This legislation requires law enforcement agencies to include the fine revenue received from speeding tickets over 20 miles per hour above the speed limit when calculating total speeding fine revenue for the department. Currently the total revenue from speeding fines under 17 miles per hour cannot be more than 40 percent of the overall budget, this legislation changes that ratio to 35 percent. This bill requires counties and municipalities to include in a separate section all speeding fine revenue in the annual report submitted to the Department of Community Affairs

This legislation allows law enforcement officers or their agents to observe, photograph and record activities of another that occur in the presence of the law enforcement officer or his or her agent during the execution of a search warrant.  This bill authorizes the use of body cameras but does not mandate law enforcement to use a body cameras.

This legislation prohibits law enforcement from using no knock search warrants unless the department has a written policy  that meets certain standards and the officer provides an affidavit or testimoney that the the act of knocking and announcing the officer would be dangerous to human life, inhibit the effective investigation of a crime by allowing destruction of evidence or would be futile.

This legislation is a rewrite of garnishment law necessitated by a recent federal court ruling that struck down a portion of Georgia's garnishment law. Garnishment is a court order used when an individual owes money. It requires an employer (or other third party) to take a portion of salary (or other money held by a third party belonging to the debtor) and pay it to the person who obtained the garnishment order. SB 255 addresses how counties will handle garnishments filed against their employees, as well as how county retirement plans respond to garnishments filed.

This legislation disqualifies judges, grand jurors and trial jurors from serving on a case where they are related within three degrees of anyone interested in the outcome of the case. This includes relations as a child, parent, sibling, aunt, uncle, niece, nephew, grandparent, grandchild, great-grandparent or great-grandchild. Current law requires disqualification if there is a relationship of four degrees (which would include up to second cousins, great-aunts and uncles, great-great-aunts and uncles, great-nieces and nephews, and great-great-nieces and nephews).

This bill was amended to include HB 1027 which provides that by court rule or standing order any state court may accept electronic filings and for the acceptance of payments and remittances by electronic means.

Please contact ACCG's Debra Nesbit at dnesbit@accg.org if this will negatively impact smaller counties.