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House Judiciary Non-Civil Committee

House Judiciary Non-Civil Committee, March 19, 2026

2025-2026 Regular Session · 132 CAP · 25 min

This is a machine transcript of the General Assembly's video, made by a speech-recognition model. It is not an official record and can mishear words, names, and numbers. Speakers are not identified. The video is the record: every timestamp links to the moment it plays.

Copy for LLM, View as markdown, and Send to AI use the Markdown version: the summaries Georgia Commons wrote, under headings that name them, then the whole transcript with its times. View raw is the transcript alone.

The video is the General Assembly's, played from its Vimeo channel. Select any time below to play that moment. Watch on the General Assembly's Vimeo channel · Agenda

Summary

Written by an AI model (gpt-6.1-sol) from the transcript. It is not part of the record, and the video is what was said.

The committee approved all five bills it took up. Discussion of SB 268 focused on protections for first responders, First Amendment concerns and adding step-grandparents to incest laws. The committee amended SB 499 to create a felony offense for certain silencer possession, then approved it despite a member's objections about public safety and the difficulty of proving the offense. The committee also approved SB 27, SB 443 and SB 587 without further substantive discussion. The chair noted one opposing vote on SB 443.

Bills discussed (5)

Each account covers the stretch of the meeting it names. The bill's number is said in that stretch, unless it was the only bill on a committee's agenda.

SB 268. Offenses Against Public Order; crime of interference with a first responder; provide

From 0:10:04 · turns 5 to 32

The sponsor said SB 268 would add step-grandparents to incest laws and protect first responders, including paramedics and firefighters, by giving them space to work without restricting citizens' First Amendment rights. A supporting witness said the House substitute targeted interference with responders' duties, threats of physical harm and harassment, rather than simply being nearby or recording. The witness contrasted this approach with laws challenged in Arizona and Louisiana. The witness said the substitute included a defense for someone unable to receive or understand a warning. Addressing concerns about the 25-foot distance, the witness said it would provide reaction time while still allowing people to observe, hear and record responders. The witness cited an incident involving people approaching officers handling a lit explosive and described concerns about crowds surrounding paramedics. The chair said earlier work had addressed First Amendment issues. No substantive questions or further amendments were offered. The committee approved the House substitute by voice vote, with no opposition heard.

SB 499. Dangerous Instrumentalities and Practices; prohibition on possessing a silencer; repeal

From 0:16:19 · turns 33 to 86

The chair brought SB 499 back after discussion at the previous meeting. A committee member offered an amendment making silencer possession a felony when a person knows the device is a silencer and knows they are legally prohibited from possessing or receiving a firearm. The committee adopted the amendment by voice vote. A second member opposed the bill, saying it would remove Georgia's prohibition on unregistered silencers and require prosecutors to prove two knowledge requirements that would be extremely difficult to establish. That member said lawful hunters could already own federally registered suppressors, cited earlier audiologist testimony questioning the hearing-protection benefit, and argued that suppressors make shooters harder to locate. The member also objected to changing state law in anticipation of possible federal changes. The sponsor offered a revised substitute described as containing cleanup changes, but the chair declined to use it after identifying other changes. The committee instead used the prior version with the adopted amendment. The chair declared the amended bill approved by voice vote; opposition was heard, but no count was given.

SB 27. Stalking; offense of doxxing; penalties; protective order; provide

From 0:22:51 · turns 87 to 91

The chair brought SB 27 before the committee for a vote on a substitute. Members made and seconded a motion to pass it. No amendments or substantive discussion followed. The committee approved the substitute by voice vote, with no opposition heard.

SB 443. Offenses Against Public Order; the punishment for the offense of obstructing highways, streets, sidewalks, or other public passages; increase

From 0:23:32 · turns 91 to 94

The chair brought SB 443 back for a vote and said the sponsor had declined further speaking time after earlier committee presentations. Members made and seconded a motion to pass the version before them. No amendments or substantive discussion followed. The committee approved it by voice vote, and the chair noted one opposing vote.

SB 587. Offenses Against Public Health and Morals; the establishment of an animal cruelty database; provide

From 0:24:27 · turns 94 to 99

The chair called up SB 587, and members made and seconded a motion to pass the version before the committee. No amendments or substantive discussion followed. The committee approved it by voice vote, with no opposition heard.

Transcript

101 turns. Select a time to play that moment of the video.

  1. 0:09:12

    Okay, we're gonna come to order.

  2. 0:09:20

    Okay. Uh, Chairman Gullett, would you open us up in a word of prayer?

  3. 0:09:29

    Bow your heads, Father God, we love you. We're so grateful for your love to us. Please give us the guidance and wisdom to make good decisions today. Bless those in attendance, give us safe, uh, travel back and forth, and, uh, let us finish the session strong. In your name we pray, amen.

