§ 9-11-63.Prohibition of contracts or agreements that conceal details relating to a claim of childhood sexual abuse

This section takes aim at a particular use of nondisclosure and confidentiality clauses: silencing someone who was abused as a child. Subsection (a) declares any such provision — whether tucked into an employment contract, a settlement agreement, or any other kind of agreement — void and unenforceable against Georgia’s public policy, to the extent it would stop a person, including a party to the agreement, from telling someone else about an act of childhood sexual abuse or the facts related to it. The abuse itself is defined by cross-reference to O.C.G.A. § 9-3-33.1, the statute that also sets the limitation period for these claims. Notably, the section leaves room for parties to keep other settlement terms private: nothing here stops an agreement from keeping confidential the amount of a settlement or its payment terms.

Subsection (b) gives the rule reach beyond agreements signed after the effective date. Subject to subsection (c), the change applies to agreements entered before, on, or after May 11, 2026 — meaning an older nondisclosure clause covering childhood sexual abuse doesn’t escape this rule just because it predates the statute.

Subsection (c) then builds in a gatekeeping step for anyone who still wants to enforce a clause that would prevent disclosure of an act of childhood sexual abuse or related facts: a person may not enforce or attempt to enforce it unless that person first obtains a declaratory judgment — one that is final and not subject to appeal — declaring the agreement or provision enforceable. That requirement puts the burden on the party seeking to keep the abuse quiet to go to court and win a final ruling before threatening enforcement, rather than leaving the recipient of a silencing demand to guess at the clause’s validity.