Georgia Amendment 2, Allow Residents to Seek Declaratory Relief from Certain Laws Amendment (2020)

Georgia Amendment 2
Election date November 3, 2020
Topic Administration of government and State judiciary
Status a Approved
Type Constitutional amendment	Origin State legislature
List of Georgia measuresAmendment 1Amendment 2Referendum ASubmit

Georgia Amendment 2, the Allow Residents to Seek Declaratory Relief from Certain Laws Amendment, was on the ballot in Georgia as a legislatively referred constitutional amendment on November 3, 2020. It was approved.

A "yes" vote supported waiving the state's sovereign immunity and allowing residents to seek declaratory relief from state or local laws that violate the Constitution of Georgia, the U.S. Constitution, or state law.

A "no" vote opposed waiving the state's sovereign immunity, thereby continuing to prohibit residents from seeking declaratory relief from state or local laws that violate the U.S. Constitution, the state constitution, or state law.

Election results

Georgia Amendment 2
Result		Votes	Percentage
Yes		3,491,296	74.46%
No		1,197,792	25.54%

Results are officially certified.

Source

Overview

What does this amendment do?

See also: Ballot language and constitutional changes

This measure waives the state's sovereign immunity, thereby allowing residents to seek declaratory relief through the superior courts from state or local laws that are found to violate the U.S. Constitution, state Constitution, or state law. Under the amendment, a court cannot award damages, attorney's fees, or other costs of litigation unless authorized by the state legislature. After granting declaratory judgment, a court would be able to enjoin (block) the law or act in question. The state's waiver of sovereign immunity applies to acts occurring on or after January 1, 2021.

What is sovereign immunity?

See also: Background

Sovereign immunity is a legal doctrine in which it is held that the government cannot be sued without its express consent. The U.S. federal government and state governments may choose to waive sovereign immunity. The Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA) authorized certain lawsuits against the federal government and federal employees.

How did this measure get on the ballot?

See also: Path to the ballot

The legislature can put a proposed amendment on the ballot upon a two-thirds majority vote in both the legislative chambers. Constitutional amendments must be approved by a majority of the electorate.

This amendment was sponsored by Republican Representative Andrew Welch. On February 20, 2020, the state House passed HR 1023 unanimously. On June 15, 2020, the state Senate unanimously approved an amended version of the measure, which was then approved unanimously in the House on June 16, 2020.

Text of measure

Ballot question

The ballot question was as follows:

“

Shall the Constitution of Georgia be amended to waive sovereign immunity and allow the people of Georgia to petition the superior court for relief from governmental acts done outside the scope of lawful authority or which violate the laws of this state, the Constitution of Georgia, or the Constitution of the United States? ( ) YES ( ) NO

”

Ballot summary

The ballot summary for the measure was as follows:

“

This proposal waives state and local sovereign immunity so as to allow citizens to sue the State of Georgia, its departments and other agencies, and its local governments in superior courts and authorizes superior courts to order state and local officers and employees to cease violations of the Georgia Constitution, the laws of the State of Georgia, or the United States Constitution, beginning with violations occurring on or after January 1, 2021. It requires that such suits be brought only against the State or Georgia, or in the case of a local government, against the specific local government. It requires superior courts to dismiss any such lawsuit that names any individual state or local public officer or employee as a defendant. It maintains the ability of superior courts to dismiss such suits based on other appropriate legal or equitable grounds or limitation on review in superior court. It prohibits any type of monetary award, including attorney's fees or costs of litigation, unless authorized by an Act of the Georgia General Assembly. It does not prohibit the General Assembly from further waiving certain other immunities provided for under Georgia's Constitution, though it does not waive any immunity provided for by the United States Constitution. It amends Article I, Section II, Paragraph V of the Georgia Constitution by rendering the current text subparagraph (a) and adding a new subparagraph (b). A copy of this entire proposed constitutional amendment is on file in the office of the judge of the probate court and is available for public inspection.

”

Constitutional changes

See also: Article I, Georgia Constitution

The measure was designed to amend Section 2 of Article I of the state constitution. The following underlined text is added by the measure and struck-through text is deleted: Note: Hover over the text and scroll to see the full text.

