Carden Summers

Voted to accept the final version of HB 1339. It loosens the state's certificate of need rules, which decide when a new hospital or clinic may open, by dropping some spending limits and widening the exemptions. It also raises the tax credit for gifts to rural hospitals and sets up a commission to study health coverage in Georgia. The Georgia Senate agreed it 34-17, and it became law.

March 21, 2024Supports Healthcare Affordability

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 5, 2026

Voted yes, 38-14, when the Georgia Senate accepted the House rewrite of Senate Bill 220, the Putting Georgia's Patients First Act. The law renamed low THC oil as medical cannabis and let registered patients get the plant itself, oils, and extracts. It dropped the old 5 percent limit on THC, the drug's main active ingredient. Patients may instead hold products totaling 12,000 milligrams of THC, with no package over 1,200 milligrams. Smoking or burning it stays illegal, but patients over 21 may now vaporize it, except in public places. Any cancer except non-spreading skin cancer now qualifies, and inflammatory bowel disease, HIV, and lupus were added. A patient may name any adult as a caregiver, or a health care institution treating them. Sellers still may not advertise to the public, but may now give patients safe-use information. Patient cards last five years. The House agreed to the Senate's changes and it became law as Act 712.

March 18, 2026Supports Environment and Public Health

Source: legiscan.com · researched August 28, 2026

Voted to pass SB 362. To keep state economic development incentives, an employer may no longer accept a union based on signed cards alone, and may not hand over workers' home addresses or personal phone numbers. An employer that does either must pay back every incentive it got for the project. The Georgia Senate passed it 31-23, and it became law.

February 8, 2024Opposes Reduce Wealth Gap

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 5, 2026

Voted to pass SB 362. To keep state economic development incentives, an employer may no longer accept a union based on signed cards alone, and may not hand over workers' home addresses or personal phone numbers. An employer that does either must pay back every incentive it got for the project. The Georgia Senate passed it 31-23, and it became law.

February 8, 2024Opposes Labor Rights

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 5, 2026

Voted to pass HB 1105. It requires jails to check the immigration status of the people they book and to honor federal immigration detainer requests. It requires local police agencies to seek working agreements with federal immigration officers, and it adds penalties for local governments that adopt sanctuary policies. The Georgia Senate passed it 34-19, and it became law.

March 21, 2024Opposes Immigration

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 5, 2026

Voted to pass Senate Bill 443. Purposely or recklessly blocking a highway or street so it cannot be passed, then refusing a peace officer's or other official's request to clear it, becomes a high and aggravated misdemeanor. The same conduct on a sidewalk or other public passage stays a plain misdemeanor. A violator may also be held liable in a civil suit for damages caused by the offense. The Georgia Senate passed it 35-17, and it became law.

March 3, 2026Supports Public Safety and Crime Control

Source: legiscan.com · researched August 27, 2026

Co-sponsored Georgia Senate Bill 398, creating crimes for virtual peeping (secretly viewing or recording someone without consent), for sending computer-generated obscene material to a child, and for using generative artificial intelligence to make obscene images of a person without consent. The Senate passed it 48-1 and the House 164-2; the last action was the Senate refusing the House changes on March 31, 2026.

February 6, 2026Supports Public Safety and Crime Control

Source: legis.ga.gov · researched August 20, 2026

Voted to pass HB 500. It creates the crime of arson of a law enforcement vehicle, for knowingly damaging one with fire or explosives or helping someone else do so. The penalty is five to 20 years in prison, a fine of up to $100,000, or both, and the offense is added to the state bail schedule. The Georgia Senate passed it 36-18, and it became law.

March 28, 2024Supports Public Safety and Crime Control

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 5, 2026

Voted to adopt the compromise version of SB 63. It requires money bail for a longer list of offenses and limits release without money. It also caps at three a year the number of cash bonds any person, charity or group may post, and makes groups that raise money to bail people out meet the same rules as professional bail companies. The Georgia Senate adopted it 30-17, and it became law.

