--- title: SB 298. Judgements and Rulings; certain appellate procedures regarding the denial of sovereign and any other immunity available to the state; provide collection: bills id: 2025-2026/sb298 cite_as: SB 298, 2025-2026 Regular Session (Ga.) canonical_url: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/sb298 md_url: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/sb298.md text_url: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/sb298/text source_url: https://www.legis.ga.gov/legislation/70943 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/sb297.md next: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/sb299.md index: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/index.md omitted: votes and history omitted_chars: 1318 omitted_url: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/sb298.md?full=1 bill_number: SB 298 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: - Randy Robertson - Rob Leverett text_version: Enrolled has_text: true legiscan_url: https://legiscan.com/GA/bill/SB298/2025 upstream_id: 1987878 summaries_model: claude-sonnet-5 topic_tags: - sovereign immunity - court appeals - legislative privilege - civil litigation procedure --- # SB 298. Judgements and Rulings; certain appellate procedures regarding the denial of sovereign and any other immunity available to the state; provide ## Text 25 LC 48 1601S Senate Bill 298 By: Senator Robertson of the 29th AS PASSED A BILL TO BE ENTITLED AN ACT To amend Code Section 5-6-34 of the Official Code of Georgia An notated, relating to1 judgments and rulings deemed directly appealable, procedure for review of judgments,2 orders, or decisions not subject to direct appeal, scope of review, hearings in criminal cases3 involving a capita l offense for which death penalty is sought, and appeals involving4 nonmonetary judgments in child custody cases, so as to provide for certain appellate5 procedures regarding the granting or denying of sovereign and o ther immunities and the6 granting or denying of certain privileges; to provide for statutory construction; to provide for7 related matters; to repeal conflicting laws; and for other purposes.8 BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF GEORGIA:9 SECTION 1.10 Code Section 5-6-34 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to judgments and11 rulings deemed directly appealable, procedure for review of judgments, orders, or decisions12 not subject to direct appeal, scope of review, hearings in criminal cases involving a capital13 offense for which death penalty is sought, and appeals involving nonmonetary judgments in14 child custody cases, is amended in subsection (a) by revising paragraphs (12) and (13) and15 by adding a new paragraph to read as follows:16 "(12) All judgments or orders entered pursuant to Code Section 35-3-37; and17 S. B. 298 - 1 - 25 LC 48 1601S (13) All judgments or orders entered pursuant to Code Section 9-11-11.1;18 (14) All judgments, orders, or rulings in civil actions granting or denying or refusing to19 grant or deny immunity to one or more parties based upon sovereign, municipal, official,20 qualified, or judicial immunity established by the United State s Constitution or the21 Constitution, laws, or common law of this state shall have the right of direct appeal under22 this paragraph, and such right shall be exercised within 30 days of any judgment, order,23 or ruling. The right of direct appeal under this paragraph shall not be exercised by any24 one party more than once in any civil action. This paragraph s hall not preclude taking25 an appeal pursuant to any other paragraph in this subsection; and26 (15) All judgments, orders, or rulings in civil or criminal actions granting or denying or27 refusing to grant or deny one or more parties' legislative privilege or legislative immunity28 established by the United States Constitution or the Constitution, laws, or common law29 of this state shall have the right of direct appeal under this paragraph, and such right shall30 be exercised within 30 days of any judgment, order, or ruling."31 SECTION 2.32 All laws and parts of laws in conflict with this Act are repealed.33 S. B. 298 - 2 - ## 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 298 lets parties in Georgia lawsuits immediately appeal a judge's ruling on sovereign, official, or other government immunity, and on legislative privilege, instead of waiting until the case ends. ### Plain-language summary Under current Georgia law, most trial court rulings can only be appealed after the whole case is finished, unless a specific law allows an immediate ('direct') appeal. This bill amends O.C.G.A. § 5-6-34, the law listing which rulings can be appealed right away, to add two new categories. First, any civil ruling that grants or denies immunity, including sovereign, municipal, official, qualified, or judicial immunity, can now be directly appealed within 30 days, but only once per party per case. Second, any civil or criminal ruling on legislative privilege or legislative immunity can also be directly appealed within 30 days. These new rights do not stop a party from also appealing under any other existing paragraph of the law. The bill also repeals any conflicting laws. ### What it does - Adds a new right to immediately appeal any civil court ruling that grants or denies sovereign, municipal, official, qualified, or judicial immunity, within 30 days of the ruling. - Adds a new right to immediately appeal any civil or criminal ruling on legislative privilege or legislative immunity, within 30 days of the ruling. - Limits each party to using the new immunity-appeal right only once per civil case, though other appeal options remain available. - Repeals any existing Georgia laws that conflict with these new appeal rights. ### Who it affects State and local government agencies and officials who raise immunity defenses in lawsuits, private parties suing them, state legislators asserting legislative privilege or immunity in civil or criminal cases, and the appellate courts that will handle these new direct appeals. ### Why it matters Government defendants and legislators would no longer have to wait until a full trial concludes to challenge a ruling that denies them immunity or privilege; they could appeal within 30 days. This could resolve immunity disputes faster but may also slow down lawsuits against the state or officials while such appeals are pending. ### Key provisions - Section 1 amends O.C.G.A. § 5-6-34(a) by revising paragraphs (12) and (13), which list judgments directly appealable under specific existing code sections. - Section 1 adds new paragraph (14), giving a right of direct appeal within 30 days for civil rulings granting or denying sovereign, municipal, official, qualified, or judicial immunity. - Paragraph (14) limits each party to exercising this direct appeal right only once per civil action and allows it alongside other appeal grounds. - Section 1 adds new paragraph (15), giving a right of direct appeal within 30 days for civil or criminal rulings granting or denying legislative privilege or legislative immunity. - Section 2 repeals all laws and parts of laws that conflict with the Act. ## Status - Status: Passed (2025-05-14) - Last action: Effective Date 2025-07-01 (2025-05-14) - Sponsors: Randy Robertson, Rob Leverett - Official page: https://www.legis.ga.gov/legislation/70943 > The history, votes, and amendments (1,318 characters) are at https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/sb298.md?full=1