---
title: O.C.G.A. § 2-12-83. Penalties.
collection: code
id: 2-12-83
cite_as: O.C.G.A. § 2-12-83 (2025)
canonical_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/2-12-83
md_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/2-12-83.md
text_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/2-12-83/text
source_url: https://www.legis.ga.gov/api/document/docs/default-source/joint-features-document-library/t1-3-(v3)-pdf.pdf?sfvrsn=d5cb9302_0#page=71
date: 2025
status: active
corpus_version: 2025-supplement-89aa39ab3c68
license: CC0-1.0
publisher: Georgia Commons, an independent project of Georgia Civic Data. Not the State of Georgia. Not legal advice.
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version: the only printed version
in_force: true
current_through: Including Acts of the 2025 Regular Session of the General Assembly
heading_path: AGRICULTURE / FERTILIZERS, LIMING MATERIALS, AND SOIL AMENDMENTS / SOIL AMENDMENTS
---

# O.C.G.A. § 2-12-83. Penalties.

(a) Except as otherwise provided in this Code section, any person violating any provision of this article or regulation adopted under this article shall be guilty of a misdemeanor.

(b) Any person who distributes or applies a soil amendment which contains domestic septage as such term is defined in 40 C.F.R. 503.9 shall be guilty of a misdemeanor for the first offense. For the second or any subsequent offense, any person who distributes or applies a soil amendment which contains domestic septage as such term is defined in 40 C.F.R. 503.9 shall be guilty of a misdemeanor of a high and aggravated nature and, upon conviction, shall be punished as provided in Code Section 17-10-4. Each such violation shall constitute a separate offense.

(c) Any person who distributes or applies a soil amendment which contains domestic septage as such term is defined in 40 C.F.R. 503.9 shall be liable for a civil penalty of not more than $25,000.00 per violation. For the second or any subsequent offense, any person who distributes or applies a soil amendment which contains domestic septage as such term is defined in 40 C.F.R. 503.9 shall be liable for a civil penalty of not more than $50,000.00 per violation.

## History

Ga. L. 1976, p. 359, § 12; Ga. L. 2020, p. 364, § 10/HB 1057; Ga. L. 2022, p. 352, § 2/HB 1428.

## Amendments

The 2020 amendment, effective January 1, 2021, substituted the present provisions of this Code section for the former provisions, which read: “Any person violating any of the provisions of this article or the regulations adopted under this article shall be guilty of a misdemeanor.”

The 2022 amendment, effective May 2, 2022, part of an Act to revise, modernize, and correct the Code, substituted “40 C.F.R. 503.9” for “40 CFR 503.9” throughout subsections (b) and (c).