republic-os/legislation/us/states/ga/2025-26/sb-36.md

type, title, description, jurisdiction, legislature, session, identifier, citation, classification, subjects, status, primary_sponsors, version_count, action_count, vote_count, first_action, last_action, source, source_identifier, source_url, source_hash, vintage, source_snapshot, retrieved_at, confidence, tags

type	title	description	jurisdiction	legislature	session	identifier	citation	classification	subjects	status	primary_sponsors	version_count	action_count	vote_count	first_action	last_action	source	source_identifier	source_url	source_hash	vintage	source_snapshot	retrieved_at	confidence	tags
Bill	"Georgia Religious Freedom Restoration Act"; enact	A BILL to be entitled an Act to amend Title 50 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to state government, so as to provide for the preservation of religious freedom; to provide for the granting of relief; to provide for definitions; to provide for construction; to provide for statutory interpretation; to provide for a short title; to provide for legislative findings and determinations; to provide for an effective date; to repeal conflicting laws; and for other purposes.	us/states/ga	Georgia General Assembly	2025_26	SB 36	Georgia SB 36 (2025_26)	bill	STATE GOVERNMENT	enacted	Ben Watson Bill Cowsert Billy Hickman Blake Tillery Bo Hatchett Brandon Beach Brian Strickland Carden Summers Chuck Hufstetler Clint Dixon Colton Moore Drew Echols Ed Setzler Frank Ginn Greg Dolezal Jason Anavitarte John Albers John F. Kennedy Kay Kirkpatrick Larry Walker, III Lee Anderson Marty Harbin Matt Brass Max Burns Mike Hodges Randy Robertson Rick Williams Russ Goodman Sam Watson Shawn Still Steve Gooch Timothy Bearden Timothy Bearden	3	15	2	2025-01-27	2025-04-04	openstates	ocd-bill/b8a1b676-4877-4928-b604-718d09d396a4	http://webservices.legis.ga.gov/GGAServices/Legislation/Service.svc?wsdl	3de2678e7ab41b0dc105f704cadb6da15d0f1db0c06e022e42ae4ab546bf644d	2026-07-01	https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump	2026-07-06	reported	legislation bill us-ga

Georgia SB 36 (2025_26) — "Georgia Religious Freedom Restoration Act"; enact

A BILL to be entitled an Act to amend Title 50 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to state government, so as to provide for the preservation of religious freedom; to provide for the granting of relief; to provide for definitions; to provide for construction; to provide for statutory interpretation; to provide for a short title; to provide for legislative findings and determinations; to provide for an effective date; 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 Passed Senate (committee substitute) — source
2. As introduced LC 44 2920ER (committee substitute) — source
3. SB 36/AP* (committee substitute) — source

Votes

• Senate Vote #142 - 2025-2026 Regular Session — 32–23 (pass) · upper
• House Vote #401 - 2025-2026 Regular Session — 96–70 (pass) · lower

Sponsors

• Ben Watson — primary (person)
• Bill Cowsert — primary (person)
• Billy Hickman — primary (person)
• Blake Tillery — primary (person)
• Bo Hatchett — primary (person)
• Brandon Beach — primary (person)
• Brian Strickland — primary (person)
• Carden Summers — primary (person)
• Chuck Hufstetler — primary (person)
• Clint Dixon — primary (person)
• Colton Moore — primary (person)
• Drew Echols — primary (person)
• Ed Setzler — primary (person)
• Frank Ginn — primary (person)
• Greg Dolezal — primary (person)
• Jason Anavitarte — primary (person)
• John Albers — primary (person)
• John F. Kennedy — primary (person)
• Kay Kirkpatrick — primary (person)
• Larry Walker, III — primary (person)
• Lee Anderson — primary (person)
• Marty Harbin — primary (person)
• Matt Brass — primary (person)
• Max Burns — primary (person)
• Mike Hodges — primary (person)
• Randy Robertson — primary (person)
• Rick Williams — primary (person)
• Russ Goodman — primary (person)
• Sam Watson — primary (person)
• Shawn Still — primary (person)
• Steve Gooch — primary (person)
• Timothy Bearden — primary (person)
• Timothy Bearden — primary (person)

Timeline

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

• 2025-01-27 Senate Hopper introduction
• 2025-01-28 Senate Read and Referred referral-committee
• 2025-02-28 Senate Committee Favorably Reported committee-passage-favorable
• 2025-03-03 Senate Read Second Time reading-2
• 2025-03-04 Senate Third Read reading-3
• 2025-03-04 Senate Passed/Adopted passage
• 2025-03-06 House First Readers reading-1
• 2025-03-10 House Second Readers reading-2
• 2025-03-27 House Committee Favorably Reported committee-passage-favorable
• 2025-04-02 House Third Readers reading-3
• 2025-04-02 House Passed/Adopted passage
• 2025-04-03 Senate Sent to Governor executive-receipt
• 2025-04-04 Senate Date Signed by Governor executive-signature
• 2025-04-04 Act 6 executive-signature
• 2025-04-04 Effective Date

Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot 2026-07-01; origin ocd-bill/b8a1b676-4877-4928-b604-718d09d396a4. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Georgia legislature records).