SB 378: "Anti-Corruption Act"; enact

Georgia law currently allows 'leadership committees,' fundraising vehicles chaired by the Governor, Lieutenant Governor, their party nominees, or legislative caucus leaders, to raise unlimited contributions and spend on campaigns and officeholder expenses under fewer contribution limits than ordinary campaign committees. This bill would eliminate that system. Any leadership committee still operating on July 1, 2026 would have to stop spending money, return all contributions to donors, and formally dissolve. The bill also adds a new rule barring lobbying by organizations mostly made up of government bodies or officials (such as associations of counties, cities, or school boards) if those organizations receive public funding. Both changes take effect July 1, 2026, and the bill repeals any conflicting laws.

• Eliminates leadership committees, the fundraising and spending entities chaired by the Governor, Lieutenant Governor, party nominees, or legislative caucus leaders (O.C.G.A. § 21-5-34.2).
• Requires any leadership committee still active on July 1, 2026 to stop making expenditures, return all contributions to donors, and dissolve.
• Removes the prior rules that let leadership committees accept unlimited contributions and spend on candidates or officeholder expenses without the normal contribution limits.
• Adds a new Code section (O.C.G.A. § 21-5-77) banning lobbying or lobbying expenditures by organizations mostly composed of government officials or subdivisions that also receive public funding.
• Sets the effective date for both changes as July 1, 2026 and repeals conflicting laws.

The Governor, Lieutenant Governor, party nominees for those offices, and House and Senate majority and minority caucus leaders who currently chair leadership committees; donors to those committees; and government associations, such as groups representing counties, cities, or school boards, that receive public funds and currently lobby the legislature.

Georgians would see the end of a fundraising tool that let top officials and legislative leaders collect large contributions with fewer limits than regular campaign accounts. Publicly funded government associations would also lose their ability to lobby state and local government using taxpayer-supported budgets.

• Section 2 rewrites O.C.G.A. § 21-5-34.2, deleting the provisions that allowed leadership committees to raise and spend funds, and instead prohibiting them outright.
• Section 2 requires leadership committees still existing on July 1, 2026 to stop spending, refund all contributions, and dissolve as legal entities.
• Section 2 removes the prior $500 registration and disclosure trigger and the exemption from ordinary contribution limits that applied to leadership committees.
• Section 3 creates new O.C.G.A. § 21-5-77, barring lobbying by organizations mostly composed of government officials or subdivisions that also receive public funding.
• Section 4 sets the effective date for the entire Act as July 1, 2026.
• Section 5 repeals any existing laws that conflict with the Act.

1. 2025-04-04Senate Read and Referred (Senado)
2. 2025-04-04Senate Hopper (Senado)

• Colton Moore (R, SD-053)Patrocinador principal

• campaign finance
• lobbying rules
• leadership committees
• government ethics
• state legislature