O.C.G.A.
Code text and O.C.G.A. statutory annotations on this page reflect the 2019 Official Code of Georgia Annotated (Public.Resource.Org Release 73, 2019-08-21; public domain per Georgia v. Public.Resource.Org, 2020). The Syfert case-law annotations in Notes of Decisions, below, are current.
(a) No member of the General Assembly or that member’s campaign committee or public officer elected state wide or campaign committee of such public officer shall seek or accept a contribution or a pledge of a contribution to the member, the member’s campaign committee, or public officer elected state wide, or campaign committee of such public officer during a legislative session. (b) Subsection (a) of this Code section shall not apply to: (1) The receipt of a contribution which is returned with reasonable promptness to the donor or the donor’s agent; (2) The receipt and acceptance during a legislative session of a contribution consisting of proceeds from a dinner, luncheon, rally, or similar fundraising event held prior to the legislative session; (3) The receipt of a contribution by a political party consisting of the proceeds from a dinner, luncheon, rally, or similar fundraising event in which a member of the General Assembly or a public officer elected state wide participates; or (4) A judicial officer elected state wide, a candidate for a judicial office elected state wide, or a campaign committee of such judicial officer or candidate.
History
Code 1981, § 21-5-35, enacted by Ga. L. 1986, p. 957, § 1; Ga. L. 1990, p. 922, § 5; Ga. L. 1994, p. 258, § 10; Ga. L. 2005, p. 859, § 14/HB 48; Ga. L. 2013, p. 173, § 5/HB 143.
Annotations
Editor’s notes. Ga. L. 2005, p. 859, § 28/HB 48, not codified by the General Assembly, provides that the Act shall not apply to any
violation occurring prior to January 9, 2006. Law reviews. For article on the 2005 amendment of this Code section, see 22 Ga. St. U. L. Rev. 119 (2005). For article, “Elections: Elections and Primaries Through the Pandemic,” see 37 Ga. St. U.L. Rev. 241 (2020).
JUDICIAL DECISIONS Preempted by federal law. - As applied to candidates for federal office, O.C.G.A. § 21-5-35 is preempted by the Federal Election Campaign Act, 2 U.S.C.
§ 431 et seq. Teper v. Miller, 82 F.3d 989, 1996 U.S. App. LEXIS 9280 (11th Cir. 1996).
OPINIONS OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL Soliciting pledges should be avoided. - While the Ethics in Government Act, O.C.G.A. § 21-5-1 et seq., does not expressly prohibit an incumbent member of the General Assembly from soliciting a pledge or setting goals for contribu-
tions during a legislative session, such actions would clearly be contrary to the policies and purposes of the Act and should be avoided. 1995 Op. Att’y Gen. No. U95-27.
Notes of Decisions
Cited in
4
cases (
1 in the last 5 years), 1996–2026 · leading case:
Teper v. Miller, 82 F.3d 989 (11th Cir. 1996).
Teper v. Miller, 82 F.3d 989 (11th Cir. 1996).
· cites it 23× “KRAVITCH, Circuit Judge: Officials of the State of Georgia appeal the grant of a preliminary injunction against enforcement of O.C.G.A. § 21-5-35 to prohibit a member of the General Assembly from accepting contributions for a campaign for federal office while the General…”
Teper v. Miller (11th Cir. 1996).
· cites it 6× “KRAVITCH, Circuit Judge: Officials of the State of Georgia appeal the grant of a preliminary injunction against enforcement of O.C.G.A. § 21-5-35 to prohibit a member of the General Assembly from accepting contributions for a campaign for federal office while the General…”
Richard Jackson v. William Jones (11th Cir. 2026).
· cites it 2× “See OCGA § 21-5-35(a). USCA11 Case: 26-10854 Document: 64-1 Date Filed: 06/12/2026 Page: 7 of 46 26-10854 Opinion of the Court 7 establish a leadership committee.”
Teper v. Miller (11th Cir. 1996).
· cites it 2× “CARNES, Circuit Judge, concurring: I concur in the Court's holding that O.C.G.A. § 21-5-35, which has the effect of limiting the time for making contributions to some candidates for federal office, is preempted by the Federal Election Campaign Act, 2 U.”
— 21-5-35(a) — 3 cases
Teper v. Miller, 82 F.3d 989 (11th Cir. 1996).
“KRAVITCH, Circuit Judge: Officials of the State of Georgia appeal the grant of a preliminary injunction against enforcement of O.C.G.A. § 21-5-35 to prohibit a member of the General Assembly from accepting contributions for a campaign for federal office while the General…”
Richard Jackson v. William Jones (11th Cir. 2026).
“See OCGA § 21-5-35(a). USCA11 Case: 26-10854 Document: 64-1 Date Filed: 06/12/2026 Page: 7 of 46 26-10854 Opinion of the Court 7 establish a leadership committee.”
Teper v. Miller (11th Cir. 1996).
“KRAVITCH, Circuit Judge: Officials of the State of Georgia appeal the grant of a preliminary injunction against enforcement of O.C.G.A. § 21-5-35 to prohibit a member of the General Assembly from accepting contributions for a campaign for federal office while the General…”
Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the
Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and
treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.