February 1, 2024Supports Public Safety and Crime Control

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 5, 2026

Voted to accept the final version of SB 44. It sets a prison term of at least five years, and up to 20, for recruiting someone into a criminal street gang. The term must be served on top of any other sentence and cannot be probated, and prosecutors may appeal when a judge goes below it. The Georgia Senate agreed it 30-20, and it became law.

March 29, 2023Supports Public Safety and Crime Control

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 5, 2026

Voted yes, 29-17, when the Georgia Senate accepted the House rewrite of Senate Bill 472. The law lets the State Board of Education ask the governor to suspend local school board members, with pay. That follows state auditors putting a district under the highest level of monitoring, or finding financial mismanagement or misconduct. In districts labeled high risk, a superintendent's contract may be extended only 12 months at a time. Certain auditor findings become grounds for firing a superintendent for cause. The state may advance a district no more than half its prior year's funding outside the normal schedule. Every local school system and state charter school must get a yearly financial and compliance audit. The House rewrite also cut the voter petition needed to force an election on dissolving a city school system from one-fourth of voters to 10 percent. It became law as Act 722.

March 27, 2026Supports Public Education Quality

Source: legiscan.com · researched August 27, 2026

Voted to pass HB 1018. It bars banks and card networks from using a special merchant code that marks a business as a gun shop, and from sharing customers' gun-related purchase records. It also bars anyone, including government, from keeping a registry of guns or gun owners. The Georgia Senate passed it 33-19, and it became law.

March 26, 2024Opposes Gun Control

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 5, 2026

Voted to accept the House rewrite of Senate Bill 3EX. It sets up a nine-member committee to design a new statewide voting system that uses hand-marked paper ballots, and it bars the current Secretary of State from helping choose or buy that system. It also orders a hand recount when a close statewide race is decided by half a point or less, and the state pays counties back. The Georgia Senate agreed 36-16, and it became law.

June 23, 2026Supports Election Integrity

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 5, 2026

Voted to accept the final version of SB 222. It bars county and city governments and election officials from taking donations, grants or gifts to help run elections, so election costs come only from public money. It also makes the State Election Board its own state agency with its own director, no longer run through the Secretary of State's office. The Georgia Senate agreed it 32-21, and it became law.

March 29, 2023Supports Election Integrity

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 5, 2026

Voted to accept the final version of SB 420. It bars people acting for governments the United States lists as foreign adversaries, and companies based in or largely owned from those countries, from buying farmland in Georgia. The final version also added transfer-on-death deeds, which let an owner name who gets a property when the owner dies. The Georgia Senate agreed it 41-11, and it became law.

March 26, 2024Supports National Defense

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 5, 2026

Voted yes, 33-20, on the final version of House Bill 463, the last vote before it became law. The bill began as a property-tax break for senior citizens who volunteer; the Senate replaced that text with a tax-cut package. The law cut Georgia's personal income tax rate from 5.19 percent to 4.99 percent for 2026. Companies pay the same rate, so their tax fell too. Later yearly cuts grew from 0.10 to 0.125 points and now run down to 3.99 percent instead of stopping at 4.99. It raised the single-filer standard deduction to $15,000 and the deduction for each dependent to $5,000. Up to $1,750 of overtime pay and $1,750 of cash tips are now tax free. It also repealed tax credits for zero-emission vehicles and sales-tax breaks for data center equipment. It became Act 465, signed May 11, 2026.

April 2, 2026Supports Personal Income Tax Reduction

Source: legiscan.com · researched August 28, 2026

Voted to pass House Bill 111. It cuts the individual income-tax rate from 5.39 percent to 5.19 percent starting January 1, 2025. The Georgia Senate passed it 30-23, and it became law.

March 20, 2025Supports Personal Income Tax Reduction

Source: legiscan.com · researched August 27, 2026

Voted to pass HB 1015. It cut Georgia's personal income tax rate for 2024 from 5.49 percent to 5.39 percent, and it keeps cutting the rate a tenth of a point each year until it reaches 4.99 percent. Each later cut is put off a year whenever the state's finances fall short of set targets. The Georgia Senate passed it 40-12, and it became law.

