The Senate Committee on Judiciary offered the following
substitute to SB 57:
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
To amend Article 15 of Chapter 1 of Title 10 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated,
relating to deceptive or unfair practices, so as to protect the exercise of constitutional rights;
to prohibit discrimination in the provision of essential services; to provide for public and
private enforcement; to provide for definitions; to provide a short title; to provide legislative
findings and declarations; to provide for related matters; to repeal conflicting laws; and for
other purposes.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF GEORGIA:
SECTION 1.
This Act shall be known and may be cited as the "Freedom of Speech and Belief Act."
SECTION 2.
The General Assembly finds and declares that:
(1) The freedoms enshrined in the Bill of Rights are fundamental to our nation;
(2) Among such rights is the freedom of association, which businesses and citizens of
this state may ordinarily exercise in choosing to engage or not to engage in business with
others;
(3) However, when the exercise of this freedom of association by businesses that provide
essential goods and services would threaten the ability of citizens of this state to freely
exercise their own constitutional rights, it is imperative that the General Assembly act to
ensure that the spirit and intent of the Bill of Rights is respected and that the freedoms
protected therein are preserved for the citizens of this state;
(4) The ability to obtain financial and utility services is essential to the citizens of this
state and to modern day life;
(5) Today, citizens of this state are at risk of being deprived the ability to obtain financial
and utility services due to such citizens' lawful exercise of their constitutional rights;
(6) Depriving citizens of this state financial and utility services would put such citizens
at an extreme disadvantage in carrying out the duties of daily life and would deprive such
citizens of the enjoyment of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; and
(7) It is, therefore, incumbent on the General Assembly to preserve the ability of the
citizens of this state to obtain financial and utility services by prohibiting financial
institutions and utility service providers from depriving such citizens the provision of
such services based on such citizens' lawful exercise of their constitutional rights.
SECTION 3.
Article 15 of Chapter 1 of Title 10 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to
deceptive or unfair practices, is amended by adding a new part to read as follows:
<ins>"Part 10
10-1-439.20.
As used in this part, the term:
(1) 'Discriminate in the provision of essential services' means, directly or indirectly,
restricting or terminating the provision of essential services to a person based on such
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<ins>person's social credit score or such person's exercise of any constitutional right protected
by the first ten amendments to the United States Constitution, including, without
limitation, such person's speech, association, religious exercise, or ownership of firearms.
(2) 'Essential services' means financial services or utility services.
(3) 'Essential services provider' means a financial institution or a utility services
provider.
(4) 'Established business relationship' means an open account or other existing agreement
for the provision of essential services.
(5) 'Financial institution' means:
(A) A bank or credit union that has more than $1 billion in assets and any affiliate or
subsidiary of such a bank or credit union; or
(B) A payment processor, credit card company, credit card network, payment network,
payment service provider, or payment gateway that has processed more than $1 billion
in transactions in the most recent calendar year and any affiliate or subsidiary of such
an entity.
(6) 'Financial services' means any financial product or service offered by a financial
institution.
(7) 'Person' means any individual, partnership, association, joint stock company, trust,
corporation, nonprofit organization, or other business or legal entity.
(8) 'Social credit score' means a score or rating determined by an analysis or evaluation
of one or more the following:
(A) A person's exercise of any constitutional right protected by the first ten
amendments to the United States Constitution, including, without limitation, a person's
speech, association, religious exercise, or ownership of firearms;
(B) A person's failure or refusal to adopt any policy or make any disclosure relating to
emissions of greenhouse gases, as defined in Code Section 12-6-221, beyond what is
required by applicable state or federal law;
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<ins>(C) A person's failure or refusal to conduct any type of racial, diversity, or gender audit
or disclosure or to implement any quota or give any preference or benefit based in
whole or in part on race, diversity, or gender;
(D) A person's failure or refusal to facilitate or assist employees in obtaining abortions
or gender reassignment services; or
(E)(i) Except as provided in division (ii) of this subparagraph, a person's participation
in any lawful business associations or business activities, including, without
limitation, business associations or business activities relating to firearms,
ammunition, oil, or natural gas.
(ii) For the purpose of this subparagraph only, the term 'social credit score' shall not
include a financial institution's evaluation of the quantifiable financial risk of a person
based on impartial, financial risk based standards concerning the activities described
in division (i) of this subparagraph, provided that such standards are established in
advance by the financial institution and publicly disclosed to its customers and
potential customers. Nothing in this division shall:
(I) Require the public disclosure of any information relating to investigations that
is prohibited from being publicly disclosed under applicable federal laws, including,
but not limited to, the federal Bank Secrecy Act, the federal Right to Financial
Privacy Act, and the federal USA PATRIOT Act; provided, however, that any court
of competent jurisdiction may review such information in camera if permitted under
applicable law; or
(II) Limit or restrict the protections afforded under Code Section 7-1-360.
(9) 'Utility services' means, as it relates to this Code section herein, one or more of the
following services:
(A) Electric services;
(B) Water and sewer services;
(C) Natural gas services; and
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<ins>(D) Broadband services.
(10) 'Utility services provider' means any private business entity or enterprise that
provides utility services to retail customers.
10-1-439.21.
An essential services provider shall not:
(1) Discriminate in the provision of essential services against a person that has an
established business relationship with such essential services provider; or
(2) Agree, conspire, or coordinate, directly or indirectly, including through any
intermediary or third party, with another person or group of persons to engage in activity
that is prohibited by paragraph (1) of this Code section.
10-1-439.22.
(a) A violation of any provision of this part shall constitute an unfair or deceptive act or
practice under, and shall be subject to the provisions of, Part 2 of this article, the 'Fair
Business Practices Act of 1975'; provided, however, that enforcement against a violation
of this part through a private action shall only be brought pursuant to subsection (b) of this
Code section.
(b) Any person harmed by a violation of this part may bring an action against the essential
services provider that committed or is committing such violation to:
(1) Recover, for each violation, actual damages caused by such violation or $50,000.00,
whichever is greater; provided, however, that, if the trier of fact determines that the
violation was willful, it may increase the award of damages to an amount up to three
times the actual damages caused by such violation or $150,000.00, whichever is greater;
(2) Obtain declaratory and injunctive relief; and
(3) Recover any costs and reasonable attorney's fees incurred in bringing such action."
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SECTION 4.
All laws and parts of laws in conflict with this Act are repealed.