Paragraph V. What acts void. (a) Legislative acts in violation of this Constitution or the Constitution of the United States are void, and the judiciary shall so declare them.

(b)(1) Sovereign immunity is hereby waived for actions in the superior court seeking declaratory relief from acts of the state or any agency, authority, branch, board, bureau, commission, department, office, or public corporation of this state or officer or employee thereof or any county, consolidated government, or municipality of this state or officer or employee thereof outside the scope of lawful authority or in violation of the laws or the Constitution of this state or the Constitution of the United States. Sovereign immunity is further waived so that a court awarding declaratory relief pursuant to this Paragraph may, only after awarding declaratory relief, enjoin such acts to enforce its judgment. Such waiver of sovereign immunity under this Paragraph shall apply to past, current, and prospective acts which occur on or after January 1, 2021.

(2) Actions filed pursuant to this Paragraph against this state or any agency, authority, branch, board, bureau, commission, department, office, or public corporation of this state or officer or employee thereof shall be brought exclusively against the state and in the name of the State of Georgia. Actions filed pursuant to this Paragraph against any county, consolidated government, or municipality of the state or officer or employee thereof shall be brought exclusively against such county, consolidated government, or municipality and in the name of such county, consolidated government, or municipality. Actions filed pursuant to this Paragraph naming as a defendant any individual, officer, or entity other than as expressly authorized under this Paragraph shall be dismissed.

(3) Unless otherwise provided herein, this Paragraph shall not affect the power or duty of a court to dismiss any action or deny relief based on any other appropriate legal or equitable ground or other limitation on judicial review, including, but not limited to, administrative exhaustion requirements, ante litem notice requirements, sanctions for frivolous petitions, standing, statutes of limitation and repose, and venue. The General Assembly by an Act may limit the power or duty of a court under this Paragraph to dismiss any action or deny relief.

(4) No damages, attorney's fees, or costs of litigation shall be awarded in an action filed pursuant to this Paragraph, unless specifically authorized by Act of the General Assembly.

(5) This Paragraph shall not limit the power of the General Assembly to further waive the immunity provided in Article I, Section II, Paragraph IX and Article IX, Section II, Paragraph IX. This Paragraph shall not constitute a waiver of any immunity provided to this state or any agency, authority, branch, board, bureau, commission, department, office, or public corporation of this state or officer or employee thereof or any county, consolidated government, or municipality of this state or officer or employee thereof by the Constitution of the United States.

Readability score

See also: Ballot measure readability scores, 2020

Using the Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level (FKGL and Flesch Reading Ease (FRE) formulas, Ballotpedia scored the readability of the ballot title and summary for this measure. Readability scores are designed to indicate the reading difficulty of text. The Flesch-Kincaid formulas account for the number of words, syllables, and sentences in a text; they do not account for the difficulty of the ideas in the text. The Georgia State Legislature wrote the ballot language for this measure. The FKGL for the ballot title is grade level 27, and the FRE is -3. The word count for the ballot title is 53, and the estimated reading time is 14 seconds. The FKGL for the ballot summary is grade level 20, and the FRE is 24. The word count for the ballot summary is 115, and the estimated reading time is 30 seconds.

Support

Supporters

Officials

• State Representative Andrew Welch (R)

Arguments

• Georgia State Representative and measure sponsor Andrew Welch (R): "It was only five years ago that you could bring suit against a local government or the state government to enjoin an unconstitutional action. The Supreme Court has rendered decisions that have changed that. And thus, it is for our responsibility as legislators to put before the people a check on that judicial decision."
• Georgia State Representative Wendell Willard (R): "The people had no way to stop the government from doing something that may have been wrong."

Opposition

If you are aware of any opponents or opposing arguments, please send an email with a link to editor@ballotpedia.org.

Campaign finance

See also: Campaign finance requirements for Georgia ballot measures

Total campaign contributions:
Support:	$0.00
Opposition:	$0.00

Ballotpedia did not identify any committees registered in support of or in opposition to the measure.

If you are aware of a committee registered to support or oppose this measure, please email editor@ballotpedia.org.