March 20, 2024Supports Personal Income Tax Reduction

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 5, 2026

Co-sponsored Georgia Senate Bill 398, creating crimes for virtual peeping (secretly viewing or recording someone without consent), for sending computer-generated obscene material to a child, and for using generative artificial intelligence to make obscene images of a person without consent. The Senate passed it 48-1 and the House 164-2; the last action was the Senate refusing the House changes on March 31, 2026.

February 6, 2026Supports Data Privacy

Source: legis.ga.gov · researched August 20, 2026

Voted to pass Senate Bill 212. Georgia schools cannot give student directory information to candidates, campaign committees, political action committees, or political groups. Disclosing confidential voter registration information to an unauthorized person becomes a felony punishable by one to ten years, a fine up to $100,000, or both. Candidates and committees also cannot ask minors to fraudulently organize campaign events on school property. The Senate version made anyone who told students about voter or Selective Service military-draft registration, or helped them register, attest in writing that they act for no political group and will share no student data. The House later narrowed that duty to people who both tell and help, and exempted people attending public events. The Georgia Senate passed it 33-19, and it became law.

March 6, 2025Supports Data Privacy

Source: legiscan.com · researched August 27, 2026

Voted to accept the final version of SB 414. It bars state and local agencies from collecting, requiring or releasing any list that identifies a person as a member, volunteer, supporter or donor of a nonprofit group. It keeps that information out of open records requests and makes improper collection or disclosure a crime. The Georgia Senate agreed it 33-21, and it became law.

March 28, 2024Supports Data Privacy

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 5, 2026

Voted yes, 35-18, when the Georgia Senate accepted the House rewrite of Senate Bill 244. The House rewrite added the Wrongful Conviction and Incarceration Compensation Act, which the Senate's own earlier version did not contain. A person who served prison time for a felony they did not commit may file a claim with a state hearings office. Their conviction must first have been reversed, thrown out, or pardoned because they were innocent. They must show innocence is more likely true than not. The award is $75,000 for each year in prison, plus $25,000 for each year spent awaiting a death sentence. Awards also cover legal fees and repay fines and restitution, paid from a new state trust fund. The law also makes the prosecutor's office pay a defendant's legal fees when that prosecutor is removed for misconduct and the case is dropped. It became law as Act 361.

April 4, 2025Supports Civil Rights

Source: legiscan.com · researched August 28, 2026

Voted yes to accept the House's version of Senate Bill 1, the Riley Gaines Act of 2025. The Georgia Senate agreed 34-20 and it became law as Act 11. Schools, school systems, private schools that compete with them, and colleges must label each team male, female, or coed. Males may not play on a team labeled female. At school competitions, shared restrooms, changing areas, and sleeping quarters must be set aside by sex. Schools must offer another option to a student unwilling or unable to use the space for their sex. The law defines sex as biological sex. It does not let schools check a student's body to confirm sex, though medical records may be used.

March 31, 2025Opposes Civil Rights

Source: legiscan.com · researched August 27, 2026

Voted to pass Senate Bill 185. It bars state money or resources from paying for prisoners' sex-change surgery, hormone therapy, or products that change sex traits. Exceptions cover unrelated needed care, certain sex-development conditions, and a gradual stop for prisoners already on hormones when the law begins. The Georgia Senate passed it 37-15, and it became law.

March 3, 2025Opposes Civil Rights

Source: legiscan.com · researched August 27, 2026

Voted to pass SB 517. It gives police officers immunity from criminal charges and from being sued when their threat or use of force was justified or otherwise lawful. Before this, an officer in that position had a defense to raise at trial rather than immunity from the case itself. The Georgia Senate passed it 34-17, and it became law.

February 29, 2024Opposes Civil Rights

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 5, 2026

Voted to pass Senate Bill 3EX, a new map of Georgia's congressional districts. It replaced the map drawn in 2021, which a federal court ruled broke federal voting rights law, and it applies only if the 2021 map cannot lawfully be used. Sitting members of Congress keep their seats until the next regular election. The Georgia Senate passed it 32-22, and it became law.

