Bill
SR 444
Creates the temporary Senate Civil Rights Protections Study Committee to examine Georgia civil-rights laws and propose legislation, ending Dec 1, 2025.
Status: Resolution Adopted
Introduced: April 22, 2025
Sponsors (primary): Senators Sonya Halpern (39th), Harold Jones II (22nd), Brian Strickland (42nd), Bill Cowsert (46th), Elena Parent (44th); additional sponsor listed: Don Harmon
Note on source materials
- The submitted materials include two distinct resolution texts merged together: (A) a Georgia Senate resolution creating a “Senate Civil Rights Protections Study Committee” (OCGA-style language, references to the President of the Senate, and Code Section 28‑1‑8), and (B) an Illinois memorial resolution honoring Lillian “Lil” Vail. This summary focuses on the substantive Georgia study-committee resolution (the text titled “Creating the Senate Civil Rights Protections Study Committee”), and notes the presence of the unrelated Illinois memorial text as an apparent consolidation/merge in the source documents.
Purpose and intent
- Establish a temporary Senate study committee to examine Georgia’s civil‑rights protections and to develop recommendations (including potential legislation) to create or strengthen comprehensive state civil‑rights protections in employment, housing, public accommodations, and public services.
Key provisions
- Creation: Establishes the “Senate Civil Rights Protections Study Committee.”
- Membership and leadership:
- Five members of the Senate, to be appointed by the President of the Senate.
- The President designates the committee chairperson.
- Scope of study and duties: The committee shall study conditions, needs, and problems and may recommend actions or legislation. Specific charges include:
- (A) Comprehensive review of Georgia’s existing anti‑discrimination laws and gaps.
- (B) Analyze data/research on discrimination in employment, housing, public accommodations, and public services in Georgia.
- (C) Review state and federal civil‑rights laws and best practices from other states.
- (D) Assess enforcement mechanisms (state agency roles, private rights of action, remedies).
- (E) Evaluate impacts of potential legislation on businesses, government entities, and communities.
- (F) Recommend legislation to address identified deficiencies.
- Operations:
- Chair calls meetings; committee may meet as needed.
- Members receive allowances as provided in O.C.G.A. § 28‑1‑8, limited to five days unless extended.
- Funding to come from funds appropriated to the Senate.
- Reporting:
- If the committee adopts findings or recommended legislation, the chair must file a report before the committee is abolished.
- Reports must be approved by majority vote of a quorum and filed with the Secretary of the Senate; in absence of an approved report, meeting minutes may be filed instead.
- Sunset: The committee is abolished on December 1, 2025.
Who is affected / potential impact
- Directly affects Senate members who will serve on the committee and Senate administrative/fiscal resources.
- Potentially affects all Georgians, employers, housing providers, public accommodations, and government entities if the committee recommends and the legislature later enacts changes to state civil‑rights law. The committee’s analysis could lead to proposals expanding statutory protections (e.g., adding or clarifying protected classes, enforcement mechanisms, remedies), which would have legal and economic impacts if enacted.
Procedural / timeline notes
- Committee must complete work and file any report before abolition on December 1, 2025.
- Legislative action history in the source contains multiple dates (committee referrals and readings in March–April 2025 and additional entries in October 2025). Some of those later entries likely reflect clerical consolidation or the unrelated Illinois memorial resolution present in the source; the study committee’s statutory sunset remains December 1, 2025.
For additional clarity, consult the official enrolled resolution text on the Senate website or the Secretary of the Senate’s records to reconcile the merged materials and confirm the final filed version.
Compiled from official sources — confirm details with the bill’s official record.
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