System of Georgia or a unit of the44 Technical College System of Georgia; or45 (C) Any examinee for a professional license in this state.46 (9) 'Work product' means any written, electronic, recorded, pi ctorial, artistic, or other47 form of work.48 (b) It shall be unlawful for any person, for a commercial purpose, to provide or otherwise49 cause to be provided any work product to a student or examinee in a substantially50 completed form that could, under the circumstances, reasonably be considered as being,51 or forming a part of, an assessment task.52 (c) No disclaimer or contractual language between a person providing work product and53 a student or examinee shall exempt such person from the provisions of subsection (b) of54 this Code section.55 (d) Any violation of subsection (b) of this Code section shall constitute an unfair or 56 deceptive act or practice in the conduct of consumer transactio ns under Part 2 of Article 57 15 of this chapter, the 'Fair Business Practices Act of 1975'; provided, however, that 58 enforcement against such violations shall only be by public enforcement by the Attorney 59 General pursuant to this part and shall not be enforceable through a private right of action 60 under Code Section 10-1-399.61 (e) Nothing in this Code section shall be construed to:62 (1) Prohibit any person from providing tutorial assistance, research material, or general63 information to a student or examinee; or64 (2) Prohibit any person from providing an automated system, software, or platform that65 generates specific responses to a student's or examinee's prompts; provided, however, that66 such responses shall not constitute a substantially completed a ssessment task and the67 S. B. 213 - 3 - 25 SB 213/AP primary purpose of such automated system, software, or platform is not the provision of68 assessment tasks."69 SECTION 3.70 Said part is further amended in subsection (a) of Code Section 10-1-399, relating to civil71 actions for violations and remedies, by striking "Any" at the beginning of subsection (a),72 and inserting "Except as otherwise provided, any" in lieu thereof.73 SECTION 4.74 All laws and parts of laws in conflict with this Act are repealed.75 S. B. 213 - 4 - ## 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. Georgia's Fair Business Practices Act would be amended to ban commercial services that sell completed homework, essays, or exam-ready work to students and license examinees, with only the Attorney General able to enforce it. ### Plain-language summary Georgia currently has no specific state law banning businesses that sell finished assignments, essays, theses, or other coursework to students or people seeking professional licenses. Senate Bill 213 changes that by adding a new section to the state's consumer protection law, the Fair Business Practices Act of 1975 (O.C.G.A. § 10-1-393). The bill makes it illegal for anyone to provide, for a commercial purpose (meaning for money or other compensation), a substantially completed piece of work, such as an essay, report, exam answer, or dissertation, to a student or examinee if that work could reasonably count as an assessment task. Contract terms or disclaimers cannot excuse someone from this rule. Violations count as unfair or deceptive trade practices, but only the Attorney General can enforce them; students or schools cannot sue under the law's private right of action. The bill also clarifies that tutoring, research help, and general-purpose AI tools are not banned, as long as the tool's main purpose is not producing finished assignments. ### What it does - Adds a new unlawful practice to the Fair Business Practices Act (O.C.G.A. § 10-1-393) banning commercial cheating services. - Makes it illegal to sell or otherwise provide a substantially completed assignment, essay, exam answer, or similar work to a student or examinee for a commercial purpose. - Blocks companies from using disclaimers or contract language to avoid liability for providing completed schoolwork or exam answers. - Limits enforcement of this specific ban to the Attorney General only, removing the option for students, schools, or licensing bodies to sue directly under the law's private right of action (O.C.G.A. § 10-1-399). - Exempts tutoring, research assistance, general information, and AI tools or platforms as long as their main purpose is not generating finished assessment work. ### Who it affects The bill affects companies and individuals that sell completed homework, essays, theses, or exam answers for money; students in Georgia's K-12 schools, home study programs, University System of Georgia and Technical College System institutions; people seeking professional licenses in Georgia; and the Attorney General's office, which gains sole enforcement authority. ### Why it matters Businesses that profit from selling finished assignments or exam answers to students and license applicants would face state legal liability for the first time under this consumer protection law. Because only the Attorney General can enforce it, individual students or schools harmed by such services could not bring their own lawsuits. ### Key provisions - Section 1 adds a new paragraph (36) to O.C.G.A. § 10-1-393(b) listing failure to comply with the new anti-cheating-service provision as an unfair or deceptive practice. - Section 2 creates new Code Section 10-1-393.20, defining key terms like 'assessment task,' 'assignor,' 'commercial purpose,' and 'student or examinee.' - Section 2(b) bans providing substantially completed work product to a student or examinee for commercial purposes when it could count as an assessment task. - Section 2(c) prevents disclaimers or contracts from shielding providers from liability under the ban. - Section 2(d) classifies violations as unfair or deceptive acts under the Fair Business Practices Act but restricts enforcement to the Attorney General, excluding private lawsuits under O.C.G.A. § 10-1-399. - Section 2(e) exempts tutoring, research help, general information, and AI tools whose primary purpose is not generating finished assessment work. - Section 3 amends O.C.G.A. § 10-1-399(a) to note that private civil action rights apply 'except as otherwise provided,' reflecting the new enforcement limit. - Section 4 repeals conflicting laws. ## Status - Status: Passed (2025-05-14) - Last action: Effective Date 2025-07-01 (2025-05-14) - Sponsors: Kay Kirkpatrick, Bill Cowsert, John Albers, Michael Rhett, Carden Summers, Frank Ginn, Steve Gooch, Randy Robertson, Ed Harbison, Greg Dolezal, Max Burns, Charles Martin - Official page: https://www.legis.ga.gov/legislation/70531 > The history, votes, and amendments (1,150 characters) are at https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/sb213.md?full=1