Bill Commons

GA HB 1226

withdrawn

Crimes; justification for use of force in defense of self or others; revise standards

Georgia · 2025_26 · lower

Quick answers

Did GA HB 1226 pass?

No. GA HB 1226 was withdrawn on 2026-02-26 and is no longer under consideration. Latest recorded action (2026-02-26): House Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute

What is GA HB 1226 about?

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 in defenses to criminal prosecutions, so as to revise standards of justification for use of force in defense of self or others; to provide for a rebuttable presumption; to provide for timing for claims of immunity from prosecution based upon justification; to provide for standards of proof; to amend Code Section 51-11-9 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to no duty to retreat and immunity in certain instances of threat or use of force, so as to extend immunity from civil liability in justified use of force cases to legal representatives and heirs of the person against whom force was used; to provide for related matters; to repeal conflicting laws; and for other purposes.

Who sponsors GA HB 1226?

David Clark, Tyler Paul Smith, Jordan Ridley and 3 others are the primary sponsors of GA HB 1226.

Description

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 in defenses to criminal prosecutions, so as to revise standards of justification for use of force in defense of self or others; to provide for a rebuttable presumption; to provide for timing for claims of immunity from prosecution based upon justification; to provide for standards of proof; to amend Code Section 51-11-9 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to no duty to retreat and immunity in certain instances of threat or use of force, so as to extend immunity from civil liability in justified use of force cases to legal representatives and heirs of the person against whom force was used; to provide for related matters; to repeal conflicting laws; and for other purposes.

Introduced
2026-02-05
Latest action
2026-02-26 — House Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute
Bill type
bill
Last updated

Subjects

Sponsors

  • David Clarkprimary
  • Tyler Paul Smithprimary
  • Jordan Ridleyprimary
  • Alan Powellprimary
  • Josh Bonnerprimary
  • Karen Mathiakprimary

Committees

Not provided by source.

Action timeline

  1. 2026-02-05

    House Hopper

    introduction

  2. 2026-02-06

    House First Readers

    reading-1

  3. 2026-02-09

    House Second Readers

    reading-2

  4. 2026-02-18

    House Committee Favorably Reported

    committee-passage-favorable

  5. 2026-02-19

    House Withdrawn, Recommitted

    referral-committee,withdrawal

  6. 2026-02-26

    House Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute

    committee-passage-favorable

Versions

Documents

Votes

Not provided by source.

Related bills

No related bills recorded for this bill.

Official source

Attribution

Data from openstates_bulk_csv, retrieved 2026-07-24T05:19:40.450420Z

Inspect retained evidence for changes recorded after evidence tracking began:

Use this data

Every field on this page is available from the free public API — no key or licence required. Fetch this bill as JSON: GET /api/v1/bills?jurisdiction=GA&identifier=HB 1226. See the API docs or the MCP server for AI assistants.

Known limitations

  • Sponsor party and chamber affiliation are not yet captured by this API.
  • Committee referrals are not yet captured.

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