Georgia Baptist TOP Legislation Being Watched (4/4/25)
Mike Griffin, Public Affairs Representative
1 – Support: The Georgia Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA)
SB 36 is sponsored by Sen. Ed Setzler. It is the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA).It has been signed by all republican senators. This bill provides people of faith the same protections from state and local government actions that they currently have from federal government actions.
Status: It has passed out of the Senate and the House was signed it into law by Governor Kemp.
2 – Support: Fair and Safe Athletic Opportunities Act
SB 1 is sponsored by Sen. Greg Dolezal. It is for the purpose of protecting girls sports from biological males participating.
Status: The bill has passed the Senate and the House and has been sent to the Governor’s desk for a signature.
3 – Support: Banning Puberty Blockers for Purpose of “Gender Transitioning”
SB 30 is sponsored by Sen. Ben Watson. It is a bill to prevent the use of puberty blockers in minors for the purposes of gender transition.
Status: Currently the bill has passed the Senate and passed in the House Health and Human Services Committee. It had a substitute version with reduced restrictions, that passed out and was sent to the Rules committee and did not make it to the floor for a vote.
4 – Support: Ensuring Accountability for Illegal AI Activities Act
SB 9 is sponsored by Sen. John Albers. It ensures that AI doesn’t get abused for illegal purposes. This bill makes it a crime to distribute, request, or possess computer-generated obscene images of children, including those made with AI.
Status: It has passed the Senate and It has passed the House Technology and Infrastructure Innovation Committee with a substitute stripping out the original language and adding info regarding elections and sent to the Rules Committee for consideration.
5 – Support: Banning the Producing of AI Child Pornography
HB 171 is sponsored by Rep. Brad Thomas. This legislation has to do with obscene materialm distribution, and penalty; To prohibit distribution of computer-generated obscene material depicting a child; to provide for a standard of obscenity; to provide for a penalty and probation.
Status: It passed the House and was sent to the Senate Judiciary Committee. There was a hearing where at least two amendments were added that lessened some of the restrictions. It passed out of committee and on to the Rules committee but was not passed this year.
6 – Support: The “Riley Gaines Act”
HB 267 is sponsored by Rep. Josh Bonner. This is another bill that protects girls’ sports from boys participating. It has received 100% of republicans signing on support for the legislation.
Status: This bill passed the House and had a hearing in a Senate Judiciary sub-committee. The Senate version passed with additional info in it from the House and the “Riley Gains Act” name added to it.
7 – Support: The “Georgia Hemp Farming Act” Amendment
SB 33 is sponsored by Sen. Kay Kirkpatrick. This bill would close the Delta THC loophole that currently enables hemp-derived high THC products to have de facto legalization status. It will limit Delta-8 THC and other semi-synthetic cannabinoids in hemp consumable products to the same caps currently in place for Delta-9 THC.
Status: It passed the Senate and has had a hearing in the Agriculture and Consumer Affairs Committee. It did not pass this year.
8 – Support: The “Georgia Hemp Farming Act” Amendment
HB 265 is sponsored by Steven Sainz. This bill is a House version of the Senate version that would close the Delta THC loophole that currently enables hemp-derived high THC products to have de facto legalization status.
Status: It has not had a hearing in the House Agriculture and Consumer Affairs Committee.
9 – Support: “Baby Box” Legislation
HB 350 is sponsored by Mike Cameron. It allows a baby to be given up to a legal public facility… hospital, police station, fire dept, etc. The new law will allow a safety device (“baby box”) to be placed at that location where a newborn baby could be placed, providing that the newborn child was no more than 30 days old.
Status: It passed out of a House Public Safety and Homeland Security Committee to the Rules Committee, but did not make it to the House floor for a vote before crossover. There was an attempt to put it on other legislation before the final day. It did not pass this year.
10 – Support: The Student Character Development Act
HB 133 is sponsored by Rep. David Clark. Current statutes read that students may be released during school hours if approved by the school board. Therefore, it is currently up to the school board to decide whether they will permit students to attend religious instruction during school hours. If HB 133 is passed, school boards will not have legal basis to turn down programs simply because they are not interested.
Status: It passed out of the House Education Committee into Rules Committee, but did receive a floor vote on crossover day. There was an attempt to put it into other legislation. It did not make it this year.
11 – Support: Public Schools Required to Display the Ten Commandments
HB 313 is sponsored by Emory Dunahoo. This bill is to authorize and require all public elementary and secondary schools in this state to display the Ten Commandments in multiple locations.
Status: It did not have a hearing in the House Education Committee.
12 – Support: Removal of Library Exemption for Obscene Material to Minors
SB 74, sponsored by Sen. Max Burns, aims to remove public libraries from exemptions regarding laws regulating access to obscene materials by minors.
Status: It passed out of the Senate and had a hearing in the House Non-Civil Judical Committee. It had another hearing, but did not have a vote yet. This was an attempt to pass on other legislation, but it did not happen.
13 – Support: Prevents taxpayer dollars from funding gender affirming surgeries
SB 39, sponsored by Senator Blake Tillery. Prohibits state healthcare facilities and healthcare providers employed by the state from paying for procedures or chemicals for the purpose of “gender transitioning.”
Status: It passed the Senate and has gone over to the House Health Committee. It was passed out of committee with a substitute but was not voted on by House.
14 -Support: Ban on Cock Fighting
SB 102 authored by Sen. Randy Robertson. It is to update the statute to ban cockfighting and make it illegal to take a minor child to an animal fight. This bill aims to address the cockfighting issue and prevent unsavory and illegal activities, such as illegal gambling and other illicit crimes associated with animal fights.
Status: The bill passed the Senate and has now had a hearing in the House Non-Civil Judiciary Committee and passed out to the Rules Committee but was never voted on in the House.
