ATLANTA – A push to give Georgians the legal ability to sue the state and local governments has been revived in the General Assembly, but it may not go as far as some lawmakers would like.
Legislation sponsored by Rep. Andrew Welch, R-McDonough, would ask voters whether they should be allowed to sue government agencies to overturn unconstitutional actions.
As a constitutional amendment, his measure would need two-thirds approval from the legislature before going on the ballot.
Currently, Georgia law prohibits the state or local governments from being sued for most reasons under a legal protection called “sovereign immunity.”
Under Welch’s proposed amendment, Georgians could sue their government to secure a judge’s order blocking an unconstitutional law. It would not allow winning plaintiffs to collect monetary awards.
“We are trying to look at a very concise approach to this waiver,” Welch said Monday during a meeting of a House subcommittee he chairs.
If passed, the amendment also would require citizens to sue the government or agency itself, not an individual. Government officials themselves would have to be sued by other provisions under state law besides constitutional grievances.
Rep. Mary Margaret Oliver, D-Decatur, took issue with that limitation but said she still supported the constitutional amendment.
“I’m a little concerned that we seem to be taking a step back” just to get some sort of legislation passed, Oliver said at the subcommittee hearing.
The measure passed unanimously Monday and now moves to the full House Judiciary Committee with jurisdiction over civil law.
Welch brought similar legislation last year that both the state House and Senate passed unanimously. But Gov. Brian Kemp vetoed it, arguing the waiver would hurt the government’s ability to function.
Former Gov. Nathan Deal also vetoed a similar bill that passed in 2016.
Bids to undo sovereign immunity stem from Georgia Supreme Court rulings that gave state and local governments broad leeway in claiming sovereign immunity. But the high court also opened the door for lawmakers to pass a waiver removing that legal protection.
“Put simply, the constitutional doctrine of sovereign immunity forbids our courts to entertain a lawsuit against the state without its consent,” Justice Keith Blackwell wrote in his opinion in a 2017 ruling.