This legislation relocates and rewrites the civil procedure by which law enforcement seize and dispose of property or assets involved with illegal activity by state and local law enforcement. For a general summary click here.  This legislation was amended to include the language from H.B. 418 which changes the qualifications for persons serving on the grand jury.

This legislation will require the sheriff to report on a standardized form, the assets and cash seized and forfeited, and submit to the county commission, as well as the Carl Vinson Institute.  Counties should continue to include this form with the budget submission to the Carl Vinson Institute. If the Sheriff fails to comply with reporting requirements their ability to seize assets and forfeitures will be suspended.

This is the General Assembly's 2016 omnibus gun carry legislation, making many revisions to current statute. Among its provisions, the bill addresses fairness in financial transactions with firearms dealers; honors out-of-state gun licenses in Georgia for 90 days for those that move here; allows hunters and fishermen to carry knives; revises school safety zone carry; allows probate courts to distribute gun safety information; addresses the suspension of a carry application; renewing licenses; exempting certain law enforcement officers from license requirements and allowing carry in a courthouse; carrying weapons at a commercial service airport; and appealing the denial of a license to those declared mentally incompetent.       

The provision which would have made it impossible to prohibit weapons in government buildings leased to third parties (e.g. arenas, football domes, baseball fields, concert halls, etc.) was removed from the bill.  

Last year's omnibus gun legislation, HB 60, prohibits law enforcement from detaining individuals for the purpose of determining whether they are legally authorized to carry their weapon.   This legislation allows law enforcement to do so.  

 This legislation provides that minor weapons violations in school safety zones are not considered Class B designated felonies. 

This legislation requires local governments to comply with the Georgia Personal Data Security Act. Because counties maintain electronic and physical copies of personal information, they must provide individuals with notice of any breach of security of the system that houses the personal information as soon as possible after the breach is discovered, but in no case later than 45 days. If the county uses a third party to store the personal information, the third party must notify the county within 72 hours of any data breach, so that the county can meet its notification requirements. If law enforcement determines that notification would impair an ongoing criminal investigation, notification can be delayed. If the county, after investigation and consultation with relevant federal, state or local law enforcement, determines that the breach was not likely to result in identify theft or financial harm to an individual, notification will not be necessary. The county will be required to provide a written certification within 30 days to the attorney general and to maintain a copy of the written certification for at least five years.