Conservative monuments and other memorials would receive new protections under a bill passed by the Georgia Legislature Thursday.
Members of the Georgia state House of Representatives voted 100-71 in favor of the bill, SB 77, sending it back to the Senate where an earlier version easily passed weeks earlier.
Offered by Georgia state Sen. Jeff Mullis, Chickamauga Republican, the legislation would impose heavier fines on vandals caught defacing public monuments and make their removal or relocation more difficult.
If passed again in the Georgia Senate and signed by Gov. Brian Kemp, a Republican, the legislation would prohibit the dismantling and moving of publicly owned monuments without taking appropriate measures for their “preservation, protection and interpretation.”
“A monument shall not be relocated to a museum, cemetery, or mausoleum unless it was originally placed at such location,” reads part of the bill. – READ MORE