2021 Georgia Code
Title 31 - Health
Chapter 27 - Control of Mass Gatherings
- § 31-27-1. Definitions
- § 31-27-2. Permit Requirement
- § 31-27-3. Application for Permit
- § 31-27-4. Additional Requirements for Issuance of Permit; Denial, Suspension, or Revocation
- § 31-27-5. Bond Requirement; Cash Deposit in Lieu of Bond
- § 31-27-6. Assessment for Persons in Attendance Beyond Number Specified
- § 31-27-7. Emergency Powers of Governor; Authority of Director of Civil Defense Division
- § 31-27-8. Recovery by State for Costs and Damages
- § 31-27-9. Rules and Regulations
- § 31-27-10. Applicability of Chapter
- § 31-27-11. Civil Penalty
- § 31-27-12. Criminal Penalty
- Regulation of operators of motor vehicle racetracks, T. 43, C. 25.
Administrative Rules and Regulations.- Mass gatherings, Official Compilation of the Rules and Regulations of the State of Georgia, Georgia Department of Public Health, Environmental Health Hazards, Subject 511-3-2.
JUDICIAL DECISIONS
Constitutionality.
- Requirement of the Mass Gathering Act, O.C.G.A. Ch. 27, T. 31, that a permit be obtained from the Department of Human Resources without specifying when, or even if, an application for a permit must be acted upon constitutes a prior restraint on speech in violation of the First Amendment. Bo Fancy Prods., Inc. v. Rabun County Bd. of Comm'rs, 476 S.E.2d 743 (1996).
Because the Mass Gatherings Act, O.C.G.A. Ch. 27, T. 31, fails to provide a time limit within which the Department of Human Resources (DHR) must act upon an application for a permit, the statute delegates overly broad discretion to the DHR and, therefore, constitutes an unconstitutional prior restraint on the exercise of First Amendment rights. Bo Fancy Prods., Inc. v. Rabun County Bd. of Comm'rs, 267 Ga. 341, 478 S.E.2d 373 (1996).
RESEARCH REFERENCES
Am. Jur. 2d.
- 39 Am. Jur. 2d, Health, § 74.
C.J.S.- 39A C.J.S., Health and Environment, § 32.
ALR.
- Validity of statute or ordinance prohibiting or regulating holding of meeting in street, 25 A.L.R. 114.