December 5, 2023Supports Civil Rights

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 5, 2026

Voted to pass House Bill 1EX, a new map of Georgia's state House districts. It replaced the map drawn in 2021, which a federal court ruled broke federal voting rights law, and it applies only if the 2021 map cannot lawfully be used. Sitting representatives keep their seats until the next regular election. The Georgia Senate passed it 32-21, and it became law.

December 5, 2023Supports Civil Rights

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 5, 2026

Voted to pass Senate Bill 1EX, a new map of Georgia's state Senate districts. It replaced the map drawn in 2021, which a federal court ruled broke federal voting rights law, and it applies only if the 2021 map cannot lawfully be used. Sitting senators keep their seats until the next regular election. The Georgia Senate passed it 32-23, and it became law.

December 1, 2023Supports Civil Rights

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 5, 2026

Voted to accept the final version of SB 140. It bans hormone replacement therapy and sex reassignment surgery for minors being treated for gender dysphoria, both in licensed hospitals and by doctors, with limited exceptions. A facility that breaks the ban can lose its permit. The Georgia Senate agreed it 31-21, and it became law.

March 21, 2023Opposes Civil Rights

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 5, 2026

Voted yes to accept the House's version of Senate Bill 68, Georgia's lawsuit overhaul. The Senate agreed 34-21, the last step before the governor, and it became law as Act 9. Lawyers may put a dollar figure on pain and suffering only after the evidence closes, and the figure must be tied to the evidence. A judge must decide a motion to dismiss within 90 days after written arguments end. A plaintiff may drop a case alone only before the 60th day after the other side answers. Juries may now hear whether an injured person wore a seat belt. Property owners face a tougher test before they can be blamed for a crime on their land. Payment for medical care is limited to the reasonable value of the care actually needed. Some trials may be split, with fault decided before damages.

March 21, 2025Opposes Corporate Accountability

Source: legiscan.com · researched August 27, 2026

Voted to pass Senate Bill 144. A pesticide maker generally satisfies its health-warning duty by using a label approved by the United States Environmental Protection Agency or matching the federal health-risk review. That protection ends if the agency finds the maker knowingly hid, misstated, concealed, or destroyed important health-risk information to get or keep approval. The Georgia Senate passed it 42-12, and it became law.

March 4, 2025Opposes Corporate Accountability

Source: legiscan.com · researched August 27, 2026

The official Georgia Senate biography identifies Carden Summers as a Republican senator for District 13, elected in 2019, and lists his committee leadership and membership.

August 19, 2026

Source: legis.ga.gov · researched August 20, 2026

On 2026-07-06, the official Georgia Senate committee long list identifies Carden Summers as chair of Judiciary and a member of Appropriations and Agriculture/Economic Development committees.

July 6, 2026

Source: legis.ga.gov · researched August 20, 2026

Co-sponsored Georgia Senate Bill 398, creating crimes for virtual peeping (secretly viewing or recording someone without consent), for sending computer-generated obscene material to a child, and for using generative artificial intelligence to make obscene images of a person without consent. The Senate passed it 48-1 and the House 164-2; the last action was the Senate refusing the House changes on March 31, 2026.

February 6, 2026

Source: legis.ga.gov · researched August 20, 2026

Voted against accepting the final version of HB 1247, the 'Georgia Bureaucratic Deference Elimination Act.' The Georgia Senate agreed 34-18 anyway and the bill became law as Act 718. The law bars courts from deferring to a state agency's own reading of laws and rules. Its 'Red Tape Rollback Act of 2026' sets new steps for writing rules. It also makes each agency send the Office of Planning and Budget a review of its own rules. The law opens to the public any settlement of an unlawful employment practice claim against a member of the General Assembly. The claimant's name is removed, but the member is named. A separate part requires some privately funded groups that shelter or serve homeless people to take part in Georgia's Homeless Management Information System. That duty is narrow. It reaches only groups within 1,000 feet of a school, college, child care center, public park, or playground. It applies in one metro area, not statewide, and skips groups that served fewer than ten people in the past year. A group that does not take part gets a non-criminal citation.

April 3, 2026

Source: legiscan.com · researched August 27, 2026