SB 301: State Flag, Seal, and Other Symbols; protection of government statues, monuments, plaques, banners, and other commemorative symbols; revise provisions

Georgia law already makes it a crime to deface or remove certain government-owned monuments, such as those honoring military service or historical events (O.C.G.A. § 50-3-1). This bill rewrites that law to broaden who can be sued and who can sue. It extends the same protections to privately owned monuments, lets any interested person or group, not just the monument's owner, bring a lawsuit for damages or an injunction, and lets a violator be forced to pay triple the repair cost plus attorney's fees. The bill also has the state waive its own sovereign immunity (the legal protection that normally shields government from lawsuits) and waives qualified immunity for public officials who violate the law, meaning the state and its employees could be sued directly. It requires any agency wanting to remove or relocate a monument to give 90 days' public notice and try to find another public site for it. It also creates a statewide registry of public monuments to be kept by the Department of Community Affairs, and it keeps the existing ban on ever altering the Confederate carving on Stone Mountain.

• Extends existing monument protection rules to cover privately owned monuments, not just those on government property.
• Lets any interested person, group, or organization sue over a damaged, destroyed, or relocated monument, even without a personal injury.
• Makes violators liable for triple the cost of repair or replacement plus attorney's fees and court costs.
• Waives the state's sovereign immunity and public officials' qualified immunity for claims brought under this law.
• Requires agencies to give 90 days' public notice and try to find a new public home for a monument before removing or relocating it.
• Creates a statewide registry of public monuments to be maintained by the Department of Community Affairs.

State and local government agencies, school boards, the Board of Regents and University System of Georgia institutions, public officials and employees, private monument owners, and any group or individual who wants to challenge damage to or removal of a monument, since the bill gives them legal standing to sue.

The changes make it easier for outside groups to sue over monument removals or damage, expose public officials and the state to direct lawsuits by waiving immunity, and slow down any agency decision to relocate a monument by adding a 90 day notice and search-for-a-new-site process.

• Section 1 rewrites O.C.G.A. § 50-3-1(b) to add 'officer,' 'agency,' and privately owned monuments to the list of entities and property covered by the ban on defacing, damaging, or removing monuments.
• Paragraph (4) sets treble damages (triple the repair or replacement cost), possible exemplary damages, and attorney's fees for anyone who violates the section.
• Paragraph (5) grants standing to any interested person, group, or legal entity to sue over a monument violation without needing to show personal injury.
• Paragraph (8) lets the Attorney General or a local district attorney represent the interests of monument owners and the state in enforcement actions.
• Paragraph (11) requires 90 days' public notice before an agency removes or relocates a monument and directs the agency to seek a third party willing to keep displaying it publicly.
• New subsection (e) directs the Department of Community Affairs to create and maintain a statewide registry of public monuments, with agencies reporting their monuments by a set deadline.
• New subsections (f) and (g) waive the state's sovereign immunity and public officials' qualified immunity for claims brought under this Code section.
• Subsection (c) is retained unchanged, permanently protecting the Confederate memorial carved on Stone Mountain from alteration, removal, or concealment.

1. 2026-03-06Senate Tabled (Senate)
2. 2026-03-06Senate Third Read (Senate)
3. 2026-03-06Senate Taken from Table (Senate)
4. 2026-03-06Senate Tabled (Senate)
5. 2026-02-09Senate Read Second Time (Senate)
6. 2026-02-06Senate Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute (Senate)
7. 2025-02-28Senate Read and Referred (Senate)
8. 2025-02-27Senate Hopper (Senate)

• Ricky Williams (R, SD-025)Primary sponsor
• Steve Gooch (R, SD-051)
• Randy Robertson (R, SD-029)
• Marty Harbin (R, SD-016)
• Frank Ginn (R, SD-047)
• Carden Summers (R, SD-013)
• Billy Hickman (R, SD-004)
• Russ Goodman (R, SD-008)
• Clint Dixon (R, SD-045)
• Lee Anderson (R, SD-024)
• Chuck Hufstetler (R, SD-052)
• Brandon Beach (R, SD-021)
• Jason Anavitarte (R, SD-031)
• Mike Hodges (R, SD-003)
• Ben Watson (R, SD-001)
• Timothy Bearden (R, SD-030)
• Shawn Still (R, SD-048)
• Bo Hatchett (R, SD-050)
• Blake Tillery (R, SD-019)
• Drew Echols (R, SD-049)
• Max Burns (R, SD-023)
• Chuck Payne (R, SD-054)
• Sam Watson (R, SD-011)

• Confederate monuments
• monument protection law
• sovereign immunity
• local government
• historic preservation