The Georgia Religious Freedom Restoration Act is a state law, signed by Governor Brian Kemp in April 2025 as Senate Bill 36 and codified at Chapter 15A of Title 50 of the Official Code of Georgia, that requires courts to apply strict scrutiny whenever a Georgia government action substantially burdens a person’s religious practice.1GA FastTrack. Georgia Religious Freedom Restoration – Bill Details It mirrors the federal RFRA that Congress passed in 1993, which the Supreme Court held in 1997 could not be applied against state and local governments.2Justia Law. City of Boerne v Flores, 521 US 507 (1997) Georgia is one of more than two dozen states that filled that gap with its own statute.
What the Law Prohibits
The rule is straightforward. No Georgia government body may substantially burden a person’s exercise of religion, even by applying a rule that is neutral and applies to everyone.1GA FastTrack. Georgia Religious Freedom Restoration – Bill Details A zoning ordinance, a health regulation, or a licensing requirement can trigger the statute if it creates a meaningful obstacle to someone’s religious practice, whether or not the rule mentions religion.
Once a burden is shown, the government can defend its action only by proving both parts of a two-element test:
- The action advances a compelling governmental interest, meaning an interest of the highest order such as public health or safety.
- The action is the least restrictive means of advancing that interest. If a narrower regulation or an exemption could achieve the same goal with less pressure on religious practice, the government loses.
This is strict scrutiny, the most demanding standard in American law. The government carries the full burden of proof on both elements and must persuade the court with evidence, not assertion.1GA FastTrack. Georgia Religious Freedom Restoration – Bill Details Because the structure tracks the federal RFRA closely, Georgia courts can draw on decades of federal case law when applying it.3Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 42 US Code 2000bb-1 – Free Exercise of Religion Protected
In practice, the least restrictive means prong is where government defenses most often collapse. Showing that the chosen approach is reasonable is not enough. The government has to show that no gentler alternative, including a case-by-case exemption process, would serve the same interest. Administrative convenience and cost savings rarely qualify as compelling.
Who and What the Law Covers
Exercise of Religion
The statute defines “exercise of religion” broadly: any religious practice, whether or not it is required by or central to a formal belief system.1GA FastTrack. Georgia Religious Freedom Restoration – Bill Details You do not have to prove that your practice is a mandatory tenet of an organized denomination. A personal spiritual discipline or an individual religious conviction counts. The definition ties back to both the Georgia Constitution’s religious liberty protections and the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment.
Government
“Government” reaches every branch, department, agency, and official acting under color of Georgia law, together with every political subdivision of the state.1GA FastTrack. Georgia Religious Freedom Restoration – Bill Details County commissions, city councils, school boards, zoning authorities, regulatory agencies, and individual government employees acting in their official roles all fall inside the definition. Government action taken before or after the law’s enactment can be challenged.
Who Counts as a Person
The statute does not separately define “person,” so Georgia courts will rely on general rules of statutory construction and existing precedent. At the federal level, the Supreme Court held in Burwell v. Hobby Lobby Stores that closely held for-profit corporations can assert RFRA protections based on their owners’ religious beliefs.4Justia Law. Burwell v Hobby Lobby Stores Inc, 573 US 682 (2014) Religious institutions and their affiliated schools, charities, and service organizations clearly fall within the law’s protection. Whether Georgia courts will extend the same reach to other business entities is an open question that future litigation will answer.
What Counts as a Substantial Burden
The statute does not define “substantial burden,” leaving the threshold to judicial interpretation. Under federal RFRA case law, a substantial burden exists when the government forces you to choose between following your faith and complying with a legal requirement, or when it imposes serious consequences, such as fines, loss of benefits, or criminal penalties, for sticking with your beliefs.
Not every friction point qualifies. A minor administrative inconvenience, a modest paperwork requirement, or an incidental effect on religious practice probably will not clear the bar. The burden has to be weighty enough to effectively discourage or prevent the religious practice. Claimants who cannot show that the government pressure is genuinely coercive rather than annoying will lose at the first step of the analysis.
How to Use the Law
The statute can be invoked two ways. If the government has already burdened your religious practice, you can file an affirmative lawsuit seeking appropriate relief, which may include an injunction stopping the government action, a declaratory judgment, or other remedies the court finds fitting. You can also raise the statute as a defense in an existing proceeding. If a regulatory agency fines you, denies a permit, or takes enforcement action that conflicts with your religious practice, you can assert the RFRA as a shield in that case rather than filing a separate suit.1GA FastTrack. Georgia Religious Freedom Restoration – Bill Details
If you win, the court can award reasonable attorney fees as part of your costs. The government cannot recover fees when it prevails; fee-shifting runs in one direction. One narrow exception applies. If you sue a judge for an act taken in a judicial capacity, that judge is not liable for costs or attorney fees unless the act was clearly beyond the bounds of jurisdiction.1GA FastTrack. Georgia Religious Freedom Restoration – Bill Details
The Establishment Clause Boundary
Section 50-15A-4 addresses the tension between protecting religious exercise and the First Amendment’s prohibition on government establishment of religion. The law states that nothing in it should be read to affect or interpret the Establishment Clause.1GA FastTrack. Georgia Religious Freedom Restoration – Bill Details The RFRA cannot be used to justify government-sponsored religious activity.
The provision also clarifies that when the government grants funding, benefits, or exemptions in a way the Establishment Clause permits, doing so does not violate the RFRA. The statute specifically notes that “granting” does not include the denial of government funding or benefits. A government agency could not refuse to fund a religious organization’s secular social services program and then claim the RFRA required that denial.
The Discrimination Debate
The law reached the books over consistent opposition. Critics have argued that statutes like this create a mechanism for discrimination, particularly against LGBTQ individuals, by letting businesses or organizations cite religious beliefs as justification for refusing services. Supporters respond that the law simply restores a legal standard the Supreme Court applied for decades before the 1990 decision in Employment Division v. Smith, and that strict scrutiny does not guarantee anyone wins. It only ensures the government must justify real burdens on religious practice.
The statute contains no explicit carve-out exempting civil rights claims from its reach. Georgia courts will have to balance religious liberty interests against anti-discrimination principles case by case. How those conflicts are resolved, particularly in housing, employment, and public accommodations, will likely define the practical impact of the law far more than its text.