Background

Sovereign immunity

Sovereign immunity is a legal doctrine in which it is held that the government cannot be sued without its express consent. The U.S. federal government and state governments may choose to waive sovereign immunity. The Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA) authorized certain lawsuits against the federal government and federal employees.

History of sovereign immunity in Georgia

Georgia adopted the statutes and common law of England in 1784, shortly after America declared independence, including adopting the doctrine of sovereign immunity as common law. Common law refers to law that is adopted by virtue of custom and judicial precedent rather than existing in state statute. In the early 1970s, the Georgia Supreme Court stated, "This court has always held that the State could expressly consent to be sued. Therefore a simple and brief enactment of the legislature giving this consent is all that is required in order to permit a suit against the state."

In 1974, the state legislature referred Amendment 5 to the general election ballot where it was approved by 76.5% of voters. The amendment added language to the state constitution stating that "sovereign immunity is expressly reserved except to the extent of any waiver of immunity provided in this Constitution and such waiver or qualification of immunity as is now or may hereafter be provided by act of the General Assembly."

Recent attempts to waive state sovereign immunity

In 2019, the Georgia State Legislature unanimously approved House Bill 311, which was designed to waive sovereign immunity and provide for declaratory and injunctive relief in some cases. Georgia Governor Brian Kemp (R) vetoed the bill on May 10, 2019.

In Kemp's veto statement on House Bill 311 of 2019, he wrote, "House Bill 311 would create a waiver of sovereign immunity for claims brought against state government. As Governor Deal correctly stated in his May 3, 2016 veto statement for House Bill 59, '[w]hile the concept of sovereign immunity is relatively simple on its face, it is complex in application.'"

In 2016, the state legislature passed House Bill 59, which was vetoed by Governor Nathan Deal (R) on May 3, 2016.

Related Georgia Supreme Court cases

In Georgia Department of National Resources v. Center for a Sustainable Coast (2014), the Georgia Supreme Court held that the doctrine of sovereign immunity forbids the state's courts from entertaining lawsuits against the state without its consent, including suits seeking declaratory relief. In Olvera v. University System of Georgia Board of Regents (2016), the court held that sovereign immunity extended to suits seeking injunctive relief. In the supreme court's ruling in Lathrop v. Deal, the court wrote that, "since Sustainable Coast, we have not had occasion to consider whether the doctrine of sovereign immunity extends to claims for injunctive or declaratory relief that rest upon unconstitutional grounds." The court ruled on June 19, 2017, that sovereign immunity also extended to such cases.

In Lathrop v. Deal, Eva Lathrop and two other obstetrics and gynecology physicians filed a lawsuit against Governor Nathan Deal (R) and other state officials, alleging that House Bill 954 of 2012, which prohibited abortions after 20 weeks, was unconstitutional. The court dismissed the lawsuit after the state claimed and the court agreed that the state could not be sued over the matter due to sovereign immunity.

Legislatively referred ballot measures in Georgia

See also: List of Georgia ballot measures and History of Initiative & Referendum in Georgia

• A total of 69 measures appeared on statewide ballots in Georgia from 1998 to 2018 during even-numbered election years.
• From 1998 through 2018, the number of measures on statewide ballots during even-numbered years ranged from two to 11.
• From 1998 through 2018, an average of six measures appeared on the ballot in Georgia during even-numbered election years.
• Between 1998 and 2018, 82.61% (57 of 69) of the total number of measures that appeared on statewide ballots during even-numbered years were approved, and about 17.39% (12 of 69) were defeated.

Path to the ballot

See also: Amending the Georgia Constitution

The legislature can put a proposed amendment on the ballot upon a two-thirds majority vote in both the legislative chambers. Constitutional amendments must be approved by a majority of the electorate.

This amendment was introduced as House Resolution 1023 on January 30, 2020, by Rep. Andrew Welch (R-110). On February 20, 2020, the state House passed HR 1023 unanimously. On June 15, 2020, the state Senate unanimously approved an amended version of the measure, which was then approved unanimously in the House on June 16, 2020.

