---
type: "Bill"
title: "Offenses Against Public Order; offense of wearing a mask, hood, or device which conceals the identity of the wearer; revise"
description: "A BILL to be entitled an Act to amend Article 2 of Chapter 11 of Title 16 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to offenses against public order, so as to revise the offense of wearing a mask, hood, or device which conceals the identity of the wearer; to clarify application; to provide for related matters; to repeal conflicting laws; and for other purposes."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ga"
legislature: "Georgia General Assembly"
session: "2021_22"
identifier: "SB 235"
citation: "Georgia SB 235 (2021_22)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Ben Watson", "Bill Cowsert", "Ed Harbison", "John Kennedy", "Russ Goodman"]
version_count: 5
action_count: 16
vote_count: 1
first_action: "2021-02-22"
last_action: "2021-07-01"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/5b847140-3bc6-494a-9097-3f67dfafc397"
source_url: "http://webservices.legis.ga.gov/GGAServices/Legislation/Service.svc?wsdl"
source_hash: "36f621914e7b54e20fea9204405bfe67c01722a8f597e3a6bfa723abc0b90372"
vintage: "2026-07-01"
source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
confidence: "reported"
tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-ga"]
---

# Georgia SB 235 (2021_22) — Offenses Against Public Order; offense of wearing a mask, hood, or device which conceals the identity of the wearer; revise

A BILL to be entitled an Act to amend Article 2 of Chapter 11 of Title 16 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to offenses against public order, so as to revise the offense of wearing a mask, hood, or device which conceals the identity of the wearer; to clarify application; to provide for related matters; to repeal conflicting laws; and for other purposes.

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **As introduced LC 41 2984** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20212022/198397.pdf)
2. **As passed Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20212022/199205.pdf)
3. **Committee sub LC 33 8692S** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20212022/198561.pdf)
4. **LC 48 0425S/hss** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20212022/201087.pdf)
5. **SB 235/AP*** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20212022/202181.pdf)

## Votes

- PASSAGE BY SUBSTITUTE — **49–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Ben Watson — primary (person)
- Bill Cowsert — primary (person)
- Ed Harbison — primary (person)
- John Kennedy — primary (person)
- Russ Goodman — primary (person)

## Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

- **2021-02-22** Senate Hopper
- **2021-02-23** Senate Read and Referred `referral-committee`
- **2021-02-24** Senate Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2021-02-25** Senate Read Second Time `reading-2`
- **2021-03-01** Senate Third Read `reading-3`
- **2021-03-01** Senate Passed/Adopted By Substitute `passage`
- **2021-03-03** House First Readers `reading-1`
- **2021-03-05** House Second Readers `reading-2`
- **2021-03-22** House Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2021-03-29** House Third Readers `reading-3`
- **2021-03-29** House Passed/Adopted By Substitute `passage`
- **2021-03-31** Senate Agreed House Amend or Sub
- **2021-04-07** Senate Sent to Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2021-04-21** Senate Date Signed by Governor `executive-signature`
- **2021-04-21** Act 18 `executive-signature`
- **2021-07-01** Effective Date

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/5b847140-3bc6-494a-9097-3f67dfafc397`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Georgia legislature records).