SB 132 Georgia Senate · 2025-2026 Regular Session

Insanity and Mental Incapacity; hearing before a court orders an evaluation of the mental competency of an accused person to stand trial; require

Summary

A BILL to be entitled an Act to amend Part 2 of Article 6 of Chapter 7 of Title 17 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to insanity and mental incapacity, so as to require a hearing before a court orders an evaluation of the mental competency of an accused person to stand trial; to provide for the release of reports of such evaluations; to establish different procedures in cases where the subject has been accused only of one or more nonviolent misdemeanor offenses, including automatic dismissal in some cases, subject to exceptions; to provide for such different procedures and such exceptions; to provide for related matters; to provide for an effective date and applicability; to repeal conflicting laws; and for other purposes.

Issues: ✓ Criminal Justice

Bill status signed all 5 stages cleared

Introduction

Feb 2025

Committee Review

Mar 2025

Senate Passage

Mar 2025

House Passage

Apr 2025

Signed into Law

May 2025

Introduced Feb 10, 2025 Signed May 14, 2025

Maddy AI version diff · 3 comparisons

What changed between versions

LC 49 2357S/hss → SB 132/AP* · 3 edits

MINOR

The bill text was reformatted from a House committee substitute version to the final Senate version, with minor layout adjustments to the header and page numbering. The substantive policy content regarding mental competency hearings, evaluation procedures, and behavioral health department data requirements remains unchanged.

Scope change

No substantive scope change; the bill's applicability and provisions remain the same.

TECHNICAL

Header formatting changed from 'House Committee on Judiciary, Non-Civil offers the following substitute' to 'Senate Bill 132' with sponsor names listed.

Page numbering and section headers were adjusted to match final Senate version formatting.

POLICY

All substantive policy provisions regarding mental competency hearings, evaluation procedures, and behavioral health data requirements remain identical.

Floor votes · Senate Mar 6, 2025 · House Apr 2, 2025

How they voted

54–0

Passed · 1 other

Total votes 55

Mar 6, 2025

D Democratic22

21 Yea 1

95% Yea

R Republican33

33 Yea

100% Yea

Vote distribution

All Yea All Nay Mixed No data

Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions

Key actions

Committee

Amendments

May 14, 2025

Signed into law

Act 288

upper

May 14, 2025

Signed into law

Senate Date Signed by Governor

upper

Apr 4, 2025

Introduced

Senate Agreed House Amend or Sub

upper

Apr 2, 2025

Lower · Passed

House Passed/Adopted By Substitute

lower

Mar 28, 2025

Lower · Passed

House Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute

lower

Mar 6, 2025

Upper · Passed

Senate Passed/Adopted By Substitute

upper

Feb 28, 2025

Upper · Passed

Senate Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute

upper

Feb 11, 2025

Committee

Senate Read and Referred

upper

Feb 10, 2025

Introduced

Senate Hopper

upper

5 primary · 0 co-sponsors