GeorgiaSB 1462025-2026 Regular SessionSenateWALLET

Health, Local Government, and Property; regulations and protections of cemeteries and burial grounds; provide

Sponsored By: John Albers (Republican), Russ Goodman (Republican), Bo Hatchett (Republican), John F. Kennedy (Republican), Derek Mallow (Democrat), Randy Robertson (Republican), Rick Williams (Republican)

Signed by Governor

Regulated IndustriesRegulated Industries and UtilitiesGeneral Bill

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Bill Overview

Analyzed Economic Effects

13 provisions identified: 1 benefits, 2 costs, 10 mixed.

New rules for family burial plots

Beginning July 1, 2026, new family burial plots need a county or city permit and proof of ownership or owner consent. Plots must cover at least one-half acre, stay outside flood plains, and sit at least 100 feet from water wells. They need permanent access rights for local government, immediate family, and descendants, plus care duties binding current and future owners. A registered surveyor must map boundaries; remains must occupy graves, mausoleums, or columbaria, and burial rights cannot be sold. Local governments can charge processing-cost fees and add nonconflicting rules; applicants can appeal denials to superior court within 30 days.

Unpermitted family plots bring costly penalties

Creating a family burial plot without the required permit can bring a civil penalty up to $5,000 per violation. A county or city can bring an enforcement case in superior court. The court can order the plot brought into compliance. If that is impossible, it can order remains moved, reburied, or otherwise lawfully handled. The responsible person must pay for the court-ordered work.

Grave violations bring lawsuits and penalties

Knowing cemetery-law violations are high and aggravated misdemeanors, with fines up to $5,000 per disturbed grave site for knowing noncompliance. A knowing violation of the law’s disturbance restrictions carries up to six months in jail and at least $5,000 per disturbed grave site. Descendants can sue landowners or occupiers whose activities disturb burial grounds without a required permit or other legal authorization. They can seek an order stopping work, harm-repair damages, court costs, and reasonable lawyer fees. Local officials or law enforcement must inspect as needed for compliance with work limits and permits, including court changes.

Burial protections limit land disturbance

Cemetery protections cover Georgia land and structures dedicated to and used for burial, entombment, or placement of remains in urns. Unless otherwise legally authorized, owners and occupiers need a disturbance permit before knowingly disturbing known burial sites, remains, or burial objects. Permits are limited to abandoned cemeteries: neglected sites with no interment for at least 25 years, no known living lineal descendants with rights, no public dedication, and no registered perpetual care. Applicants need title-search ownership proof, abandonment evidence, an archaeologist’s grave report, a registered surveyor’s map, and a genealogist’s notification plan. For aboriginal or American Indian remains, the genealogist must consult the Council on American Indian Concerns and include known descendants and tribes.

Local cemetery protection can charge owners

Counties and cities can protect local cemeteries that are abandoned or not maintained by the person legally responsible. They can spend public money and, when local ordinances allow, bill responsible people or recover costs against their property. They can also use eminent domain to acquire needed land rights. Public agencies and private parties whose activities harm burial grounds must pay to reduce harm or rebury remains. Local governments may cover those costs when unknown vandals or erosion expose remains.

Permit applicants pay capped review fees

Counties and cities can charge for reviewing disturbance permit applications, including legal, archaeological, and surveying help. Fees cannot exceed $2,500 or the local government’s allowed processing and review costs, whichever is lower. If local application procedures are missing, applicants can submit a written application with all information required by law.

Descendants gain court access to graves

Descendants denied entry to graves on private land can ask the county’s superior court for access to visit or provide care. People denied investigative entry can also seek access when they reasonably believe they descend from someone whose remains may be there. Courts can allow searches for remains and family-history research. They can set dates, hours, repeat visits, and reasonable limits to prevent unreasonable interference with the landowner’s use. These rights add to other available legal remedies.

Descendants get notice before burial work

Disturbance permit applicants must carry out descendant identification and notification plans no later than the application date. Notices must explain the site, applicant, planned work, protection and removal plans, local contacts, and descendants’ rights to contest abandonment. Local officials can require more reasonable search efforts and must update interested descendants about hearings, proposals, decisions, terms, and appeals. The Council on American Indian Concerns helps with relative notification. If the Council does not respond within 30 days, the notification and permit process can continue.