  4. 0:09:43

    Amen.

  5. 0:09:43

    Thank you, Chairman Gullett. Senator Roberts, and good to have you back with us. Go ahead.

  6. 0:09:49

    One of my, one of my favorite House chairmen, and you had one of my closest friends, uh, open up the meeting in prayer, so I'm the only one that can wreck this this morning. And I will try not to. Uh, Mr. Chairman, as, as you are aware, um, SB268 has been, um, has been worked on for the last couple of years. It's an extremely important piece of legislation for law enforcement, and it's extremely important for some, uh, children in our community who are being abused. And so, um, the, the beginning of the legislation currently deals with, um, including the step-grandparents, um, as far as in the codes related to incest, should that, uh, horrible thing occur, um, something extremely important to me.

  7. 0:10:35

    And then on the second half of the legislation deals with what we brought it for initially, which is the Halo Act to, uh, protect first responders. And just to be clear, first responders are beyond law enforcement. It's, uh, it's our, our paramedics, our firefighters, and others out there, to give them a safe space to conduct their business, but it does not prohibit any citizen from exercising their First Amendment rights. And so, um, I'll be happy to answer any questions from the committee, but it's a very clean and, uh, important piece of legislation.

  8. 0:11:06

    Okay. Uh, Senator Roberts, and thank you for working with us. I know we worked, uh, at length last year on making sure that we, uh, resolved any First Amendment issues, so, uh, thank you for that. Uh, I don't see any questions from members of the committee. Uh, well, there is one.

  9. 0:11:24

    I thought... Never mind. People saw it themselves.

  10. 0:11:26

    Okay. Okay. Uh, we'll take, uh... Is there anybody signed up to speak to the... Oh, Lance. Come on over to the mic there, sir.

  11. 0:11:41

    If, uh, you take a moment right now on YouTube, you can see a video from March 7th, 2026, where a subject in front of Gracie Mansion lit an IED and was standing there with it, and two NYPD officers tackled him. They tackled somebody with a lit bomb in their hand, and about 30 people rushed the officers with their cell phones to try to see if they could get some good video. This bill not only protects our first responders, but in a way it protects some of the public trying to see what's going on from themselves.

  12. 0:12:16

    Keeping people away from first responders when they're doing their duties, and one of the things that we put in the, uh, sub- the House substitute, I remember was, uh, was brought up, was adding language that says the scienter or the, the evil to be resolved is that they are distracting the public safety officer from performing their duties. That mimics language and case law from 161024, which is the obstruction statute, that you don't need to physically touch a law enforcement officer or public safety officer or firefighter to actually commit the obstruction.

  13. 0:12:50

    If you are distracting them from their duties, um, that would be sufficient. In addition, um, we did a very, very deep dive into some of these statutes from around the country to see what was challenged. Uh, the Arizona statute was challenged, but it had to do with preventing anybody from videotaping, uh, any law enforcement officer. Well, obviously, that's a violation of the First Amendment. Um, there was a Louisiana statute that was challenged because it did not deal with the actual reason the person was getting close to a law enforcement officer. It just said you couldn't get close to them.

  14. 0:13:22

    So this, uh, this, the House substitute specifically talks about not only the, uh, impeding or interfering with a first responder's ability to perform their duties, threaten the first responder with physical harm, or harass the first responder. Um, I'm also licensed in Tennessee, and one of the, uh, provisions that was put in the Tennessee law, which we incorporated into the House substitute, was the fact that we put an affirmative defense. If an individual believes that they were incapable of receiving the warning, the warning was impossible for them to understand, then they can raise that as an affirmative defense.

  15. 0:13:56

    And as the committee's aware, in a criminal case, the, um, affirmative defense would have to be proven by, uh, beyond a reasonable doubt. Uh, but we wanted people to have an opportunity to, uh, voice their objection if they believe they were unfairly charged. Um, I can imagine law enforcement officers giving multiple, multiple warnings prior to arresting someone, and I have had several people in these halls ask me how someone's gonna know what 25 feet is. Well, first of all, the 25 feet was put to give people the reactionary gap so they have an opportunity to get somebody to stop before they, uh, they get too close or, or hinder the public safety officer.

  16. 0:14:34

    Second, the 25 feet is less than the distance from the chairman to the back wall. Anybody at that back wall could hold up a cell phone, they could videotape, they can hear, they can observe, so it does not interfere with the transparency. But third, every traffic lane in the state of Georgia, in fact, in the United States, there's a standard. They're 12 feet wide. So for a law enforcement officer to look on a scene and say, "Stay the width of two traffic lanes," or, "Stay the width of, uh, two parking lots," uh, would be pretty easy for them to be able to establish that they had put warning to the individual.

