This legislation rewrites the Georgia Code of Military Justice to be more in line with the Federal Code of Military Justice. 

This legislation creates the Board of Community Supervision to oversee the newly created Department of Community Supervision (DCS) and the Governor's Office of Transition, Support, and Reentry. All offender supervision activities will transfer from the Board of Pardons and Parole and the Department of Corrections to the new DCS. This legislation also transfers the County and Municipal Probation Advisory Council, the agency tasked with registration and oversight of private misdemeanor probation providers and governmental misdemeanor probation providers to DCS. The bill also includes requirements for increased transparency and financial reporting by the misdemeanor probation providers to the counties of fine collections, which was an ACCG priority. A county commissioner or manager is included as a mandatory board member for the new department. The Board will adopt rules and regulations governing the management and treatment of probationers and parolees, and the operation of misdemeanor probation supervision.

Probation  and Parole Offices will combine, some counties currently provide space to these entities, and these offices collect fine revenue from probationers to be processed and sent back to local governments.  Misdemeanor probation providers (county and private) will be required to submit an annual report to the county commission that contains the amount of fines and fees collected and the nature of such fees, including probation supervision fees, rehabilitation programming fees, electronic monitoring fees, drug and alcohol detection device fees, substance abuse or mental health evaluation or treatment fees, and drug testing fees; the number of community service hours performed by probationer under supervision; and, a listing of any other service for which a probationer is required to pay to attend.

 This legislation changes how law enforcement officers obtain search warrants and conduct searches.  

This legislation adds those with developmental disabilities to the list of victims of trafficking for labor or sexual servitude. HB 770 also prevents a defendant from using the fact that an undercover operative or law enforcement officer is used as a defense to this crime.

This legislation changes the duties of law enforcement when processing evidence related to rape. This bill requires that every law enforcement agency create a list of evidence resulting from a rape that is in their possession by July 1, 2016.  All stored evidence shall be transmitted to the GBI by November 1, 2016.

The language contained in this bill was added to SB 304, which passsed the House and Senate.

This legislation requires a court to pause civil forfeiture proceedings on property involved in criminal proceedings until the criminal proceedings are over. Current law only stays the civil forfeiture proceedings if good cause is shown to the court by either the state or the property owner. If the criminal proceeding ends in an acquittal or dismissal, then the there can be no civil forfeiture. Under current law, civil forfeiture may continue even if the criminal proceeding ends in an acquittal or dismissal.

This legislation was amended to include language from H.B 534 which defines relationships between relatives that constitute incest and H.B. 578 changes making harrassing telephone calls to a crime to make harassing, threatening or harassing telephone calls or electronic communications. The crime may be prosecuted either in the county where the communication is sent or received.  This legislation will have no direct fiscal impact on counties.

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 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.

This legislation attempts to address the backlog of sexual assault evidence that can be used to identify rapists, commonly referred to as "rape kits."   The current version of SB 304 requires medical professionals, who collected evidence for rape kits prior to July 1, 2016, to notify law enforcement by July 15, 2016.  Law enforcement must collect the rape kits by July 31, 2016.  The evidence must be submitted tot he GBI by August 31, 2016. 

Law enforcement must also create a list of evidence from these forensic medical examination in their possession on August 1, 2016 and submit it to the GBI by August 15, 2016.  

To prevent a future or continuing backlog, SB 304 requires medical professionals to notify law enforcement when they have conducted a medical examination that produced evidence for a rape kit.  Law enforcement has 96 hours to obtain the rape kit from the medical professional.  Within 30 days of collecting the rape kit, law enforcement must submit it to the GBI Division of Forensic Sciences.