Vote in the Georgia State Senate June 15, 2020
Requirement: Two-thirds (66.67 percent) vote of all members in each chamber
Number of yes votes required: 37  a
	Yes	No	Not voting
Total	50	0	5
Total percent	89.29%	0.00%	10.71%
Democrat	20	0	1
Republican	30	0	4

Vote in the Georgia House of Representatives June 16, 2020
Requirement: Two-thirds (66.67 percent) vote of all members in each chamber
Number of yes votes required: 120  a
	Yes	No	Not voting
Total	164	0	16
Total percent	91.11%	0.00%	8.88%
Democrat	68	0	7
Republican	96	0	9

How to cast a vote

See also: Voting in Georgia

Click "Show" to learn more about voter registration, identification requirements, and poll times in Georgia.

How to cast a vote in Georgia

The information below covers regular voting policies in the state. Information may have not applied to the election on November 3, 2020, because of temporary changes in response to coronavirus. Click here to read about changes made for the 2020 elections. Poll times In Georgia, polls are open from 7 a.m. until 7 p.m. Eastern Time. In cities with a population greater than 300,000 people, polls remain open until 8 p.m. An individual who is in line at the time polls close must be allowed to vote. Registration requirements Check your voter registration status here. To vote in Georgia, one must be a citizen of the United States and a legal resident of their county. The voter must be at least 17.5 years of age at the time of registration and 18 at the time of the election, and not serving a sentence for a felony conviction. The deadline to register to vote is 29 days prior to the election. Registration can be completed online, in person, or by mail. Automatic registration In Georgia, eligible voters are automatically registered to vote when they conduct transactions at the Department of Driver Services. This automatic registration program began in 2016. Online registration See also: Online voter registration Georgia has implemented an online voter registration system. Residents can register to vote by visiting this website. Same-day registration Georgia does not allow same-day voter registration. Residency requirements To register to vote in Georgia, you must be a resident of the state. State law does not specify a length of time for which you must have been a resident to be eligible. Verification of citizenship See also: Laws permitting noncitizens to vote in the United States A Georgia state law, passed in 2009, required voters to provide proof of U.S. citizenship when registering to vote. However, as of June 2025, the law had not been implemented. In 2013, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that states cannot require proof of citizenship with federal registration forms. That meant states would need to create a separate registration system for state elections in order to require proof of citizenship. In Georgia, an individual must attest that they are a U.S. citizen when registering to vote. According to the state's voter registration application, a voter who provides false information on a voter registration application is guilty of a felony. All 49 states with voter registration systems require applicants to declare that they are U.S. citizens in order to register to vote in state and federal elections, under penalty of perjury or other punishment. Seven states — Alabama, Arizona, Georgia, Kansas, Louisiana, New Hampshire, and Wyoming — have laws requiring verification of citizenship at the time of voter registration, whether in effect or not. In three states — California, Maryland, and Vermont — at least one local jurisdiction allows noncitizens to vote in some local elections. Noncitizens registering to vote in those elections must complete a voter registration application provided by the local jurisdiction and are not eligible to register as state or federal voters. Verifying your registration The site My Voter Page, run by the Georgia Secretary of State's office, allows residents to check their voter registration status online. Voter ID requirements Georgia requires voters to present photo identification while voting in person or by mail/absentee. The following list of accepted ID was current as of August 2024. Click here for the Georgia Secretary of State's page on accepted ID to ensure you have the most current information. “ Any valid state or federal government-issued photo ID, including a free ID card issued by your county registrar's office or the Georgia Department of Driver Services. A Georgia driver's license, even if expired Student ID from a Georgia public College or University Valid employee photo ID from any branch, department, agency, or entity of the U.S. Government, Georgia, or any county, municipality, board, authority or other entity of this state Valid U.S. passport ID Valid U.S. military photo ID containing a photograph of the voter Valid tribal photo ID containing a photograph of the voter ” Voters can obtain a free voter ID card from any county registrar's office or Department of Driver Services Office. Click here for more information on obtaining a free voter ID card in Georgia.

See also

2020 measures

• 2020 ballot measures
• Administration of government on the ballot
• State judiciary on the ballot

Georgia

• Georgia ballot measures
• Georgia ballot measure laws

News and analysis

• Ballot measure lawsuits
• Ballot measure readability
• Ballot measure polls

External links

• House Resolution 1023
• 2020 Proposed Constitutional Amendments and Statewide Referendum Questions