Georgia Baptist TOP Legislation Being Watched (4/6/26)
Mike Griffin, Public Affairs Representative
4/2/26
Life
Support: “Baby Box” Legislation
HB 350 is sponsored by Mike Cameron. It allows a baby to be given up to a legal public facility such as a hospital, police station, fire department, 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 is no more than 45 days old.
Status: It passed out of the House and the Senate and is on the Governor’s desk.
Support: Prohibiting Stem Cell Therapies on Aborted Fetuses
HB 1275 is sponsored by Rep. Mark Newton. It seeks to regulate medical practices involving stem cell therapies to ensure they are used ethically and without the use of cells derived from aborted fetuses.
Status: It passed the House and the Senate and is on the Governor’s desk.
Religious Freedom
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 citizens by prohibiting discrimination in the provision of essential services based on the lawful exercise of those rights. It is First Amendment legislation ensuring 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 and did not move this year.
Support: “True Patriotism and Universal Student Access (TPUSA) Act”
SB 552 is sponsored by Sen. Ben Watson. This bill expands and protects student free speech and assembly rights in public schools. It aims to ensure students have equal access to express political or philosophical views. It was inspired by the work of the late conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
Status: The bill passed the Senate and the House and is on the Governor’s desk.
Support: Protecting Churches and Services from Disruption
SB 591 is sponsored by Sen. Steve Gooch. The bill defines “religious service” and prohibits specific threatening or aggressive imagery within 500 feet of the site. These are time, place, and manner restrictions aimed at preventing intentional interference with the orderly conduct of services, not at limiting the content of speech. This is to be added to the same code section related to funerals or memorial services with intent of interfering.
Status: It passed the Senate and the House and is on the Governor’s desk.
Child Protection
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: Last year the bill 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 in 2025. There was no movement this year except language like it placed on HB 54.
Support: Ensuring Accountability for Illegal AI Activities Act
SB 9 is sponsored by Sen. John Albers. It ensures that AI is not 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: Last year it passed the Senate. It also passed the House Technology and Infrastructure Innovation Committee with a substitute stripping out the original language and adding info regarding elections and was sent to the Rules Committee for consideration in 2025. There was no movement on it this year.
Support: Banning the Producing of AI Child Pornography
HB 171 is sponsored by Rep. Brad Thomas. This legislation addresses obscene material, distribution, and penalty. It prohibits distribution of computer-generated obscene material depicting a child, provides for a standard of obscenity, and sets 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 in 2025. This year it was added to SB 594 in the House, but was not agreed upon in the Senate.
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 in 2025. It did not pass this year with substitute added in the House.
Support: Public Schools Required to Display the Ten Commandments
HB 313 is sponsored by Rep. Emory Dunahoo. This bill authorizes and requires 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 in 2025 or 2026.
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 in 2025 and had hearings in the House Non-Civil Judiciary Committee. It passed out of the House Non-Civil Committee this year and moved to the Rules Committee. It was never brought to the floor of the House for a vote.
Support: Prevents Taxpayer Dollars from Funding Gender Affirming Surgeries
SB 39, sponsored by Sen. 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 went to the House Health Committee. It was passed out of committee with a substitute but was not voted on by the House last year. There was no movement this year.
Support: The “Clean Libraries Act”
SB 248 is sponsored by Sen. Clint Dixon. This bill provides regulations for the Georgia Council on Library Materials Standards that ban sexually explicit materials in public school libraries.
Status: It did not pass out of the Senate Youth and Education Committee in 2025 and saw no movement this year.
Support: Removing DEI from Public School Systems
SB 120 is sponsored by Sen. Marty Harbin. This legislation states that no public school local education agency or post-secondary institution shall promote, support, or maintain any programs or 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 in 2025. Language from much of the bill was 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 the House did not vote on it. There was no movement this year.
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: In 2025 the bill had a hearing in the Youth and Education Committee, where the language was replaced with DEI content. It was approved by committee, passed to the Rules Committee, and passed the Senate floor but was not taken up for a vote in the House. There was no movement this year.
Support: Legal Recourse for Non-consensual Intimate Imagery and Deepfake Pornography
SB 418 is sponsored by Sen. Max Burns. It creates a civil cause of action against individuals who knowingly use another person’s photograph or image combined with representations of nudity or sexually explicit conduct without authorization.
Status: It was submitted this session, passed the Senate Judiciary Committee, and passed on the Senate floor. It did not get a hearing or movement in the House.
Support: Updating Code Section on Incest
HB 57 is sponsored by Rep. Mike Cameron. It updates the law on incest to include step-parent and step-child status.
Status: It passed the House and was assigned to the Senate Judiciary Committee, but was not moved upon.
Support: Child Protection from Algorithms
SB 343 is sponsored by Sen. Bo Hatchett. It places protections for minors age 14 and under from being targeted by algorithms on the internet.
Status: It had a hearing only in the Senate Children and Families Committee.
