ACLU highlights civil rights, policing bills that stalled in the Georgia legislature

With Crossover Day in the rearview, it’s time to reflect on the numerous bills that didn’t make it through this legislative session.

Shruti Lakshmanan, a policy advocate for the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Georgia, said they had a few bills that they were advocating for that failed to pass.

The main one was the Georgia Civil Rights Act of 2025, or Senate Bill 320 and House Bill 670. This bill would establish comprehensive civil rights protections in housing, public accommodations and employment, she said.

“We’re still pushing for a hearing because we want the committee members to be able to hear from people who have been impacted by discrimination about the merits of this legislation to understand why it’s so important for civil rights protections to be more robust in Georgia, and our goal is to hopefully lay the groundwork for a successful push for that legislation next session.” she said.

The bill would give people who face discrimination more options for recourse. Lakshmanan said lawmakers are not necessarily resistant to the idea, but they haven’t prioritized the legislation.

“There are thousands of bills that are introduced into the legislature every single session, and so the bills that move forward are the ones that have political power behind them, are the ones that have people power behind them,” she said. “For us, the priority is making sure that we have both of those things behind this bill, but that takes time. That takes energy, and so that’s been a huge priority of ours this session.”

The ACLU also supported House Bill 496, which would prevent law enforcement from conducting a stop, search or seizure based solely on the smell of marijuana for probable cause. 

“The reason that’s so important is because (in) Georgia hemp is legal, and certain types of medical marijuana are legal now, and so you can’t distinguish between legality and illegality just by smell anymore,” she said.

Another bill that failed to pass this legislative session was House Bill 464, which would provide criminal immunity to certain victims seeking assistance from law enforcement. Lakshmanan said there have been instances where victims of violent and sexual crimes have been convicted of crimes themselves.

“What happens in those situations is that victims of very serious crimes then become afraid to come forward and to report their victimization because they understand that it could result in them being arrested, facing criminal charges, prosecution, all of those sort of things,” she said.