---
title: O.C.G.A. § 36-80-5. Relief from or composition of debts under federal statute prohibited.
collection: code
id: 36-80-5
cite_as: O.C.G.A. § 36-80-5 (2025)
canonical_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/36-80-5
md_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/36-80-5.md
text_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/36-80-5/text
source_url: https://www.legis.ga.gov/api/document/docs/default-source/joint-features-document-library/t36-ch60-92-(v27a)-2025-pdf.pdf?sfvrsn=1fad51cc_0#page=394
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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current_through: Including Acts of the 2025 Session of the General Assembly of Georgia
heading_path: LOCAL GOVERNMENT / Provisions Applicable to Counties, Municipal Corporations, and Other Governmental Entities / GENERAL PROVISIONS
---

# O.C.G.A. § 36-80-5. Relief from or composition of debts under federal statute prohibited.

(a) No county, municipality, school district, authority, division, instrumentality, political subdivision, or public body corporate created under the Constitution or laws of this state shall be authorized to file a petition for relief from payment of its debts as they mature or a petition for composition of its debts under any federal statute providing for such relief or composition or otherwise to take advantage of any federal statute providing for the adjustment of debts of political subdivisions and public agencies and instrumentalities.

(b) No chief executive, mayor, board of commissioners, city council, board of trustees, or other governmental officer, governing body, or organization shall be empowered to cause or authorize the filing by or on behalf of any county, municipality, school district, authority, division, instrumentality, political subdivision, or public body corporate created under the Constitution or laws of this state of any petition for relief from payment of its debts as they mature or a petition for composition of its debts under any federal statute providing for such relief or composition or otherwise to take advantage of any federal statute providing for the adjustment of debts of political subdivisions and public agencies and instrumentalities.

## History

Ga. L. 1976, p. 1557, §§ 1, 2.

## Law Reviews

For comment, “Federalism, States, and the Power to Regulate Municipal Bankruptcies: Who May be a Debtor under Section 109(c)?,” see 9 Bank. Dev. J. 621 (1993).