After multiple attempts, bill to regulate car booting passes Georgia Senate

Booting companies monitor parking lots, installing the devices almost immediately after someone leaves their car. The boots can only be removed by paying a fine on the spot. Companies often pay a portion of their fees to property managers to monitor their lots.

Under McLaurin’s amendment, booting companies must include contact information for someone to call when they have been booted to get an immobilization device removed. The full legal name of a company conducting the booting must also be included in the booting notice, as well as the amount of money it costs to get a boot removed, similar to Atlanta’s ordinance.

In 2021, the Georgia Supreme Court ruled that booting is only allowed when there is a statute or ordinance specifically allowing it. The cities of Atlanta, Decatur, Sandy Springs, Hapeville and Smyrna have ordinances in place to allow booting on private property by private companies.

This is the third session where McLaurin has attempted to pass a booting bill. His 2023 bill, which sought to outright ban the practice, received bipartisan support and passed out of a committee but never reached a full floor vote. Last year, his bill mandated that booting companies comply with certain restrictions about how and where they can boot.

Every year, lobbyists hired by booting companies have been successful in defeating the measure, but this year McLaurin was able to attract almost a dozen Republicans as cosigners to his amendment.

State Sen. John Albers, a Republican from Roswell who signed on to the amendment, said a fire chief in his district was booted a few years ago just outside the state Capitol on a day when the Legislature honored firefighters.

Credit: Steve Schaefer

Credit: Steve Schaefer

Booting in Atlanta gained attention in 2023 after two women, known as the Boot Girls, used boot keys to remove boots from cars around the city and posted their efforts on social media. A local Atlanta business owner began selling the boot keys for about $50 each.

The Atlanta Police Department said owning a boot key is not illegal but using one to modify, tamper or disengage a booting device may result in charges such as criminal trespass, theft of services, theft by taking or second-degree property damage.

The amended bill, House Bill 551, will now go back to the House chamber where members may vote to agree or disagree with the new version. McLaurin said the bill’s sponsor, Rep. Jason Ridley of Chatsworth, was in support of his changes.