15 – Support: Closing Loophole on Human Trafficking Convictions
SB 42 is sponsored by Sen. Bo Hatchett. This legislation closes a critical loophole in the Georgia law and ensures traffickers face the full penalty that their crimes demand. It is First Lady Marty Kemp’s 10th Anti-Human Trafficking Bill.
Status: It passed the Senate and had an hearing in the House Non-Civil Judiciary Committee, where it was passed on to the Rules Committee and to the House floor for a unanimous vote. Now to the Governor’s desk for a signature into law.
16 – Support: The “Freedom of Speech and Belief Act”
SB 57 is sponsored by Sen. Blake Tillery. This bill is designed to protect the constitutional rights of our citizens by prohibiting discrimination in the provision of essential services based on the lawful exercise of those rights. It is some great First Amendment legislation that ensures that individuals are not denied essential financial and utility services based on their exercise of rights such as speech, association, and religious practice.
Status: It passed a Senate Committee, but failed to get enough votes to pass in the Senate.
17 – Support: The “Clean Libraries Act”
SB 248 sponsored by Sen. Client Dixion. This bill provides regulations for the Georgia Council on Library Materials Standards that bans sexually explicit materials in public school libraries.
Status: It did not pass out of the Senate Youth and Education Committee.
18 – Support: Limits to Delta-9-THC in Hemp Products
SB 254 sponsored by Sen. Bill Cowsert. This bill provides milligram limits on delta-9-THC in consumable hemp products. It will codify limiting 4 hemp consumable products by weight (serving size and package size). An amendment was also added that would prohibit THC in beverages.
Status: It passed the Senate and there has been a hearing in the House Regulated Industries Committee, where and amendment was added to allow sales under the alcohol 3-tier system. It passed on to the Rules Committee. It was not voted on this year on the House floor.
19 – Support: Removing DEI from Public School Systems
SB 120 is sponsored by Sen. Marty Harbin. This legislation says that no public school local education agency or post-secondary institution shall promote support or maintain any programs for activities that advocate for diversity equity and inclusion beyond those protections guaranteed by the 14th amendment of the United states constitution.
Status: This bill was tabled by the Senate on crossover day. The language from much of the bill has been added to another bill that came over from the House in a Senate Committee and passed to the Rules Committee. It passed the Senate, but House did not have a vote for it.
20 – Support: Removing DEI from Public School Systems
HB 127 was originally sponsored by Rep. Bret Cox for the purpose of dealing with accumulated sick leave days for schoolteachers and other personnel. Sen. Max Burns removed the original language and amended it with much of the DEI language from SB 120 originally sponsored by Sen. Marty Harbin.
Status: The bill had a hearing in the Youth and Education Committee, where the language was replaced with DEI content. It was approved by committee and passed on to the Rules Committee and passed the Senate floor but was not taken up for a vote in the House.
21 – Opposition: Allowing Discounted Sales of Alcohol
SB 86 is sponsored by Sen, Jason Anavitarte and it allows for discounted sales of alcohol through things like coupons and rebates.
Status: It passed out of the Senate Regulated Industries and Utilities Committee but was tabled on the floor of the Seante.
22 – Opposition: Constitutional Amendment Legalizing Sports Betting and Casinos
SR 131 is sponsored by Sen. Carden Summers. It will allow a constitutional amendment to be placed on the ballot and voted on in the next election to legalize gambling related to Sports Betting and Casinos.
Status: This bill was voted down in the Senate Regulated Industries and Utilities Committee.
23 – Opposition: Loosing of Restrictions on Alcohol Sales Related to Small Businesses
HB 126 is sponsored by Casey Carpenter. Georgia Baptists oppose any loosening of restrictions on the sale of alcohol and view the 3-Tier system as a crucial standard for public health and safety since the prohibition era.
Status: Has had one hearing in a House Regulated Industries Sub-Committee.
24 – Opposition: Legalizing Sports Betting through the Lottery
SB 208 is sponsored by Sen. Billy Hickman. It adds sports betting to the State Lottery without a constitutional amendment.
Status: It did not have a hearing in the Senate Regulated Industries and Utilities Committee.
25 – Opposition: “Craft Beer and Local Economy Revitalization Act”
SB 122 is sponsored by Sen. John Albers. This bill would allow self-distribution would put the craft brewers in all 3-Tiers and cause a compromise in current standards in alcohol sales.
Status: It had at least one hearing in a sub-committee of the Senate Regulated Industries and Utilities.
26 – Opposition: Private Production of Distilled Spirits
194 is sponsored by Sen. Chuck Hufstetler. This bill will authorize the production of distilled spirits by a person in their private residence, etc.
Status: It did not pass out of the Senate Regulated Industries Committee.
27 – Opposition: Constitutional Amendment Allowing Sports Betting
HR 450 is sponsored by Rep. Marcus Wiedower. It would allow for a Constitutional Amendment to be put on the ballot for the next election to provide by law sports betting.
Status: It passed out of the House Rules Committee, but did not receive a vote on the floor on Crossover Day.
28 – Opposition: The “Georgia Sports Betting Act”
HB 686 is sponsored by Rep. Marcus Wiedower. It is the enabling legislation for sports betting if the constitutional amendment is approved by the citizens. It authorizes and provides for regulation and taxation of sports betting in the state through the Georgia Lottery Corporation.
Status: It passed out of the House Rules Committee, but did not receive a vote on the floor on Crossover Day.
29 – Opposition: The “Georgia Lottery Game of Sports Betting Act”
HB 910 is sponsored by Rep. Matt Hatchett. This is a 46-page bill that adds the legalization of sports betting to the State Lottery without a constitutional amendment.
Status: It was assigned to the House Higher Education Committee.
Published April 9, 2025