  17. 0:15:11

    And I think as much as we talk about law enforcement and ambushes on law enforcement, what I worry about at night with the, my clients is a 19-year-old paramedic who gets out of her rig to try to save a shooting victim at an apartment complex. She does not need to worry about attacks from individuals when 30 or 40 people swarm the scene.

  18. 0:15:37

    Okay. I see no questions. Thank you, Jim. Colonel, do you want to add anything?

  19. 0:15:41

    No.

  20. 0:15:41

    Okay. All right. Uh, nobody else signed up to talk. Uh, I'll entertain a motion.

  21. 0:15:48

    Move to pass.

  22. 0:15:49

    All right, got a move to pass. Second? Any amendments? Seeing none. All those in favor of the passage of Senate Bill 268, LC481621S say aye.

  23. 0:15:58

    Aye.

  24. 0:15:59

    All those opposed, same sign. Congratulations, you're on the roll, Senator.

  25. 0:16:02

    Thank you, and, uh, I'll get-

  26. 0:16:04

    Uh, who's-

  27. 0:16:04

    ... a run on this bill out.

  28. 0:16:05

    Who-

  29. 0:16:05

    My, my understanding is the Honorable Timothy Fleming-

  30. 0:16:08

    Okay

  31. 0:16:08

    ... will be hearing it.

  32. 0:16:09

    All right.

  33. 0:16:09

    Um, and, uh, anything we can do for y'all over in the Senate, know we're always available and we appreciate the hard work y'all do over here.

  34. 0:16:15

    Thank y'all as well. All right, I'm gonna bring back up, uh, Senate Bill 499. Senator, again, you don't have to come up. Uh, we discussed this yesterday, and, uh, at this time I think we're in the proper posture of a motion.

  35. 0:16:35

    Move to pass.

  36. 0:16:35

    All right. Move to pass. S- Senate Bill 499.

  37. 0:16:46

    Second.

  38. 0:16:47

    All right. Got a move and a second. Any amendments?

  39. 0:16:54

    Oh, yes. We do have an amendment. Um, I'll come back to you, Representative. All right. Representative Hong.

  40. 0:17:04

    Have an amendment. Um, it should be in your folder. The,

  41. 0:17:10

    Person commits the offense of lo- unlawful possession of a silencer when the person possesses what he or she knows to be a silencer, as defined in Code Section 16-11-160, and at the time of such possession knows he or she is prohibited from possessing or receiving a firearm under the laws of this state, and upon conviction thereof, he or she shall be punished for a felony. Um, so the amendment will start at line 24, will include A, uh, Section A, and then this language that I just repeated will go right after line 27 as a Section B.

  42. 0:17:50

    Okay. You've heard the Hong Amendment. Is there a second?

  43. 0:17:53

    Second.

  44. 0:17:54

    All right. Got a move and a second on the Hong Amendment. Uh, any discussion on the amendment? Seeing none, all those in favor of the Hong Amendment say aye.

  45. 0:18:02

    Aye.

  46. 0:18:02

    All those opposed, same sign. Huh, all right. It passes. Uh, someone blank. All right. It turned off?

  47. 0:18:10

    Well, I want the section.

  48. 0:18:12

    Okay. All right. Discussion.

  49. 0:18:14

    On the main motion.

  50. 0:18:15

    On the...

  51. 0:18:17

    Okay. Um, this bill is being sold as tough on crime, but frankly, it does the opposite. It removes Georgia's current law making it illegal to possess an unregistered silencer and replaces it with an impossible standard in this amendment, forcing prosecutors to prove what someone knew, not once, but twice, both that they knew the device was a silencer and they knew their legal status and weren't enti- we- weren't allowed to have a firearm. We're told the purpose of this is to protect hunters hearing, but we heard testimony yesterday from an audiologist that suppressors only reduce sound by a small amount and that there are actually better ways to protect hearing.

  52. 0:18:58

    Let's be clear, law abiding hunters can already legally own suppressors today if they registered them under federal law. So what's this really about? The sponsor told us. It's about aligning Georgia law with what federal law might become in the future. What are we doing here? I thought, I honestly thought this committee was a serious one. We have spent hours on a bill that makes it harder for law enforcement to locate a shooter while creating an impossible standard for prosecutors to prove what someone knew, something you simply cannot do without a confession.

  53. 0:19:33

    You can't get it in the defendant's head twice. So we're being asked to weaken public safety at a time when gun violence is the leading cause of death for children and teens, just to chase a pipe dream of what gun manufacturers hope federal law might become someday. This is not serious policymaking. It's a waste of the very limited time we have t- to do the people's Georgia's, the people of Georgia's business, and I am completely frustrated that we're here today. Thank you.

  54. 0:20:04

    All right. Senator, what, what do you want to add?

