Georgia Commons

Official Code of Georgia Annotated

Title 50. STATE GOVERNMENT · Chapter 1. GENERAL PROVISIONS

50-1-12. Consideration of the “definition of antisemitism” in the enforcement and application of laws by state agencies.

Active

Current through: Including Acts of the 2025 Regular Session of the General Assembly.

  1. (a)

    As used in this Code section, the term:#

    1. (1)

      “Agency” means any agency, authority, department, board, bureau, commission, council, corporation, entity, or instrumentality of state government and all local political subdivisions of this state.#

    2. (2)

      “Definition of antisemitism” has the same meaning as provided for in the working definition of antisemitism and the contemporary examples of antisemitism adopted by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) on May 26, 2016, and incorporated by reference in Presidential Executive Order Number 13899, 84 F.R. 68779 December 11, 2019.#

  2. (b)

    An agency authorized or required to enforce any criminal or noncriminal law or regulation that prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, or national origin shall consider the definition of antisemitism in the course of such enforcement.#

  3. (c)

    In determining whether to seek the enhanced penalty or penalties authorized by Code Section 17-10-17, the state shall consider the definition of antisemitism for the purpose of determining whether such penalty enhancement is authorized.#

  4. (d)

    Nothing in this Code section shall be construed to diminish or infringe upon any right protected under the First Amendment to the United States Constitution or the Georgia Constitution. Nothing in this Code section shall be construed to diminish or infringe upon an individual’s right to engage in legally protected conduct or expressive activity pertaining to any matter of United States foreign policy or international affairs. Nothing in this Code section shall be construed to conflict with local, federal, or state discrimination laws.#

  5. (e)

    Nothing in this Code section shall be construed to alter the evidentiary requirements pursuant to which an agency makes a determination that conduct, including harassment, amounts to actionable discrimination, or to diminish or infringe upon the rights protected under any other provision of law.#

  6. (f)

    Nothing in this Code section shall be construed to impair or otherwise affect the authority granted by law to an agency.#

  7. (g)

    This Code section shall not create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, or any cause of action, enforceable at law or in equity, by any party against the state or any agency.#

Reading note: a word broken across two lines in the printed volume was joined by rule and could not be checked against the volume's own vocabulary. The official page linked below settles any doubt.

The notes below are printed with the section but are not enacted law (O.C.G.A. § 1-1-1(c)). They are shown apart from the text.

History

Code 1981, § 50-1-12, enacted by Ga. L. 2024, p. 1, § 1/HB 30, effective January 31, 2024.

Effective date

This Code section became effective January 31, 2024.

Editor's notes

Ga. L. 2024, p. 1, § 2/HB 30, not codified by the General Assembly, provides: “In the event any section, subsection, paragraph, subparagraph, item, sentence, clause, phrase, or word of this Act is declared or adjudged to be invalid or unconstitutional, the remaining portions of this Act shall automatically be repealed upon the entry of such declaration or adjudication and shall not remain of full force and effect after such declaration or adjudication. The General Assembly declares that it would not have enacted the remaining parts of this Act if it had known that such portion of this Act would be declared or adjudged invalid or unconstitutional.” As of May 2025, no such decision has been issued.

Code Commission notes

Pursuant to Code Section 28-9-5, in 2024, Code Section 50-1-12, as enacted by Ga. L. 2024, p. 782, § 2/HB 1053, was redesignated as Code Section 50-1-13.

Read the official page (the state's PDF, opened at the page this text was read from).

Current through: Including Acts of the 2025 Regular Session of the General Assembly.

Text read from t49-t50-ch1-12-(v38)-pdf.pdf, Volume V38, 2023 edition, 2025 supplement, pages 84 to 85; merge action: added; file SHA-256 2a8229331844.

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