# Georgia SB 470: "Emergency & Public Safety Signal Protection Act"; enact

Georgia SB 470, "Emergency & Public Safety Signal Protection Act"; enact, is a 2025-2026 Regular Session Senate bill sponsored by John Albers (Republican), Timothy Bearden (Republican), Jason T. Dickerson (Republican) and 3 others; status signed, last action 2026-07-01 (Effective Date); PRIA reads it as touching household money (as of 2026-10-19).

- Canonical: https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/GA-SB470-2025-2026
- As of: 2026-10-19
- Plain-text twin of the page above; the HTML and this file carry the same facts.

## Facts
- Bill: Georgia SB 470
- State: Georgia
- Session: 2025-2026 Regular Session
- Title: "Emergency & Public Safety Signal Protection Act"; enact
- Status: signed
- Chamber: Senate
- Introduced: 2026-02-06
- Last action: 2026-07-01, Effective Date
- Sponsors: John Albers (Republican), Timothy Bearden (Republican), Jason T. Dickerson (Republican), Kay Kirkpatrick (Republican), Chuck Payne (Republican), Randy Robertson (Republican)
- Cosponsors: 1
- Subjects: Technology and Infrastructure Innovation, Judiciary, General Bill
- Touches household money: yes
- Roll calls: 3 (256 yes, 3 no in all)
- Economic provisions PRIA read: 2

## Summary

No summary available.

## Bill overview: provisions PRIA read

- Property owners risk losses for jammer offenses: cost, medium. Beginning July 1, 2026, property used or intended to help violate Georgia’s signal jammer law is subject to civil forfeiture. The law treats that property as contraband and recognizes no ownership rights in it. The Georgia Attorney General can start forfeiture cases under Georgia’s Uniform Civil Fo…
- New penalties for signal jammer offenses: mixed, medium. Beginning July 1, 2026, Georgia protects communications through new felony bans on signal jammers, including devices that disrupt cellular, wireless, radar, GPS, radio, telephone, or cable signals. Unauthorized possession, making, selling, offering for sale, distributing, or importing carries 1 to…

## Sponsors and cosponsors

- Sponsor: John Albers (Republican), Senate
- Sponsor: Timothy Bearden (Republican), Senate
- Sponsor: Jason T. Dickerson (Republican), Senate
- Sponsor: Kay Kirkpatrick (Republican), Senate
- Sponsor: Chuck Payne (Republican), Senate
- Sponsor: Randy Robertson (Republican), Senate
- Cosponsor: Clint Crowe (Republican), House

## Roll call votes

| Date | Chamber | Motion | Result | Yes | No | Other |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 2026-03-27 | Senate | AGREE TO HOUSE SUBSTITUTE | pass | 46 | 0 | 5 |
| 2026-03-19 | House | PASSAGE | pass | 163 | 3 | 7 |
| 2026-02-26 | Senate | PASSAGE BY SUBSTITUTE | pass | 47 | 0 | 3 |

## Actions (16)

- 2026-07-01: Effective Date
- 2026-05-11: Senate Date Signed by Governor (Senate)
- 2026-05-11: Act 495
- 2026-04-10: Senate Sent to Governor (Senate)
- 2026-03-27: Senate Agreed House Amend or Sub (Senate)
- 2026-03-19: House Third Readers (House)
- 2026-03-19: House Passed/Adopted By Substitute (House)
- 2026-03-18: House Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute (House)
- 2026-03-04: House Second Readers (House)
- 2026-03-03: House First Readers (House)
- 2026-02-26: Senate Third Read (Senate)
- 2026-02-26: Senate Passed/Adopted By Substitute (Senate)
- 2026-02-25: Senate Read Second Time (Senate)
- 2026-02-24: Senate Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute (Senate)
- 2026-02-09: Senate Read and Referred (Senate)
- 2026-02-06: Senate Hopper (Senate)

## Bill text

- SB 470/AP* (v9): [PDF](https://www.legis.ga.gov/api/legislation/document/20252026/248142)

## Related bills

- SB 160: Reckless Stunt Driving; a motor vehicle involved in a second offense of reckless stunt driving; replace the forfeiture penalty (signed)
- SB 384: Motor Vehicle; optional five-year motor vehicle registration and revalidation for certain motor vehicles; provide (signed)
- SB 76: License Plates; specialty license plate benefitting the Georgia Veterans Service Foundation; establish (signed)
- SB 406: "Georgia Property Owners' Bill of Rights Act"; enact (signed)
- HB 1391: Specialty license plates; honor public safety officers; establish (signed)
- HB 1344: Georgia Insurance Affordability and Claims Integrity Act; enact (signed)

## Sources
- [SB 470/AP* (v9) (PDF)](https://www.legis.ga.gov/api/legislation/document/20252026/248142)

## Related
- [SB 160: Reckless Stunt Driving; a motor vehicle involved in a second offense of reckles…](https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/GA-SB160-2025-2026)
- [SB 384: Motor Vehicle; optional five-year motor vehicle registration and revalidation f…](https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/GA-SB384-2025-2026)
- [SB 76: License Plates; specialty license plate benefitting the Georgia Veterans Servic…](https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/GA-SB76-2025-2026)
- [SB 406: "Georgia Property Owners' Bill of Rights Act"; enact](https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/GA-SB406-2025-2026)
- [HB 1391: Specialty license plates; honor public safety officers; establish](https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/GA-HB1391-2025-2026)
- [HB 1344: Georgia Insurance Affordability and Claims Integrity Act; enact](https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/GA-HB1344-2025-2026)
- [Georgia bills](https://policyrisk.com/states/georgia/bills)
- [Georgia state hub](https://policyrisk.com/states/georgia)
- [All state legislation](https://policyrisk.com/state-bills)

Source: PRIA, https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/GA-SB470-2025-2026 (as of 2026-10-19).