HB 199 revises Georgia law governing the protection of personally identifiable information for judges and their spouses. The bill updates definitions of “protected person,” “personally identifiable information,” and related terms, and it shifts the process away from the Administrative Office of the Courts maintaining a centralized database of protected persons and their information. Instead, the AOC must create and publish a statewide request form, establish procedures for protected persons to request restriction of their phone numbers, home addresses, and certain property or tax records, and coordinate training and information-sharing on judicial security practices.
The bill also requires state and local government entities to restrict covered information from public disclosure. For judges and justices currently serving, the AOC must notify agencies that possess such information so they can remove it from public websites, public postings, and other publicly available content unless the protected person consents in writing. For records that do not explicitly identify someone as a judge or spouse but still contain covered personal information, the restriction applies upon the protected person’s written request. The bill includes procedures for lifting the restriction when a judge resigns, retires, or is removed, and it allows affected protected persons to seek injunctive relief against individual officers or employees who fail to comply.
In practical terms, HB 199 expands and standardizes privacy protections for judges, former judges, and their spouses across state and local government records, including records held by entities such as court clerks, election boards, tax assessors, ethics boards, and state agencies. It also removes the prior database-centric approach and replaces it with a broader, notice-and-request framework that is intended to be easier to administer statewide.
The overall sentiment around the bill appears strongly favorable and noncontroversial. It passed the House 165-0, passed the Senate by substitute 54-0, and the House then agreed to the Senate substitute 164-0. Those unanimous votes suggest broad bipartisan support for enhancing judicial privacy and security.
No significant opposition is reflected in the available record, and there are no committee transcript excerpts indicating substantive debate. The main policy issue embedded in the bill is the balance between public access to government records and the privacy/security interests of judges and their families, but the voting history suggests little to no contention over that tradeoff.
HB 199 amends Chapter 5 of Title 15 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated to change how personally identifiable information for judges and their spouses is protected in public records. It requires state and local government entities to restrict specified information from public disclosure, creates a statewide request form and notice process through the Administrative Office of the Courts, and authorizes injunctive relief for noncompliance. The bill affects public records practices across state and local agencies and narrows public access to judges’ home addresses, phone numbers, and certain property or tax records when covered by the statute.
The bill’s reception was overwhelmingly positive. It passed both chambers unanimously, including the Senate substitute and the House’s agreement to that substitute, indicating broad support for the measure’s privacy and security goals. The absence of recorded dissent or committee controversy suggests the bill was viewed as a routine but important update to judicial protection procedures.
The principal policy tension is between transparency in public records and the need to protect judges and their families from unwanted disclosure of personal information. The bill addresses that tension by requiring agencies to suppress covered information and by allowing protected persons to request restrictions, while also ending the restriction when a judge leaves office. No organized opposition or specific disputed provisions are reflected in the available votes or discussion materials.