Support: Age Verification for Minor App Usage
SB 467 is sponsored by Sen. Bill Cowsert. It requires parental consent for minors to use apps on a mobile device.
Status: It was assigned to the Senate Children and Families Committee and had a hearing only.
Support: “Trey’s Law”
HB 1187 is sponsored by Rep. Soo Hong. The purpose of this law is to ensure that survivors can speak openly about the abuse they suffered, help expose abusers and negligent institutions, and prevent harmful secrecy in future cases. It keeps a Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) from allowing a victim to speak out.
Status: It passed the House and the Senate and moved to the Governor’s desk.
Support: “Interstate Sexual Predator Prevention Act”
HB 421 is sponsored by Rep. Darlene Taylor. It adds additional penalties for individuals traveling from out of state to meet a minor under age 16 for indecent purposes.
Status: It passed the House and the Senate Judiciary Committee but was not voted out of Rules to be sent to the Senate floor for a vote.
Support: Banning Puberty Blockers and Taxpayer Funding of Reassignment Surgeries
HB 54 is sponsored by Rep. David Clark and was amended in the Senate with a substitute by Sen. Ben Watson. It is a bill to prevent the use of puberty blockers in minors for the purposes of gender transition and to prevent taxpayer dollars from funding “gender transitioning” surgeries.
Status: It passed the Senate floor and was sent to the House for agreement. It was not voted on for agreement.
Support: “The Georgia Early Literacy Act”
HB 1193 is sponsored by Rep. Chris Erwin. It is a major legislative initiative to address reading proficiency among Georgia’s youngest students. The bill aims to ensure every child can read at grade level by the end of third grade.
Status: It passed the House and Senate and has been sent to the Governor’s desk.
Support: Updated Medicaid Coverage for Foster Children
HB 1002 is sponsored by Rep. Beth Camp. It proposes a fundamental shift in how medical care is delivered to foster children in Georgia. The bill mandates that the Georgia Department of Community Health move Medicaid coverage for foster children from the current managed care model (Georgia Families 360°) to a fee-for-service model.
Status: It passed out of the House Health Committee to the Rules Committee, but was not brought up for a vote.
Support: “Age-Appropriate Design Code Act”
SB 495 is sponsored by Sen. Sally Harrell. The bill’s purpose is to regulate how online services handle the data and privacy of minors in Georgia. It aims to move the burden of online safety from parents to tech companies by mandating “safety by design.”
Status: The bill had only a hearing in the Senate Children and Families Committee.
Support: Online Internet Safety
SB 540 is sponsored by Sen. Jason Anavitarte. It allows for certain disclosures related to conversational AI services to protect users, particularly minors, from the psychological and safety risks posed by advanced chatbots.
Status: The bill passed the Senate Children and Families Committee and passed the Senate and House for a floor vote. It has been sent to the Governor’s desk.
Gambling
Opposition: Constitutional Amendment Legalizing Sports Betting and Casinos
SR 131 is sponsored by Sen. Carden Summers. It would 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: In 2025 this bill was voted down in the Senate Regulated Industries and Utilities Committee. It was not moved upon in 2026.
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 in 2025 or 2026.
Opposition: Constitutional Amendment Allowing Sports Betting
HR 450 was originally 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 for sports betting.
Status: It passed out of the House Rules Committee but did not receive a floor vote on crossover day in 2025. In 2026 it was brought out of Rules to the House floor for a vote and failed by a 98 to 63 vote.
Opposition: The “Georgia Sports Betting Act”
HB 686 was originally 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 in 2025. There was no movement in 2026.
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 this year, but no hearing took place.
Support: Ban on Cock Fighting
SB 102 is authored by Sen. Randy Robertson. It updates the statute to ban cockfighting and make it illegal to take a minor child to an animal fight. This bill aims to address cockfighting and prevent unsavory and illegal activities, such as illegal gambling and other illicit crimes associated with animal fights.
Status: In 2025 the bill passed the Senate and had a hearing in the House Non-Civil Judiciary Committee and passed to the Rules Committee but did not get a vote in the House this year.
Opposition: Adding Billiards and Darts Tournaments to the COAM Law
HB 1197 is sponsored by Rep. Alan Powell. This bill allows owners or operators of locations with bona fide coin operated amusement machines (COAMs) to conduct billiards and darts tournaments. It mandates that the Georgia Lottery Corporation establish rules and regulations for these tournaments. It adds a progressive discipline structure for violations, starting with warnings and potentially escalating to fines or license revocation.
Status: It passed the House Regulated Industries Committee but did not make it to the House floor for a vote. It was amended into SB 254 in the House Regulated Industries Committee and sent to the Rules Committee but did not get a vote on the House floor.
Alcohol
Opposition: Allowing Discounted Sales of Alcohol
SB 86 is sponsored by Sen. Jason Anavitarte and allows discounted sales of alcohol through things like coupons and rebates.
