HB 464 Georgia House · 2025-2026 Regular Session

Crimes and offenses; immunity for a prospective offender while seeking assistance from law enforcement as a victim of certain offenses; provide

Summary

A BILL To be entitled an Act to amend Article 2 of Chapter 3 of Title 16 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to justification and excuse relative to defenses to criminal prosecutions, so as to provide for immunity for a prospective offender while seeking assistance from law enforcement as a victim of certain offenses; to provide for limitations regarding prosecution; to provide for related matters; to repeal conflicting laws; and for other purposes.

Issues: ✓ Criminal Justice

Bill status died 1 of 4 stages cleared

Introduction

Feb 2025

Committee Review

Floor Vote

Governor

Introduced Feb 13, 2025 Last action Apr 4, 2025

Maddy AI version diff · 1 comparison

What changed between versions

LC 48 1464/a → LC 48 1579S/hs · 3 edits

MINOR

The bill was amended by the Judiciary Committee to add a new definition of 'predominant aggressor' and restructure the immunity provisions. The changes clarify that immunity only applies to victims who are not the predominant aggressor in an incident and are not accomplices to the crime being reported. This adds an important safeguard to prevent abuse of the immunity provision.

Scope change

The bill's scope was narrowed by adding eligibility criteria that exclude predominant aggressors and accomplices from receiving immunity.

DEFINITION

Added a new definition for 'predominant aggressor' to identify individuals who pose the most serious ongoing threat in an incident.

ELIGIBILITY

Restructured the list of reportable crimes from 8 categories to 7 categories and added conditions that the victim must not be the predominant aggressor or an accomplice to the crime.

ENFORCEMENT

Changed the immunity language to explicitly exclude individuals who are accomplices to the crime they are reporting from receiving protection from arrest, charges, or prosecution.

Floor votes

How they voted

No floor votes recorded yet.

Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions

Key actions

Committee

Apr 4, 2025

Committee

House Withdrawn, Recommitted

lower

Mar 6, 2025

Lower · Passed

House Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute

lower

Feb 13, 2025

Introduced

House Hopper

lower

5 primary · 0 co-sponsors