SB 398 Georgia Senate · 2025-2026 Regular Session

Wiretapping, Eavesdropping, Surveillance, and Related Offenses; criminal offenses of virtual peeping; establish

Summary

A BILL to be entitled an Act to amend Part 1 of Article 3 of Chapter 11 of Title 16 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to wiretapping, eavesdropping, surveillance, and related offenses, so as to establish criminal offenses of virtual peeping; to prohibit the use of a generative artificial intelligence system to generate images of individuals with the knowledge that such generation was without authorization or consent; to provide for penalties; to provide for an exception; to provide for definitions; to provide for related matters; to provide for an effective date and applicability; to repeal conflicting laws; and for other purposes.

Bill status passed both 4 of 5 stages cleared

Introduction

Jan 2026

Committee Review

Mar 2026

Senate Passage

Feb 2026

House Passage

Mar 2026

Governor

Introduced Jan 13, 2026 Last action Mar 31, 2026

Maddy AI version diff · 2 comparisons

What changed between versions

As Passed Senate → LC 48 1846S/hss · 3 edits

MINOR

The bill was amended to remove provisions establishing a new crime of 'virtual peeping' on minors and to narrow the scope of the offense on adults. The original version created a felony for generating AI images of minors and a separate felony for non-consensual images of adults. The new version eliminates the minor-related offense entirely and redefines the adult offense to require 'knowing and intentional' conduct, while also updating the definition of 'Obscene material' to match standard legal criteria.

Scope change

The bill's scope was significantly narrowed by removing the creation of a new criminal offense regarding minors and altering the mental state required for the adult offense from 'intentional' to 'knowing and intentional'.

ELIGIBILITY

The specific criminal offense of 'virtual peeping on a minor' was completely removed from the bill.

REQUIREMENT

The mental state required to commit the offense of virtual peeping on an adult was changed from 'intentionally' to 'knowingly and intentionally', making it slightly harder to prove the crime.

DEFINITION

The definition of 'Obscene material' was updated to use a standard three-pronged legal test (prurient interest, lack of value, and patently offensive) instead of the previous list format.

Floor votes · Senate Feb 20, 2026 · House Mar 31, 2026

How they voted

46–1

Passed · 4 other

Total votes 51

Feb 20, 2026

D Democratic20

16 Yea 1 Nay 3

80% Yea

R Republican31

30 Yea 1

96% Yea

Vote distribution

All Yea All Nay Mixed No data

Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions

Key actions

Committee

Amendments

Mar 31, 2026

Introduced

Senate Disagreed House Amend or Sub

upper

Mar 31, 2026

Lower · Passed

House Passed/Adopted By Substitute

lower

Mar 27, 2026

Lower · Passed

House Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute

lower

Feb 20, 2026

Upper · Passed

Senate Passed/Adopted By Substitute

upper

Feb 6, 2026

Upper · Passed

Senate Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute

upper

Jan 14, 2026

Committee

Senate Read and Referred

upper

Jan 13, 2026

Introduced

Senate Hopper

upper

22 primary · 0 co-sponsors