Status: In 2025 it passed out of the Senate Regulated Industries and Utilities Committee but was tabled on the floor of the Senate. There was no movement in 2026.
Opposition: Loosening 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: It only had one hearing in a House Regulated Industries Sub-Committee in 2025.
Opposition: “Craft Beer and Local Economy Revitalization Act”
SB 122 is sponsored by Sen. John Albers. This bill would allow self-distribution, putting craft brewers in all three tiers and compromising current standards in alcohol sales.
Status: In 2025 it had at least one hearing in a sub-committee of the Senate Regulated Industries and Utilities Committee.
Opposition: Private Production of Distilled Spirits
SB 194 is sponsored by Sen. Chuck Hufstetler. This bill would authorize the production of distilled spirits by a person in their private residence.
Status: It was reassigned in the Senate to the Regulated Industries Committee, but no action was taken.
Opposition: Loosening Restrictions on Local Craft Breweries
SB 456 is sponsored by Sen. Timothy Bearden. This bill would loosen restrictions on craft breweries and deteriorate the three-tier system on alcohol sales.
Status: It had a hearing only in the Senate Regulated Industries and Utilities Committee this year.
Marijuana
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 would 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 had a hearing in the Agriculture and Consumer Affairs Committee. Georgia Baptists supported the original version and what passed the Senate, then had concerns about the final amendment. It was later substituted on the 40th day with property tax relief legislation that passed both chambers.
Support: The “Georgia Hemp Farming Act” Amendment
HB 265 is sponsored by Rep. 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 is not known that it ever had a hearing in the House Agriculture and Consumer Affairs Committee.
Support: Limits to Delta-9-THC in Hemp Products
SB 254 is sponsored by Sen. Bill Cowsert. This bill provides milligram limits on delta-9-THC in consumable hemp products. It codifies limits for hemp consumable products by weight, serving size, and package size. An amendment was also added that would prohibit THC in beverages.
Status: In 2025 it passed the Senate and had a hearing in the House Regulated Industries Committee, where an amendment was added to allow sales under the alcohol three-tier system. It passed to the Rules Committee but was not voted on in 2025. It was then amended to add HB 1197 to it. It was never voted on in the House.
Opposition: The “Putting Georgia’s Patients First Act”
SB 220 is sponsored by Sen. Matt Brass. It renames “low THC oil” to “medical cannabis” throughout the state code and renames the registry to the “Medical Cannabis Patient Registry.” It adds lupus to the list of qualifying conditions, replaces the 5% THC concentration cap with a total possession limit of 12,000 milligrams of THC, permits vaporization for patients age 21 and older, and allows both physical and electronic registration cards.
Status: It passed the Senate Health and Human Services Committee and the Senate floor with amendments. It passed the House Regulated Industries Committee. It was not voted on in the 2025 House session, but in 2026 it passed the House and Senate with amendments and was sent to the Governor’s desk.
Opposition: Marijuana Commercial (“Recreational”) Legalization
HB 1248 is sponsored by Rep. Derrick Jackson. This bill would expand commercial marijuana access broadly. Experience in other states shows legalization increases youth access, addiction risk, impaired driving, and family harms.
Status: It had only a hearing in the House Judiciary Non-Civil Committee.
Opposition: Elimination of the Marijuana Smell Test
HB 496 is sponsored by Rep. Jasmine Clark. This bill would prohibit law enforcement from using marijuana odor alone as probable cause for a stop, search, seizure, or arrest. With legal products like gummies and low-THC oil producing minimal odor, detectable marijuana scent may indicate illegal possession or impaired driving activity, making odor a meaningful public safety tool.
Status: It had only a hearing in the House Judiciary Non-Civil Committee.
Opposition: Adding Hemp Beverage Sales to Liquor Stores
HB 89 was originally sponsored by Sen. Brian Strickland to increase child and dependent tax credits. It was amended to expand hemp product sales to retail package liquor stores. It would allow products such as THC-infused hemp beverages to be sold under regulation.
Status: It was substituted in the House Regulated Industries Committee by Rep. Alan Powell and passed to the Rules Committee but was never voted out for a floor vote.
Other Legislation
Support: Clergy Added to the Criminal Sex Abuse Code
SB 542 is sponsored by Sen. Randy Robertson. The bill aims to close a legal loophole regarding sexual misconduct by religious leaders. It would permit criminal charges against clergy who engage in sexual contact or sexually explicit conduct with individuals under their pastoral counseling or spiritual authority.
Status: It passed unanimously on the floor of the Senate and the House and has been sent to the Governor’s desk.
Support: American Laws for American Courts
SB 486 is sponsored by Sen. Greg Dolezal. It seeks to amend current law to strictly limit when “foreign law” can be applied or enforced within the state. It prohibits enforcing foreign laws that violate U.S. or Georgia constitutional rights, rendering any such rulings void.
Status: It passed the Senate Judiciary Committee but never passed out of the Senate Rules Committee.
Published April 6, 2026