HB 531: Appeal and error; certain appellate procedures regarding the denial of sovereign and any other immunity available to the state or a city or county in this state; provide

Georgia law generally shields municipal corporations (cities) from lawsuits under sovereign immunity, but allows some claims and requires people to notify a city before suing it. This bill extends that notice window from six months to twelve months. It also adds a new law capping how much a person can recover from a city in a tort lawsuit at $3 million per occurrence, with the city's total liability capped at $5 million, and it bars punitive damages and requires a jury unless both sides agree otherwise. Juries would not be told about these caps during trial. The bill also rewrites how a city's purchase of liability insurance affects its immunity, making clear that buying insurance waives immunity up to the policy's limits and that insurance contracts cannot be written to avoid that waiver. Separately, it strips sovereign and governmental immunity from local governments, officials, and employees, and from jail or prison officials, if they violate Georgia's ban on immigration sanctuary policies or fail to comply with federal immigration detainer requests. The changes take effect once the Governor signs the bill or it becomes law without a signature.

• Extends the deadline for filing a written claim against a city before suing it from six months to twelve months (O.C.G.A. § 36-33-5).
• Caps a person's recovery in a lawsuit against a city at $3 million per occurrence and caps a city's total liability per occurrence at $5 million, without telling the jury about these limits.
• Bans punitive or exemplary damages in tort lawsuits against municipalities and generally requires a jury trial unless both sides agree to a bench trial.
• Revises the rule on how a city's purchase of liability insurance waives its immunity, voiding any insurance contract clause designed to avoid that waiver.
• Removes sovereign and governmental immunity for local governments, officials, and employees that violate Georgia's ban on immigration sanctuary policies.
• Removes sovereign and governmental immunity for sheriffs, wardens, police chiefs, or the state corrections commissioner who fail to comply with a federal immigration detainer notice.

Georgia cities and consolidated city-county governments, people injured by municipal action who want to sue, insurance companies that write municipal liability policies, and local officials such as sheriffs, wardens, and police chiefs who handle immigration detainer requests or set local immigration policy.

People suing a city would have more time to file a claim but would face a hard cap on how much they can recover and could not seek punitive damages. Local officials who ignore federal immigration detainer requests or violate the state's sanctuary policy ban could now be personally exposed to lawsuits they previously could not face.

• Section 1-1 titles this part the 'Municipal Sovereign Immunity Act.'
• Section 1-2 changes the pre-suit notice deadline for claims against a municipality from six months to twelve months (O.C.G.A. § 36-33-5).
• Section 1-3 adds a new Code Section 36-33-7 capping municipal tort liability at $3 million per claimant and $5 million per occurrence, barring punitive damages, and requiring jury trials by default; it also states the caps do not create a new waiver of sovereign immunity beyond the Georgia Constitution's terms.
• Section 1-3A rewrites O.C.G.A. § 36-33-1 so that a municipality waives immunity by purchasing liability insurance up to the policy's limits, and voids insurance contract terms that try to avoid that waiver.
• Section 2-1 adds subsection (f) to O.C.G.A. § 36-80-23, waiving sovereign and governmental immunity for local governments and their officials or employees who violate the state's immigration sanctuary policy ban.
• Section 2-2 rewrites O.C.G.A. § 42-1-11.5 to waive sovereign and governmental immunity for custodial authorities who fail to comply with federal immigration detainer notices.
• Section 3-1 makes the Act effective immediately upon the Governor's signature or upon becoming law without signature.

1. 2026-01-12Senate Recommitted (Senado)
2. 2025-03-27Senate Read Second Time (Senado)
3. 2025-03-27Senate Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute (Senado)
4. 2025-03-10Senate Read and Referred (Senado)
5. 2025-03-06House Passed/Adopted By Substitute (Cámara de Representantes)
6. 2025-03-06House Third Readers (Cámara de Representantes)
7. 2025-02-28House Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute (Cámara de Representantes)
8. 2025-02-21House Second Readers (Cámara de Representantes)

• Matt Reeves (R, HD-099)Patrocinador principal
• Rob Leverett (R, HD-123)
• Chuck Efstration (R, HD-104)
• Stan Gunter (R, HD-008)
• Deborah Silcox (R, HD-053)
• Brian Strickland (R, SD-042)

1. AprobadaVotación: Cámara de Representantes6 de marzo de 2025

   161 a favor, 13 en contra (2 sin votar, 4 ausentes)

   Passage: House Vote #245

• sovereign immunity
• municipal lawsuits
• tort damage caps
• immigration sanctuary policies
• local government liability