SB605: SB605 Prosecuting Attorneys; additional grounds for discipline of a district attorney or solicitor-general or for his or her removal or involuntary retirement from office; provide

Georgia law already lists grounds for disciplining, removing, or forcing the retirement of a district attorney or solicitor-general, enforced through the Prosecuting Attorneys Qualifications Commission. Those grounds include things like willful misconduct, incapacity, and failing to follow the Crime Victims' Bill of Rights. This bill rewrites part of that law (O.C.G.A. § 15-18-32) by adding four new grounds for discipline: failing to make reasonable efforts to comply with Georgia's open records law, knowingly basing decisions on certain listed improper factors, failing to make reasonable efforts to comply with Georgia's criminal discovery law, and failing to make reasonable efforts to follow the State Bar's Rules of Professional Conduct, especially the rule on a prosecutor's special responsibilities. It also updates the rule that lets a prosecutor be disciplined for knowingly letting an assistant break these rules, expanding it to cover the new grounds. The changes would take effect as soon as the Governor signs the bill or it becomes law without his signature, and would apply to disciplinary proceedings started on or after that date.

• Adds failure to make reasonable efforts to comply with Georgia's open records law (O.C.G.A. Title 50, Chapter 18, Article 4) as a new ground for discipline of a district attorney or solicitor-general.
• Adds knowingly basing a decision on certain improper factors listed elsewhere in the law as a new disciplinary ground.
• Adds failure to make reasonable efforts to comply with Georgia's criminal discovery law (O.C.G.A. Title 17, Chapter 16) as a new disciplinary ground.
• Adds failure to make reasonable efforts to follow the State Bar of Georgia's Rules of Professional Conduct, particularly the rule on prosecutors' special duties, as a new ground.
• Expands the rule allowing discipline for knowingly letting an assistant prosecutor break these rules, so it now covers all the newly added grounds, not just the original six.
• Sets the effective date as the date the Governor signs the bill (or it becomes law without his signature), applying to disciplinary proceedings started on or after that date.

District attorneys and solicitors-general across Georgia, their assistant prosecutors, and the Prosecuting Attorneys Qualifications Commission, which investigates and enforces these disciplinary standards. Crime victims and criminal defendants are indirectly affected because some new grounds involve records access and discovery compliance.

Prosecutors who fail to turn over public records, follow criminal discovery rules, or meet state bar ethics standards could now face discipline, removal, or forced retirement for those specific failures, giving the oversight commission clearer authority to act on conduct that previously might not have fit neatly into the existing grounds.

• Section 1 rewrites subsection (h) of O.C.G.A. § 15-18-32 to add four new grounds for discipline: noncompliance with open records law, improper decision-making factors, noncompliance with criminal discovery law, and noncompliance with professional conduct rules.
• Section 1 also updates paragraph (12), which addresses knowingly permitting an assistant prosecutor to commit a violation, expanding its reach from paragraphs (1) through (6) to paragraphs (1) through (11).
• Section 2 sets the effective date as the date of the Governor's approval or the date the bill becomes law without approval, applying to disciplinary proceedings started on or after that date.
• Section 3 repeals any conflicting laws.

1. 2026-05-11Effective Date 2026-05-11
2. 2026-05-11Act 499
3. 2026-05-11Senate Date Signed by Governor (Senate)
4. 2026-04-10Senate Sent to Governor (Senate)
5. 2026-03-27House Passed/Adopted (House)
6. 2026-03-27House Third Readers (House)
7. 2026-03-19House Committee Favorably Reported (House)
8. 2026-03-10House Second Readers (House)

• Bill Cowsert (R, SD-046)Primary sponsor
• Greg Dolezal (R, SD-027)
• Steve Gooch (R, SD-051)
• Tyler Smith (R, HD-018)

1. PassedSenate voteMarch 6, 2026

   34 yea, 18 nay (1 not voting, 2 absent)

   Passage By Substitute: Senate Vote #658

2. PassedHouse voteMarch 27, 2026

   156 yea, 7 nay (3 not voting, 10 absent)

   Passage: House Vote #783

• prosecutor discipline
• district attorneys
• open records law
• criminal discovery
• legal ethics