  55. 0:20:06

    Mr. Chairman, I, I did want to m- make sure I, I had, uh, Miss Dold and Legislative Council had r- revised it to make a committee sub.

  56. 0:20:14

    Yes.

  57. 0:20:14

    I didn't know which way your committee would want to do.

  58. 0:20:16

    Yeah.

  59. 0:20:16

    But I, I offered that. They, uh, we cleaned up all the, the, uh, annunciation, spelling, and anything else that's in there. So-

  60. 0:20:24

    Yes. Uh-

  61. 0:20:25

    ... wanted to make sure you had that available to you.

  62. 0:20:27

    So what we'll be off, operating off of, and what you'll see is what, uh, uh, Vice Chairman Hong made in her amendment in LC 395099S. That is how it would read with her amendment. Um-

  63. 0:20:47

    Yeah, it's still got the line numbers.

  64. 0:20:50

    It'd be a different line number, actually.

  65. 0:20:57

    It's separate.

  66. 0:20:57

    Okay.

  67. 0:21:18

    Senator, there's some other changes to the sub, so, uh, we will not work off of that sub.

  68. 0:21:24

    Oh, okay. I'm, I'm not familiar-

  69. 0:21:25

    What we're gonna-

  70. 0:21:25

    ... with any other changes, but, but I might-

  71. 0:21:28

    What we're gonna do at this posture is this, we're gonna work off of the LC number that we had yesterday, and that is what the Hong amendment will affect.

  72. 0:21:42

    I didn't get a chance last night to speak with Mr. Holt. She emailed me the copy of it and said-

  73. 0:21:47

    Oh

  74. 0:21:47

    ... this is, was incorporating. So I apologize if there's anything that I'm unaware of.

  75. 0:21:51

    It's all right. This committee's had to deal with that quite frequently here as of late. Okay. All right. Seeing no other discussion, uh, we've got a move and a second with the Hong amendment that we've just voted on. So I'll call the question on, uh, Senate Bill 499 as amended LC 49-2738S, uh, SCS. All those in favor say, "Aye." Aye. All those opposed, same sign. No. Ayes have it. Congratulations, you're on the rules.

  76. 0:22:24

    All right, next up, I'm gonna bring back up, or before I do-

  77. 0:22:27

    If you need to-

  78. 0:22:27

    We need a further senator who's carrying this.

  79. 0:22:29

    The, uh, I, I believe I, I'd have the, the, uh, oh.

  80. 0:22:36

    Uh,

  81. 0:22:39

    he, he had the, the, the bill or I'm Jo- Sorry, I'm drawing a blank.

  82. 0:22:42

    Representative Jason Ridley.

  83. 0:22:43

    Yes, sir. Thank you very much.

  84. 0:22:44

    Okay. All right. Thank you.

  85. 0:22:44

    I appreciate that. Said they, uh, just draw, drawn a blank.

  86. 0:22:47

    Okay, thank you. Have a good day.

  87. 0:22:48

    Thank you.

  88. 0:22:49

    Next, uh, we are pulling up Senate Bill 27.

  89. 0:22:55

    We wish we could forget about that.

  90. 0:23:03

    Let's call to, uh, order. LC 48-1609S. We're in the posture of a motion, I believe, needing one.

  91. 0:23:14

    Move.

  92. 0:23:15

    All right, got a move passed. A second? Got a second. Any amendment? Seeing none, all those in favor of the passage of SB 27 LC 48-1609S say, "Aye." Aye. All those opposed, same sign. All right, it's on. Next up, we're gonna go to Senate Bill 443. Uh, the senator has graciously, uh, conceded any time he wanted to speak further on this after having said something about two or three times to our committee about it. Yes, sir. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

  93. 0:23:49

    And I believe this is Senate Bill 443, uh, CSFA. I think we're in the posture of needing a motion.

  94. 0:24:00

    Motion to do pass.

  95. 0:24:01

    All right. Move to pass, second. Any amendments? Seeing none, all those in favor of the passage of Senate Bill 443 CSFA say, "Aye." Aye. All those opposed, same sign. Congratul- All right, one no. Congratulations, you're on the rules, Senator. Uh, Chairman Williams, Noel Williams. All right, Chairman Noel Williams will be carrying that. All right. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Next up, we're gonna pull up, uh, Senate Bill 587, Senator Shawn Stills' bill.

  96. 0:24:31

    And this is, uh, SB 587FA. I believe we're in the posture for-

  97. 0:24:40

    Move to pass.

  98. 0:24:41

    All right, got a move to pass.

  99. 0:24:43

    Second.

  100. 0:24:43

    Got a second. Any amendments? Seeing none, all those in favor of the passage of Senate Bill 587FA say, "Aye." Aye. All those opposed, same sign. All right, it's on.

  101. 0:25:05

    All right. Thank the members for being up here bright and early. We're adjourned.

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