Moving remains requires permits and professionals

Removing remains requires a local registrar’s permit, except when they are removed and reburied within the same cemetery. Applications need identifying and location details, plus authorized consent, a disturbance permit, or a court order. A licensed funeral director must supervise, monitor, or perform the permitted work in the county of original burial. Work authorized by a disturbance permit also requires the applicant’s archaeologist and a licensed funeral director, at the permit holder’s expense. Registrars issuing permits in good faith are protected from civil and criminal liability.

Burial permit appeals pause planned work

Applicants and descendants can appeal disturbance permit decisions to the site’s county superior court within 30 days. Permitted work must wait until that period ends or any appeal is finally resolved. The same wait applies before seeking a separate permit to remove and rebury remains. Earlier action requires consent from the issuing authority and appealing parties, or court approval for good cause. A disturbance permit does not replace other required permits.

Public review shapes burial permit decisions

Local governments must accept qualifying applications even without preservation programs, hold public hearings, and favor leaving burial sites undisturbed. The usual hearing deadline is 45 days after reasonable descendant notification efforts are complete; advertisements run weekly for four consecutive weeks before the hearing week. Written decisions are due within 30 days after the hearing and must weigh abandonment, descendant and public concerns, protection plans, costs, and project interests. Officials can deny applications with written reasons or approve all or part, requiring project relocation, undeveloped burial land, or respectful removal. Counties exceeding 290,000 people under the 1980 or a later U.S. census can use review boards, with hearings within 60 days of filing, recommendations within 15 days afterward, notice to interested descendants, and the same advertising schedule.

Finding remains triggers reporting and pauses

Anyone who knows or reasonably suspects unauthorized disturbance of buried remains must immediately notify local law enforcement. Accidental discovery or exposure also requires immediate reporting; legally authorized work without a permit is exempt from the disturbance-reporting duty. Further land work likely to disturb remains must stop, and any required forensic site examination must finish before work resumes. Work can proceed with a permit, other legal authorization, or a Department of Natural Resources agreement protecting remains. Normal farming, including plowing, disking, harvesting, and livestock grazing, is excluded from the land-work restriction.

Special court routes for burial work

Superior courts have exclusive authority over disturbance permit applications from Georgia state agencies, authorities, and local governments. Georgia’s transportation department needs a disturbance permit only when relocating human remains. It must still obtain an archaeologist’s report confirming no remains are on the affected property. People can also seek probate court permission directly to remove remains or disturb burial sites or objects. Separate court rules for public applicants still apply.

Sponsors & Cosponsors

Cosponsors

Jesse Petrea
Republican • House

Roll Call Votes

All Roll Calls

Yes: 209 • No: 2

House vote • 3/27/2026

PASSAGE

Yes: 163 • No: 2 • Other: 9

Senate vote • 2/9/2026

PASSAGE BY SUBSTITUTE

Yes: 46 • No: 0 • Other: 7

Actions Timeline

Effective Date
7/1/2026
Senate Date Signed by Governor
5/11/2026Senate
Act 486
5/11/2026
Senate Sent to Governor
4/10/2026Senate
House Third Readers
3/27/2026House
House Passed/Adopted
3/27/2026House
House Committee Favorably Reported
2/24/2026House
House Second Readers
2/11/2026House
House First Readers
2/10/2026House
Senate Third Read
2/9/2026Senate
Senate Passed/Adopted By Substitute
2/9/2026Senate
Senate Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute
1/28/2026Senate
Senate Taken from Table
1/12/2026Senate
Senate Recommitted
1/12/2026Senate
Senate Tabled
3/6/2025Senate
Senate Read Second Time
2/26/2025Senate
Senate Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute
2/24/2025Senate
Senate Read and Referred
2/12/2025Senate
Senate Hopper
2/11/2025Senate

Bill Text

SB 146/AP* (v9)
PDF

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