Following outrage over the shooting death of Ahmaud Arbery, Georgia is no longer one of a handful of states without a hate crimes law. Gov. Brian Kemp signed the bill into law Friday, surrounded by a bipartisan group of state lawmakers.
The law strengthens penalties for those who commit crimes against someone because of their race, gender, sexual orientation, mental and physical disabilities, among other identities. It also requires law enforcement to file reports of any such crimes, so that the state can begin tracking them.
The bill, H.B. 426, progressed quickly after national attention on Arbery’s murder. It had stalled in a Senate committee for more than a year, after narrowly passing the House last year.
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