The Georgia Senate is considering a bill to expand the state’s laws against unlawful eavesdropping by prohibiting the recording of a conversation unless all parties to the conversation consent.  The filing of the bill has led many to speculate that its genesis may be in the secret recording of a certain gubernatorial candidate during last year’s election.  The bill, now SB 59, is currently before the Senate Judiciary Committee and is being sponsored by Senators John Wilkinson, Butch Miller, Ellis Back, Larry Walker III, Steve Gooch, and Rules Committee Chairman Jeff Mullis.

SB 59 would amend O.C.G.A. § 16-11-66(a) to require all parties to a wire, oral, or electronic communication to provide their prior consent before the communication can be intercepted or recorded.  In its current form, O.C.G.A. § 16-11-66(a) only requires the consent of one party, thus permitting any party to a conservation to record it without the knowledge or consent of the other parties.  [London v. State, 333 Ga. App. 332, 334 (2015) (“[A] party to the conversation is not prohibited from recording it.”).]

The proposed change increases the difficulty of lawfully recording electronic and oral communications for any non-exempt purpose.  For example, the statute does not contain purpose-specific exception for human resources communications or for newsgathering.  In each of those instances, SB 54 would require all participants in a conversation to consent before the conversation can be lawfully recorded, while current law only requires the consent of one participant.  Law enforcement activities will continue to fall within a separate exception in O.C.G.A. § 16-11-64, though SB 54 would nevertheless limit the ability to surveil a conversation when one of the parties is acting as a consenting informant.  Similarly, intercepting communications for the purpose of business service improvement will continue to be governed by the Georgia Public Service Commission as provided in O.C.G.A. § 16-11-65.

The Georgia Chamber of Commerce is currently soliciting the views of the business community on the proposed bill.  

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