Georgia Survivor Justice Act; enact
Summary
A BILL to be entitled an Act to amend Titles 16, 17, and 24 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to crimes and offenses, criminal procedure, and evidence, respectively, so as to provide for defendants to support a justification defense by offering evidence of family violence, dating violence, or child abuse committed by the alleged victim; to provide a privilege for participation in victim centered programs and victim-offender dialogues; to provide for definitions; to provide for limitations; to provide for civil immunity for facilitators in certain circumstances; to provide for a short title; to provide for related matters; to repeal conflicting laws; and for other purposes.
Bill status
signed
all 5 stages cleared
Introduction
Feb 2025
Committee Review
Mar 2025
House Passage
Mar 2025
Senate Passage
Apr 2025
Signed into Law
May 2025
Introduced Feb 21, 2025
Signed May 12, 2025
Maddy AI version diff · 3 comparisons
What changed between versions
LC 48 1572S/hcs
→
HB 582/AP*
·
3 edits
MINOR
The bill was updated from a committee substitute version to the final version passed by both the House and Senate. Substantively, the scope of the law was expanded to include new provisions regarding public officers' oaths in Title 45, and the coercion defense was clarified to exclude malice murder while specifically referencing murder for the offense of murder. The formatting of the justification defense section was also reorganized for clarity.
Scope change
The bill's scope was expanded to include amendments to Title 45 regarding public officers' oaths, in addition to the existing amendments to crimes, criminal procedure, and evidence.
SCOPE
Added new provisions to Title 45 to regulate oaths sworn by public officers, including aspirational language limits and specific offenses that trigger prosecution for oath violations.
DEFINITION
Clarified the coercion defense by removing the exception for malice murder and explicitly specifying that the defense applies to murder for the offense of murder under Code Section 16-5-1.
TECHNICAL
Reorganized the text regarding evidence for justification defenses to improve readability and structure.
Floor votes · Senate Apr 2, 2025 · House Mar 6, 2025
How they voted
52–1
Passed · 2 other
Total votes 55
Apr 2, 2025
D
Democratic22
95% Yea
R
Republican33
93% Yea
Vote distribution
All Yea
All Nay
Mixed
No data
Full legislative history
Actions timeline
Total actions
16
Key actions
6
Committee
3
Amendments
1
May 12, 2025
Signed into law
Act 131
upper
May 12, 2025
Signed into law
House Date Signed by Governor
lower
Apr 4, 2025
Introduced
House Agreed Senate Amend or Sub
lower
Apr 2, 2025
Upper · Passed
Senate Passed/Adopted By Substitute
upper
Mar 28, 2025
Upper · Passed
Senate Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute
upper
Mar 10, 2025
Committee
Senate Read and Referred
upper
Mar 6, 2025
Lower · Passed
House Passed/Adopted By Substitute
lower
Mar 4, 2025
Lower · Passed
House Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute
lower
Feb 21, 2025
Introduced
House Hopper
lower
6 primary · 0 co-sponsors
Sponsors
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