SB 62: "Defend the Guard Act"; enact

Currently the Governor can release the Georgia National Guard for federal active duty, including combat deployments, under standard federal call-up procedures. This bill, called the 'Defend the Guard Act,' would add new restrictions to Georgia's militia law (O.C.G.A. § 38-2-5). It would prohibit releasing Guard members into active duty combat or combat support operations unless the U.S. Congress has either passed an official declaration of war or taken specific action under the U.S. Constitution to call forth the Guard to execute federal laws, suppress an insurrection, or repel an invasion. The bill defines 'active duty combat' to include participating in armed conflict, hazardous service in a foreign country, or duties tied to instruments of war. It also clarifies that the restriction would not stop the Governor from allowing Guard members to help with domestic civil support missions, such as disaster response, inside the United States. The Governor would be required to take all steps needed to comply with these new limits.

• Prohibits the Governor from releasing Georgia National Guard members into active duty combat or combat support operations without a congressional declaration of war or specific call-up action.
• Defines 'active duty combat' to cover armed conflict participation, hazardous foreign service, and duties carried out through an instrument of war.
• Defines 'official declaration of war' as one made by the U.S. Congress under the war powers clause of the U.S. Constitution.
• Preserves the Governor's ability to consent to Guard deployments for domestic civil support missions, like disaster relief, within the United States and its territories.
• Requires the Governor to take all necessary actions to comply with the new restrictions on releasing the Guard.

Georgia National Guard members and their families, the Governor's office, state military officials who manage Guard deployments, and potentially federal military commanders who would need to meet a higher legal bar before Georgia Guard troops could join combat operations.

If enacted, Georgia Guard members could not be sent into active combat under routine federal orders alone; it would take an actual congressional war declaration or specific call-up action. This could affect how quickly or under what legal authority Georgia troops join future combat deployments overseas.

• Section 1 names the bill the 'Defend the Guard Act.'
• Section 2 rewrites O.C.G.A. § 38-2-5 to add subsection (a), defining 'active duty combat' and 'official declaration of war.'
• New subsection (b) bars releasing the Georgia National Guard into active duty combat or combat support without a war declaration or specific congressional call-up under Article I, Section 8, Clause 15 of the U.S. Constitution.
• Subsection (b) also preserves the Governor's authority to allow Guard deployment for domestic civil support missions under 32 U.S.C. Section 328.
• Former subsection (a), now relettered as (c), keeps existing rules on the Governor ordering out militia when called into federal service and using unorganized militia volunteers if needed.
• Section 3 repeals any conflicting state laws.

1. 2026-01-12Senate Recommitted (Senate)
2. 2025-02-28Senate Read Second Time (Senate)
3. 2025-02-27Senate Committee Favorably Reported (Senate)
4. 2025-02-24Senate Withdrawn & Recommitted (Senate)
5. 2025-01-30Senate Read and Referred (Senate)
6. 2025-01-29Senate Hopper (Senate)

• Colton Moore (R, SD-53)Primary sponsor

• National Guard
• military deployment
• war powers
• state militia law